Friday, March 4, 2011
A Personal Blog for Rachel
So, I just wanted to issue an invitation to everyone who might or might not check in with this blog. I am basically starting a personal blog connected with my business at www.RachelsFlowerPatch.blogspot.com where I will post all my personal stuff...in other words, this site is where I will post all my family things, but all the things like craft concepts, tips on recipes/food stuffs, gardening things, and personal experiences will be on that site. I hope you will all forgive me and come check in regularly on the new site as I needed to find a way to keep updating more than one thing at once and this seemed to be the simplest method. Please click here to be taken directly there, and please send along the info to anyone you might think would be interested...if you think they can stand keeping up with this little scrambled brain of mine, that is. ;} I will probably try and keep things balanced between the sites as I am able but you all know how infrequently I have maintained this since I keep running out of time so it will probably be more in the nature of some double postings, though not many. Can't wait to see what you think of what I've come up with so far!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Kalanchoe Adventures
So, last winter I convinced John to let me try and grow a different plant inside: a Kalanchoe. They are a succulent variety of houseplant which have beautiful little blooms that grow in bunches and bloom usually in the late winter-time. I thought they would just be a fun, pretty addition to my already rowdy bunch of house greenery. Little did I know I had just adopted another poinsettia-like beast!
Basically, for the last year this hardy little plant has been soldiering on in spite of a clueless caretaker. It sits on what I am starting to think of as my "window sill of death" aka the dining room window sill. Thanks to all of my other experiments, about 1/4 of the plants there are in need of the graveyard...though they are currently waiting for spring to finally hit so the garden soil can be turned over (or until I give up enough to admit my own defeat and through them away). For those of you who don't know my apartment, the reason I keep using this window sill is because of its positioning. It gets the most sunlight during the day since it isn't blocked by any other buildings because our apartment is on the end of the building and the complex property. Unfortunately, that also means it is the one hit most by the winds as they come down and create lovely swirling drafts around my windows. Yes, I am intelligent...I so unbiasedly proclaim...
Anyway, needless to say, my poor plant is suffering. It has gone from a vibrant, lush green plant to...well, I'll just say it is rather spindly at the moment. But the good news is, I finally grew a few more brain cells and looked up some information about how you are supposed to treat your kalanchoe plants. Apparently, they hate cold temps, love lots of sunlight (the more the better), and (drum roll please)...you are supposed to treat them like poinsettias! That is right, even to the point where most greenhouses that I looked up were recommending you throw them out at the end of it's flowering season. Apparently, I actually did better than I thought! I kept it alive for more than a year! And you all thought this was nothing but a confession from a plant abuser...
So, this first post of mine is going to describe the process as I attempt to turn my sickly little "pop plant" (this is Kieran's term) back into a gorgeously big leafed and flowering gem.
Step one: I need to actually clean off all the dead "growth" of brown limbs, leaves, old flower stems, etc.
Step two: transplant! Apparently, this is the right time to transplant these little babies into a new pot about 1 1/2 - 2 inches bigger than the preceding one. The interesting note about this is they recommend a clay pot. Who knew?! It seems that clay pots dry out the roots that much faster than others (I wonder if that is why all my strawberries died brutal deaths a couple years ago...but in my defense, what idiot created clay strawberry pots with no glazing? Probably someone like this schmuck who actually bought one thinking "what a good idea"). It was also recommended that you put rocks in the bottom of the pot as well as some limestone if you live in the east (limestone helps up the ph balance of soil. Do not do it if you live around here in the intermountain west, land of adding vinegar and pine needles to soil just to keep blueberries alive). I have to admit, I've never heard of doing that before...must be the whole "grounded to Utah" thing...
Step three: to fertilize as soon as you see new growth. That won't be hard. Something tells me as soon as I tell my kids to check the plant for new growth I will get a running update until after they go on to high school. "Mom! Mom! Mom! There is a new spot on the plants trunk!" or "Mom! The leaves are brown still!" or "Mom! The plant touched me!"...
Step four: only water when the soil is already dry. Wait, isn't that what you are supposed to do with all succulents?! Oops, my mistake. I wonder what my other cactus will think when it starts getting watered more often...probably, "Help! This crazy lady is drowning me!"
Step five: in September I am supposed to cover this plant or put it into a closet for at least 13 hours a day. One article even suggested I prepare a box to put around it which would be sealed with black plastic...just in case. Indications are that you need to protect the plant from any accidental sunlight, common house lights, flashing headlights, or probably even blinking alien lights from a passing UFO...apparently it makes the flowers turn green and pale when they do finally bloom.
Step six: step back and enjoy a year of growth hopefully complete with bunches of beautiful blooms...until the flowers all fall off and the process starts over again.
Here is hoping I make it that far!
Basically, for the last year this hardy little plant has been soldiering on in spite of a clueless caretaker. It sits on what I am starting to think of as my "window sill of death" aka the dining room window sill. Thanks to all of my other experiments, about 1/4 of the plants there are in need of the graveyard...though they are currently waiting for spring to finally hit so the garden soil can be turned over (or until I give up enough to admit my own defeat and through them away). For those of you who don't know my apartment, the reason I keep using this window sill is because of its positioning. It gets the most sunlight during the day since it isn't blocked by any other buildings because our apartment is on the end of the building and the complex property. Unfortunately, that also means it is the one hit most by the winds as they come down and create lovely swirling drafts around my windows. Yes, I am intelligent...I so unbiasedly proclaim...
Anyway, needless to say, my poor plant is suffering. It has gone from a vibrant, lush green plant to...well, I'll just say it is rather spindly at the moment. But the good news is, I finally grew a few more brain cells and looked up some information about how you are supposed to treat your kalanchoe plants. Apparently, they hate cold temps, love lots of sunlight (the more the better), and (drum roll please)...you are supposed to treat them like poinsettias! That is right, even to the point where most greenhouses that I looked up were recommending you throw them out at the end of it's flowering season. Apparently, I actually did better than I thought! I kept it alive for more than a year! And you all thought this was nothing but a confession from a plant abuser...
So, this first post of mine is going to describe the process as I attempt to turn my sickly little "pop plant" (this is Kieran's term) back into a gorgeously big leafed and flowering gem.
Step one: I need to actually clean off all the dead "growth" of brown limbs, leaves, old flower stems, etc.
Step two: transplant! Apparently, this is the right time to transplant these little babies into a new pot about 1 1/2 - 2 inches bigger than the preceding one. The interesting note about this is they recommend a clay pot. Who knew?! It seems that clay pots dry out the roots that much faster than others (I wonder if that is why all my strawberries died brutal deaths a couple years ago...but in my defense, what idiot created clay strawberry pots with no glazing? Probably someone like this schmuck who actually bought one thinking "what a good idea"). It was also recommended that you put rocks in the bottom of the pot as well as some limestone if you live in the east (limestone helps up the ph balance of soil. Do not do it if you live around here in the intermountain west, land of adding vinegar and pine needles to soil just to keep blueberries alive). I have to admit, I've never heard of doing that before...must be the whole "grounded to Utah" thing...
Step three: to fertilize as soon as you see new growth. That won't be hard. Something tells me as soon as I tell my kids to check the plant for new growth I will get a running update until after they go on to high school. "Mom! Mom! Mom! There is a new spot on the plants trunk!" or "Mom! The leaves are brown still!" or "Mom! The plant touched me!"...
Step four: only water when the soil is already dry. Wait, isn't that what you are supposed to do with all succulents?! Oops, my mistake. I wonder what my other cactus will think when it starts getting watered more often...probably, "Help! This crazy lady is drowning me!"
Step five: in September I am supposed to cover this plant or put it into a closet for at least 13 hours a day. One article even suggested I prepare a box to put around it which would be sealed with black plastic...just in case. Indications are that you need to protect the plant from any accidental sunlight, common house lights, flashing headlights, or probably even blinking alien lights from a passing UFO...apparently it makes the flowers turn green and pale when they do finally bloom.
Step six: step back and enjoy a year of growth hopefully complete with bunches of beautiful blooms...until the flowers all fall off and the process starts over again.
Here is hoping I make it that far!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Just got off the phone with Taun Beddes, the Cache County Extension guy who oversees the local Community Garden. Good news is, we still have the same plots we did last year, and they didn't raise the rentals costs ($30 per plot, with a $15 cleaning deposit). The other good part is they aren't going to give away our plots, which is beneficial in two ways: one, we can wait until later in the spring to pay said fees; two, we get to go in and start building things up with our plots asap. Another great part of that conversation is that I still get to maintain the strawberry patch, as well as getting to harvest whatever I like from it and maintain it however I like! This is a huge strawberry bed which will not get to harvest this year (I'm deliberately pinching off the blooms to prep for next year), but the starts alone will be incredibly helpful not only in enriching this bed, but also for building my own planters full. Now to just get some healthy ever-bearing breeds...
Another beautiful part: I got permission to plant flowers! So I will finally be able to grow my very own iris bed, and a bed of daisies!!! In case you can't tell, this is thrilling for me since I've never been able to play with it properly before. But we already have a bed of lavender (if they survived), and some other herbs that are there from last season (chives and sage), plus I'll be planting some others as well with the spring. Add to that the melon beds, a huge strawberry bed of our own, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, onions, zucchs, corn, and (of course) a huge area of peas...yeah, I'm excited!!! March 1st is a big day for me, since this is when I get to plan the garden for the year. On top of that, we might get to actually finish our master gardener certification this year as well! Yay for us! We might not be getting a tax return, but at least things are starting to look up.
Another beautiful part: I got permission to plant flowers! So I will finally be able to grow my very own iris bed, and a bed of daisies!!! In case you can't tell, this is thrilling for me since I've never been able to play with it properly before. But we already have a bed of lavender (if they survived), and some other herbs that are there from last season (chives and sage), plus I'll be planting some others as well with the spring. Add to that the melon beds, a huge strawberry bed of our own, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, onions, zucchs, corn, and (of course) a huge area of peas...yeah, I'm excited!!! March 1st is a big day for me, since this is when I get to plan the garden for the year. On top of that, we might get to actually finish our master gardener certification this year as well! Yay for us! We might not be getting a tax return, but at least things are starting to look up.
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