March 14, 2013

Happy National Pi Day!!

I haven't updated for a while, so I thought I'd let you see how everything is going.

First, the flops....

One of the pac choi bolted, even though I moved it into a larger container, and the others that I moved are fine.  I think it was either:  a) an under-watering error; b) not transplanting it soon enough (roots were pretty tight); or c) a combination thereof.  I tossed the plant into the compost pile, so it can someday benefit others through its sacrifice.

Here are the plants that still appear to be thriving:

Next flop:  the carrots.  I believe the problem is the soil - it is just too heavy.  I did some reading on how to successfully grow carrots in a container, and the recommendation seems to be to grow the carrots in a mix of peat and vermiculite.  Not sure whether I'll do that or just settle for gnarly carrots in garden soil.  Carrots are, to me, a high-impact veggie - lots of work for not a lot of produce (compared to, say, a tomato or cucumber bush).

The mesclun mix is doing well, but I think, realistically, the container is too small to contain more than two or three plants, so not really very practical for growing my salads in the future.

I have a book that talks about setting up "tube" gardens for lettuce, using PVC pipe suspended from rafters, and I am ruminating on how I might accomplish that.

New adoption from a friend's yard.  These are all cuttings from existing plants.  More on these later, if they make it.  :)

And look at my baby blood orange now!!!  This is one of five plants that I now have growing.  I am hoping to plant it out on my south-facing slope this spring, put it on a drip, then patiently wait four to eight years to harvest fruit from it.  ;

The basil plants did well and transplanted with no ill effects, so I have quite a few of these around as well.  :)













And this is not a new plant, but it is my first successful transplanting of a segment of my very old Christmas cactus.  Typically, branches fall off, and I've always tried to root them using fancy hormones or seed-starting mixes.  Then, one day last year, I didn't have time to do that, so I just tossed the dried-out little thing in a jar of water..and...it ROOTED!!  :)  I potted it after it had a decent number of roots, and it is growing!!