The Potting Shed - Part 2

[Kizzie]

Continuing the potting shed thread here with Part 2.  The thread was started by Sunbear to talk about any and all things to do with gardening.

[Blueberry]

Lots blooming in my garden and lots of bees 

[Three Roses]

We hung a hummingbird feeder on our deck, they are so much fun to watch!

[Blueberry]

Yesterday I did some gardening - mostly cutting a few plants back that have stopped flowering so that I can see those that are still flowering when I look out the window. I don't have to go down into the garden to see them, though I do that too. There are light blue chicory, deep yellow evening primroses as well as hot pink cranesbill. There's lots of green in between so the colours don't clash 

Today I took a deep inhale from my one blooming pink/white variagated rose. Lovely scent

[Blueberry]

My one rose is still blooming. Yesterday I inhaled the scent deep into me. There are more buds opening.

[Bermuda]

Sweden is dark now, and I am actually enjoying the darkness, even my shadowest of jungle plants have found it difficult however. I have huge windows and an extra table that is the same height as the window ledge, so I put some boards across the two, sewed a tarp around it with a door at the front as a giant play tent for my little one and moved all the plants onto the top of my now huge radiator heated windowsill, tent house I look forward to expanding my indoor jungle now. I'm imagining a combination of frons and vines. That makes me happy.

[Pioneer]

We have begun prepping a garden plot for the Spring. We are trying a new method which will be interesting to try. We are laying down cardboard onto a plot of lawn (where the chickens have lived recently  ) and then getting decomposed leaves and a little dirt from the woods to pile on top of the cardboard. And we are trying to keep the plot moist so it will continue to decompose. And any weeds beneath the cardboard are supposed to die. It will be really interesting to see how it works. I think we're all excited about a garden. We have visions of growing all kinds of crazy vegetables and fruits  We likely won't get around to all of them this year, but it will be interesting to see what comes of it. I feel a bit excited.

[Bermuda]

Pioneer your garden sounds lovely.  I have also tried that method and it worked amazingly. I used to have a permaculture fruit forest that I used no-dig practices with and I found the cardboard barrier to be really great to keeping the creepy crawling ivy vines at bay. If it works for ivy, I imagine it would work with most anything.

I am so excited. On my ledge in front of my four metre high window, I've started setting up a Kratky hydroponic system, aka some storage bins and extra lights. I purchased so many seeds to test. I will perhaps start with trying to grow grasses like lemon grass, caraway, clary sage, and holy basil. I just imagine this very tall brush in my window, and the thought makes me so happy. And the smell! My house will smell amazing.

[Pioneer]

Bermuda, your grasses and spices sound really lovely - yes, I can imagine they will smell really good! I hope they love the spot and grow well.

Also, thanks for mentioning your experience with no-dig practice! That's encouraging and exciting. It makes sense that it would work against viney things, too. We have lots of viney thorns that like to wrap around trees around here, so I will have to keep that in mind! It gave me an idea for possibly putting a cardboard barrier around the house in places, particular in places where the grass gets overgrown. Thanks 

[Blueberry]

I have huge windows and an extra table that is the same height as the window ledge, so I put some boards across the two, sewed a tarp around it with a door at the front as a giant play tent for my little one and moved all the plants onto the top of my now huge radiator heated windowsill, tent house I look forward to expanding my indoor jungle now. I'm imagining a combination of frons and vines. That makes me happy.

Your description reminds me of a recurring dream I have that my whole bedroom has outdoor plants growing in it, with soil underfoot and everything. During the dream I love the cool greeness and being able to see the window through and round those green stems but I know I sometimes wonder as well. I'm not even sure what I wonder, but I do. How the plants got there? Where they go when they get too tall??

[Blueberry]

Yesterday - first day working in the garden this year. Just cleaning a few things up, cutting a few plants back where I didn't before the snows came, making space for the spring bulbs. Much prefer that to cleaning up in my apartment.
Good to be out in the fresh air. 

[Blueberry]

I saw 2 new posts on the old Potting Shed thread, so checked here. It's so long in gardening terms since I've written here, though I have written about my garden in my Journal, I think.

The garden is now showing a fair amount of colour: mini daffodils, hyacinths, the pink of what might be 'lung wort' in English. Too lazy to look it up. Little white and purple violets. And lots of green - some of that being dandelion, ground elder (weeds) which I pick for myself and my little pets to eat raw. There are also nettles, which I may pick later to steam or make tea. Both lilacs are budding, so is my wild rose. I've done a fair amount of clearing of plants which have been spreading too much, many of which I have given away which feels better than throwing them in the compost bin. I have bought 3 new herbs, which I need to plant, and I also have some bee-friendly wildflower seeds that need to be in the soil quite soon. Though they actually can be sown anytime between now and June. It's meant to be sunny and warm this coming weekend so I hope to take some time on Sunday to do some more garden work     Maybe I can even put my pets out.

[PhoenixA]

Sorry posted in wrong thread. Copying here...
Oh I'm so happy to find this thread!!  I too love gardening, though I am MUCH downsized from my 150'X150' veggie/herb garden I had at one time.  Now I have a tiny little garden with some basic veggies I can freeze or can (what I don't graze my way through!! ). And flowers I tried planting some very old seeds to use up and not surprisingly few germinated but we will see what I can do with those.

Blueberry so love your 'weeds' that you eat!!  My grandmother used to say that a weed was only a plant growing where you didn't want it to grow so I don't think of a lot as weeds and so happy to find someone else that grows and eats non-traditional plants
Hope you're still on here Blueberry and that your 'weeds' are growing well this year!

[Bermuda]

Catching up on missed potting shed posts has really cheered me up. Thanks! I do love weeds so.

My indoor permaculture jungle has been thriving. The weediest of plants is the mint, which is bursting out of its container desperately asking to be rehomed. It needs seemingly endless water, and the smell it releases reminds me to make sun tea every morning.

I have a calamondin tree that is fruiting nestled in the shadow of it's mother. When I water the calamondins they release the most pleasant dusty odor that is exactly like a summer rain storm. I would wear it as a perfume.

The largest monstera must be five meters tall by now. Even in the jungles of Guatemala I have never seen one like the one in my study. It outgrew its mosspole long ago so it trellises around a rod hung above the pocket doors and cascades from atop the bookshelves.

My plants make me feel loved.

[dollyvee]

Hi all,

This is a great idea for a thread. I love my plants 

I have a staghorn fern that has at least doubled it's size in the three months I've had it. I think it needs to be repotted and maybe split. Something bigger shouldn't be an issue if it's a basket as it won't be too heavy. Not sure about ferns mounted on wood...but maybe something to consider.

I have a speckled begonia that's new too. It had a new leaf but the stem has just shrivelled. I think it was overwatered before I got it and needs to be repot as well. It was so happy last week!

The orphaned alocasia I found also has a new leaf and looks like a piece of giant kale.