Author Archives: joelignacio

I’ve moved…

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It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything… though I still regularly post photos to my flickr page which has acted as my photo blog/journal:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeysplanting/

I’ve also switched over to Blogger for my written journal. If you would like to add it to your LIveJournal friends list as a syndication, the feed URL is:
http://joeysplanting.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

You can also go directly to it at joeysplanting.blogspot.com…

I’ve been going through alot lately and now starting to get things back together. I’ve also added some of my LiveJournal friends to my RSS reader, so I can catch up on your post.

Mourning Dove Eggs

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As I was planting this evening, I noticed that a Mourning Dove was flying in our patio again. My Mom told me that it has been there since this afternoon. She then showed me her String of Pearls hanging plant, complete with new nest and eggs.

I’m kind of worried that the Mourning Dove will be too frightened with us being around and abandon the eggs… but she’s been in and around our patio for a while now, even after my Mom captured her for a few hours… and she actually returned. I’m just wishing the best for the Mourning Dove and will accommodate her as much as possible. Hopefully, we will see some healthy baby doves soon.

Mourning Dove Eggs

Getting Ready for Planting…

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I’ve been slowly getting ready for this season’s planting.

I’ve already pulled up some old (and bolting) Bok Choy, Daikon and Swiss Chard to make room for Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplant.

Nanay Harvesting Swiss Chard

I’ve been looking for tomato cages, but can’t seem to find the big ones; I’ve only seen the dinky 3 foot ones which are not tall enough. I did some searching online and found tomato cages made of PVC. That was an idea, but I found a welded wire mesh called Tomato Guard at OSH and thought I would try it. It rolls out to 5 x 20 feet and is enough to make 4 or 5 cages.

I’m going to use my old short Tomato Cages for Eggplants and Pepper.

While reading some forums online, I read about those water retaining crystals. I’ve known about these and seen them, but haven’t thought of getting them to the garden. They seem to be pricey, but I found a company that sells them in large quantities for a good price. I ordered 2 lbs. of medium polymers for $17.95 (includes shipping). I’m going to add these to my veggie beds and Coleus pots, because they then to dry out quickly.

Mourning Dove

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My Mom capture this Mourning Dove that got stuck in our backyard patio.

Captured Mourning Dove   Released Mourning Dove

I was afraid she wanted to keep it, but she said she just wanted me see it and take a picture of it. After photographing it, my Mom released it.

New Coleus (Yeay!)

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I got my Coleus order from Rosy Dawn Garden today. I ordered 13 total, plus they gave me a bonus one.

Me and My Package   Coleus Batch 1 (of 3)

Coleus Batch 2 (of 3)   Coleus Batch 3 (of 3)

Here’s a photo set that contains each one photographed individually.

You Know You’re a Gardener… (#9 Quiz)

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You know you’re a gardener when… you take a “How much of a gardener are you?” quiz.

Your gardening self-score is 79%.

 

This is a pretty serious passion for you, isn’t it? You’re out there, digging, amending, turning the compost, killing the bugs or even encouraging the beneficial insects. When you can’t be outside because of weather, you’re inside studying, diagramming, building, planning. You get everything out of your garden that you put into it, and probably soon you’ll be scoring even higher on this quiz.

How much of a gardener are you?
Make a Quiz

I found this in penguingardener journal.

Aquilegia flabellata ‘Nana Alba’?

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Aquilegia flabellata 'Nana Alba'?

I am so excited to see that one of my four surviving Columbines planted from seeds is just beginning to bloom… I’m doubly excite to see that it may be Aquilegia flabellata ‘Nana Alba’ which I have wanted for some time now.

The seeds were sent to me by fellow LiveJournal/Flickr user, lblanchard/lb_philly… Thank you so much Laura… They were difficult to germinate, but a few did. When they were big enough to transplant, all the ink on the tags faded and I couldn’t read them, so I didn’t know what varieties I had. I basically have to wait until they flowered.

I’ll keep checking this plant until the flower open, so I can snap a photo of it :)

Busy Nights…

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Tuesday, March 20, 2007

I asked Micheal, (one of my best friends) who started his own garden design business a few years ago, if he wanted some Agrostemma ‘Ocean Pearl’. He did, so I planted three more six-cell packs outside.

Later after dinner, I sowed more seeds from penguingardener (Maraming Salamat!):

– Tomato ‘Bloody Butcher’
– Easter Eggplant Hybrid

I then got zealous (is that the right word?) and even though it was late, decided to transplant the Tomato and some Eggplant seedlings into larger drinking cups.

Repotted Tomato Seedling Batch 1

OMG!!! That took a while… It was really really late, and I was only about half way done, so I decided to do the rest next next day.

Oh yeah… I found a mutant Tomato Seedling.

Mutant Tomato

This Tomato seedling either…
1. had a leaf bending down that went through a side stem, or
2. had another seedling fuse right into the stem, pinning one of its leaves.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

I started hardening off the Tomatoes and Eggplant seedlings I transplanted yesterday by taking it outside when I left for work, then bringing them in when I got home.

Michael emailed me asking if I can also plant some Bells of Ireland, so I passed by Target after work and bought some seeds.

I transplanted the rest of the Tomatoes into more drinking cups. I have so much!!! I think I have about 26 individual plants in drinking cups.

Repotted Tomato Seedling Batch 2

I then sowed some Pepper seeds:

– Tricolor Variegata Pepper
– Carmanola Rossa Pepper
– Topepo Rosso Pepper

The last two are from penguingardener (Maraming Salamat Ulit!):

I also performed surgery on three dying Coleus (Velvet Lime, Amazon and Dark Star Hybrid) that I mentioned yesterday.

Coleus I.C.U.

I really hope they survive!!!