As I was walking back to work from lunch today, I happen to see this pink flower, so I snapped a photo.
Once I got to work and looked at the photo, I realized that this is a Passiflora, so I went back and took a cutting and a fruit. I’m going to try to propagate this by both cutting and seed (if there are any viable seeds).
When I got home from work, it was almost dark, but I wanted to just put the Elephant Garlic into the ground to start growing. Before I started, with flashlight in hand, I checked the Swiss Chard, Lettuce and Boy Choy I repotted yesterday…
AHHHHRRRGGGG! Something ate them!!!
All the Lettuce were completely gone. All the Bok Choy were gone with the exception of a few decapitated ones. Luckily, most of Swiss Chard were fine, but it looked like a few were pecked at or nibbled on. (I guess birds–or whatever ate the seedling–don’t like Swiss Chard that much)
I’m suspecting that the birds ate them, because I’ve noticed them in various parts of the garden, when I have been gardening. I also found these marks on one of my Snow Pea leaves:
I resowed Lettuce and Bok Choy seeds and hope they grow quickly to replace the ones I lost. I placed the plastic cover from my large Jiffy Greenhouse Trays… Luckily it’s the perfect size for these trays.
I did quite a lot of gardening this weekend.
The weather is getting cooler and it was overcast pretty much the whole weekend. Leaves are changing colors and the summer vegetables are slowing down. There was a lot of leaves from the Pears and Apples to sweep up and I cut off more of the dying leaves on the Tomatoes and Cucumbers.
The Lettuce, Swiss Chard and Bok Choy that I planted about 2 weeks ago are getting crowded in the six packs, so I divided them up and planted 3-4 seedlings into 3 inch pots. (I have to remember that one Swiss Chard seed actually comprise of many seeds) I’ll let these grow a bit until I have space to plant them in the vegetable beds.
( before photo – after photo )
My brother went to a yard sale and bought a whole box of terra cotta pots (with 3 bags of cactus mix included) for only $3.00… what a deal! ( photo )
I potted the three $1.00 Cactus and Succulents into pots. ( photo )
As I was planting the Cactus, a spider paid a visit and I think it took residence on the Cactus. ( photo )
It seemed to be a spider weekend. I must have seen 4 different spiders, but I guess that’s not too unusual when you are cleaning up around the garden. Here are two of my favorite photos:
Lastly, I harvested the first big batch of Tomatoes… along with Pears and Lemon Cucumber.
Yeay! Good night :)
As I was walking to the carpool from work on Monday, I noticed a low growing plant with yellow flowers in a landscaped area near a park. At first glance, I thought it was an Orchid, but that would be silly… so I took a closer look and had to take a photo.
Last night, I posted the photo on Flickr and someone identified it as a Sticky Monkey Flower.
I got curious about the plant, especially the name… So I took zip-lock in hand with a moist paper towel and set out to take a cutting on my way to the carpool from work.
Now, I know why this plant has “sticky” in it’s name… It’s leaves are sticky!!!… but I took a small cutting and brought it home… and potted it up.
I hope it survives.
Today is my Mother’s birthday, so I took the day off to do anything she wants to.
We started the day by going to DMV to getting her ID card renewed. When they gave us forms to fill out, I noticed that out of all the clipboard they had, they gave us one that had yellow flowers drawn on it.
Afterwards, we went to the dollar store (I found out it’s actually a 99¢ store) to see if they had new garden stuff. I bought some bulbs ( photo ) , and terra cotta pot and an Elephant Garlic bulb (from the grocery area). I’m actually going to plant the Elephant Garlic and see if they grow. Not bad for 99¢.
When we got home, we just worked on the garden. The Sunflowers ( photo ) in the front yard are dying, so I chopped them down. I had four piles: stalks, seeds for the bird to eat, seeds for next year and stems and leaves for the compost pile.
My brother then came home with two new plants for my Mom. A variegated Raspberry Ice Bougainvillea and a dual colored Thai Delight Bougainvillea.
I sowed some seed:
– Sweet Peas ‘Streamer Mix’
– Mighty Red Oak Lettuce
– Bloomsdale Savoy Spinach
I planted the Snap Peas seedling from the six pack to veggie bed #1, using the Sunflower stalks that I chopped down earlier as support for these.
I also pulled out the dead Sikkim Cucumbers plants and cut the bottom dead leaves off of the Lemon Cucumber and Tomatoes.
Someone at work brought in some homegrown Cherry Tomatoes… and they were yummy.
I wish I had grown some this year. I decided not to plant any, which was a mistake, because I miss having little Cherry Tomatoes to snack on when I’m in the garden.
Things I learnt:
– I have to plant them in the ground earlier.
– One thing I noticed this year was that the cutting from one of my tomato plants grew a lot bigger and healthier than the mother plant. I wonder if I should just plant one plant and take cuttings from it next year… hmmm?
– I won’t plant Great White Tomato next year, because I didn’t like it that much. I’ll concentrate on Brandywine, a cherry tomato and Roma.
I took more Coleus (and Plectranthus) cuttings today… As I was tagging the photos on Flickr, I noticed that I missed some plants, so I probably will have to have a Part 3.
I actually didn’t do much… because I napped a lot today…
I happened to check the Columbine seedlings ( sown seeds photo ) which I thought were either dead or would never grow, but surprisingly, there where a couple that sprouted and grew… though small and thin. I took them out of the vermiculite and planted each one in a pot. I hope they will continue to grow.
Today, I was finally able to do some gardening. (It’s been getting dark outside when I get home from work)
I started the day by getting the oil changed in my car. While I was waiting, I found a whole bunch of cactus and succulents at the dollar store. I ended up buying three. ( photo )
The Snow Peas that I planted last week are doing well. I’m glad the pincher bugs or slugs didn’t get to them.
I planted more Snap Peas, because not all of the ones I planted last week germinated. I was going to plant these where the Lemon Cucumbers are, but they are still fruiting, so I need to find another place for them.
Speaking of Lemon Cucumbers, I harvest a lot today. I didn’t see a lot of them because they were hiding the leaves.
As I was looking through the veggie beds, I decided to pull up the Gold Rush Zucchini since it was dying down and I didn’t really like the fruits. In its place, I set up some trellises and added some compost. I’ll plant the Snap Peas here once they get bigger.
I then had the urge to plant… So I took a few Coleus cuttings, which I will overwinter for next year… Then I took more and more and ended up taking more than 30 cuttings.
