Dec 04
Nov 21
About 10 days ago I planted some PaperWhite Narcissus bulbs to be forced indoors.
The original post with details is here http://www.self-sufficient-home.com/375-forcing-paperwhite-narcissus-bulbs.html
Nov 21
A lone yellow daffodil that sprouted through the wandering ground cover last spring gave me some motivation to plan a fall bulb flower patch our first fall season living in our house. It is a miraculous site in the gloomy days of early spring when its still too cold to bask in the sunshine and everything is a muddy mess to see a new flower emerge from the ground after being long forgotten. As is the case with many projects you’ll read about here, this was my first go round with bulbs (well, second including my “forcing narcissus bulbs” but that doesn’t really count).
Time flew by as it always does and by the time I had a chance to sit down and figure out what I was doing most online bulb suppliers were having their end of season sales with discounts from 30-60% off. Being on a budget I went with the site that gave me the most bulbs for my dollar and ended up ordering from tulipworld.com. I ended up with about 180 bulbs of different varieties for about $50.
I did take some time to map out what was going where taking into consideration the bloom times, planting depth, and plant height to maximize the visual impact of the bulbs I ordered. A few different sites I did some research on recommended planting in layers and giving the bulbs more of a natural look by letting them fall into the spot rather than lining them in rows like toy soldiers. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov 11
While at the local nursery I found some PaperWhite bulbs 50% off and decided it would be a good way to add some life indoors during the dreary winter months.
This was a quick project; I just added a layer of pebbles to some pots, added soil, mixed in a tablespoon of bone meal, plopped in the bulbs, covered with soil and watered. And let the trickery begin! After bulbs have experienced a cold period during the winter months (I’ve read 13 weeks is the minimum) they can be brought indoors into the warmer spring like temperatures and they will think its growing season.
I’ve read that they can be forced in pebbles alone. Either way, they can be placed almost shoulder to shoulder in a pot….much closer than when in the ground. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct 20
With the end of the gardening season near we’ve started saving some seeds from our heirloom veggies. Next year we will plant a mixture of new store bought seeds and saved seeds from our first year garden.
Aug 19
This is my favorite non fruit producing plant we have this year. The dallas red lantana with its stunning vibrant blooms has been extremely low maintanance.
Aug 18
We are finally enjoying the fruits of our labor!
We’ve learned the harvesting season is much later (as expected) up here than down in the valley. The average daily temperature is still in the high 80’s to mid 90’s with evening temps averaging in the low 60’s and a few in the mid 50’s. Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 18
Well its mid-August and we finally have a steady supply of ripe delicious blackberries. We have cut back and ripped out a large quantity of the berry bushes during our clean-up efforts.
Aug 06
As it sounds, this method involves a deeply dug garden bed. The preparation is more labor intensive but the yields much greater…up to 4 times that of a conventional bed. Deep bed gardening aka the Chinese method or the French intensive method has been around for hundreds of years used in various countries by farmers that lived just outside of the city on small expensive land and needed high yielding crops. Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 05
I recently came across Incredible Vegetables from Self- Watering Containers by Edward C. Smith. This book goes into detail why self watering container gardening has been more successful (for the author) in many cases than traditional in ground gardens. Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 04
While anxiously waiting for the first ripe tomatoes of the season a problem was spotted. Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 04
Clay garden soil is composed of 0-45% sand and silt and 50-100% clay. Clay soil has low permeability and high water retention. Clay soil will absorb less than .25″ of water in an hour and does not drain well, often times resulting in water logging. Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 04
What strange creatures. I wasn’t sure what I was looking at the first time I saw these guys on my broccoli leaves. They were so densely packed they looked like some sort of dusty mold growth with virtually no color. Gray/white patches that seemed to prefer the curled parts of the plant where they didn’t get direct sunlight. After further inspection and research I found a name for these pests…aphids. Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 03
Loamy garden soil is composed of 25-50% sand, 30-50% silt, and 10-30% clay. This is considered the ideal soil because it drains well, holds moisture and is full of nutrients. Read the rest of this entry »
Jun 30
Sandy soil is composed of 80-100% sand and less than 10% each of silt and clay. Sandy soil is highly permeable and a poor water retainer. While it can absorb upwards or 2″ of water an hour, it tends to drain through quickly which can leave plants thirsty.
Read the rest of this entry »