Thursday, March 25, 2010

Some pictures

Makeshift coldframe of sorts... or maybe a frost chamber...where the wintersown sprouts go to wait out the frost, but it allows them to get full or partial sun during the day and shelter at night.

Broccoli (gypsy) in the front, buttercrunch lettuce next, then cauliflower (graffiti) in the back.
Its a Rubbermaid or Sterilite semi-transparent tote with a scrap of 2x4 and a recycled, frosted, plastic shower curtain folded over it.

Rhubarb.
I think this is the first garden item we planted when we moved in. It does well every year, but i never had the chance to make much of it, but i could have.  Anyway, when its up you know the ground is thawing out for sure!



Hoop test.
One of the 1/2'' PVC pieces, bent to a 4' wde base, steadied by a makeshift footing of cinder blocks. This way i know how high the hoops will be at the center....about 48".  I wanted to see what the minimum straddle i could get, 4 feet will be perfect since i am thinking i might try a hybrid Square Foot technique.  The hoops placed 4' apart and spaced 4' wide will mark my plots nicely...convenient. :-)


Lilac buds are swelling.
My camera can't take macros to save its existence.

Daffodill.
Trying to open, maybe by the time this area gets full sun today, it will.

Houseplants.

Goldfish plant. 
It finally bloomed. I grew this plant from a clipping i took from the waiting room of my Dr's office when i had my test to confirm my pregnancy that resulted in my second daughter. She turned one last month. :) It is quite lush and full now for starting from so tiny a piece.  I wish i had done something like that for my first daughter.

 
Bay Laurel.
 This foolish thing has been little more than a stick for over 8 years.  I have had this plant for a long time. I have used a few of its leaves. I think three years ago it finally developed a second branch- that forked bit at the top,  the shoot from the bottom developed around December of last year.  It has got to be the ugliest plant i own, but i keep it cause it is legitimately a useful plant.
I need to find a way to make it branch out more. I'd snip the tips, but since there are only 3 and they contain all the leaves i don't want to murder the thing.   I have been told to pot it in bigger pots, and in smaller pots... i fertilize it carefully.  It just drives me nuts for being ugly.

This is the plant shelf i made to hang above the sink, under the light.
I overwintered my 6 Hoyas and two of my 3 remaining Passiflora there. Darned spider mites took out my other Passiflora plants.  The window gets nice and bright and there is the tube light up there that comes on in the evenings.