Robin Thank you !!! Well I can see a little better A few light reflections is the only might be , At first those were not for a week or more now ,
False nettle sprouts A few more Sky Blue Asters are up also , I hope .. Still have trouble getting seedlings larger
What are your seedlings doing? Are they damping off?
Robin I only seem to not be able to get the plant seedlings more than four or five inches tall , ? Not damping off ,
My vision tested 20/20 with lighted background , 20/25 without Only back home a few minutes ago ,
Sounds like a good eye report there Ju.
Will your vision get to 20/20 without lighted background down the road?
Are your seedlings growing outside?
Thanks all Hi Keith
Robin My vision has never been better than that since my 20's
Yarrow . aster nettle are inside
Most are usually outside ,
Froze again here, on the road today
be careful on the snow and Ice.. dry as a one down here..
Glad your vision is good, Ju. the tropicals are all blooming down i the basement. I can't wait to see your red and blue lamp experiment results. I have too many seeds from trees here from sycamores, they hurt when you step on them and when they break apart they stab you.
I Planted some seeds last week.
Ju, do you have any growing issues with the seedlings indoors? Boy, that's great news about your eyesight...yay, or yipee...yippykiyay! Spellcheck has no correct spelling for the last word?
What a beauty specimen that Morning glory is and the center pic looks like Hibiscus seeds. What a nice tropical collection you have. Looks like hope springs eternal in your yard too Debra with all your planting. I thought squirrels like Sycamore seeds cause I had a seedling just show up in my yard. I haven't noticed a Sycamore nearby but usually pot them up and give them away because I don't have room for another mature tree.
Thank you all for the well wishes
I thought that first flower was a Malva when I first looked ,
Nice Flowers Debra ,, Those look like privet seeds from me in the pic
Some of my seeds are iffy this past season , I get that every few years ,
I have a few plants in the garden from you that may bloom this season ,( some I grew from seed
Robin only issues indoor is space to set them Well that and light , I have lights about the place only space still is the concern , Center pic from Debra , (dinner plate Big Red ) if their Hibiscus
I will clean more seeds before long
March 20th is coming ,
This message was edited Jan 28, 2017 3:18 AM
Keep the tropical flower pictures flowing Debra. It helps squash the winter blues. Loved that hibiscus.
Beautiful blowers. my greenhouse was pretty til the freeze, now it looks like the dead zone. managed to save one cutting of Brazillian buttonflower, 3 geraniums didn't freeze totally, a bit of the mexican flame vine I've had going for 2 or 3 years didn't die back because it was on the plant tray with fish water running past it keeping it warm, a little sprig or 2 of a few other things. I believe I did lose the white ginger tree I have carried in and out for the last 3 years. will see if anything sprouts out. If the plants Debra sent me aren't hardy, well they won't be back. Such is life in a hard freeze in North Texas
Nice to see pretty LIVING things. Bees are hitting the pollen substitute hard again. Hoping for spring
This message was edited Jan 28, 2017 12:45 PM
Sorry to hear about your freeze Gypsi. Are all the potted plants sitting on the ground in the greenhouse for the winter? I know a greenhouse here and that's what they do to maximize survival here in the north.
No they are up on shelves mostly. I have a chicken run under the main shelf, the greenhouse was built after a winter so extreme I couldn't keep water for them thawed for 10 minutes. and the rodents tend to snack on ground level stuff. stock tank on the other side, against the house, is the reason what lived, lived. but it HAS to sit on the ground, full of water and fish weighs over 1000 pounds
I guess we just work with what we got, we can't save everything no matter how hard we try. Besides, you've got more important things taking up real estate. I didn't realize you were so good at prioritizing...I sure do now!
at least I don't have to put the bees in the greenhouse, lol.
the big stock tank holds heat, the plants that lived were either A, super hardy (and there are several of those in there) or B. were on the filter tray for that tank or right next to it, and sheltered from the cold draft coming in around the door (I have fixed that). I don't use the run unless I have baby chicks and it's cold, or if we have a real blue norther coming in, and I will have to get a shovel in it and clean it out before it is used again. Winter of 2010/2011 it got so cold in my chicken coop I was out in it running them drinks of water every couple of hours and the water would freeze in 10 minutes. Got so cold electricity was rotating brown outs and I have electric heat. I installed the wood stove in summer 2011
Wow, that sounds like work. I know you've already invested a lot into what you've currently got going on. For an option in the future, invest in a heated water bowl. Bowls are cheaper than troughs. I thought I'd invest in one to run for the winter but haven't yet.
Actually I have a 5 gallon bucket with a nipple on the bottom for water and can drop an aquarium heater or small pump inside it. As long as it is inside the coop and out of the wind it will stay thawed. BUT I wanted a greenhouse. and if it gets that bitterly cold again, its too cold for the back yard coop. I had a 2nd coop built that is much better wind protected, on the lot.
The back yard coop was built to shed heat, as heat is our worse problem and it does kill chickens.
I can't put my plants in with chickens anywhere there isn't a pen to keep them separate, or they just eat them right up Greenhouse also keeps housecats and my dogs out of the plants
That does sound like a lot of work ,, Nice to be energetic enough to do such ,
Water barrels and tubing in windows for solar I can about do properly ,
Here is a Chrysanthamum cinnarifolium sprout this morning ,
I paid my crew to build the greenhouse and the first shelf. I did build the chicken pen and install the 100 gallon tank, the insulation on the tank and on the lower west wall below the windows, and hang black pondliner above the tank to soak up heat and keep the moisture away from my siding. The plant trays sit on shelves on the perimeter, the pond liner drapes off the wall and over shelves, under trays to return all water to the tank. It was a lot of work but compared to building a greenhouse it was pretty easy. I did install the electrical outlet. Had an electrician install the circuit and another one check my plans for the outside outlets on it. (house had ZERO)
When not physically able I have found that money comes in handy IF you know who to hire.
That all sounds like a well thought out set-up Gypsi, wow, you got it all going on!
pictures of the tank and tray arrangement coming up when I empty the camera. It saved some stuff. I have a solar pool cover over the whole thing from first cold til last, today it's so hot in there I opened the screen door. I could have opened windows but with the pool cover on it doesn't do much good to do so
plant tray in greenhouse, flame vine in pot, Brazillian buttonflower along base of pot, bits of stuff gets put between the rocks and bioballs, the water is filtered the plants are fed.
Seedlings, probably echinacea and galliardia.
Bronx in his service "vest". I gave up and just booked us a room for class at a dog friendly hotel. That doesn't require him to be a service dog. Still, the service dog vest might help out.
New fish tank in the living room, all live plants. I joined an aquatic plant club to swap cuttings
Moon in Pisces, waxing. Planted broccoli seed in tomato pots from last summer, as my in the ground isn't showing up much yet. (hay over garden to hold moisture and block weeds..... that little strip of ground not getting sun? )
planted sugar snap peas along garden fence getting sun,and Lavewa spinach along edge of raised onion bed #1.
then checked out my frozen Copper Canyon Daisy ($5 splurge in the covered part of the greenhouse) and found seed pods, one with apparently good seeds. It's a perennial so now might be the right time Planted in a pot next to the plant. put the tag in the pot so I could remember what the heck they were.
I don't even know what bioballs are. I'm so glad to see the pics, Bronx looks perfectly handsome in his vest!
bioballs are plastic balls with pins or spaces and bars all over them for bacteria to attach to. A smooth ball holds maybe 1/100th the beneficial bacteria that a bioball will. They are made for the aquarium and pond trade and aren't super cheap. I also have lava rock in those trays, again, something with a lot more surface area than size for bacterial adhesion. Picture in ad
https://www.chewy.com/marineland-c-series-canister-bio/dp/125871
Well there I go, learning something new today. Wouldn't the lava rock do the same thing? Perhaps too heavy?
the lava rock is heavier and harder to clean, so I used a mix, lava rock does trap more debris and plants root to it more easily.
and I also planted wildflowers today, bombed the fields that didn't get mowed with seed bombs.
Love those bombs, how did you make them?
I did a quick look at the garden plants this morning ,,
seems the Snapdragons and Fennel are froze out at the last cold spell
Seems other weed like plants it is , Aster wild several , sunflower several penstemon several , Erigeron several ,, Echinacea and such , Not much else wants to grow here .
I know what will grow I need to quit trying failures ,,
My Smooth blue aster seedlings are still alive One of a few is rather large , The Wild Echinacea , That's about all of the view , Of course a few others are the Herbs ,
Yammering on as I watch ,,
Cinnarifolium ,, someday leaves
Those will do with hopes of a few annuals ,
I had some native clay that was almost pure, potting mix or compost, wildflower seeds, softened clay, make almost ball, stuff in potting mix and a few seeds, close with clay. I had extra galiardia, so I sprinkled some on wet balls and patted in. Let dry 2 weeks before throwing. Will see how they do. Have some old potters clay I am softening to do some more
I am sowing my seeds indoors and decided to make a Grow Light Stand from a 48 year old TV stand lol .I bought two Florescent Lights and my Hubby attached them for me under the stand.
Oh it's the weather that eats your seedlings before they grow up Ju. Weather always wins, the deck is stacked against you in your zone. ;p
Very nice Cytf. I couldn't do that in the house, the critters would get my plants unless I shut them in a closet
cytf , I like that ,,!!!
Gypsi I admire all the energy
Robin only wrong thing today , I opened the jugs , The critters got my pale coneflower seeds ..dump , ta , dump , dump - dump ,,
1 Oriental red Poppy
2 Smooth Blue Aster
3 Penstemon
4 Red Erigeron , Pink Jewel
5 Well their Red I consider to believe Pink Aster
I need bee fodder Ju. I only own 1/3 of an acre, bees need wildflowers to forage on, I'm growing my honey flowers on other peoples property that they don't bother to mow.
ever blooming perennials ,,That bees like ,,
Here that would be Spring erigeron , summer Sumflower , and fall asters ,,
Bees like those ,
In 2006 I spent $30 at the feed store on a big bag (maybe 3 oz) of Texas native wildflower seeds. I have kept them refrigerated all these years, and they produce plants I don't know the names of and some I do, but the bees highly approve. I manage to collect seeds from some, the poppies, and the galliardia and the little red ones with round seed pods, black eyed susan, other black eyed susan, and larkspur. Mexican hats have been coming up all over the neighborhood since I started. Didn't get my own bees til 2011
Thanks juhur7, I am retired so I have all the time and energy to keep the brain busy .lol I am lucky that I do not have critters.
