Seedlings, Bulbs, and Spring

I've been having some trouble keeping up with my blogs lately, due to family health problems, being busy, and lack of a camera.

My seedlings are doing well, although the Calendula may need to be replanted. I seem to recall the same thing happening last year - I would move them to a larger container, and then they'd die. I think I should start them in the transplant container from now on.

The Four o' Clocks have a second set of leaves now, as do some of the peppers. I'm still waiting for the tomatoes to get their second set of leaves. Once they do, I will move them to a creamer container, with the sides folded down. As they grow, I will fold the sides up and add more dirt, the same way I did last year.

My African Violet is going to bloom again - I'm so happy it's still alive. I guess they just don't like living in my room.

Outside, the snow has melted (again) and this time it's supposed to stay melted (as long as the weatherman hasn't changed the forecast). The bulbs are all sending up foliage, but the only ones to bloom have been the snowdrops.
This post by Curtis over at Growing Thumbs really got me thinking about my blogging. A few weeks back I realized that I've been spending way too much time on the computer reading blogs, writing posts, and playing games, and not enough time helping my Mom with chores, cooking, and groceries. To fix my problem, I started by staying away from the computer between Saturday morning and Monday morning. At that point I realized that I was subscribed to a lot of blogs, and that I didn't want to spend Mondays reading 200+ blog posts. According to Google Reader, I was subscribed to 136 blogs. Now, it's 99 blogs, and fewer posts to read on Monday.
Planning out and keeping to a personal schedule has alway been difficult for me, but I'm going to give it another try, and set aside one day a week to write blog posts. I'm also in the midst of setting up a personal business, follow the link to help me think up a name for it. I still enjoy blogging and reading blogs, and hopefully I can keep it that way.

Happy Gardening {and blogging!}
~Sarah

Gardenscape 2008/GTS 3-23-08

Green Thumb Sunday
Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday; visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

I've decided to post my Gardenscape pictures for GTS. I have not cropped any of them, so they may take a while to load.

This was my favorite. The description puts it much better than I could: "Mother Nature takes Over" 'What would happen if we left the office for a break and never returned? At Birchcrest Tree & Landscape, we asked that question, wondering what would happen if Mother Nature took over. Here is the answer! To our surprise, a garden began to grow. The seed packs meant for a customer sprouted up in the bag of topsoil we left behind. The untrimmed tree burst through the window and a family of cardinals has made a new home. A desk took root and became a part of the landscape. How do we reclaim our workspace? Maybe we won't! We'll take our paperwork elsewhere and allow this garden the life it deserves.'
The tree trunk on the right grew up through the floor. There are grasses growing out the top of the computer and the keyboard. On the left, is a chest of drawers with bulbs growing in the drawers. Also on the very right you can see the cardinals. They are a little more visible in the picture below.
This was part of the bonsai exhibit. I've always enjoyed seeing bonsai, and someday when I have time, space, and a lot more patience, I may give it a try.

The pictures above and below are of a really neat pond arrangement. The plants in the water were fastened to the bottom somehow so that they wouldn't float away. In the center was a Japanese Maple tree. I really liked the signs they used to label the plants. You can see one in the picture below.
The picture below amuses me immensely. This display is by General Motors. I find it rather funny to see a couple of cars surrounded by bulbs and flowers. Not exactly a natural landscape.
This wall of Petunias uses a system I've been reading about lately, and have been curious to see how it works. There was another display using this system, but it all grass, and not overly exciting.

I really enjoyed Gardenscape, and hope to go next year. I hope you enjoyed my photos. Happy GTS!
~Sarah

Annual Invasion of the Seedlings

The seedlings have once again invaded my room. Last year was supposed to be the last year, since we were planning to build a grow light system in our basement. Due to a lack of electrical outlets and my Father's health preventing him from installing more, the plants are once again in my room. Hopefully next year we will be able to have a light system. Until then, I will be thankful that I rearranged my room when I painted it last summer and have space for a 30x30 table in front of my window. Last year I 'only' had enough room for two TV trays.
The large 'greenhouse' on the right has snapdragons, petunias, 3 varieties of calendula, black eyed susan vine, verbascum, and a few strawflowers. I'm planning to plant more strawflowers, but didn't have space for another flat (until I got out the table; now there's space downstairs for it.) The mini greenhouse in the center has my pepper plants. They are getting tall, and today I had to take the top off. The 'greenhouse' on the left has tomato plants (Mrs. Benson and Brandywines) and 3 small pots of herbs. The flat in the front of the picture has my four o' clocks, and 4 tomato plants that got too tall for the greenhouse.

So far I have learned that I should not have started the Calendula and Four o' Clocks as early as I did. I think they will be ok as long as they are in large enough pots, but they may get a little tall and gangly before planting weekend comes around.

My next post will be about Gardenscape 2008. I will not crop the pictures before posting, so it may take a while to load.
~Sarah

Unplanned Blog Hiatus

I just wanted to let you all know that I haven't fallen off the blogosphere. Someone decided to be generous with their germs, and I got a nasty cold. I meant to write a few posts last week, and do some pictures for GBBD.

A quick look at what's been going on:

• My seeds are sprouting - Tomatoes, Peppers, and one flat of flower seeds
• The rest of the seeds I ordered have arrived
• I went to Gardenscape with my Grandma and took some pictures that I will post soon.
  
• The snow is melting again....will it stay melted??

I'm planning several posts for this week. It remains to be seen if I will actually post them, so stay tuned.
I didn't comment on any blogs last week - my computer was untouched for almost 4 days. Anyway, the GBBD pictures were gorgeous, as were the GTS pictures.
~Sarah

GTS Pictures for 3-9-08

Green Thumb Sunday
Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday; visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Late again with my GTS post. I even had it planned out yesterday, but didn't take the pictures until this evening. The first is of my Pepper Greenhouse Kit. All the peppers have sprouted. When they are bigger I will transfer them to larger pots.
The second is of a Hyacinth I bought myself on my birthday. I've been waiting for it to flower before I shared it. I was hoping that it would bloom for GBBD, but I don't know if it will last that long. Don't they usually send up a stalk before flowering? Maybe the bulb sat around to long before I started it. Anyway, the flowers are cheery to have around during this dull gray weather.

Wintersowing

I've decided to give wintersowing a try. Garden bloggers have been talking about it for a while, and I was very intrigued by it. Tina left a link in my comments, (thanks Tina!) and I decided to give it a try - next year.
Then one day as Mom was heading out the door to do grocery shopping she asked me to 'do something about the mess in the fridge.' This translates to 'can you organize the leftover shelf so we have space for all the groceries I'm going to buy.' I got a little carried away and organized the entire fridge. In the process I found some seeds from a few years ago. Five years ago, to be exact. I started thinking, maybe I should try wintersowing. After all, what's the worst that could happen? If the seeds don't sprout, it won't be like I wasted money on them, right?
The seeds I found and planted were Chives, Parsley, Oregano, Basil, Thyme, Phacelia, and Cilantro. I decided to put them out in my garden where the dog and other critters can't get to them, and I hope they're short enough that the wind won't blow them over.
~Sarah

Great Big Plants

A month or so ago, I received an offer to try Great Big Plants Organic Liquid Compost for free. Since I won't pass up anything free, I decided to give it a try. I'm pretty skeptical about this sort of thing, but this stuff works! It has revived my ailing catnip, my Mom's aloe, and several other plants. I'm not using it every week so that it will last longer. I'll definitely be using this when I plant my seedlings and try it in place of the Miracle-Gro fertilizer I was using on the vegetables.
It is incredibly easy to use. I thoroughly cleaned a one gallon milk jug, added 4 oz of Great Big Plants, and filled it with water. The bottle of Great Big Plants has a handy measuring guide on the side that is marked in 4 oz increments.

I will give an update when I start my seeds and compare sprouting times and growth speed to last year's plants.
~Sarah

Green Thumb Sunday 3-2-08

Green Thumb Sunday

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday; visit As the Garden Grows for more information.
I took these pictures on Monday, when the snow was melted and and the sun was shining.
~Sarah