Butterfly Junction

Update: My indoor master bedroom garden was out of control, and I was in a bad place, due to Bob's health, so nothing was getting done. Now things are looking up, so I completely redid the inside plants.

First was the Brandywine tomato. Hopeless failure, but I'm not giving up. The next generation is already sprouting in the Plant Room. If we hadn't had that hard frost in November, I could now brag about having tomatoes all year long. I still have a slim chance of reaching that goal, if I can get my Sweet 100 to produce in February.


Here are a few of the Pomelos. Fingers crossed that we like them, since there are still over a dozen left on the tree.


I had lots of help redoing the inside garden. Here are 2 of the cats working on the tomato plants. One of the pots has a volunteer kale plant that now lives on the balcony.




Here's the volunteer kale. It should be much happier outside.


My purple basil was in desperate need of a bath. Our master bath has a "wet room" instead of a regular shower, and I never realize how handy that is for washing inside plants. The shower drain is right under the leaves. I used the hand-held shower nozzle to wash the leaves. It worked out, beautifully.  


Now, here is the finished garden. On the left is the Serrano pepper plant, trimmed down, with 2 little peppers harvested. In the middle is a bunch of cuttings from the Sweet 100 tomato plant. On the right is the purple basil. Everything else is either on the balcony or in the plant room. All in all a good day's work.

Nice day's work.

sanderson wrote:Nice day's work.

Starting Wednesday, we have a whole week of sunshine forecast. I should be able to get everything ready for spring during that time. I won't plant out any summer crops, but I have plenty of cool weather seedlings that can go in the ground, and another batch of seeds to start.

I chopped the Serrano pepper back to almost nothing, yesterday. I was afraid it was too much, but this morning it already has a blossom and a tiny bud that shows signs of producing. With a little diligence, I should be able to grow hot peppers for Amanda all year round.

countrynaturals wrote:Potato onions. I thought for sure they'd rot in all this weather, but they're still hanging in there. (December 20.)

Potato onions grew with enthusiasm all through our dark, dreary winter. Here they are, now. Can't wait to taste them.

countrynaturals wrote:

countrynaturals wrote:Potato onions. I thought for sure they'd rot in all this weather, but they're still hanging in there. (December 20.)

Potato onions grew with enthusiasm all through our dark, dreary winter. Here they are, now. Can't wait to taste them.

I knew I wouldn't be able to harvest more than one onion this year, if we like them and want them to spread, but I did pinch off a short stem to see if Hubby likes them for chives. He loves them and wants more, but I was afraid I'd have to say no, in case harvesting the leaves stunts the plants. I didn't need to worry -- those puppies grew another inch today. I'll be able to harvest all he needs.

My inside plants have started to bloom. That's probably not a good thing, since the plants that are blooming now, can't go outside for at least 6 weeks. Looks like I'll need a year-round indoor garden just for contingencies.

Serrano Pepper


Super Sweet 100 cuttings


Balcony Zucchini

Nice!

Well DUH!  

I've been bitten so hard by the gardening bug, that I can't think of anything else. I've been agonizing over all the work involved in deer-proof fencing so I can expand what I already have and return the overcrowded Salad Bar to its former beauty.

This morning I had an AHA moment. We've been here almost 2 years and done nothing with the pool area. It's surrounded by a 6' chain link fence. Since it's mostly cement, grass, gazebo, and water, and, since we feed the deer someplace else, they never go in there. So, I started thinking about putting a few veggies back there, mixed in with the shrubbery that doesn't appeal to the deer, anyway.

As soon as the sun came up, I took the camera back there to check it out. VOILA! Here's what I found:

120' of potential raised bed/waist-high garden beds READY TO PLANT! Am I dreaming? How could I not have realized this amazing potential before?  

Here is the long view:


Here is a close-up of the back part:


Not only is this perfect for old lady gardening, but there's even hose connections and sprinkler systems already in place. The best part is that it's ready to go. I could walk right out there and plant something without begging anyone in the family to do any backbreaking labor -- including me.

I've been worried about planting too many seeds -- including flowers -- with no place to put them. Now, I have almost unlimited space, just waiting for anything I want to do. I can't believe I didn't do this long before now. Gotta go plant some more seeds, now.

I look forward to seeing your progress.

ralitaco wrote:I look forward to seeing your progress.

I am absolutely giddy about this project. My biggest challenge will be to camouflage anything the deer might like, and plant their favorites somewhere else.

countrynaturals wrote:2018
My next surprise was an ugly old snow white cherry tomato, still hanging from last fall. I took a bite, just for grins, and it was awesome! Then I went looking for more and found these. Can you believe I'm having tomatoes from the garden in January/February? 


Sugar Snap peas are doing great -- in and out of their jars. One plant has at least 4 peas on it, but they don't get nearly as plump as the later ones. Still delicious, though.


Carrots, Daikons, and kale are all doing great.

Compared to last year, I'm doing great, but that was coming off the move and the fire.

Compared to 2018 -- not so much. My Daikons failed. I just replanted them, yesterday. No tomatoes, but that's due to a hard frost in November, so it was out of my control. Kale is fine. Sugar snap peas never bloomed, but they're still healthy -- planting more, today. Ate a kohlrabi, yesterday -- delicious. Getting a few 18 Day radishes. Harvesting potato onion tops for chives. Carrots are okay, but nothing exciting.

countrynaturals wrote:2017
Harvested a huge mess of kale and wanted to try broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower leaves to see if we like them. So, look what I found!  The cauliflower is about the size of a quarter and the broccoli is about the size of a nickel but I AM THRILLED!  I've never grown either one, before. Looks like winter veggies are my strong suit.

My indoor garden is doing better than 2017, but the Salad Bar is not. I lost control of my brassicas and don't even know what I have. Only the kohlrabi is producing, and it's slooooow.

I grew a bunch of radishes in Jiffy Pellets in the Plant Room, but some of them bolted. Today, I transplanted them onto the balcony, to see if they'll form munchy pods. It may be too late for these babies, so I planted a bunch of Rat's Tail radish seeds around the outside, to protect my investment.  

YEE-HAH! 2 little baby Super Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, on the cuttings from last year's plant, inside, on the shelving unit in front of the slider, under lights.  

The Serrano pepper plant, right next to it, is loaded with buds. The purple basil, also brought inside last year, is still happily blooming. So are the dwarf zucchini. Tomato and pepper transplants are doing great. Next batch of seeds in the plant room are coming along, slowly, and so are the outdoor plants. Except for the lack of rain, 2020 is starting out to be my best gardening year, yet. I guess 5's a charm.

YEE-HAH! 1st asparagus sprout is up!

History:

Me wrote:April 9, 2019

My first asparagus spear poked its head up about a half inch, today. I was starting to think the bed had died. Last year I had 6" spears by Feb. 2. Could this be a nutrition deficiency or just a cold, wet spring? (Today was also the first nice day we've had in weeks.)

Found my answer:

The Spruce wrote:In the spring it will begin to grow shoots when the soil temperature reaches 50 degrees.

YEE-HAH!!! I hope 2020 continues to be great

ralitaco wrote:YEE-HAH!!! I hope 2020 continues to be great

Thanks, Ralitaco. Dry years usually are, since we get so much sun. The trade-off is fear of drought, heatwave, and brush fires.

This week's surprise is our volunteer cherry tree. We just discovered it last year, growing right in the middle of the juniper bushes, in an inconvenient spot next to the gate. It only had 2 little cherries on it -- both went to the birds, so we have no idea how good the cherries will be.

Here it is this year, loaded blossoms. (This is just one branch.) Can't wait to see what it produces.

If the cherry tree only produced 2 fruit last year, I'm wondering if it needs a second tree of a different variety for pollination?

sanderson wrote:If the cherry tree only produced 2 fruit last year, I'm wondering if it needs a second tree of a different variety for pollination?

I hope not. It will break my heart if we don't get any cherries this year. OTOH, we do have another struggling cherry tree, that was donated to us a few years ago. It's about 50' away from this one. No idea what either variety might be. Maybe they can help each other out.

I have a self-pollinating dwarf black cherry tree.  It took about three years, but last year, it produced a good crop.  To my knowledge, there's no pollinator nearby.

donnainzone5 wrote:I have a self-pollinating dwarf black cherry tree.  It took about three years, but last year, it produced a good crop.  To my knowledge, there's no pollinator nearby.

The blossoms are fading on ours, so we'll know soon enough if we'll be getting any fruit this year. Fingers crossed.

Can't sleep. Woke up at 3:52, so here I am, prowling the forum at 4:15am. I'll try to be quiet and not wake anybody else.

Thanks to our own Brilliant Yolos, my tomatoes and hot peppers are about to get their own RV. It's a perfect fit for 8 5-gal grow bags (birthday present from granddaughter).

Unfortunately, it didn't work for the garage or the plant room, so it will have to go in and out the front door, and it's a very tight fit, but it should work. Fingers crossed. 

I have potting mix on order, so, hopefully, I can get some stuff in there, today, and try this puppy out, tonight. 

countrynaturals wrote:. . . Can't sleep. Woke up at 3:52, so here I am, prowling the forum at 4:15am. I'll try to be quiet and not wake anybody else.

countrynaturals wrote:Thanks to our own Brilliant Yolos, my tomatoes and hot peppers are about to get their own RV. It's a perfect fit for 8 5-gal grow bags (birthday present from granddaughter).

Unfortunately, it didn't work for the garage or the plant room, so it will have to go in and out the front door, and it's a very tight fit, but it should work. Fingers crossed. 

I have potting mix on order, so, hopefully, I can get some stuff in there, today, and try this puppy out, tonight. 

Done! The back left is my Serrano Pepper. Next to that are all Super Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes. The little ones in the front row are a variety of hot peppers, plus a couple of zucchini, cuke, and spaghetti squash.

I have never had anything close to this good a start on a gardening season and it's not even the middle of March, yet. We even had a nice rain, with a little more in the forecast for this weekend. I am a happy camper.