Update on the gardening saga

Tending to my garden reaps joy, rewards, and frustration. The joy comes from simply giving my plants attention: watering them, talking to them (yes, I talk to my plants; I'll do anything that will help them to grow and I'd probably talk to them anyway even if it didn't do any good at all), watching them change a little bit every day because they're growing so fast.
The reward comes from watching the bud turn to bloom, flower turn to fruit. I've never done that before! There is already a pepper starting to grow: joy and reward rolled into one, tiny little baby pepper!
Unfortunately, one of the other blooms that unfolded about the same time as the one that has produced a pepper withered already.

And a couple leaves on both the pepper and the strawberry plants show a couple yellow spots - is that the result of disease? Pests? Vermin? Too much sun, too little water? But the rest of both plants look fine and dandy. So do I pinch off the bad leaves? And if so at what point do I do that - just the leaf? Pinch it off where the stem grows out of the main stem?
So many questions, and no easy answers in sight. But I guess that's part of what it means to garden. Granted, resources certainly exist out there that sprang out of trial-by-fire testing, as well as more traditional means of testing, plain ol' scientific research, and sheer experience to yield answers to those questions. And some questions will always have the same answer: don't put too much nitrogen in your plant food or it will kill your pepper plant (for the record I am not currently using any food at all, not that the plants are suffering the least bit for it).

As if all that weren't enough, this morning I inspected the underside of the pot holding these veggies of mine, only to discover tiny roots coming out of two of the holes! I could NOT believe it! I thought that was at least another month or so away from happening! I suspected the plants might outgrow the container I bought for them, but not this fast! Unless those roots are coming from something growing up out of the ground it was sitting on. I say "was" because I've now propped the pot up on some glass squares I found lying around, not only to aid drainage but also to protect the plants from fire ants and Lord knows what else might be in the native soil/sand.

I've also noticed tiny, winged bugs flying around, but I have no idea if these are pests or not. However I discovered a couple days ago that planting garlic with your veggie garden is a very natural way to ward off pests, so if I wind up transplanting my garden to a bigger pot you can bet some garlic cloves will be joining them.
As for the amaryllis plant ... a fourth leaf has joined the other three, but still no stem. From what I've read it's possible that the bulb needed to go through this stage in order to produce a stem later on down the road, so I'm not giving up hope yet. Still, it would have been cool to see a bright red bloom towering above some red tomatoes and strawberries, and yellow bell peppers.

As always, dear reader, if you have experience gardening and you'd like to give me some advice, please do! Until next time ...

Plant journal: Reviving a neglected amaryllis

So. I have this amaryllis plant. It was given to me as a Christmas present two Christmases ago from my hubby. It came with a live bulb, a gorgeous red ceramic pot, and a disc of compressed soil called a "coco disc". The instructions said to put the disc in a large bowl, add water, fluff it with a fork, wait a few minutes, and then plant the bulb in the soil. So I did. And I waited with great skepticism as I tend to kill plants more than I grow them.

To my utter surprise it not only bloomed ... it was absolutely the most gorgeous thing I ever saw, and seeing it every day made me happy. I proudly displayed it in a central, well-lit location.

And then we moved, and it moved with us. I set it outside on the balcony and forgot about it. For over a year.

Well, the other day I had a stroke of ambition and pulled the bulb out to inspect it. I had to pull a few withered leaves off of it, but other than that the bulb felt heavy and firm, and the roots looked reasonably healthy - more than I could have asked for. So I thought, why not? I went to the store with the intention of buying some new soil, but I just wound up buying some plant food (and cheap gloves and a cheap watering can). I simply repotted the bulb in the same soil it had been sitting in, the original coco disc soil. Mind you, all I planted was a bare bulb. Thursday, March 25 I gave it some plant food.

The following Sunday, March 28, I had this:



It's now one week later.

One week after re-potting the old bulb, which I was pretty sure had died from my neglect, I have this:


Oh yeah, I should mention, this bulb sat outside on our balcony for the past 13 months - including the extended deep freeze we experienced this past January that devastated Florida citrus farmers, among others. Followed by an equally freezing February and not the warmest March on record either. I know some flowering bulbs like cold weather, but I really didn't think they liked it THAT cold!

Stay tuned, to see if this plant produces a bloom!

Please support Journey to Forever

Journey to Forever is a pioneering expedition by a small, mobile NGO (Non-Government Organization) involved in environment and rural development work, starting from Hong Kong and travelling 40,000 kilometres through 26 countries in Asia and Africa to Cape Town, South Africa.

Our route will take us away from the cities and populated districts to remote and inaccessible areas (usually also the least developed and poorest areas), where we'll be studying and reporting on environmental conditions and working for local NGOs on rural development projects in local communities.

The focus will be on trees, soil and water, sustainable farming, sustainable technology, and family nutrition.

The aim is to help people fight poverty and hunger, and to help sustain the environment we all must share.

--The foregoing was taken straight from the homepage of their website, Journey to Forever.

The perfect pile of poo

I just read, moments ago, a great article on composting: click here to go to the website.

See, I am trying to start a garden. Naturally, I want it to be the kind of garden that keeps giving back, however, since I have historically been a city girl all my life - and by "city girl" I mean that my day-to-day standard of living has always depended on commercial grocery markets - I don't know the first thing about gardening.

I also have big dreams for this garden of mine: I'm hoping to revolutionize the world with it. Of course, in order to be successful with it I am beginning to realize that I'm going to have to enlist the help of others, especially considering my lack of practical experience with gardening. Oh yes, I failed to mention that I'm trying to grow a vegetable garden. I have a book that has suggestions on how to grow a salad out of a container - I'm hoping that if I can do it myself and teach others how to do it, I can call my life a success! Or at least, this part of my life.

My motivation for starting this is twofold: the lack of quality at the supermarket, and the price of gas. I desire to have more control over the taste and nutritional value of my fruits and vegetables, which I can do if I grow my own. Furthermore, it will definitely be a heck of a lot cheaper to just walk out to the backyard and pluck fresh tomatoes off the vine than to get in the car - or walk to the bus stop - and travel to the grocery to get tomatoes.

But I have no idea what I'm getting into, and so far no supplies yet either. I only have deep hope and a vision, and the deeper hope that the greatest manifestation will be if I can teach others how to grow their own vegetable garden too!

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