summer shopping

I absolutely LOVE when QVC has their spring garden party smack in the midst of winter.  If they did this show once a week I strongly believe my winter blues would diminish.  I walked in the day care this morning and flipped on the tv to find the deal of the day reeling me in.  I quickly called Mary Evelyn and within minutes we had split the deal.  So... this summer my container plants will be my begonia bulbs that I bought from QVC last year and saved over the winter in the basement, my caladiums that I do the same (4th year now) AND these beautiful sedum... WHICH come back every year might I add.  I don't landscape.  I have two rose bushes but other than that I strictly stick to containers of all sorts.  I wanted to share just incase you are interested yourself.

 

 

 

Fantastic!  AND it will go dormant during the winter and come back the next year.

 

Now... I do remember (pretty sure) that my Mother had a yellow-ish type of sedum that was a ground cover.  So if you put this in an area that you don't want to fill you might now like it.  But it looks really easy to transplant.  The video of how they harvest this stuff was amazing.

 

Here is today's link to this deal. 

 

I plan on sharing my half too!  And having some at the day care.  It only takes a little bit!

lettucesubatus

I don't know where or why I made that word up... lettucesubatus.  It just goes together in my mind somehow... twisted I know.  I felt the need, and mainly since I have the covering over the back porch now at the DC, to begin lettuce seeds.  Some of them do great in the colder climates and don't go to seed as fast.  Especially if you can keep the frost off of them.  So I started what lettuce seeds I had hanging around the day care last week in little paper Dixie cups and a plastic zip up thing to make a little greenhouse.  This was towards the end of the week and by Monday I had completely leggy sprouts.  Not enough so that I felt I needed to start over.  I am excited for the new growth though.  I planted Red Romaine, Spinach and some purple lettuce that I saved the seeds from that I can't remember the name of.  It will be several weeks before they go outside.  Even them though if we have a bitterly cold night I can bring them inside.  Kind of a perfect little plant world... someone looking out for them.

One of my kids at the DC gave me this for Christmas.

I also started some wheat grass for Tommy.  It sprouted in just a day or so.  I took the seeds last year from my father-in-law's field by our drive way.

Woops!



bulbous blooms

I tell you what... the flower child that I am sure did enjoy the bulbous (or tuberous) begonias on the porch this year.  Our porch, on three sides of our house, extends ten feet out from the house and is covered by our roof so direct sunshine all day does not happen for my flowers.  This is where the bulb type begonias came in very handy and beautifully because they are shade lovers.  Direct sunlight will actually burn the leaves and bloom.  I had one pot at the top of the front steps and wound up having to move it back out of so much light. 

 

Here it is November 20th (when I typed this post) and all of my begonias are still blooming.  I need to take them in and over winter the bulbs but I just hate to when they are still so pretty.  They are under the porch cover so frost can't get to them and yellow them on out.  I may set them on the front steps tonight to get the process rolling.  I've heard that you don't want the bulbs out during a hard freeze and that we will have tomorrow night with temperatures dipping into the twenties.  Ick!

 

I had such good luck with these easy plants that I looked online for another source and found it pretty quick.  I don't know why I had a problem finding tuberous begonias back when I was on the hunt for them.  I reckon I was just looking in the wrong places.  I bought some today, that will ship to me in the Spring, to add to my collection.  I got two new kinds of begonias, a beautiful new to me caladium and a bag of bulbous dahlias to try.  I have a set of caladium bulbs that I have set out for the last three years.  They are what got me started with the "bringing in the bulbs" movement that I seem to have.  But hey... why buy new sets of flowers to plant every year when you can just pull out the same bulbs from year to year?  They are beautiful and so easy to care for.

 

These are the ones I just bought from edenbrothers.com.

 

Apricot Lace Begonia

 

Picotee Begonia

 

White Queen Caladium

 

Dahlia Bulbs Gallery Mix

 

 

That's about all I can spend on flowers for next year but I'm pretty happy. 

 

 

Aren't these gorgeous too...

 

Dahlias Bridal Bouquet

 

 

Dahlias Rembrandt Mix

 

 

Dahlia Bulbs Choc

 

 

Hosta White Feather

How gorgeous!

 

Hosta Fire and Ice

I can just see these in pots at the bottom of our steps.

 

Calla Lily Bulbs Black and White Mix

Golly these are gorgeous!  I am in love.

 

 

 

You can find these and other Spring planting bulbs from edenbrothers HERE.

greenhouse life

I love seeing the progress of my teeny greenhouse everyday.   I even find myself thinking of my little plants while I am at home and they are down at the day care just growing away.  I sometimes move them from the front windows back to the back windows for maximum sunlight exposure.  I know that Walmart already had mature plants like these for sale as do other joints but I thoroughly enjoy the entire process. 

BTW my bulbous begonias from QVC have shipped! 

Tiny dill for a friend.

I know.. I need to thin badly.

 

 Tomatoes for my mom, sister and best friend.

tiny seedlings

As you can probably guess, since I love to garden and it is spring, I have begun sprouting seeds indoors getting ready for summer.  My first planting was on March 17th and I began to see sprouts from some seeds on Thursday the 19th... yay!  Sometimes I feel like I pot seeds with my shoulders down having done my part and leaving it to nature now, wondering if any of them will come up.  I always feel such a relief to see little curls appear from the soil.

Shaun and I are doing a repeat of last year and not planting our big garden until the first week of June when the ground is good and hot and seeds sprout up overnight it seemed.  Plus there was less tilling to do because the plants grew so fast.  Needless to say, I have not started any seeds that will go in our garden yet because the first week of June is much more than six weeks away and plants would be too leggy and hard to take care of.  And I am practicing patience.  So, the seeds that I have already begun are for flowers and herbs that will live through the summer in pots and such.  I did actually start some tomato seeds on Monday for Mom, Mary Evelyn and my friend Melia who all want them to grow in pots.

When planting seeds it can be very hard to keep up with what's what until there are leaves to identify.  Some of the seedlings I know from their first leaves but most have to be their second set or real leaves before I can tell good.  In the past I have labeled pots and made little markers to go on tooth picks to stick in the soil.  This year I gave in and simply drew a diagram of my starting tray and that will do until I start moving things around... then I will lose track of what they are!

My greenhouse is simple and portable.  I have a heater with a thermostat that cuts on and off by itself so as to keep a certain temperature for the seedlings and create a humid environment.  I also have a thermometer hanging inside the greenhouse to make sure it doesn't get too hot or too cold for them.  Later on, when plants are bigger and ready to harden off I can move the entire greenhouse outside, most of the time with the front flap zipped open.  Although I do have to seriously tie the little greenhouse down tight or a swift wind will knock it over.

So back to the seeds, so far I have planted basil, oregano, caraway, rosemary, petunia, snapdragon, dichondra, craspedia, lettuce mixes and tomatoes (for friends).  And here is my diagram in my journal.

basil

snapdragon... so fragile looking aren't they?

I may have over done it a bit with the oregano!  Look at all those seedlings!  I haven't had much success starting oregano in the past so I over compensated.  I hate having to pluck out the weak when it comes time to separate.

Seeds

Am I finally getting to this post??  I ordered new garden seeds a few weeks back and have actually already received them!  I haven't, at this point, gotten around to starting any indoors as of yet.  We are planning on setting out the garden the first week of June again this year.  We used to put it out on May 10th or there-a-bouts.  But it really seems to take off faster and better and really needs less tilling when the ground is truly warmer and ready.  So there's really no rush on starting my tomatoes this soon.  Boooo.  However, I do feel that the seeds I will begin to go in pots do need to be started very soon.  If I put them outside earlier I can always bring them under the porch eave if there is frost in the forecast or pop them into the house for the evening.

Two years ago I was given a tip for a good company to order seeds from that offers a wide variety of heirloom seeds and are non-GMO, non-treated and non-hybrid.  Just good seeds.  Their catalog alone helps get me through the winter and the last one they sent out was just beautiful... cover to cover and featured pictures of their employees.  My orders are easy to place and arrive by post very speedy.  If you are looking for a good spot to purchase seeds I highly suggest giving them a try.  All of the seed that I purchased from them last year came up and grew very well.  The bell peppers were ever as huge as they said they would be and I have had problems in the past with bell pepper plants... not these!!  They offer herbs, flowers, vegetables and more!  And they were nice enough to allow me to use their photos for this post!  Thanks a buncho!  Visit Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds at www.rareseeds.com

Here are some of the seeds I purchased.  The following I bought to try this year.  They are all plants that I've not grown myself before.

Crosby's Egyptian Beet

I have fallen for beets and they and I always say that things are just better when you grow it yourself.  I fully intend to try it with this one!

Calabrese Green Sprouting Broccoli

A friend of ours remarked last year about how good the broccoli was from their garden.  It's been on my mental list to try and grow.

Chantenay Red Core Carrot

The kids at the day care wanted to grow carrots in our garden this year.  We shall give it a go then!

Caraway

Ah caraway... I love to use caraway seeds when baking bread and also in my cabbage.  I can't wait to collect my own seeds for next winter.

Oregano Vulgare

I've not grown oregano from seed before that I can recall.  I think I've always bought a plant from the garden center.  Hopefully.. not this year!  And I've been out of homegrown oregano for a few months and I sure miss it and need to grow more this time.

Apple Blossom Snapdragon

I had such success growing snapdragons last year that I thought I'd try another color this year in addition to the seeds I will sprout that I saved from my own plants.  They bloomed all summer and I so enjoyed them!

Orange King Zinnia

I'm gonna tell the truth here when I say that I decided to order seeds for orange zinnias instead of stopping to steal some from the gardener up the road.  Not that he would have minded.  I never could seem to catch him out there to ask permission and going late at night just felt wrong.  I can't wait to see these big orange beauties gracing our garden!

I also ordered Henderson's Black Valentine Bean, Glory of Enkhuizen Cabbage, Bonny Best Tomato, Crimson Sweet Watermelon, Blue Lake Bush 274 Bean and Basil - Genovese.

These are the peppers that I grew last year and extremely pleased with.

Emerald Giant Pepper

Here is a shot of their beautiful catalog.

Click on it to order yourself a copy!

The 2015 ones aren't available anymore but you can get on their December mailing list!

But you don't need a catalog to order online!

They also have a larger catalog for sale that is amazing.

I was in awe when I saw the collage of seeds adorning the entire cover of their catalog.

Amazing and beautiful I found myself trying to name the seeds and beans.

Thanks to Baker Creek Heirloom for allowing me to use their pictures for this post!

All credit goes to them!

Remember to click the pictures or names to be directed to that item.

What do you intend to grow in your garden this year?

Really!  I want to know!

Trying anything new to you this year?

Happy Birthday to readers Kathy and Katety!

Bulbous Begonias

I love to garden.  I absolutely love to start plants from seed and watch them grow.  I love to plant seeds mid season in pots on my porch just to see if they will come up and a lot of times they do … and bloom!  I adore planting bulbs in the fall and waiting all winter for them to pop their heads up, and with this spring like weather we have had this past week we may just begin to see it too soon!  I like to save seeds from garden vegetables and flowers and use them year after year.  I love teaching the kids at my day care how to garden and dig in the dirt and harvest our veggies.  Heck… right now we’ve got wheat grass growing inside and are trying to sprout an avocado in our kitchen window.  I simply cannot resist the urge to grow and nurture something. 

I have known about this addiction for quite some time.  I know that when I pass the reduced and sad looking plants at the garden center, that are begging for a drink and someone to care for them, that I am likely to be the poor sap that goes back to get at least one.  That’s how I wind up with African violets most of the time.  Every time I go to WalMart during the spring and summer I usually come home with “just one more.”  I even have a special fund called my “flower and garden” money.  I never touch it unless it involves… well… gardening and flowers.  Well guess what, it’s January and I touched it this morning. 

A year or two ago I checked out Mary Jane Butters’ book at the library, Mary Jane’s Outpost.  I loved it so much I wound up buying it after they wouldn't let me keep it after six weeks.  There was one tip in the book, among many, that spoke of bulbous begonias.   Now, I've bought begonias before but never had any from bulbs that can be used year after year.  I grow Caladiums this way.  At first, I bought the bulbs reduced at the garden center and even though it was late in the season I tried them out in pots on the porch steps.  They grew fantastic!  At the end of the season, when the leaves died back, I snipped the leaves and scooped the bulbs out of the pots.  I let them air out a day or two then put them in a paper bag, folded and tucked it in the basement for the winter.  Now all I do is get the bag back out and pop the bulbs in some dirt in pots.  The begonias will work in the very same way. 

I have searched for bulbous begonias and either I can’t find them or when I do they are pretty high priced.  Mostly I just can’t find them.  Especially not around local.  Until this morning!  As you know I am a QVC watcher.  They are always just so happy and friendly.  Beats the local news… how depressing!  I came into the day care early and switched on the t.v. and was gladly surprised to see their January garden show was on and low and behold guess what they were selling… begonias!  From bulbs!!  I was so tickled!  I thought of my flower fund and thought of the begonias…. thought of my flower fund and thought of the begonias.  I logged on to my computer and ordered them.  I am so excited and can’t wait to plant them!  They should arrive towards the end of April and you’d better bet there will be pictures of them this summer to share with you... and the next summer and the next summer and the next!!!

Here's the link to the jumbo combo box that I bought.  And if they don't sell out soon I'll probably end up with another one! 

All photos from QVC.com