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Showing posts with label Greenhouse and Garden Information. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greenhouse and Garden Information. Show all posts

Monday, March 14, 2011

A Lesson in Seed Identification and Planting....OH!!!! the Planting!

Here we are again…waiting impatiently for spring to arrive. It is this time of year that keeps a gardener on her toes…especially when she has a greenhouse to plant.

I have been out there planting at every opportunity…and thought I’d give you a peek at what some of the seeds look like…as well as a little lesson in Planting!

I am revising an older post to share with you today. I have to go back and watermark every thing, so I figured, why not watermark this one and share it with you. There are several people patiently waiting for me to share some planting How-To posts…and this is as good a time as any!

Lets get started.

These are some of the seeds I have planted so far in the greenhouse!
I have included photos of some of the seeds that you may not have seen before...

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Do you see these seeds? They are what is known as Pelleted. This means that they are coated so that they are not quite so small...and are easier to handle. It also means that I am not able to show you exactly what a Bacopa seed looks like.

With Bacopa, you do not cover the seed/pellet...you gently press it onto the surface of the soil.

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3 These are Untreated Geranium seeds...if you remember the post on planting Geraniums, you will notice that these are not gold, yellow, orange or treated in any way.

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These are covered lightly with potting soil...

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Gerbera's are pressed into the surface of the soil as they need to have light to germinate.

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Just cover lightly. (these are poison to your pets...and seem to taste very good to them...)

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The pepper seeds are just seeds...they needed to be put 1/4 inch under the soil and kept warm and moist....(these are for Justine)

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The Dusty Miller...does not need to be covered... just sprinkled on top of the soil, and kept in the light with plenty of moisture. (they are starting to sprout as of today)

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Dianthus is started 1/4 inch deep and ...warm and moist

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Impatiens do not need cover either...they need light to germinate. WOW!!!

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These are the Geraniums we planted! Three days after they popped out of the soil!

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Febuary 8.

14so far..this is what the greenhouse looked like as of last week.
Other seeds that were pelleted that I have planted are, Begonia, Petunia and Pansy, and Swedish Ivy. I did not take photos of them ...as they are appear the same as the Bacopa...at least until they sprout!

Once that happens it is a very different story...and we will have photos!

Until next time, thanks for getting dirty with me! Happy Gardening!

*)*)*)- glad to see you!

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

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2/19/09

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Window Box- Window box-- How do You Do? Tootsie Tip #2



I have decided to link this post to Welcome Wednesday. Thank you to the lovely host blog!






Please join me in revisiting my Tootsie Tips Posts. They have been updated and revised a little bit, and I thought that this might be a good time to get inspired and take a peek!

Window boxes are among the containers that every gardener dreams of having.
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This one hung on the front of my house. It faces North.

There are unlimited options for planting a window box, and this can be daunting for many people. When I first started to plant pots and containers, I was overwhelmed with all the different things that the garden books and the garden centers offered for such a task.

ALL I WANTED WAS A WINDOW BOX!

How HARD can that be?

I am here to tell you that it does not have to be a tough choice or a high maintenance project!

You simply need to make a few decisions.

First, you will need to decide WHERE you plan to put the window box in your garden. Will you be placing it on the fence? On the side of your house? On the patio? Will it be in the sun or the shade? Do you wish for it to have flowing/trailing plants or just upright and tidy- or both? Do you want loads of glorious color or just foliage.....

Once you know where and how big your window box will be, you will need to plan for the things you will need to have in order to make your plan a reality!

If you don't already have a window box you will need to purchase one and the appropriate brackets to hold it.
There are several different types of window box available to us. The only prerequisite is your decorative preferences!

There are the wire ones that you will need to add a liner to in order to keep the soil from falling out. These are very decorative and can be found in almost any style, size,and price range.
I have used this system before. I purchased a pretty wire window hanger, and added one of the moss-type liners to it. I did not use anything else in it but the liner, and was very disappointed. Not only did I need to replace the liner the following year (and they are not cheap), but the whole container garden did not do well at all! The soil would leach out and run down the side of my building every time I watered. I also had to water much more often , as the liner is all natural, and it allowed the soil to become very dry very quickly. (much like a clay pot versus a plastic pot does) It did not retain much moisture for the reserve that the plants needed during the warmest parts of the day.

This issue called for some serious Tootsie Thought. I mulled it over during the winter months, and this is the solution I came up with:

I took my wire window box, and put the new (and rather hard to find -not to mention over priced) window box liner inside it. Next I added a small kitchen garbage bag. I simply opened a garbage bag, and positioned it the same way I would if I were putting it into a garbage can. It did not fit perfectly, but that's okay, as no one would see it anyways. I filled the open bag with potting soil, and proceeded to plant my annuals into it. Once the planting was done and enough soil packed into the bag to fill the liner...I watered the whole thing. After I watered, I took a pencil and poked a few holes in the bottom, and a couple on the sides. Just stab through the basket liner into the plastic bag to allow for proper drainage. This will solve the issue of over watering the pot, but will not allow the whole thing to dry out as quickly. After all the planting, watering and drainage hole creation, trim your bag with a pair of scissors. Tuck in the last bits of plastic that may be showing and you are done!

The photo below shows the finished project!

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Once the window box has matured, you will never know that the plastic bag is there! You can use any color of bag-even clear-or perhaps a grocery bag....just so long as it is a piece of plastic that will help retain the necessary moisture! It's just that simple!

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(above: sweet potato and lobelia)

Now...what exactly will you be wanting to plant in these window boxes?

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(above: a window box planted with swedish ivy that has been set onto a saw horse…gone wild!)

A window box can be placed anywhere. The style or type does not matter a bit. It is the plants you put into that window box that will determine your over all outcome.
If you are planting in a very sunny location, and want some plants that enjoy hot summer days....perhaps considering portulaca as the edging all the way around would be practical. Portulaca is a drought resistant and very heat/sun loving plant. Marigolds, petunias, short snap dragons, Osteospermum and Dwarf Dahlias are nice choices for window boxes. Wave petunias or Bacopa will flow over the edges and cause a nice hanging display....the plants available in your local garden center will help determine this.

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This one hangs on the door under the sunroom....it has lobelia, Trailing Geranium....
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Full sun! Gerber Daisys...

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Same box...different look.....Geranium and wave petunia.

These have cheap plastic window boxes inside the wooden frame...full sun/part shade....

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(above : Swedish Ivy and lobelia mixed with Geraniums)

If you are planting in a partly shaded location, lobelia, alyssum, bacopa, impatiens, snap dragon, Gerber daisy, and nicotana are nice to use. They thrive in a little cooler conditions, but will also do well in sunny locations.

Plants in partly shaded locations do not need as much watering as do those in the hot summer sun. The one below is in my shadier area...on the kid's play set.

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This one hangs across from the other on the side of the garage...again...no liner at all...just plastic grocery bag....Pansy and Lobelia

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Same planter...different year...the one below has Calibrachoa and Swedish ivy.


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So you see...with a little planning and some creative thought...a window box is a thing of simple beauty!

What do you plant in a window box?

If you would like to share some of your window box photos…click over to the Tootsie Time Facebook page and leave a photo there! I would love to see!

Until Next time… are you almost ready for the Fertilizer Friday Flaunting??? I can't wait to see what you all share this week!

Happy Gardening!

*)*)*) (you know who you are) MWUAH!

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

I’VE SEEN THE GREEN!

Hey guys! Thanks for stoppin’ in! I know you all know how patient I am…and how good I am at waiting…lol

Well…today I am so glad that my waiting and pacing and stalking and toe tapping is over! (at least for a few days)

The seed order finally arrived…and I was ready. I planted over 200 Geraniums between Thursday and Friday evening….Well…it’s Sunday…and guess what!???

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Some of them are up!!!! SEE THE GREEN???? Whew! I thought that wait was going to kill me!

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There is always the worry of something going wrong…or the seeds not being viable…035

…and there will be one or two that are not going to germinate….but…

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…Not these babies!!! Yippie!!! I have seen the green!!!

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Do you know what that means?

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It means…

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Spring is almost ready to come!!!

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It means that it has sprung in my greenhouse…

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…who cares if it is snowing and cold outside!!!!

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….it’s spring time in the greenhouse!!!!

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The sun is shining…

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…and there are some new beauties just striking a pose and waiting for their photo shoot!

Until Next time…happy gardening!!!

*)*)*)

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

It’s LIVE!!!! IT'S ME! IT'S LIVE!!! GO SEE!!!

Wanna hear MY VOICE????

My Canadian accent isn’t that bad!!! haha

Well you can hear me talk to BGgarden’s Bren by clicking the photo below!!!!

PodwidgetAd1

I was interviewed by Bren last weekend for a pod cast that she wanted to publish. She asks me all sorts of questions from personal to silly to gardening!

Head over and take a listen! Leave a comment and then let me know what you think!

I am so excited!

Let me tell you …I was soooo worried about doing this interview. I stressed and stressed all week just knowing I was going to be HEARD live and in person! I am a teensy bit relieved that I had a bit of a sore throat that day…I don’t sound quite so little! hahaha

Bren is a great girl, easy to talk to and a lot of fun…head over and take a listen and look at some of the pics she posted of me and my spaces!

Thanks Bren for asking me…and for all the fun we had making this pod cast!

Fertilizer Friday is almost here…are you ready????

Until next time…hugs and smiles! I can’t wait to hear what you thought of my interview!

*)*)*)…(don’t be shy…you can go there too!)

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

A New Beginning…With ‘Old Friends’ (and Some New)

A new year has begun, and for many that means new beginnings. New resolutions, new habits, the possibilities of change are endless. The new year, for me, is the beginning of a new season of planting, growing and gardening. A season of hope, and change, new and old.

I have been pouring over the seed books now for weeks. I have made my list so many times you would think my new name was Santa! There are check marks, strikethroughs, question marks…scribbles and sometimes things written so poorly that even I can’t read them!

Each year I try to add a new flower or plant to my inventory. Some of these are keepers, ’old friends’ if you will, and others are plants that I will NEVER try again due to inappropriate climate conditions in my gardens…or just because my ‘newbie’ of the year is a general pain in my A$$ and is not what I had hoped it to be. Around here…you either bloom like the dickens and hold your own…or you just don’t make the cut for the next season.

How do I know what I did and didn’t like? I keep a garden journal. For many years it was simply a bunch of notes scribbled as I planted each package of seeds…notes of what was in each pot that I made for the patio or hanging basket…some notes about what plants thrived in which beds…you get the idea. When my current greenhouse was built, I also invested in a laptop computer on which I stored the important notes of each garden year, and included some photos to go with! I would take a photo of each pot that I planted…and write what I put into each one… then I print it off…place each page in a plastic sleeve and pop it into a binder that I keep on a shelf in my greenhouse.

-for example…my notes would be something like: 6 alyssum (purple) 6 alyssum (white) 5 wave Petunia (silver) 3 apple red geranium. I would add a photo of that pot, and later comment on what I thought of it. Like or dislike…etc.

I also like to keep records of the seeds I order…because some companies are better than others. Some have higher germination in general than others, some have better customer service, prices, selection…etc. By looking back at the garden journal, and taking a peek at the empty seed packets from that particular year, I can get the gist of what I might like to order again and from where!

I am having an issue getting some of my usual ‘helpers’ (old friends) for my greenhouse this year. I usually use a product by ‘Plant Prod’ called “NO DAMP”. It seems that there is NOT ONE BOTTLE of NO DAMP available anywhere. No Damp is an antifungal liquid that is used to treat or prevent damping off disease in young seedlings. I use it as a preventative measure for almost all of my seeds, especially the Dahlias, Geraniums and Petunias.

If anyone has any information as to where I can get my hot little hands on some of this product, or a product that is similar, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET ME KNOW! I am one desperate little gardener at this point. I have heard that chamomile tea made into a spray works similarly, or clove tea…and even cinnamon sprinkles….but I am not confident that any of this is going to work…and I am asking for your expert opinions!

I have placed one seed order so far, and have another two or three that I will be putting in, as soon as I finish checking my journal. I have a few things that I should have kept on my list as ‘regular stock’ and a few that are on the list that should have been moved to the ‘not so much’ list.

My regular stock list of other ‘old friends’ is pretty basic:

marigold, petunia, wave petunia, dusty miller, alyssum, malva, lavatera, dahlia, sweet william, bacopa, swedish ivy, pansy, rudbeckia, nicotana, banana, lobelia, verbena, portulaca, geranium, coleus, snap dragon, dianthus, helichrysum, alternanthera…

My newbie list of ‘new friends’ changes each year. This year I am looking at a couple of things…Thymophylla, Datura…and a couple others I am contemplating.

How do you keep records?

Do you have any suggestions to add to my list of newbies?

What are you planting this year?

Do you have any suggestions where I can get a good fungicide? Or an alternative?

I can’t wait to hear your replies…

Well…that’s it for today…I can’t wait to show you what I have been up to in the greenhouse…so until next time…I’ll be getting dirty organizing for the spring plant…and you…just be you…I like it that way!

*) *) *)….you know who you are!

Hugs!

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Rebounding and Hopeful.

Before I share my post, I would like to thank you all for all of the kind and supportive comments. I am trying to get back to each and every one of you, and visit your sites, I am also so excited to see that Fertilizer Friday is getting to be more popular. This makes my heart sing…seeing all the inspirations you share, is good for this old gardener. I have been slowly but surely getting through the list…it’s taking a while…My sore arm seems to be worse while using the computer than at any other time, so replies and visits are slow going.

Once my spring set up is finished, I will be around…and you will be sick of me!

My gardens did take a bit of a set back with the snow storm we had on the weekend…but…I have hope that there is still some good things to come from my efforts to save them.

Bright and early Tuesday morning, this Toots was out (5:00am) and removing all the tents that covered her beds. All day long I worked my little fingers to the bone. I worked till 10:45pm…with a couple of kid related breaks. Ha-ha.

The full scoop will be dished to you all on Friday, but for now here’s a little peek at what transpired yesterday.

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A bag full of Iris’s

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a tiny an uneven bed…

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changed for the better.

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an uninteresting scene and crumbling fire pit…

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an Elder tree..

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and a change of scenery for the home made fountain.

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re-arranging the garden art to fill the empty fountain space…

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passion flower is budding up.

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Happy Snap Dragons…

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and a VERY cheerful color of Geranium!

See you Friday for the full flaunt…and to see what you have!

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.