A Productive Day.

Okay, so, somehow in the past year or two, my skin has decided that it no longer appreciates what I do for it. It has given me hell almost every day, no matter what I try. This is pretty impressive, since I managed to get through a high-stress, super-dry deployment with minor issues--once I discovered daily moisturizer. Over the past year I have also discovered toner, charcoal, and facials. I've been going to the same spa pretty much since I started acting like a girl... but my usual gal is out for medical reasons for a while. Bless her heart, I love her to death, but it turns out Ms. A is actually way better for my skin anyways! After cleaning me up a couple weeks ago, she gave me some specific recipes and tips for my skin. I finally got around to making the toner she recommends, which is less drying and probably more protective than what I have been using [although I did love it, too]. It made my skin feel &*^#$A(#$ fantastic. Highly recommend.

 

The other project I finished today [which I had been only mildly putting off], was transplanting the start of my windowsill herb garden. I found the planter at Big Lots [my god, I love that store]. I had to leave a spot for the Rosemary, which wasn't quite ready yet. And actually, I might sub the Rosemary for a different herb, because I'm thinking it needs to be kept more dry than the others?

On the top shelf, I believe that is Cilantro, Dill, Thyme, Lavender, and the one that is growing well is actually catnip, but don't tell them that. I had to restart my Dill and Thyme, and accidentally doubled up on Cilantro. The planter below has Parsley, Sage, Oregano, and... um... Basil. The herbs I use pretty much all day every day. To the left you'll also see ThePlantThatWillNotDie, doing quite well this year [it's going to bloom!]. There's still a little room for Miss Maow to sit herself in the window, but I'll be damn glad when we give HellCat back to his dad, because he likes to eat my aloe.

That Time of Year Again.

First, a moment of silence please, for Mr. Jon Snow, the fishie who would not die. He was about 2 years old, with a squished fin that made him gimpy. After about a week or two of acting really weird, he has finally passed on to the big muck pond in the sky. Since I still have one albino Cory left, I'm not sure whether I should downgrade the tank to a smaller one, restock the fishies, or just wait for the very last fish to die before I give up totally. On top of that, Miss Maow needed a trip to the Emergency Vet after having a bad reaction to her yearly vaccines. Not cool, considering that we are strongly considering snatching up this little guy...

Meet Hobbs... aka Ajax, if he moves in here.

Anyways, it is one of the best times of year ever in the Northwest. Everything is turning green, and the cherry blossoms are exploding everywhere. That means it's time to plant more green things! I was hoping to do it yesterday when the weather was great, but, thanks to the weather changing, I came down with a massive migraine. I used the down time to finish my math project instead. I made up for it today though, and I'm already feeling the ouch setting in. But I love to see things grow! I love that every time I come home I am met with lots of sprouting little greens, and sometimes a Bill, too.

If he's not busy showing off his belly, he
usually comes downstairs when he hears
anyone's car pull up.

So I still barely know what I'm doing when it comes to gardening, but this time I decided to stick with pretty things instead of edible things, so maybe I'll be less sad when they don't quite work out. Part of it is also growing things outside. Honestly up here, you just plop everything down and let it do--As long as you've got it in the area that gets the right amount of sun, our local weather takes care of the rest. My Bestest ever has a lovely container-garden in her front yard, and since I will likely be moving, I've made sure to mimic her garden as well as planting in the cute little flowerbed out "front."

So far in the front, I've got giant golden crocuses sprouting, Wildflower Tulips starting to pop out, and some Muscari or something (like Bluebells) slowly growing in the back. My crocuses aren't filling in as densely as everyone else in the neighborhood, but I'm guessing I planted them too spread out. Again, trial and error. They'll come back thicker next year for whoever moves in though, and that will be nice. I left one more row behind everything, to plant some Dahlias come springtime--er, nowtime. After doing some research though, I found that Dahlias tend to be annuals, not perennials, so I'm less interested in paying at least $5 a pair for the roots.

That didn't stop me from grabbing one pack of them though, and we'll see how they do in the container. If I manage to keep them alive through the winter, I may plant them in the ground once I land in my real real-home house. While I was walking around in a haze, I also grabbed Columbines and Bleeding Hearts because I really love them. I figured the Lupines would be a nice filler in the back of the flowerbed since I'm more or less ditching the Dahlias. And for fun, I also grabbed an everbearing strawberry plant. I remember them being really easy to propagate.

 Last but not least, on the left, I have no idea what I'm growing. Obviously some pretty purple crocuses, but I cannot for the life of me remember what's popping out in the middle. There's two of them, but the other one is growing much slower. On the right, I paired the Bleeding Hearts with two pink Hyacinths, just to mix things up. Not pictured, I also did a row of Gladiolus, and mixed the Columbines with some of the Lupines since they're both perennials. And I also did a pot full of Lilly of the Valley... I think... That may or may not be all. It's hard for me to say. There's a lot of other random stuff growing in the flower beds, but I don't know what most of it is. I want to pull the weeds and clean it all up, but--eh, effort. Swapping over to nights soon isn't really going to help, and going to DC won't help, but hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to pull up the weeds and lay down some more hens-n-chicks by the big tree. Then there's the matter of the actual lawn...

Best Friday Junior.

So, here is a post-game recap of my Thursday. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

First things first. PT, followed by uniform inspection. Boooo. Then begins a rewarding day off work. I stopped at the dry cleaner to see if they could fix my [used-to-be] white shirt... alas, they cannot, so more work for me; and wandered into the wonderful hipster/yuppie grocery store that I sometimes visit. Not for morality issues or anything so noble, mind you, I just really love their deli and such. They're a local fave. Picked up some groceries and boy I can just never resist plants. I think I have a problem. After a brunch of everything bagel topped with sun-dried tomato cream cheese and smoked salmon [I am le connoisseur!] I settled in for a couple hours of Diablo 3 with mah love. Found myself a little sleepy, so I took a quick nap. I looked at houses for rent, and talked to one of the property managers while arranging the flowers I picked up... because I'm a little OCD+ADD and can't stand to only do one thing at a time. After that, I used the leftover homemade chicken soup with no less than five green veggies [did I mention that I've been sick all week?] to make a buttermilk-biscuit-topped chicken pot pie. Didn't come out quite right--it ended up like more of a cobbler--but it sure was tasty. While working in the kitchen, I also prepped an old candle jar to hold the new baby orchid. Then we watched a movie, and I went to bed early because sadly, back to work on Friday. But! It was nice to have a break, and to know that after Friday, it was the weekend again, and I could be Freeeeeeeee. Mwahaha.

 This is the lil' baby orchid I bought. It was too adorable to pass up! Plus lots of pods means it hasn't really started blooming yet... my big one was in full bloom when I brought it home and the flowers didn't last long. I'm using them for art now. It's still alive though and I hope it keeps growing, but this little guy [see comparison to coffee cup] was just too much. Except when I pulled it out of the original container, I found lots of very sad, squished roots. I did some impromptu plant surgery, gave it a lot more room and some fresh moss, and I hope it survives. Because orchids--although the new floral trend--are just beautiful. 

These are the flowers I arranged. Any time I go to a grocery store, the floral department always catches my eye. I can't bring myself to buy the prearranged bouquets; for some reason I think that $14.99 is too much--and then I spend more than that by picking out my own flowers. Alstromeria are my complete favorite, doesn't matter what color they are. The purple roses really struck me; usually I am not a fan of roses. Then there's some whaddaya-call'ums to add bulk, and two "black" [super dark purple] calla lillies. The "tropical foliage" in the back is a nice touch. You'd think from this that purple is my favorite color... but let me assure you, it's not. Flowers just don't come in my "favorite" color much... not naturally anyways. 

Last update on the plantses.

Tomato sprouts!! Finally. But so far this is all we've got. Poor thing was almost dead though, so I'll call it good. Hubs loves tomatoes, so when these come around, they'll go straight into his mouth anyways.

The pepper plant is finally starting to produce, but the funny thing is it's barely two feet tall. So we're going to have some funky midget bell peppers. Maybe good for pickling? I wonder if they'll come out being mini-bells or if they'll grow full size.

The strawberry is kind of growing back... it has one little flower that's covered up by a bunch of leaves. It might pull through. Maybe it will winter over this year so we can try again next.

I -think- the aloe is getting bigger, but I can't really tell for sure. Worst case scenario, it's not dead yet!

Same Sad Fate

Well. All but one or two of the peppers I replanted have also died. My only guess is that I am moving them too early. The cayenne is still hanging in there, but the jalapenos couldn’t hack it. I even used some gravel to help with drainage, tried to balance between too wet and too dry, and changed their location so they wouldn’t get too scorched by the sun. No avail. Maybe I’m not meant to grow peppers. The carnivorous plants are sucking through distilled water like crazy. The random thing that just won’t die is continuing to sprout new leaves and blooms. The tomato plant was wilting on the front porch, now in the back porch with only a couple hours of evening sun it has made almost a full recovery. The aloe is doing okay. I was reading that generally you only want to water them about once a week, but with the recent warm-and-sunny spell so uncharacteristic of WA, the soil dries out completely every couple of days. The strawberry is sprouting a lot of new leaves, but seems like every week or so I have to cut more dead ones off. The bell pepper has also started sprouting new leaves, it was plateaued for a pretty long while there. Note, spell check does not believe that ‘plateaued’ is a word.

So that’s the plants update. Nothing particularly new in the crafting department… finished kitty beds and the girls both love them. Trigger even borrowed Lily’s for a while. They didn’t turn out like I’d wanted, but cats don’t mind, they are just fluffy things to sit upon. Now working on a grocery bag holder. Big grin.

Took lots of photos of a friend’s band, Generation Unknown, the other night. They played a great set, and I will say, they are one of my favorite bands to photograph. So much energy and character on stage! Shameless plug: go their FB and ‘like’ them. I need to do a little editing of the—gasp—originally over 700 photos… mostly just a little tweaking brightness and contrast. I’m thinking of starting a photobucket or flikr or something like that, to have a place to post photos that is more focused than FB.

Today is my second day back to work, and boy it blows every bit as much as I thought it would. I very much hate being at the whim of someone who drags their feet at work because they’re using work as an excuse to avoid their family. You know what, some of us like going home. Some of us also live more than five minutes from work. [Sure okay that’s my decision to do so, but I stick by it]. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again [many more times I’m sure] I don’t mind staying late if I’m actually working. If I’m in the middle of a project—that you didn’t dump in my lap after lunch—I’d rather see it through. But… sitting around with a bunch of half finished projects which are all at a sticking point for the day… what good does that do anyone? Correct Answer: NONE. Then again, military and logic never do go hand in hand.

Salvation?

Hoping to try and salvage some of the garden. I figured I would learn from my mistakes, and actually went out and bought some gravel for the replanting today. But... I didn't really want to buy a 10-pound bag of pea gravel, which also looked too big anyways. So instead I made a stop at the pet store and got a much smaller bag of unpainted aquarium rocks. I figure, close enough, right? So that will help with some of the drainage issues and over-watering I've been doing. I also put a little of the cactus/citrus mix between the gravel and the regular potting soil. Here's hoping it will make the peppers a little happier this time. I have one cayenne and nine jalapenos.

 Oh! And I found more sprouted garlic in my spice cabinet, so I'm trying to give those guys a better start--and hopefully not let the cat snack on them this time.

I'm also attempting to get some of the aloe "pups" to grow. I didn't read much about them besides "meh, they might sprout, put em in some dirt," so we'll see what happens.

Newest Edition

While at the local hipster grocery store today, I found an aloe plant on sale. I was confused because it was so pretty. I definitely wanted aloe in our garden, so I bought it for a couple bucks. Turns out it's a "Pink Blush" aloe plant. Super cool. When she gets a little healthier, you can see the pink edges better. Did a little research, got some cactus dirt, and replanted the sucker. Poor girl's roots were all kinds of compacted in the bottom of that pot. From what I understand, it is pretty hard to kill aloe, as long as you don't over-water it. So I figure this gal should be fine when I get back home. 

Poor Plants-ies

Well, I have good news and I have bad news.

The good news is, I definitely did NOT inherit my mother's plant-killing-thumb. The bad news is, my garden is codependent and can't survive without me. Not quite sure why, except I know hubby couldn't care for them very well post-op. The other good news is, a few things actually did survive. And worst case scenario, we got our toes wet, so next year we'll have a better idea of what to do. I'll be home a little on the late side of planting, but then again, this is WA and we started all of our seeds indoors anyways. So, after a little love and pruning, here's what we've got left.


The pepper we bought is fine. Apparently peppers do better without me around because I overwater them anyways. The greenhouse is next to the window, so even if the plant lights weren't on, they still got some sun. I'm going to keep this guy inside for a while and see if i can get him to grow a bit before he turns into an outside plant. The tomatoes... sigh, the tomatoes. It had grown so tall that it had totally eclipsed my assisting-stick, then flopped over. I cut a lot of it back, but she still looks droopy and wilty. I don't know if that's too much water, or not enough, or maybe it's been too hot outside. No clue. Fingers crossed for that one.

  The cayennes I replanted all died, but one that I ignored actually sprouted. The jalapenos actually came in big time, so I am going to replant them soon and see if we have better luck.

Three of my fly-traps died. This one is still hanging in there; I saw a couple new sprouts so I'm going to try and salvage. The scarlett belle is actually doing about as well as when I left, somehow.

Of all the herbs, the only one left is Oregano, and that's tentative at best. I think that's because like peppers, I tend to overwater them; they like slightly drier conditions. I put it outside, hopefully they'll perk up.

 My once perky strawberry plant lost all her flowers, but is still hanging in there. I cut off all the dead stuff, so hopefully it will bounce back.

Day Nineteen: I repotted the fool...

Heh, sorry, another attempt at terrible puns.

Hubby had a pretty nasty foot surgery today. He insisted I not spend the entire time in the hospital waiting room, so I begrudgingly complied and had a brief jaunt around Kmart [because I am a cheapy]. I finally picked up some repotting supplies--well, aside from the 10 lbs of dirt sitting in my apartment. Hubby was pleased and told me to go ahead and repot what needed it during his next percocet-nap. So, the roma tomatoes are now split up a little, and our rogue late-blooming asparagus has a pot to itself for now [his brothers are planted next to basil]. The strawberry and bell pepper have moved to larger pots that hopefully will be their endgame lairs. They will probably be too big for the greenhouse soon, and have to join Suzy the tomato plant on the porch. I repotted the rosemary too, although much later than I should have. Here's hoping it bounces back. The garlic is still... hit or miss.

you made my hands smell good.

I love these little compostable/plantable temp pots

she's getting so tall!

happy and sad garlic

The best news of all, however, pertains to our Cayenne peppers. Last night our good friends Irene and Sir William came by to do some recording on a last-minute epic metal track. While Irene was throwing down some growls that make the girl from Arch Enemy sound like a kitten, Sir William and I had a chat about how the peppers were being shy. Apparently I was busy drowning them! He told me to ditch the clear lid on the sprouter greenhouse, and not even 24 hours later, Bjorn and Sven [so named for their "metal roots"--ba-dum chhh] decided to pop out of the dirt! eeeee! Maybe more of them will sprout and we can have a whole pepper metal band.

Bjorn and Sven, thanks to the Pepper Whisperer.

Day Seventeen.

Most of the plants we've got are doing well, although the magic is kind of over for most of them. They are no longer growing literally inches a day before your very eyes. I picked up some Starbucks "Grounds for your Garden" the other day and have put it on the 100-tomato and the garlic; we'll see how that does. We almost killed half the garlic by not replanting it in time, their roots got all mashed up and unhappy. They haven't quite bounced back yet, but I'm feeling confident.

Dunno if you can see this or not, but the chives are
blooming their weird little black flower thinggies.

The asparagus looks like asparagus!!!
That middle clump is about 3-4"

We are gonna have a lot of strawberries if this keeps up.
Can't wait to replant this sucker and give it more room to grow.

Day Thirteen: an effin' flower!

 Holy Crap!

So once a week I have to be at work for 24 hours, give or take the work day before and/or after [if there is one]. I came home today to find this! The strawberry plant is now flowering. Out of nowhere. Once again, I thought it was gonna die, and my rescue plant pulls through.

In related news, half of our garlic started to get really sad. Turns out that stuff grows fast, and all the roots were all tangled and mushed. So we broke down and replanted it in one of the planter boxes. Then I had to go run and buy more dirt and another planter box, so we moved over the asparagus and basil. The asparagus had also started growing roots out the bottom of the pods. Our awesome pal Irene is going to score some leftover pots from her sweetie for us, and as soon as she pulls through we'll replant most of the other herbs. Still no word on the peppers, here's hoping they're just shy. 

So far the Miracle-Gro has lived up to its name, I just about swear by the stuff. I am still amazed by watching plants grow almost literally before our eyes. If I'm in this much awe, as a grown up lady, I can only imagine how magical it must be for children. This is definitely something we'll have to continue when we have a little mini-me. 

replanted basil

replanted garlic, hope it perks up!

Day Eleven

we're a happy family, we're a happy family, we're a happy family, oi oi oi

Most of our plants are growing like weeds! I mean, uh... yeah. You get the picture.When all of this comes together, not only will I be able to make homemade salsa from scratch out of my own garden, I should have enough ingredients to actually make spaghetti too!







Turns out there was a bit of a plant sale going on at Home Depot, so we picked up a  strawberry plant, a bell pepper, and a 75-cent Rosemary plant.

Suzy the tomato plant grew too big, so she now has to go outside. I think we'll bring her in for the nights because WA is still chilly.  Even with two whole shelves' worth of space, she was curling up and over the trays.

Here's a general update on seedlings:
I'm a total genius and didn't label what I planted where. The only way I can tell anything apart is because I know I planted them in alphabetical order, except for the Oregano, which was an afterthought a couple weeks later.

Asparagus

Chives

Catnip?

Basil?

Spearmint?

Oregano, 2 days old

Thyme?

Day Nine

It's Day Nine of the Great 2012 Apartment Greenhouse Adventure. If you need more info than that descriptive title, lordy help you.

Tomato plant [who still needs a name] has grown so tall that I had to rearrange the whole greenhouse to prevent it from hitting the plant lights. Cleaned out the water dishes for the carnivorous plants, Audrey . Re-potted and trimmed the mystery flowering plant. Asparagus has started sprouting, as well as parsley and cilantro. Tomato sprouts are so tall I had to uncover the whole salsa sprout group. Still trying to figure out exactly what I planted where so I can tell what's growing, but most of the herbs in the starter pods are at least peeking out.

I'm so proud of our little plant children! They're doing so well, especially the tomato plant. When I bought it at Wally World, I felt like I was rescuing it from the plant pound.

I didn't take any new pictures today, but since I just started this thaaaaang, I suppose one from two days ago isn't going to be the end of the world.

I think the tall ones are Basil, but I'm not positive.

Audrey 1, 2, 3, and 4; and Scarlett O'hara.
Yeah, I name my plants, so what, you wanna fight about it?

Day Six.

Garlic.

Best. Thing. Ever.

Hubby jokes that I pretty much am unable to cook anything without garlic. Quite some time ago, I noticed that one of the cloves in our cabinet was starting to sprout. Knowing that we were about to start the gardening adventure, I let it go and bought a fresh clove. When we finally got all the gardening supplies in, I squished all the cloves into some dirt. Yay! At first it was no big deal, but within a couple days
<<< THIS happened. Garlic apparently grows like crazy! And it's really no big deal. Our whole greenhouse smells like garlic every time we open it to check on things, which is also pretty amazing. Best idea ever.