plants and other things...
YUCK! It is waaaay too hot!! The heat index was at least 113 today. Bleh. No way I could walk home in this weather. (thank you Ron and Michele for the ride home!!!). You know what's worse? The weather in Minnesota-we've only been at this extreme heat for about a day-they have been like this for a while now-along with the rest of the midwest. Gah!
Not sure if this extreme heat is good for my plants-can't get out and water them fast enough!!!
Speaking of plants, I've decided to devote this post to them-since I haven't done that in a while-sure this post would be more interesting with more photos-perhaps I will add some later. ;) (although I have posted some to my Twitter account, or, for more direct access, check out my Twitpic)
This year my outdoor container garden consists of most of the same plants I had last year-with the exception of no pumpkin or cucumber attempts. The marigolds are slightly different in terms of blooms, but the colors are still the same (yellow, orange, yellow&orange and red&orange) I have pink petunias as well as violet, silverdust, a magenta geranium, mini-sunflowers and a tomato plant. My lily only had 3 blooms this year-but the leaves are still very green. Next year I will have to repot it.
New this year-daisies (by seed-no blooms yet) and rose moss (portulaca). I'm also attempting to grow strawberries from seeds (not that I expect to get any fruit-it was one of my 'fun' plants) and chives. I also rescued a sweet potato plant from our communtity garden on campus (the Garden@Case). I didn't have a pot at the time, so I used an old coffee can-the sweet potato plant is already growing-I was worried because I had to leave it in a jar of water for a couple of days after I accidently pulled it up while weeding the sweet potato patch. I love rose moss-it's such a cool looking plant-plus the blooms are multicolored-so one plant can add a variety of color!
Portulaca, early summer
This year I put my tomato in a bigger pot-the plant is a healthy size-and the first 3 tomatoes are turning out nicely. Unfortunately, the fourth tomato had blossom end rot-which was a problem I had with my tomato plant last year. I was talking to my mom and she suggested adding eggshells to the soil to help add calcium (lack of calcium is one of the causes of blossom end rot) I've been saving eggshells all week-hopefully I'll get a chance to add them to the soil this Saturday. I have 8, possibly 9 new fruits growing on the plant-I would be sad if they all developed blossom end rot. :(
Speaking of vegetables-Case has a community garden! I've tweeted pics, but I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here. Spearheaded by members of the Anthropology Department and the Library, along with help from the University Farm, we started a vegetable garden!
So far I've had peas, cucumbers and brocolli from the garden. I have a freakin' huge summer squash that I really need to do something with soon (I want to make bread, but it's sooooo freakin' hot) I was really excited about the cucumbers and brocolli-I just had steamed brocolli for dinner-it was very, very yummy. ;) Next I am really excited about the corn (although we had a critter attack last night-probably racoons), watermelon, and...
PUMPKIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG, it is so freakin' huge!!! And there are at least 3 more growing in the garden! I LOVE PUMPKIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D
...I'm ok-really, I am. :)
Turns out I love gardening-whether it be in pots or in the ground, outdoors or indoors. I love seeing my plants grow and flourish! :)
(all pictures in this post are from my Twitpic account-click on the image for a bigger picture :) )
Not sure if this extreme heat is good for my plants-can't get out and water them fast enough!!!
Speaking of plants, I've decided to devote this post to them-since I haven't done that in a while-sure this post would be more interesting with more photos-perhaps I will add some later. ;) (although I have posted some to my Twitter account, or, for more direct access, check out my Twitpic)
This year my outdoor container garden consists of most of the same plants I had last year-with the exception of no pumpkin or cucumber attempts. The marigolds are slightly different in terms of blooms, but the colors are still the same (yellow, orange, yellow&orange and red&orange) I have pink petunias as well as violet, silverdust, a magenta geranium, mini-sunflowers and a tomato plant. My lily only had 3 blooms this year-but the leaves are still very green. Next year I will have to repot it.
New this year-daisies (by seed-no blooms yet) and rose moss (portulaca). I'm also attempting to grow strawberries from seeds (not that I expect to get any fruit-it was one of my 'fun' plants) and chives. I also rescued a sweet potato plant from our communtity garden on campus (the Garden@Case). I didn't have a pot at the time, so I used an old coffee can-the sweet potato plant is already growing-I was worried because I had to leave it in a jar of water for a couple of days after I accidently pulled it up while weeding the sweet potato patch. I love rose moss-it's such a cool looking plant-plus the blooms are multicolored-so one plant can add a variety of color!
Portulaca, early summer
This year I put my tomato in a bigger pot-the plant is a healthy size-and the first 3 tomatoes are turning out nicely. Unfortunately, the fourth tomato had blossom end rot-which was a problem I had with my tomato plant last year. I was talking to my mom and she suggested adding eggshells to the soil to help add calcium (lack of calcium is one of the causes of blossom end rot) I've been saving eggshells all week-hopefully I'll get a chance to add them to the soil this Saturday. I have 8, possibly 9 new fruits growing on the plant-I would be sad if they all developed blossom end rot. :(
Speaking of vegetables-Case has a community garden! I've tweeted pics, but I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here. Spearheaded by members of the Anthropology Department and the Library, along with help from the University Farm, we started a vegetable garden!
So far I've had peas, cucumbers and brocolli from the garden. I have a freakin' huge summer squash that I really need to do something with soon (I want to make bread, but it's sooooo freakin' hot) I was really excited about the cucumbers and brocolli-I just had steamed brocolli for dinner-it was very, very yummy. ;) Next I am really excited about the corn (although we had a critter attack last night-probably racoons), watermelon, and...
PUMPKIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG, it is so freakin' huge!!! And there are at least 3 more growing in the garden! I LOVE PUMPKIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D
...I'm ok-really, I am. :)
Turns out I love gardening-whether it be in pots or in the ground, outdoors or indoors. I love seeing my plants grow and flourish! :)
(all pictures in this post are from my Twitpic account-click on the image for a bigger picture :) )
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