Thank you so much for the seeds :) It made my week!
Really appreciate it and look forward to growing them!! :)
Thanks again :)
Seed Swap & Chat #51 .... Let the sowing begin...
I don't think I got any ivy annual geraniums I'll have to check just went thru looking at colors didn't even think about the ivy ones.
Think I'm going to grab a few bricks outside to get the light hood up here and set it on the table, I should have room for my table lights too lol We can always bring food in the living room to get together for cooking not that we cook a lot around here anyway I'm sitting here eating a Manwich sandwich right now :) Sure wish I had some pringles to go with it ;P
Went to put the trash out and grab a couple of bricks to put my light hood on, my neighbor has an ouside cat and never feeds it she came running to me while I was out there so had to go back in to get her some food! I had to pet her and she is getting so skinny! Guess I'm going to have to keep a check on her it's kind of hard since I don't go out when it's cold, that's one of the reasons I ended up with Sophera, from feeding her, this is the momma to Sophera I feel so sorry for her but can't afford to take on another cat! I took her to be fixed when I got mine fixed or she would have had a few more kittens by now she's older doesn't need to be having anymore kittens! People should be horse whipped not taking care of their animals esp. in cold weather like this! I've told her and told her but it doesn't do any good! Some one should stick her outside in the cold with no food! She needs to be taken to the animal shelter and just can't do it to her but sometimes I think she would be better off!
Lowes has a much better selection of garden items than WM or HD here, and better prices on many things also! There prices, quality and selection are so much better than HD, I am surprised that they are still in business! My neighbor, however, hates Lowes. She isn't a gardener, she shops for silk flowers and flashy home dec items.
The WM here recently remodeled.Since then, I have found much less selection and much higher prices. They no longer seem to care about their vegetables, they stopped carrying the cat food that I liked, the employees are no longer helpful, and the new store layout has you running around in circles. No matter, they don't care about the local traffic. They are just over the NJ border. The store is full of people buying big screen tv's and paying only half the sales tax of NJ, less than 1/3 the sales tax of NYC. My old Sony trinitron works just fine. It will probably keep working for years because I rarely ever turn it on anymore!
I have been busy with the seeds that I know what to do with. Pretty soon, I will be back with lots of questions. Was busy fixing my heat (and trying to reach the complex manager to get them to do it) this week.
You are right. WM has gone higher with less.
I love Lowes. Especially, the one in Macon.
They may be the same stores but different managers.
I remember last year when our electric went off because of the ice storm it was so cold, about this time of year too! I sure hope they are staying warm and finding ways to get heat if they don't have any. Those generators everyone was using when ours went out caused so many deaths sure hope they are safe too! There aren't many ways to get heat when the electric goes out I've got one of those kerosene heaters but the smell isn't worth it couldn't be good for you! It was left from mom and dad and they wouldn't use it because of the smell either.
Please don't use a kerosene heater unless you have carbon monoxide sensors. They are very dangerous. I have asthma, I can't even stand oil lamps.
My problem was that the heat switched into emergency mode and wouldn't go off! It also smelt slightly smokey. I called the state, but they only help you if you have no heat at all. The neighbor said that I should call the emergency fire department, luckily, I didn't have to. I turned the unit off at the breaker every time I went out or went to sleep because I was afraid of a fire. After being unable to reach the manager, I vacuumed all of the inside vents, went outside and pulled the outside filter and vacuumed it (they used to replace it every 6 months and haven't replaced in over a year) then I blew the leaves, debris and voles from under the unit (omg, rodents), Tiffany got six while I was doing heater repair. They used to rake/blow and pick up the leaves. I used to complain that the moron used to blow the leaves from the unit into my shrubs (He only used the leaf blower so that he could walk around looking in women's windows. His replacement isn't a pervert, so now the leaves don't get blown at all). At least they are giving me ample reason to break my lease without penalty should I move out early. I can't take this anymore. As much as I hate to have to pack up my stuff and dig out my plants, I have to get out of this place.
Oh mine isn't getting used and I really should throw it out because of that. Maybe those are just meant to use in the garage where there is more air? I just remember when mom and dad used it in our cold tv room but it has spent most of it's life in the closet think I'll take it over to my cousin he can use it for his barn where he works on things outside I'll ask him if he wants it, hate to just throw it away it's like new even if it's years old.
It's Weezingreens Birthday today! Yeah! Happy Birthday Weez hope you had a wonderful day with plenty of sunshine ;)
Lea
Lea... Thanks for the super idea. I otu of room on the tables wher e I got my baggies and been tryign to figrue out how I could get more light s up withotu havign to put up a stand.
Nevr thought abotu usign a table and findign somethign to just stack up high enough to hold the light up in the air. Dahhhhhhhh so simple and I been beatign my brain tryign to think of something. Thanks bunches : )
concrete blocks or soda crates can make a shelf.
Soda crates be lighter.
Ella - thank you so much!!! You are a sweetheart!! I printed off your potting soil description and will get to Lowe's. Promise - no my MG!
Kids have been home 5 days straight due to our ice/snow storm that hit last week. They don't have road crews here like up north, so the neighborhoods don't get plowed unless we (the neighborhood) hires a crew. So the side streets are covered in ice.....hence no school bus pickups or school.
I have to admit though that it is a BEAUTIFUL winter wonderland here. We have been fortunate to not loose power. Everything is covered in ice and then snow on top. The trees are breathtaking!
Glad I could help ya out Ella :) I was rackin my brain too and it was such a simple idea lol
Ok, who was the genius that talked about putting their pots in the dishwasher? I tried it today with my 2 1/2" pots, and WOW that was easy! Loving it. Can't really fit flats in there very well, but the pots are great! Ooh, gotta go get some bleach in the next load!
Evening fellow seed addicts. Thought I'd show you how the germinating's going. Some of the less persnickety plants are already outside in this very balmy winter, and some are in the greenhouse, but most are spending their days under lights.
Only a couple of casualties so far - waahhh! the coral bush, germinated, and then I think it was too cold and got moldy. Oh, well - it probably wouldn't like it here in Seattle anyway. The caesalpinia gilliesii are doing great (under the lights) and the rain lilies are coming on, too. One yellow salvia, and after a false start with the perennial yellow hollyhock (Tom Clothier said it germinates best at 40 degrees (not 65 inside the house) and so now they're outside and 2 have sprouted! Still waiting on all the winter sown stuff, except, I think, one of the penstemons, but it's been at the baby leaf stage for a week.
Thank you to everyone who sent in all these great seeds - it's certainly keeping me busy!
Colchie,
You are doiing great!!!! See lots of green babies . Need to get off my bun's and do something lol. Just so much easier watching everyone else. Lol don't tell Ella I said that . Better go sow some seed's so when she ask tomarrow can say yes and you to Lea , I am gonna get on it.!!
Carolyn
Nice colchie! Gorgeous shelves, lots of room there!
I really had trouble last year with a few things getting too tall for my shelves... well this year I've started about 2 weeks later, so I guess at least I won't have that problem! Thought I could catch up by just planting a lot now... forgot that I only have one heat mat, and things did SO much better last year when I did heat for the first time, that I think I'll wait til it's available to sow the next batch... well... maybe there are a few things that wouldn't mind regular room temperature and no bottom heat...
OH... i wanted to report back on the Hordeum Vulgare "Cat Grass" which i found out is actually Barley... but anyhooo....
I think all the seeds have germinated... most of them, it was within 3 days... i had one last one pop up about 3 days ago.
about the first week, i had it under a lamp at my desk...a little gooseneck - to aid in germination.... then the past week i've been putting the little pot in my window ledge behind the curtain in a south window... lots of sun [on days we did get sun] and hidden from Charlie. At night, i'd put it up on a shelf, 7ft from the floor ... just a bit of added protection from kitty.
I guess last night i forgot to put it up... low and behold... Little Man was snacking grass for breakfast. He was half behind the curtain when we woke up. Had only chewed the tops off of about 4 seedlings. No worse for ware though....
Good morning fellow seed fiends! Been checking in but haven't had time to post- we had a bunch of company from out of town for the weekend. We hosted a baby blessing ceremony at the Opera House where I work and had a wonderful time :-)
Lea, you asked me about Crossandra way up there in the thread somewhere- I haven't obtained any seeds, but I'm going to keep my eye out for discounted plants at the box stores. I've often seen them at Lowes clearanced after the blooms have faded. I think I'll position a few large pots in that (shady) area for them, so that I can keep them moist and they won't have to compete with tree roots.
Colchie.... great lookign set up and so gla to se e ya have some babies up. : )
tcs. Barley. LOL Well your kitty cat should have plenty of fibe r for it s diet then. If it barely than doe s that mean peopel cna eat it too or is it just decorativ e for animals?
I doign a happy danc e this morning. Found some dianthus ha d finally sprouted.
Hd gotten soem of what is calle d The Piggy Back plant from Summerhil seeds. Anybody trie d them before? Do houseplant seeds take a long time, more so than annual and perennial outoor plants. They don't sell Piggyback down here and when I live d up north loved having hanging baskets of them, so I thought I woudl try some seed.
well... Charlie was napping so i figured to put the little pot back on the window sill behind the curtains...
silly me..... Charlie had a late breakfast... I'll post pics later.
So glad the dishwasher method worked for you. As I said, I am a pretty lazy gardener...grin always looking for the quick right way to do things...grin
Really loved it! Might just have to switch to small seed flats where you prick out the seedlings, and plop them straight into a 2" pot... eliminate all this transplanting plugs business...and the plug flats that are a pain to wash! Must remember that next year... too late for this one... already put the effort into the plugs... Any other lazy tips? ;-)
Nice Stands Colchie, I would have loved to make my other ones out of wood but the wood would have molded downstairs without the lights on them constantly my basement is so darn damp! Can’t wait to see my stands full like that in a couple of months!
Miss Carolyn you haven’t started those seeds yet you better get to it I’m gonna come down there and get you LOL You don’t want both Ella and me on you! I know I’m having a hard time too getting it together but we can do it! The sun is shinning today and it says almost 30 degrees but it’s fairly nice outside that’s when I want to do something in here lol I always feel better when the sun is shinning! Need to get outside and get one of my five gal. buckets for the dirt I have from failing seed trays :( I’ll use it to pot with then maybe my seeds will pop up this summer :)
Wal Mart was setting all of their pots out yesterday and I was so wanting to buy a bunch of those big terracotta ones if they would have had the price on them I may have lol I need a few more of those for this year for sure! Think I’ll do the dahlias in those for this year instead of taking a chance on them in the ground again I lost a few from the ‘gault’ not sure if it’s spelled right but the one I potted up this year the bulbs were so nice and clean and so much easier to deal with I might add lol
Neal, was that your friends that was having a baby here? I’ve never seen those Crossandras around here are we the only place around that doesn’t have a lot of different plants! I think we are! Been wondering where you were :)
themoonhowl, wish I had a real dishwasher here that sure sounds a lot easier, hmm my neighbor is letting me use her nice steam washer sometimes I wonder if she would let me put my pots in her dishwasher lol I have a dishwasher here his name is Tony :) But I wouldn’t trust him to wash my ancient 6 packs or seed trays held together with duck tape lol Don’t think he would want to either I need to get on another washing binge here tired of looking at the pots on my counter and it would make so much more room for counter space esp. since I have my light hood and table top lights on my kitchen table I have no space in this tiny kitchen lol
This isn’t good for the weather now but in the summer when I wash and bleach my bird feeders out I do all the dirty pots I can find including the six packs when I have the time to take the bottlebrush to them that way they have all day to dry and they are out of the way for the winter didn’t get to do that this year because it turns into a few days job, I have all of these five gal. buckets I have to clean in the spring so the pots, birdfeeders and buckets get cleaned at the same time I usually go thru this about three times a year and it seems like I still have ones I have to wash in the house lol Not really a lazy tip but it does get a lot of pots and six packs out of the way it's a lot of work really that's why I didn't get to get it done this year now I'm trying to wash them all in the house lol Oh neighbor with the dishwasher!
breakfast anyone??
Whaaaaaat ?? I didnt do it.
grass, after being "mowed" .
Oh Terese! Bad kitty bad! lol Your kitty has grown to be such a pretty kitty! But oh into so much trouble ;P lol
Better the grass than the Plants. Pretty kitty.
Lea -- well, i have to admit.. i did grow the Grass for him... i was hoping it'd get a bit taller. well most of it was about 8" before it was breakfast. One of them he literally ate down to the root. there was only about a halfa inch left and i pushed it back into the soil. Hopefully it all will continue to grow.
Aaaaahhhh Terese - he is such a pretty kitty! Love him!
When we moved here to OK, a cat adopted our girls. She turned out to be the neighbors cat who put her out (due to allergies), declawed and all. Well, little kitty would follow my girls around outside - even bike riding. All the neighbors started commenting on how she loves my girls. Well, my girls started to feed her and take care of her......as soon as it got freezing outside, we just had to bring her in. Finally talked to the neighbor to see if it was ok - didn't want them to think we were stealing the cat. They had since gotten a puppy and I hate to say, they didn't care that we had "adopted" her. Now I hope I don't plant or have anything that will harm her. More research..... ^_^
tcs,
Hey when it says cat grass he took it serious must have needed that special treat.
Really a cute kitten.
Lea I do have a few things up but nothing like I thought I would have done , I am learning to use these tiny cells Ella sent and had to figure out what I was doing wrong they where staying so dry and frying the plants evening with all the spraying, was gonna let that stop me but got it figured out my green thumb is still hre somewhere lol. you just don't put the darn lights 6 inches away with them in baggies . Ella got me straight so hope to get my bun's rolling again. Think need to have phone turned off that way no new's bad new's right!!
I figure 5 family deaths in year and 3 month's enough, thinking getting older needs to go away of course 2 where way to young , but am getting there okay.
Thank's for the get it going!!
Carolyn
Ack! Cats. Drive me nuts... but they're so cute when they're not eating plants! They leave the cactuses alone... and so far the succulents too, although we did have a cat when I was little that loved to eat my mom's aloe plant!
I finally did some wintersowing today! About 40 containers done so far, and taking a break. I'm sowing a couple of things under lights, may try to get to that today, but I'm losing steam fast, LOL.
Lea, yes, it was some really good friends who had a miracle baby. Mom is 38 and Dad is 45, and she has always had some medical issues that doctors had told her made her infertile. She found out in mid September she was pregnant.....7 1/2 months pregnant! They have a beautiful baby girl, named Indigo Emilia.
Ya all let me explain somethign abotu cleaning yoru pots. The dishwase r a cool idea.
In gh's ther e no tiem to be scrubbign every pot and makign sur e that they sparklign clean. All ya have to do is get a tub of cold water, put yoru bleahc in and let em dry , no need to rinse.
it doesn't matte r if ya see bit s of dirt and dea d root s or whatver stil hangign in the pots. The bleach ha s done kille d everythign off and what left ther e is sterile and won't hurt or bothe r what ya putting in to yoru pots.
I us e to scrub and scrub and make sur e pot s got scrubebd first in antibacterial soap and then in bleach and rinsed good, til I wa s aksed oen day what I wa s doign and why I wa s takign so long to get pot s cleaned. That when I foudn out about dunk and dry.
Save s ya tiem and effort. That what I been doign for years now. : )
it hard at first when ya look at a pot and maybe see some bit s of stuff stil stuck in there, but it ok, really it is. : )
Tcs. Pretty kitty! I wish I wasn't so alergic to them. I got soem mroe cat grass aroudn here, when I find it wil send it on.
Another pot question then... if I get around to dunk n drying them in the summer like I should, will they be Ok stored in the shed and then used the next spring, or should they be bleached shortly before use? One of these days I'm going to get ahead of the game... I hope!
Uggg... i'm trying to get educated before i go vote today... the clock is ticking... but i think i've sorted it all out.
THANKS ella... seeds for kitty is always welcome.
Ella I know once the pots sit in the bleech water even the dirt will be clean in them but it's just not in me to leave it in there LOL Maybe that's why I'm so slow at getting my pots clean! I don't worry as much about the three inch pots because I'm just transplanting in those it's the six packs that drive me nuts and the little seed trays the first time I would leave that dirt in there it would be dampning off time LOL That's how I feel anyway :)
Klstuart, I found a couple of extra totes downstair that I won't be using this year I hope lol I want to put my clean six packs and seed trays in those for the summer after I get them clean to keep the dirt and dust out of them I hope that works! I have a lot of dust and spiders out there though with that garage being lattice and open all year.
Kl.. You would not have to rebleach them if you keep in a dry and in a pretty fairly clean place. Dst aroudn wil not hurt them at all. Ya don't want to put them in somethign to seal them. Just stack em up and forget abotu em. We clean stack and let sit for a year and then just pull out and reuse. : )
Kelly, I think if you're starting seeds in the pot, you should bleach and dry it just before use. Bleach doesn't keep a surface disinfected long term. For containers you're transplanting sturdy seedlings into, you don't need to be as concerned with contaminates.
Lowe's around here (50 mile radius) do Not carry either
Pro-Mix or Jungle Soil all they have is MG and F&M organic.
After going to half a dozen places looking for the Pro-mix
found one who stocked it but won't have it available for another
4-6 weeks. I'm really surprised cause I'm at the bottom of
Jersey & all thats here are farms & fishing towns. Went by
some greenhouses on my travels today and one groups still had
the doors nailed shut. Am I rushing the season?
Started 6 flats in January (1 veggie & 5 flower) and all thats poking
through the soil right now is beans and spinach - no flowers at all.
I'm really discouraged today and Darn that groundhog!