Tips and Tricks: Part 1

I got to looking at some of my posts and I realized I don't really have too many "tips" per say, on taking care of the greenery. So then I started thinking about all the things I do to make my life a little easier when it comes to taking care of houseplants. Because seriously, it can get to be some overwhelming craziness sometimes!

One of the biggest questions I hear from friends about their plants is, "how much should I water it? I don't remember when the last time it was watered."

Well here in this 954 Sq. ft. apartment of ours we share a space with many types of plants with many different needs: Plants that need a lot of light. Plants that can deal with almost darkness. Plants that need a lot of water. Plants that don't need very much water. Plants that need to be fertilized every two weeks. Plants that need to be fertilized every month. Plants that could probably survive a nuclear attack. Plants that if you look at them the wrong way they die.

So what is one to do to keep track of all these plant needs? How could I possibly know when I fertilized and watered each of my 60 some odd houseplants and potted flower garden/vegetable plants?

Do I have a super amazing memory for which I remember every minute detail of my plants?

Hell no.

This is what I do:

Apologies for the crappy pictures. I always think they're going to look good until I get them on the blog. Any suggestions?

My big secret lies in the strength of the calendar. I keep track of everything I do to the plants on here. Whenever I fertilize a plant I write it down. When I water a plant I write it down. (However, in the summer I don't do this quite so much because I water much more frequently. It is very helpful in the winter when you may go weeks at a time before you water again.) I even keep track of when I planted seeds this Spring, so I could have an idea of when I could expect some yields.
If you're wondering why the name Floyd is on the calendar. That is our leopard gecko, Floyd. We keep track of when he eats because he is a bit round these days, so we put him on a gecko diet. We also keep track of when we buy his totally overpriced heat lights. They say they last 3,000 hrs. If it lasts half that, we're doing pretty good. So I guess we enjoy torturing ourselves knowing how much we're getting ripped off.

But back to our plant calendar.

This method has been very useful. And like I said earlier, it is very helpful in the winter time when some plants can go very long periods of time without needing water.

However, I should say it is good to know your plant's cues for when it needs water. You may forget to write a watering down on the calendar and if you're following it too closely without looking at your plants, you may do unnecessary damage. So look at your plants!
Stick your finger a knuckle into the soil to test if it's dry, pick up the pot every now and then and check its weight, check for droopy looking leaves. All of these are good ways to tell if your plant needs water or not. The calendar is a very helpful guide, but don't take it as the word of the plant gods. Your African violet may not always need to be watered every 10 days. Maybe sometimes it's every 14 days. But the calendar will help you see these patterns and help you water your plants more effectively.

We can't be perfect all the time

Our first semi-disappointment with the Apartment Garden has come up involving the lettuce.

A few things are going on here:

- The lettuce will grow to about the length you see here in the picture: 3-4 inches and then just stop and then croak. Dead. Poor little lettuces.

- Obviously we've begun a crop of mushrooms in here. Implying dampness, perhaps?

So what's the deal, yo?

I consulted the wise Momma of mine, she has been gardening far longer than I've been on this planet. Here's her take:















You can see in the picture that the soil line is about four inches below the top of the pot. I didn't have a whole lot of dirt so I tried to be conservative and not use as much. Turns out that was a bad idea.


What my brilliant idea caused was a lack of air circulation around the seedlings. My Mom thought damping-off disease may have cropped-up causing the little leaflings to wither and die before they had a chance to grow up. This also explains the whole mushroom issue. The lack of air circulation caused a damper-than-ideal environment helping to grow the mushrooms, as well as the fungus causing damping-off disease.
I do remember the first week or so that I transplanted the seedlings, it wasn't very sunny and I'm sure that helped keep the soil nice and wet.
Any other ideas? Share away!

Luckily, I did not put all my lettuces in one basket.




I put many seedlings in their own pots, with sufficient soil, and they are doing quite fine. This one here, (and plenty more! As many as she wants, really), is waiting to go to its new home with Unspeakable Visions.






On a much happier note, the Apartment Garden is not down and out! Our radishes are doing so well! Much better than I had hoped! I'll be able to eat some in the next few days.
The lobelia is starting to poke out some beautiful purple buds, I just can't wait to enjoy that wonderful trailing plant!
I have already used tons of chives, cress and thyme. What a wonderful thing to have a grocery store on your porch!
Head over to Flickr to enjoy some more success stories!

Three cheers....

To taking half days at work and coming home and eating your work-lunch anyway.
To work-lunches being composed of E.S. Garden delicious, spicy, greens and asparagus.



To sunny days after a few days of much needed rain (not so much the hail).



Enjoy your weekend!

And then it was snowing...

If you know me, you know I complain a bit about the weather in New York. I am not a fan of winter. I do not do any of the fun winter activities that one does to help the burning hatred of cold, wet, miserable, winter. (I tried to snowboard, once, with the boy about three years ago. The falling...oh the falling...I do not need to feel that way again. Those sort of sports, in my book, are reserved for learning at a young age. When you have no fear, when nothing hurts, when the knees don't crack just from getting up off the ground. You feel me?) Wow, that was hell of a parenthetical phrase.
I would like to do some snowshoeing perhaps, that would be fun. Because damn I am willing and able at this point to find something that can help me enjoy hate less the bitter-death temperatures and accident causing ice crystal-covered dust specks.

Oh right, so the hail!

I (well mostly my car) lucked out and I was not home when it rained pellets of up to 1 3/4 " (That was the official diameter given on the news, but I didn't see any quite that big).

modeling nicely for us: The Boy's hand and shoe

Not something you see every day...in the middle of June...in New York. Can we say global warming?

Though this does put things into perspective. I bitch about this state quite often but really, I shouldn't complain:

+ We can (and do) use water like it's going out of style, and it's cheap.
- Many states have crazy water restrictions: like only allowing you to water your plants from 12 -2 AM every other Wednesday.
+ The extent of severe weather in New York is mostly damaging hail and other ice-type storms. (Though we did have a tornado way back when and apparently a small earthquake not too long ago??)
- Many states have to deal with hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes for many month out of the year, sometimes daily. (The Boy's family lives in Alabama and they are under constant tornado watch for pretty much six full months of the year.)

So yeah, I can't complain. We have it pretty good here.
Oh New York, you keep a tight reign on me, you do.

Little green balls of yum!

While I was out planting some new seeds* on the Apartment Garden porch today, I noticed our tomato plant has signs of yummy deliciousness!


I was given this plant from the girl downstairs...originally I wasn't planning on having any tomatoes because the E.S. Garden has enough for an army. So I don't even know if these are cherry or if they'll get to be humugo. Hopefully the former because the plant grew in a bit sparse and probably wouldn't be able to stand up to any mammoth tomates.

It was a great weekend to garden here in upstate NY! The E.S. Garden got a good working out of me, although I forget to bring along a picture shooter so no updates on that end. But check Flickr because the Apartment Garden has a nice update!

*I'm venturing into uncharted territory now...I planted some pumpkins and cucumbers. I babied them hardcore with compost and organic fertilizer, my fingers are crossed! We'll see how they do growing in a pot on a porch!

The Earth as we know it...

*So I was having a conversation about this with someone and got so worked up about it I was like, "I need to post this on my blog." Well I get here, and apparently I already did...so weird because I don't remember it at all...hmmm. Anyway, I wrote a whole new one before I realized I already wrote one. So to beat a dead horse, I'll put my new rants in here. Look for the ol' italics. Think of it as a review of sorts.*


earth2100

What would our world be like if we didn't have fresh water? If people could not grow food? If there was mass migration and its effects? What if our polar ice melted so much that NYC would face a six-foot ocean rise?

Worst case scenario?
Humans could essentially be extincted by 2100. (Less than our children's lives!)

This program was fascinating, I recommend anyone watch it. Especially those who still have the crazy idea that global warming and human global destruction are just "scare tactics" and made-up lies for those damn liberals to get what they want.
It does paint the U.S. a bit rosier than it should, essentially blaming other countries for the downfall of society, but hey, this is ABC so I guess we take the good with the bad.
The program was shot really interestingly in a very graphic novelish way. (Think Sin City) And it follows a girl who was born June 2, 2009 up until 2100.
Many will say it's a scare tactic, that it wouldn't really happen that way, blah blah blah. But I think there are some very good things to take away from it. OK, so NYC would probably not likely try and build a wall around the city to prevent the rising ocean current from getting in...but...hey, we've done stranger things. So we may not go down THAT way, but the program showed everything negative about human nature and why we would bring ourselves down, one way or another, if we keep acting the way we do.

Anyway, I am quite passionate about the environment, so from now and again I will get on my soapbox and rave a bit about this beautiful planet we live on.

If you enjoyed this maybe you should forward it to all you know who still leave the water on when they brush their teeth, who drive huge vehicles to transport only themselves, who don't recycle, who eat too much meat, who don't attempt to take care of this precious, vulnerable world we live in.

Forward it to all you know who have young children or who plan to have children. Because our world is going to be a vicious place to live in if we don't do something now. And we may not have to face the total wrath of it, but our kids might, and damn, I know I don't want to have to apologize to them their whole lives.