Plants Plants Everywhere!

The garden is doing well. The only real problem so far has been trying to find room for all the plants. I've got squash and corn lined up on the deck waiting for homes. I didn't want to plant the squash in the plots too close together, so I very quickly ran out of room. The squash is all going to be trellaced outside of the plot, that's the plan anyway. I am hoping to get a place out front for all the pumpkins. My idea to plant corn in the front yard was quickly vetoed, apparently that isn't up to neighborhood code (aka it makes us look like rednecks). I thought rednecks in Redding was all the rage now, but I guess suburbia has an image to uphold or something. So now I have to find someplace else for the corn, which is no easy feat seeing as how our house and most of this area lives on rock. Until I get enough muscles to swing a pickaxe the corn will be living on the deck. I hope they aren't holding their breathe or stomata (that's a plant joke, although not a funny one or probably even a correct one).

I have also found myself with a multitude of tomato plants. My mom got a little bit (by that I mean a lot) excited about growing her favorite tomato plant, the yellow pear tomato. So now we have over 20 of them, which she thinks might be enough. What are we going to do with so many yellow pear tomatoes? I don't know, but if that's what makes mom happy, I'm happy to be of service. So far I have 6 in the ground, one in a huge pot, and three more in a hanging bag garden. The rest as you can see in the picture are still in their start container waiting for me to come up with homes for them. Oh and just so you understand the tomato situation a little better, we are also growing four other types of tomatoes as well. Looks like we are going to be eating salsa with every meal this summer and learning how to make our own tomato sauce.

By no means am I complaining about our abundance. It's exciting! All this time, effort, and expensive water is really paying off. Now maybe a beefy guy with a pickaxe will show up and make another garden bed for me out of this rocky clay we call soil around here. Is that asking too much?

In Memory of Mercury

The last few months have been a time of transition for me. I've had to give up a lot in order to make some positive changes in my life and most of them have not been easy. After the dust had started to settle and I was just beginning to realize everything was really going to be fine, another loss came knocking on my door. Mercury, the little grey cat who's owned me for the past four years disapeared. I searched high and low for her, but she's gone. I miss her terribly!

Mercury, aka Turkey, was by no means a little angel. She got the name Beast Cat for a reason. She was always trying to let you know it was her who was in control. We all routinely got swatted by her when we forgot this. She did have her redeeming qualities, she rode in the car on long trips well, she walked on a leash, and she had an entertaining obession with her many teddy bears (all named Ralph) and her extensive collection of live strong bands (aka Lance bands). When she did decide it was time for cuddling, there was no way anyone was going to deny her.

In honor of her I am planting a lavender garden. She loved lavender almost as much as I do. I used to picked huge bunches of it to make lavender wands and she would sit with me the whole time and chew the pieces I wasn't using. She was always trying to get into the basket with the lavender too, we had a many a fights about this.

This morning I went to the Farmers Market and bought a provencial lavender plant for her. Provencial lavender is very fragrant and has long stems perfect for wand making. Her garden should be done in the next few weeks so her little kitty spirit will have a place to rest and eat lavender stems. I can only hope she knows how much I love and miss her!

Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!

The weather is gorgeous, the dogwood trees are blooming, and our garden is on it's way.

I recently discovered my mom's parents used to have vegetable gardens. This was news to me. I thought my grandma just really like growing flowers. They heard about all my garden woes and took pity on me and gave me two garden boxes to grow in. The soil in this part of town is rocky to say the least and I wasn't going to be able to have a garden without some back breaking work. I have enough back problems without trying to turn rocks into a successful garden.

So last weekend my parents, sister, and I got the boxes and fresh organic soil all ready for planting. It took most of the day, because we had to clear spots and cut back trees and a bunch of other yard work to make sure everything was perfect. They aren't much to look at right now, but they are perfect. I have planted three different kinds of carrots, onions, and snap peas. I feel like I am running out of room already. I still need to be able to transplant four different kinds of tomatoes and several squash. I think we are going to have to get creative. This is the first year I've started nearly everything from seed. I'm still a little nervous that I am going to wake up one morning and everything will be dead. So far the tomatoes, basil, pumpkins, butternut and spaghetti squash, cucumbers, zucchini, and corn are all doing really well. I'm also growing flowers to bring in pollinators and attract good bugs. If things keep going this smoothly, this could be my best year yet.

Change of Scenery

I've heard it said that your life can change in an instant. Well, it may not have been an instant, but it sure felt like it. Some life altering events have led me to make some huge life changes in a very short amount of time. The biggest change has been my move back home to Northern California. This move was not part of the future I had been planning, but sometimes you just have to trust that everything will work out. A little faith can go a long ways.

Unfortunately, I had to leave quite a few of my houseplants with new homes. I also had to give up my community garden that I was so involved in. On the bright side my family has happily indulged my plant obsession. We have started our vegetables indoors and we are getting our raised beds ready for planting. I think this is my family's first vegetable garden and my first garden without the support of my community garden. I'm a little scared, but I'm really excited too.

Also, on a completely different green note. I just got a job. I am going to be building and maintaining a website and marketing for a local skin care clinic. A little extra green in my pocket will help me finance my green revolution.

Sorry, no pictures today. My camera needs to be charged, but there will be some of the new garden coming very soon.

My Maui Plants

Today was a good day, but not a very productive day. I had planned to take pictures for my Etsy shop, but after a long overseas skype call with my best friend I was a little behind. By the time 2 pm rolled around I was still in my pjs watching Rick Steves travel around southern France. All the while I was eating half a bag of chips and excitedly explaining to the cat that I had been to that city before and "oh oh...I ate at that cafe." The cat finally got sick of me and went to take a nap in the other room.

Fast forward a few hours and I'm getting ready to meet my sister and a friend for happy hour, I reached for the lotion I bought last year in Maui when I went to visit my cousin for spring break. It is some cheap plumeria lotion from the ABC stores that are so prolific on Hawaii. I love the way it smells. Everyone else who smells it, thinks it is overbearing and too flowery. Too flowery, is there such a thing? It's plumeria, what's not to love? I know you are wondering how I am going to tie this into plants, don't worry I'm almost there.

Maui was exactly what I needed last year. It allowed me to get through my last quarter of school without having a mental breakdown. I'll spare you the walk down memory lane except to say I also scored some awesome plants while I was there. At another ABC store I bought one of those plumeria sticks in the bag and amazingly after some TLC and some sunshine it bloomed (see picture above). My other Maui pride and joy is one of those plants that's fused to a lava rock. I should know what its called, but I don't. I love it though and somehow it is actually pretty happy living in Oregon. It lives in salsa dish my mom gave me for hosting parties. It seems to like it and I don't plan on hosting any salsa parties in the near future so it's a win win.

I'm all out of lotion now. Unless the plumeria stick starts producing flowers, I'm going to have go buy a new bottle. This would be a lot easier if we had a local ABC store in downtown Portland.

Sweet Potato and Ginger Houseplants

A few weeks ago I was getting really ancy for spring, but it was still too early to start anything. So I went online and searched for indoor projects. That's how I stumbled apon sweet potato plants. I had no idea you could grow a sweet potato indoors. It just so happened I had a sweet potato, so I stuck some toothpicks in it and suspeneded it in a big glass of water. It took a while, but roots started forming and then a little tiny purple bud started. Supposedly, it was going to produce long purple vines.

While I was waititng for the sweet potato I also discovered you could grow ginger inside. I love ginger root, so I went to the store and bought a few roots. The first root I suspended in water just like the sweet potato. The second one I planted in a little pot and put it in a south facing window. The third one I skinned, diced up and put in the freezer. You never know when you are going to need a little ginger for a recipe or tea for an upset tummy. I wanted to see which one of the first two were going to sprout first. The competition between the two gingers was on, but niether one seemed all that competitive and they have been taking their sweet time.

Well, over the last week or so the sweet potato has taken off. The root system is incredible and it has little purple and green leaves (see picture below). It probably wants to be planted, but I haven't decided exactly what I want to do with it yet. I can put it in a pot and keep it as a houseplant or I plant it outside in the garden and cross my fingers it will make more delicious sweet potatoes. I LOVE sweet potatoes, but I also LOVE houseplants especially ones I grew myself. To help with this decision I went out and bought a whole bunch more sweet potatoes. Actually, I don't think it's helping at all. Now I just have more options and feel even more confused. I think I am going to give myself another week to decide and see what it does.

The ginger competition is pretty uneventful. Both gingers got little nobs on them, but other than that nothing. As the sole judge and only person who really cares. I am going to say the one in the jar is winning. It's nobs are starting to turn green. That must be a sign of something.

If you want to try this at home or just find out more you can search these topics on ehow.com , it's where I got all my top secret plant information.

Preparing for Spring

Yesterday we sprang forward into spring. I smiled the whole time I reset all the clocks in the apartment. Spring is really coming. The weather here is still trying to convince us otherwise though. This morning we woke to snow. It didn't really stick, but still, snow in march...what is mother nature thinking? Probably, something along the lines of, "if you don't care about me, why should I care about you?"

Anyway, I am ready for spring and I will continue to prepare even if the weather refuses to cooperate. Nate and I went and bought seeds yesterday for the garden. We went a little crazy. I just can't control myself in garden stores. Luckily, Nate knew the manager and we got a pretty good deal. We bought arugula, lettuce, carrots, corn, onions, cilantro, more tomatoes, green beans, and a few things I forgot. Of course we had to get some cat grass and cat nip for the little gray beast. I am hoping she will be satisfied with those and leave the rest of the house plants and starts alone. It's a long shot.

This afternoon there was a little mix up with the community garden plots and we almost had to give ours up, but it all worked out in the end. We are going to view it and sign the contract tomorrow. I'm very excited! I feel like I live the whole year for spring. There is just something really life affirming about watching seeds wake up from their winter sleep and become plants. Watching a garden take shape is one of my favorite things in the whole world. Now that I bought my seeds and will soon have my garden plot, I feel like spring is only a breathe away.

That makes bundling up to go outside a little easier. Honestly, though I could do without all the snow and hail.

PS I will try to take some pictures of the plot tomorrow, so you can see what exactly it is I have to work with.