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| Daylillies finally starting to bloom. |
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| Hostas and Huchera filling in nice. |
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| Growing Basil in the Gutter Garden this year. |
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| Yellow and Pink Knockout Roses. |
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| This Clematis bloom is about 9 inches across. |
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| Week 4 of the new style no-till garden this year. |
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| It has turned into a jungle in just 4 weeks! |
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| Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Pepper, hottest pepper on the planet!!! |
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| Tomato Plants coming on strong. |
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| Banana Peppers looking good. |
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This is a Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Pepper, it has a scoville rating of 2,009,231!!! To give you an idea of how hot that is, I am growing Banana peppers that have a rating of between 1,000 and 5,000. A ghost pepper, which is one of the hottest out there has a rating of 1,000,000! If anyone wants to step up and try one in a couple months just let me know! |
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| When it comes to buying flowers most people think if they go to the local greenhouse or garden center they are buying a better quality plant, even though it cost three times as much as you would pay at Home Depot, Lowes or any other big box type store. The truth is most of these "Mom and Pop" garden places buy their plants from the exact same place that Lowes and Home Depot do. The big box stores buy in bulk and can afford to sell them cheaper, the local garden place doesn't buy as much so they don't get as good a deal which lowers their profit margin causing them to charge more. One advantage the little guy has over the big box is a more knowledgeable staff, most of the people that work at these places have a passion for gardening and are willing to share this with anyone that comes in to there business. The Big box store might have a few people working there with a little knowledge but more than likely its a nineteen year old kid with a hose that has been told to go out and spray the plants twice a day. So if you are looking for plants cheap the big box store is probably for you, but if you want someone with knowledge and a passion for the plants you are buying and don't mind paying for it the local garden center is the place to go. |
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| Everything seems to be growing pretty well so far, especially since it has been a short spring this year. |
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| Russian Mammoth Sunflowers finally popped up this week! |
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| Moved the tomato plants from inside to out in the garden today |
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| Also moved the pepper plants out into the garden today. |
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| the Potato starts look like they are all growing really well. |
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| Sweet Corn looking strong so far. |
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| Seems like it only took the Green Beans only a couple days to pop out of the ground after I planted the seeds. |
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| All the strawberry plants I saved from last year are growing really quick and putting out a lot of strawberries. |
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| Every spring I touch up all my landscape beds by trenching around them to prevent grass and weeds from growing in them. All you need is a sharp flat spade. |
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| I take my size 13 shoe and go in at an angle around the landscape bed. |
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| I usually go about 2 inches deep around the perimeter. Then I spread a fresh coat of mulch around the bed, filling in the 2 inch trench that I just made and all around the plants in the landscape bed. |
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| When you are done you should have a nice and clean looking landscape bed that should remain weed and grass free for the rest of the summer. |
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| Today is the first day of spring and it is 26 degrees!!! Last year at this time it was 80 degrees and my garden was well on its way. I guess I got spoiled last year with the early season, but I also paid the price with a 3 month draught in the summer. I have cabin fever so bad right now that I can't wait to get out in the yard. |
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| So I got an e-mail today from the Assistant Multimedia Producer of Houselogic.com about getting permission to use the above picture for an article that they were doing on their website about colorful summer bulbs. Unfortunately they weren't offering Big Bucks to use my picture, but they did give me credit for the picture and also included a link to my blog. Hopefully this will help spread the word and increase the traffic to my blog and maybe next time they will let me write the whole article instead of just using my pictures. If you would like to check out the article go to http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/plants-trees/summer-bulbs/ |
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| Supplies needed to make a self watering indoor seed starter: one 2 liter bottle, duct tape, cotton rope, scissors, sharpie and a 1/8 inch drill bit. |
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| Remove the label off the bottle and rinse it out completely. |
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| Draw a line with the sharpie marker7 inches up and around the whole bottle and cut along the line. |
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| Put duct tape around the bottom half to create a lip for the top half to rest on, making it easier to remove the top half to refill the water. |
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| Drill a hole in the bottle cap. |
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| Run the 12 inch length of cotton rope through the hole of the cap. Be sure to tie a knot so the string won't pull through. |
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| The bottom part of the sting hangs down in the water wicking it up into the soil of the top half of the bottle. |
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| Be sure to use a good potting mix that will absorb the water and keep it moist for the seeds to germinate. |
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| Fill the top half of the bottle about 2/3 of the way up. be sure that the cotton rope is evenly wrapped through the soil to help keep all the potting mix moist. |
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| Once it is filled 2/3 of the way level the potting mix to add the seeds. |
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| Today I am adding Cosmo seeds that I got for free at last years home and garden show. |
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| Spread the seeds across the top of the potting mix, then add another 1/4 inch of potting mix on top of that. |
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| Finally add the water to the bottom half up to the cap and put in a nice warm and sunny spot, then wait for the seeds to do their thing. |
