Back from the West!

Hello fellow readers!

I am back from my journey across the U.S.!
My new niece is a wonderful, adorable, poopin' machine and, hey, she's named after me, so she's on the right track so far! ;)

I'll post a picture of the little cutie soon and I will update everyone on what has been going on in the garden this past...month...yikes!

In the meantime, I'm sure you're all aware of the horrendous amounts of rain we've received here in the Northeast. It has been terrible, really. We have gone from rain almost everyday to upper 90's and humid. So the exact opposite of what makes happy little plants. It has been a rough year, but we'll gather up some highlights, I promise it's not all bad!

While you wait, here's an interesting article about the blight and how the "Walmarts" of the world are contributing to the problem.

Road Trip!

Today is the due date of my first niece! (It is also my brother's birthday and my uncle's birthday, weird)
Though, little Jessica will probably wait another few days...
I however, cannot wait, so let's get here already!

Meanwhile, this is what I will be doing soon...


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And boy am I excited for a road trip. My Mama and I will be taking a few days and hopefully enjoying some sights along the way.
I could be gone any day now so wish us luck and hope for a happy, healthy, little baby girl!

What's That Saying About Losing Your Head if it Wasn't Attached to Your Neck?

Alright I'm just going to get it all out there...

Blogs will be few and far between the next few weeks. Many a things are taking up my life these days:

1) I moved.
2) I now live in a house so this blog's theme could get a little tricky.
3) I do not have a computer at my new home yet and who knows when that will happen. (I'm holding out for a Mac so we'll see when I can get myself one of those expensive little devices.)
4) I am going to be Aunt Jessica in t-minus any day now!
5) The above means I will be driving 2,000 miles across the country any day now.
6) The above two mean this here blog will be the least of my brain waves for a while! (Sorry Blog World)

What else?

Well as far as the Apartment Garden goes it is now taking up residence over at my new house, joining its friends in the E.S. Garden. My tomato plant ripened its first tomato! My big mouth was halfway into the delicious, little morsel when The Boy kindly asked if I wanted to document this occasion with a picture. It was too late. The tomato was heading towards its fate. I promise I will restrain myself the next time.
Everything else will be planted in the ground to enjoy the second half of its life being able to stretch their roots a bit more.
I'll do a round-up of the Apartment Garden successes and failures when I return from the land of...hmmm not sure quite yet. I'll let you know that one too.

Some (small) Rewards

A lobelia and mint bouquet grown in our own Apartment Garden!

I've said it a million times, I LOVE lobelia. Such a beautiful, fun, plant. Very unique shape and such a great color! Yes it is perfect. Certainly one of my favorites.

I hope everyone's holiday weekend was fun and exciting! It actually didn't rain here and I enjoyed some fireworks in the backyard of a friend's house. Couldn't have been better!

Dear rain: Get over yourself

I am taking it as a good sign that I've never really heard about this crazy, destructive disease of the tomato plant. As the article says, the rain has helped spread the disease quickly. However, it is worth pointing out that the magnitude of the spread is largely due to the fact that many plants come from the same large grower and supply to places like Walmart and Kmart. Making it much easier for the disease to spread from plant to plant as they sit in humugo greenhouses.
Another reason to buy local, friends.

Yes, I can appreciate all the wonderful things the rain does for us. We wouldn't survive without it. But daaamn it was 69 yesterday and it has rained something like 20 out of the last 25 days.

On a positive note, the rain has forced me to stay inside and get things done that need I to do. There's a big change a comin' for the Apartment Garden...oh yes...

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!