Overcast, But Lots of Gardening Done…

It was pretty much overcast the whole day but I got a lot done in the garden.

I moved a lot of pots with dead plants (annuals) from the front garden to the container graveyard in the back. I’ll rejuvenate the soil in these pots with compost, azomite, worm castings and the whole bit, when I find something else to plant in them. I moved three pots of Hyacinths which are now blooming to the front as well as the pot of Daffodil ‘Dick Widen’, Tulip ‘Pastel Mix’ and Tulip ‘Queen of the Night’. I don’t think the Tulips will rebloom this year, but there are 2-3 Daffodils that survived and are budded.

I took the water sprayer again and sprayed off the gray Aphids that remain on the Collards, Kale and Brussels Sprouts. There are much less Aphids than before, but a few remain.

We had a dwarf Calamansi tree in a huge pot that died last year and I finally got around to pulling it out (it was actually my Brother’s tree, so I thought he would take care of it). I asked my Mom if I can plant her Pomegranate that’s in a 5-gallon pot in the back yard to this larger pot. I think it’ll do much better here in a larger pot under full sun. I’ll also add a lots of compost, azomite and worm castings in the pot before potting up the Pomegranate. My Mom was complaining that the Pomegranate hasn’t bore fruit, but it’s siblings that she gave my Aunts already had fruits.

I have two 3-gallon pots of Blue Curled Scotch Kale (3 plants in each pot) that are getting bigger, so I think I’ll divide one pot and plant each plant into their own 3-galloon pot. I then had an idea and though of planting some dwarf Snap Peas ‘Sugar Ann’ that I purchased a few days ago around the Kale. I think Kale, being a leafy green, likes Nitrogen… and Snap Peas produce Nitrogen in it’s roots, so maybe they’ll be happy together… Well, we’ll see…

I then planted a 7-gallon Dirt Pot with the Walla Walla Sweet Onions seedlings that I bought a few days ago. I think I got about 11 seedlings into the pot. I had 6 seedlings leftover, so I potted those up into a large 6 cell pack and will plant it in the Square Foot Garden later.

It was getting dark and starting to sprinkle, but I planted two 1-gallon pots with seeds I found. One with the Daylily seeds I found in Mare Island and the other with the Orange Calendula I found at Prusch Park in San Jose. I hope these grow.

Now it’s raining, so I don’t have to water the plants :) That’s a good thing.

Bunch of Plants Purchased and Potted Up…

It started to rain last night and for some reason I felt the need to buy some leafy winter vegetable starts, so I visited Mid City Nursery this afternoon. I didn’t find any leafy vegetables, but I got a six-pack of Walla Walla Sweet Onions which contained about 17 seedlings. I haven’t grew big Onions, so this will be good experience.

I also looked for different colored Carrots and found Blend of Colors Carrot seeds which contains 4 varieties: Cosmic Purple, Lunar White, Solar Yellow and Atomic Red.

I also wanted to try Parsnips, so I got a packet of seeds, but when I got home, I discovered they were not Parnips, but Parsley… actually Hamburg Root Parsley ‘Piestruska’ which seems similar to Parsnips, so these will do. I’m interested in trying them out.

Hmm… This just popped into my head… I just realized that Parsnips kinda sounds like a combination or Parsley and Turnips. I wonder if that’s how it got the name. Although, I think they are from two different families. I’ll have to look that up.

I then visited our local Lowe’s to get some potting soil. I also purchased:
Wallflower sp. (six-pack)
Calendula ‘Calypso’ (yellow with black centers)
Spinach ‘Bonnie’ (2 four-packs)
Collard ‘Georgia Hybrid’ (four-pack)
Asparagus ‘Jersey Giant’ (3 bare roots)

When I got home I potted up a bunch of seedlings (grown from seeds indoor under grow lights) into newspaper pots. These include:
Mustard ‘Crimson Red’
Pak Choi ‘Purple Choi’
California Poppy ‘Mission Belle’
Japanese Chard ‘Umaina’
Swiss Chard ‘Witerbi Mangold’

The Snap Pea ‘Sugar Ann’ seeds that I soaked are just starting to sprout roots, so I planted those into about 22 newspaper pots.

Father’s Day Gardening…

After having a great Father’s Day with a big BBQ lunch for my brother… then a short nap… I work in the garden a bit.

I’m slowly cleaning up the Square Foot Beds and this evening I started collecting seeds from the dried up volunteer Wild Calendula plants so I can cut them down to make room for new plants. There were quite a few seeds and I’m sure several dropped before I got to collect them… but those will form the plants for next year.

Dried Wild Calendula Wild Calendula Seeds

As I was cutting the Wild Calendula, my Mom started cutting down the bolting Beets Folia in a nearby square. These Beets are actually pretty old–they were planted May 2008… and I don’t have the heart to chop them down completely. I’ll just let them grow and pick off the young leave to use for greens… though I’m debating weather to move them or just let them stay at there current location.

I noticed that the volunteer Cerinthes Folia are already dropping seeds…

First Plum Harvest

I picked my first Plum Folia fruit from the tree next to the sink. It’s not completely ripe but still good… sweet with a little tartness. Yumm!

It Was a Really Busy Garden Day…

  • 12:24pm I like how Guy Fieri (Guy’s Big Bite) promotes composting kitchen scraps, even if it’s just in a bucket for your houseplants. #
  • 12:45pm Spring Starflower, Snapdragons, Daffodils, Candytuff and Calendula are blooming in our backyard… #
    Spring Starflower  Daffodils  Mini Daffodils  Calendula 'Pacific Beauty'  Candytuff
  • CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF MY BUSY GARDENING DAY

More Found Plants + More Sowing

Found Succulents and Asparagus Fern Seeds
I collected a few cutting along my way to work this morning. I got a sprig of Fairy Crassula (Crassula multicava) and an unusual relative of the Ice Plant (Oscularia deltoides). I also found some Aspargus Fern seeds (Asparagus densiflorus ‘Meyersii’).

Potted Succulents   Potted Succulents

Once I got home, I planted these as well as the three other succulents that I found last Saturday.

I sowed a few more seeds:

Red Pear Tomato from penguingardener
Wonder Light Tomato (Lemon-like Yellow Heirloom Tomato) also from penguingardener (Thank you, Thank you!!)

Red Texas Star Hibiscus from gypsy_soul
Pink Flowering Maple (Abutilon) also from gypsy_soul (Thank you, Thank you!!)

A few more seed just started to sprout:

Orange Ornamental Peppers from Virginia (sown 3/1, 7 days)
Calendula ‘Pacific Beauty’ (sown 2/20, 16 days)

Seeds + Scions

I sowed a three types of flower seeds today:

Meadow Foam
Calendula ‘Pacific Beauty’
Zinger Calendula from treebreeze (Thank you!)

Calendula Seeds

I took some of the scions that I got from the scion exchange that I wasn’t going to graft and stuck them in soil. I hope that they take root so I’ll have new plants.

Potted Scions

Some of the scions include: Grapes, Kiwi Fruits, Figs, Autumn Olive, Elaeagnus macrophylla, Edible Dogwood and Jujube

Hello Praying Mantis…

After work (Wednesday), I drove over to Yard Bird to see if they had some cheap big pots. I found some 12 incher for $1.97 and got 5. I walked around looking at what trees they had. I’ve been trying to get ideas on what trees to get once I get my own house.

While walking around, I found a Coleus called “Dark Star“, that has very dark foliage that are almost black. I had to get it.

When I got home and separated the pots, I found a baby Praying Mantis hiding between the pots. I was only about an inch long and really cute. I placed it on my cucumber plants and took photos. Hopefully it’ll be okay and survive. Maybe I’ll see it again once it grows up. Praying Mantis are rare in our neighborhood. I’ve only seen 1 in all the years I’ve been gardening.

I potted the Coleus that I didn’t plant yesterday along with two Kongs that I rooted in the new pots. Some were too big so I took some Jade, New Orleans Red and Dark Star cuttings.

It was starting to get dark, but I wanted to finish one more chore. I got some soil conditioner and steer manure and amended a little flat in the front yard so I can plant a six pack of Snapdragons that my brother bought. I also transplanted 5 pots of Calendula that I grew from seeds