Author Topic: It's Springing around here.... (Read 2986 times)

miguynmkoi · « **on:** February 05, 2013, 11:36:11 AM »

This weather is messing with my garden...it's cold one week, warm another and then back to cold again. Some plants are greening and blossoming then getting hit by frost.

This winter my Saucer Magnolia started blooming a few blossoms before it dropped its leaves in November.
Buds plumped up in January and now...
The blossoms are back...in force!

The days are still nippy (SoCal nippy, mind you

)

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #1 on:** February 05, 2013, 11:51:59 AM »

A few more growing things around the garden....
First lettuce pick of the season...would have been sooner but I forgot about them until I saw the bolting chicory! Difficult to eat a cold salad so with a few swishes in a hot wok with garlic. Yum! Vege serving for dinner.

Fava beans are growing bigger this year from the same plant from last Spring....is this possible? I don't know but it's growing!

I'm doing a lot of early Spring garden cleaning before it gets too hot to work in the sun. Lots of work, blah. While trimming the passion vine I found this year's 1st Gulf Fritillary caterpillars! I also found a few new butterflies shaking out their new wings. Cool!

Kittyzee · « **Reply #2 on:** February 05, 2013, 05:58:37 PM »

Thank you so much Annette for posting pics of green growing things!!

I'll be right over for the greens in garlic!! Wow, I can't believe how far ahead you are in the growing season. But our Walmart is putting things out in the garden center~

migsly · « **Reply #3 on:** February 06, 2013, 01:31:57 PM »

I wish I had a green thumb. Love those blossoms.

It's in the 70s here this week in the panhandle of Florida. I can't believe it. It's unusual for this time of year. But as LuAnn said in another post, the groundhog didn't see its shadow so spring is already here already

!

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #4 on:** February 07, 2013, 02:56:54 PM »

You are welcomed, LuAnn! Our weather has been hovering around 60* during the day and maybe dipping down to upper 40's, unless it gets really frosty. The sun is out most of the days making it a perfect time to garden. I'm lazy so not a lot is growing in the vege bed.

What I grow does not require a green thumb, migsly

Just dumb luck. It's only growing in my garden because it can pretty much grow anywhere. I just need to water when necessary and remember to fertilize.

My succulents are the easiest to grow without care. I know when I attend to them they surely die. All I really need to do is trim them back when they start to take over. Love gardening...HATE weeding!

Here are a few flowering succulents....

Kittyzee · « **Reply #5 on:** February 07, 2013, 06:42:51 PM »

<sigh>

What can I say? Are those kalanchoes blooming in the first pic? And string of pearls in the last? Oh my, I have to get one of those, I have a vacated spot in my kitchen window that needs filled....

migsly · « **Reply #6 on:** February 08, 2013, 04:16:21 PM »

Quote from: miguynmkoi on February 07, 2013, 02:56:54 PM

Just dumb luck.

I don't even have that.

But our yard is sandy so it's hard to grow things.

At first I thought that second pic was a chicken.

. Love the grapes. Didn't know they bloomed.

Pam · « **Reply #7 on:** February 09, 2013, 06:15:36 PM »

Everything is so beautiful! I am longing for spring!

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #8 on:** February 10, 2013, 04:08:23 PM »

You know your plants, LuAnn! Had to look up the name but I didn't realize these were kalanchoe. There are so many varieties! Very prolific and easy to propagate. The flowers are pretty pastel pink. When I need to trim this plant I just take the clippings and stick them into the dirt where I want another cluster. I have clay soil that's been amended with homemade compost/mix.
Just knowing and saying I have strings of pearls drapped around the garden makes me smile....cheaper than the real things and I have many different lengths

Migsly, have you seen hens and chicks? These are one variety I raise

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #9 on:** February 10, 2013, 04:11:49 PM »

Spring is just around the corner Pam....Punxsutawney Phil says so. Then why am I freezing!

Kittyzee · « **Reply #10 on:** February 10, 2013, 04:48:36 PM »

Annette, your photos always make me smile. I can only have kalanchoes in pots and then they get to looking leggy and bad after a while, since I can't transplant them outside here. I love string of pearls~any advice on growing them in pots?

migsly · « **Reply #11 on:** February 10, 2013, 09:51:23 PM »

Quote from: miguynmkoi on February 10, 2013, 04:08:23 PM

Migsly, have you seen hens and chicks? These are one variety I raise

The only thing that I plant that thrives in my sandy yard is lantana. But that's a weed so that explains it.

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #12 on:** February 11, 2013, 03:44:32 PM »

LuAnn, with my pearls I let them grow long; drape a few long pieces over a 2nd pot of soil (filled to the rim with soil that drains easily), arranged nicely and long enough to just drape over this pot's edge; cover the strings of pearl over the 2nd pot with soil. Moisten lighty, not wet. Let this sit for at least 2-3 weeks do not water unless soil is dry. Check to see if the strings have rooted. If they have cut the "cord" to mother plant.

I've found the pearl's do not like wet soil. They enjoy drying out in between watering. I have my pearls in light shade with just early morning or late afternoon sun. Otherwise they fry.

Here are some strands of my pearls....

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #13 on:** February 11, 2013, 03:54:40 PM »

The last 2 photos are the pearls in training for a new pot of pearls....I lay the strands on a tray and spritz them lightly...I figure this will get it to root besides lying horizontally which I think also get them to root...that's my (DH says "mad")scientist geeky method that works 50% of the time

Next photo shows a pot I made for a hostess gift;
Pearl River, an arrangement where the pearls are lying across the pot...they rooted by themselves along the strand where it touches soil!
Messy table with another potted pearl in prep to another pot (did that make sense?)

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #14 on:** February 11, 2013, 04:07:59 PM »

Just found a photo of this little planter my contractor made for a stone wall in my backyard. He drilled a small cavity into a tumbled brick size stone before using it. I just picked some small pieces of succulents around the yard and arranged them right into (cactus) soil filled into the cavity without watering for a week. I only spritz this planter weekly at most, as I forget about it more often than not, ugh.

And it's still alive since it was planted in July. Cool? It makes my brain smile!

Kittyzee · « **Reply #15 on:** February 11, 2013, 05:21:11 PM »

Oh my gosh, what great pics of your plants! First off, your explanations make perfect sense and I can't wait to get some pearls. I've never seen pearls that long or that healthy. I like the idea of pearls in training...and I can do some in a plastic lid like that too. Thank you so much for all the tips Annette!

I forgot to mention that last pic--a wonderful idea and I may try to figure something like that out for around here. It wouldn't work unless I could bring it in in the fall/winter, but something as small as a brick would work inside!

Mikey · « **Reply #16 on:** February 12, 2013, 09:36:49 AM »

Your greens look delish! We should have a good year for fruit producing trees because of so many evenings of temps dipping below 45 degrees.

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #17 on:** February 12, 2013, 05:57:34 PM »

Thanks LuAnn...my contractor has a good eye for details and he said he enjoyed working on my projects as it allowed him to use his artistic talents. The little stone planter was a very nice surprise. He used a small circular hand drill to make the cavity in a matter of minutes. I just bought a similar hand drill so that I can make a few more planters out of rocks left over from a project. There's that MUST DO-list!

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #18 on:** February 12, 2013, 06:00:27 PM »

Michael, you are so right, hopefully I'll be rolling in fruits from my trees!!!

I'm rolling in oranges and Meyer lemons now!! Your Lemoncello recipe is going to be useful...finally!

migsly · « **Reply #19 on:** February 12, 2013, 06:52:04 PM »

One time I planted a seed from a lemon I bought at a grocery store and it sprouted. It grew into a beautiful small tree, but no fruit or blooms. I guess it wasn't at that point yet. But one day I noticed the leaves were thinning. Every day the tree became more bare. I took a closer look and noticed a big fat caterpillar eating a leaf. I knocked it off but noticed a couple of more were doing the same. I knocked them off and brought the tree in the house. It was in a pot. The remainder of its leaves fell off and then it died. Phooey on those caterpillars.

But there is a silver lining to this story. Back when the tree was healthy I had snipped a branch off that was sticking out funny. I put it in some water and it grew roots. Then I planted it in the ground. It's thriving. Still small, but thriving. It's a piece of my beloved lemon tree living on.

Now, in defense of the caterpillars, I can't say for sure that they were the culprits. It may have been something else that killed the tree and they were simply on the scene. I would need Perry Mason to figure it out.

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #20 on:** February 14, 2013, 11:41:07 AM »

Migsly...cool experience growing a lemon from seed. I'm hoping to do that too with a tiny lemon seed from Mexico. The lemon is naturally quite small like a ping pong ball but very juicy and sweet (for a lemon). I've never had anything attack my citrus trees although there is a bug, I don't know the name, that is supposed to be very harmful to fruit trees in So Cal. Also those @#%@ rats or squirrels or opossums are eating ripe fruit...whether citrus, stone fruits, or apples

they are what I'm dealing with.

I didn't know fruit branch would root in water...I'll give that a try too.

migsly · « **Reply #21 on:** February 14, 2013, 12:10:29 PM »

The Mexican lemon sounds tasty, Annette. Do they sell them in stores?

I wrapped the little lemon tree branch at the bottom with a paper towel and put it in some water. I don't know if the paper towel helped or not but I heard that you are supposed to do that when trying to propagate a clipping. So might want to wrap the twig with a paper towel at the bottom to encourage root growth.

migsly · « **Reply #22 on:** February 18, 2013, 05:48:32 PM »

I planted some lantana today out front by the road. I just hope they are still there tomorrow. Folks walk their dogs on my street and I'm afraid one might dig them up.

You know how dogs can be. And you know how humans can be by letting them.

Anyway, I was surprised that there was some nice black soil by the road to plant them in. Don't know how that got there. The rest of our yard is sandy.

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #23 on:** February 18, 2013, 09:52:14 PM »

Thank you, Margo. I wish I knew the taste of the lemon. Just taking the word of my contractor. I was hoping to make a seed from the lemon into a tree...one can hope.