Another Earthquake + Vlog + Repottings…

This morning, I was waken up by another earthquake. It sounded like someone pounded on my bedroom window and shook my loft bed… and since I was up on my loft bed, I thought to myself that I need to get down, just in case. I then saw on the news that it was another 3.7 magnitude earthquake and the epicenter was about at the same location as yesterday’s earthquake; about 6 miles south of us.

I’ve been watching YouTube quite a bit lately and have learned a lot about gardening, sewing, quilting, cooking, DIY projects, etc. There are several YouTubers who I admire and watch regularly… and this got me thinking… Maybe I should make some videos to add to this blog… So later this afternoon, I got out my FlipVideo MinoHD camera which I hardly use, since I don’t really do much video, and gave it a try. I got this camera as a gift for being the employee of the year at my previous job.

My first attempt was just an introduction to my seedlings in newspaper pots sitting in the front yard. I basically, showed my various Bok Choys, Chard, etc. It was though getting into it, but after a while I just kept talking and talking… which was weird, because I felt like I’m talking to myself.

I then shot another video of me transplanting my Daikon seedlings into a Dirt Pot fabric pot. I’m trying an experiment to see if how well Daikons will grow if I sowed them indoors under grow lights until they have sprouted for about 3 day, then hardening them off outside for a day or two. They were a bit leggy, but I buried them deep so the first set of leaves where just above the soil line. I haven’t had any luck growing Diakons in the past and hopefully this method may work, since it’ll be in full sun in the front yard.

I noticed that the volunteer Bells of Ireland plant was all dried up, so I pulled it up and collected its seeds. The bract-like stuff surrounding the seeds were aged and looked like lace… (I can’t think to the word for this process)… Many of the seeds already fell, so we should have some volunteers, but I’ll still plant all the seeds I collected into a 1-gallon pot to winter sow. I’ll transplant them once they sprout and develop a few leaves.

A bunch of plants in pots are in need of a bit of soil replenishing, before they started actively growing. First, I just added compost, azomite and worm castings to a small Daylily ‘Frank Hals’ pot to bring up the soil line.

I then emptied the pot of Orange Bottlebrush Ginger which really needed repotting. The roots were massive and winding around several times. There were two distinct branching of the Ginger corm and I decided to divide it in two. I didn’t really know what to do, so I just pretended it was a Bearded Iris. I cut a majority of the root ends leaving about 4 inches on the corm and broke away the oldest corm segments. I then repotted the two cleaned up corms into a larger 5-gallon pot. I hope this encourages this Ginger to flower. Its only flowered once in the past and I was away, so I didn’t see it.

I found another small pot of a Peruvian Daffodil which I think will benefit with new soil. I dug the bulbs up and there were 5 healthy bulbs all close together. I can’t remember how many I originally started with and I can’t seem to find a record of when I bought these. I spread the bulb apart and repotted them with some added compost, azomite and worm castings.

Tiny Pineapple Sprout…

48 days after sowing… I finally see a tiny Pineapple sprout.

Pineapple Sprout

Lithops, Tomato, Eggplant and Pepper Seedlings

Six day old Lithops seedlings:

Lithops Seedlings (6 Days Old)   Lithops Seedlings (6 Days Old)

2+ week old Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplant seedlings:

More Nightshade Seedlings (2 Weeks Old)   Tomato Seedlings (2 Weeks + 2 Days Old)

I Just Gotta Do What I Can!

Sometimes I feel like I have so much plant and gardening projects going on, that I don’t have time for it all.

For example I’ve been wanting to build up two of the three garden beds in the back yard, but haven’t had the chance to. I still have bolting Swiss Chard and radishes and I have not amended the soil.

I just checked the planting chart I have pinned to my wall, and I think I am still okay to plant vegetables for the summer. Maybe I’m just getting anxious with the little time I have after work… or maybe I’m getting discouraged when I see fully grown tomatoes and peppers in the stores, when the one that I planted from seeds are still little… but I just checked mine and they have continued to grow since I took them outside. So maybe I’m just stressing over nothing.

My Mom just reminded me that she found the scions that I got in January. Oh my! I thought they were dead… but some are still buds, some are a little bit open and some that sprouted are dried up and dead… but all of them don’t seem dried out. I’m still going to try to graft these even thought it’s late. Who knows…

Anyways, I was going to complain more, but I see that I just have to do what I can and learn from it. I think I have to ask for a few days off to tend to the garden :)

BTW, remember the tomato seedlings that I cut and rooted because they looked like they were dying?.. Well, I just check them and they have really bounced back and look much more full of GREEN leaves than the seedlings that I didn’t cut.

Also, remember the Pineapple we got about a week and a half ago… I placed the Pineapple top in water and it has started to show signs of roots!!! YEAY!

OK… I’m tired… I must get ready for bed…