Plant Propagation The Basics ,October 2016

Good job getting organized Gypsi. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving...overeating and enjoying family.

Now I have visions of wintersowing dancing in my head...

My seeds are not all cleaned , it is 48 degrees and sunny , little warm to wintersow , Hi all
Ate until full , and filled some more , Burp ,,

It's always too warm to wintersow here

I've spent a nice day making office containers of plants I rooted for the new building we moved into Saturday. Pretty excited. The whole place has floor to two story high windows in the showroom and my full window from ground to ceiling in my office. I'll post pics of my "experiments " later. Still messing with seeds when I have to sit in front of the TV with football.

What a wonderful gift you've been making for your coworkers and new building Debra. Sounds like a great growing environment with humongous windows, within a year you'll have that place looking real good!

Gypsy, if it's too warm to wintersow, are you able to do real gardening?

Spinach and Swiss chard, onions. Can't find a good planting window for dry beans. Too hot or too cold.

Here is some seed cleaning , Zinnia rough cleaned , Still doing Tithonia . It takes a few minutes to clean a construction bucket full of seeds ,,
1 Zinnia
2 Tithonia
Oh well , only three more buckets to go , Then I get to the Jars , cups after that ,, eeek !!!!

I have some tithonia plants, when would seeds be planted if I can find any.

Gypsi when you have our July Temperatures here would be best Like when 80's are constant I grow them as annuals , their perennial though for you

They die unless I greenhouse them

How large do they get for you ,? Their suppose to be hardy to zone 7 ,?

never put one in the ground and had it live, about maybe 15 inches tall in a 3 gallon pot.

That is different , Mine grow six to eight ft. tall in the ground , as an annual .. What do you have there Texas Sandstone ?

LOL, you guys are so funny, but i know what you mean. Nature is wonderful isn't it? Like the different climates we all have. What are perennials in one are are annuals in another and may not even do that some place else. Really different isn't it. jen

Jen As to how funny , Has that thing about experience of where you are ,, as in trying ,,

Today some Winter Garlic ,

Well guys, I really thought I was going to be able to post pictures tomorrow and actually say those 2 very relieving words, "I'm done". Well I guess not. Another setback. I bought a large box of grout for the backsplash that I thought was way more than I needed but NOT. I am going to run out before I finish and there's no more In town for a week. I may still post pictures tomorrow as I really doubt you will he able to tell the difference in a picture between grouted and not grouted. Also still have a hole where there should be a microwave. That is probably still a few weeks away.
Keith

New Thread http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1435563/

Hopefully that will all work well Keith , we will look forward to seeing that , when your able ..

Clay that turns into concrete a few months of the year. Close enough. Can't pour enough water to soften it when drought starts.

That is a tough one Gypsi A high lime content , dust does that , limestone powder , red clay , a couple others ,
Would try a drill and wood chips , raw compost into drilled up chunks , but that is me , Rotten stuff desiccates rock or lime powder dust , and fire, hot fire breaks rock , fire changes the chemical balance
Basically I would drill up a fire pit in the ground and fill it with crap for a while ,

OK. AS REQUESTED AND PROMISED
From ultra country
ie. BEFORE

To ultra modern in just over 2 very long months, a lot more grey hair and several pounds shed
ie. AFTER

Very nice Keith. Adding compost in thick layers when I can Ju, turning it in with a spade but takes a long time to tame 1/3 acre solo. The length and depth of North Texas droughts are tough to beat, then 7 inches of rain just washes off. working with swales to hold more rainfall. Both drought and rain more extreme these days.

Gypsi, that just sounds utterly depressing to a gardener. More and more I feel blessed living up here in the Arctic. Our seasons are short but a lot more satisfying. I give you credit for no just giving up!
Keith

your seasons may change too Keith. I have gardened in north Texas since about 1985, and the last few years have been incredibly bad. Climate change does seem to be happening.

Also from here really nice Keith , I have similar to your first photo of the Kitchen before

Climate change is always constant , however when it comes to where you are it can be Major tough ,,
Brings to mind , Fiber filled garden cloths , Screenings ,, planting in hollowed out tree stumps ,, Things like that ,

What is a fiber filled garden cloth

That is garden cloth rolled and filled with spaghnum peat or fiber husks , It is used for erosion control I am looking for a link ,

Planted In pots and tidycat buckets this year

Keith your cupboards look like the same wood as mine. Different style, but the same wood. Think mine is Oak wood with a Maple stain. What is yours? Very nice whatever it is. What is your counter? My cupboards cost so much that at the time I decided to go with a laminate. So, now I am looking into replacing it but not sure what I am going to get. It is difficult to get people to come up here. They will tell me if I get 3 or 4 more customers for them up here they will do it Ever hear of such a dumb idea?

There are seeds we wintersow, seedbombs help protect from birds...usually we wintersow like nature does, rocket larkspur goes out now, won't grow if you wait for spring. As seeds drop, we wintersow. I wont get home til 14th- did some trimmin and thinnin before I left in Nov. My Rosemary's are sad this summer, may relocate a few when I get home...

Jen,
A little confused by your comments, questions. I think you must be looking at the before pictures rather than the after pictures as our new cupboards are not wood at all. They are European style mdf covered with metallic charcoal thermofoil. Countertops are Quartz
Keith

Keith , Now you can use the Kitchen , to put the pounds back on , and use the natural oils to hide the gray (or change it )

Seeds on a plate , rough cleaned zinnia seeds yhe two outer edge baggies ,. Cleaned and ready Tithonia seeds the bag in the middle , two smaller baggies are a hard seeded zinnia ,and about 2x2 full of chicory seeds in a 2 x 3 baggie ,

Will work on those suggestions Ju

I wrote a long thread but lost it looking back at another picture...oh well. That's a clean and modern design for your fabulous kitchen Keith. It looks great but the before shot didn't look tired enough to kick it to the curb. Nice!

Your seeds look good too Ju!

Thank you Robin. You are right, in these pictures the old kitchen didn't look that tired, but when you got into demolition there were problems on the way. Wendy's biggest reason for wanting a change was for senior accessibility. We spent hours on Pinterest and when you open the doors everything pops out . Here are 2 examples. We have 2 of these utensil drawers which I just love. In my old booze cabinet there was stuff stuck in the back that you forgot you had whereas in this one its all at your finger tips

The modern is nice, the accessibility is nice. I however am cheap, and look at payoff when or if I decide to sell.

I have added a lazy susan in my antique deep corner cupboard (cost me about $10 for the parts), and where I pulled my dishwasher out (never used) I built a modern high end dog/cat feed cabinet, which would be a trash cabinet in any modern home (stole the design idea from my customer in the very nice half million dollar house), but modified it so I can wheel the cabinet to the front door if I don't feel like carrying 40 lbs of feed in. Then wheel it back into its spot. (photos someday.)

Mine isn't fancy or beautiful, but in my neighborhood your level of modification wouldn't pay for itself when I go to sell my home either.

You did a great job Keith, thanks for sharing and adding more detail about your project.

Gypsy, I'll be looking forward to seeing your pics...sounds pretty innovative.

Perhaps the biggest improvement is the new wider entrance to the kitchen from the living room with the soft arch top. Really made a 40 year old hose look new

Nice entrance. I keep trying to add counterspace in my kitchen.... Ongoing battle with clutter and appliances.

This message was edited Dec 3, 2016 4:10 PM

WOW, Keith, you really do do things to the extremes, don't you! That kitchen is definitely one extreme to the other. The new is definitely beautiful, so streamlined, looks so fresh & clean. And definitely forward thinking with the slide out bottom cabinets! But the 'old' kitchen is more along the lines of my personal style, looks cozy. The wood cabinets are very similar in style to what I have. The only thing I don't like about them is the way dust and grime (and yes, grease, too) accumulates on that bottom ridge of the door panels. If I had thought it through thoroughly when I had mine done, I would have gone with a smooth fronted cabinet door. And I like the way the chair backs 'match' the cabinet door design. Bet y'all are really enjoying this gorgeous new kitchen.

We are having a winter day today, 55 degrees, heavy cloud cover, and light rain, which is badly needed! Kind of puts me into the Christmas spirit. Even though I've lived in S Texas for over 50 years, I still can't get used to, (or learn to like) 85 degree Christmas days!

The pictures below are from a couple of years ago, plants I rescued from Walmart after Christmas a year before that. They are setting buds again now. Probably won't be open by Christmas, but they seem to bloom on their own time schedule, which is fine by me!

Ju,, that looks like a lot of seed you are cleaning, will you plant them all?? ?

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Rusty

(ETA. . . . . Oops, the last picture is an Easter Cactus I had for awhile, it apparently is more 'touchy' about its care than Christmas cactus are, it didn't survive very long)

This message was edited Dec 4, 2016 3:28 PM