Sadie
today's weather: don't care
weather forecast: don't care
Sadie left us this morning. Her spirit will live on.
[Above picture] Sadie 1996-2010l.
Negusto on 05.08.10 @ 06:23 AM CST [link]
Garden and Yard Stuff - Lots of Photos - Scroll Down if Needed
Saturday, May 8th
Thursday, May 6th
Sprung Spring 2010
today's weather: Clear 49°
weather forecast: Partly Cloudy Hi 68°
This Spring has been interesting - and mild. I avoided the temptation to plant early as long as I could but the advantageous weather has made it easier to get a lot done before May arrived. Now it's only a few days until we can be certain of being frost free.
[Above picture] Tomatoes and peppers are ready to grow.
[Above picture] Once tiny little things, these mutts need dividing and thinning.
[Above picture] The Magnolia Garden is back and looks good - even before cleaning.
[Above picture] The babies that weren't adopted last year got thrown into the ground and they look good in 2010.
Negusto on 05.06.10 @ 03:35 AM CST [link]
Wednesday, March 24th
Friday, January 22nd
2010 Planting
today's weather: 33°F Lots of Ice on top of lots of snow
weather forecast: Mostly cloudy Low: 34 °F High: 38 °F
The 2009 Fall had hail, unfortunately cold and warm weather. It also had bugs. The Hosta Gardens didn't look so great. I didn't post the bad pics. I have high hopes that they survive and prosper in 2010.
With 2010, the year begins anew. I have a decent amount of seeds and am finally ready for a start to indoor planting.
The Winter 2010 started early with 36+ inches of snow in Dec 2009. This week - we have ice storms. Power was lost Weds the 20th for a short while.
I got excited about planting and brought soil in from outdoors this week. They are still frozen 2 days later. I'm waiting for the frozen dirt to crumble while setting up the seedling chambers.
Negusto on 01.22.10 @ 02:26 AM CST [link]
Friday, June 5th
Addendum
today's weather: 81°F Partly Sunny
weather forecast: High: 74°F, clouds and sun with a shower or thunderstorm
[Above picture] The Magnolia Garden looks a lot better minus the Creeping Charlie as well.
Negusto on 06.05.09 @ 06:36 PM CST [link]
Sunny and Pleasent
today's weather: 81°F Partly Sunny
weather forecast: High: 74°F, clouds and sun with a shower or thunderstorm
Beautiful weather leads to sore backs. It is difficult to procrastinate when the weather is perfect for getting outdoor work done. Yesterday I finally cleaned up the Back Yard Garden. It was a mess, except for the hostas that were doing quite well. Anyway, it looks a lot better now.
[Above picture] Back Yard Garden West end
[Above picture] Back Yard Garden Middle
[Above picture] Back Yard Garden East
[Above picture] Back Yard Garden Overview, looking West
[Above picture] Back Yard - before cleanup. It was overrun with Creeping Charlie and leaves.
Negusto on 06.05.09 @ 06:12 PM CST [link]
Friday, May 15th
May Flowers... or sprouts at least
today's weather: 68°F Mostly cloudy with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm
weather forecast: 64 °F Partly sunny and breezy
So far, so good. It seems to rain a lot so far this April-May, but things dry out occaisionally and things are growing nicely despite some chilly (but not freezing) nights.
A few shots...
[Above picture] This front yard garden is on its third year, with many of the plants filling in nicely.
[Above picture] Under the Magnolia tree are: Lakeside Beach Captain, Eye Declare, and Touch of Class. They are starting their second year with much more foliage than they ever had last year.
[Above picture] This is John's Garden - named after a great friend of mine who did all the work putting it in on a visit in Summer 2009. With one notable exception (the huge anchor on the end) the plants were all grown from seed, planted, sawed off by rabbits, and still survived the Winter. These are tough little Hostas.
[Above picture] The North Garden in the backyard is full of some late-arriving but thriving plants this Spring. Elegans, Seafire, and Sum & Substance are all doing well - though the garden itself still needs some cleanup.
[Above picture] 2009's Hostas from seed are transitioning outdoors. Some have gotten a bit too much sun already (like their gardener - ouch!) but most are doing well. There is more to come.
Negusto on 05.15.09 @ 03:59 AM CST [link]
Saturday, February 21st
Babies - an unusual start
today's weather: 11°F Snow. Winds: WNW at 12mph
weather forecast: Today: Partly Sunny High: 30°F
[Above picture] This is 3/4 of the South flat with Peridot, Crepe Suzette, Elegans, and Lunar Orbit, Lacey Belle, LC... left to right, top to bottom. All have seedlings, though Elegans is lagging behind.
[Above picture] This is Joseph, Gold Tiara, Blue Angel, and Blessingham Blue, Paul's Glory, Mix of Blues... left to right, top to bottom. Blue Angel and the mix of Blues aren't really producing, but the others are bursting out of the ground, literally.
[Above picture] This is Blue Belle. It is still the strongest of the pods and has gone nuts. This is seed harvested in 2007 and stored in the freezer until January 31, 2009. I am uncertain why it is so prolific. I am also uncertain how more than 3 plants grow in each little area, as I swear I only planted 3 per section... but seed separation can be like splitting flakes of pepper.
I had the lights on for too long and too close at the beginning. The little guys wanted to pop out of the ground - some literally - and I had to tuck a few underground again. I've adjusted their "Daylight" back to 6 hours a day and from a further distance and hope to promote root growth. They need light energy, but how much and how long are the variables. Once they get deep roots, they can handle a lot of light (this I know from previous years).
Negusto on 02.21.09 @ 02:30 AM CST [link]
Saturday, February 14th
Seedlings II!
today's weather: 19 °F Heavy snow overnight
weather forecast: 36 °F Clouds breaking for some sun
[Above picture] This is one 9-cell pod of Blue Umbrella seeds I had left in the freezer from 2007. As you can see (or maybe not see) is that all 9 cells have plants growing in them. Some have multiple plants in the same cell. I apologize for the size of the photo - it was necessary to get the desired detail.
When I plant seeds, I plant the same variety or same seeds from the same parent in each pod (in this year's case 3x3=9 cells per pod... but 2x3=6 are also common), with an average of 3 seeds per cell. Since separating hosta seed is like sorting flakes of coarse ground pepper, sometimes they get 3 and nothing comes up - and sometimes they get 5 and all of them come up.
So, the scorecard as of Valentine's Day...
16 Varieties planted. 14 out of 16 have at least 2 little sprouts sticking up, hoping to become viable plants.
144 Total cells, roughly 70 cells now contain at least one sprout.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
I'm told that 50% germination is a generally accepted number. In 2007, I was around 48%, and I was very happy. In 2008, I hit over 60% and people barely believed me. 2009 is starting to look above average as well.
Negusto on 02.14.09 @ 05:47 AM CST [link]
Friday, February 13th
Seedlings!
today's weather: 25°F
weather forecast: High: 34°F snow of varying intensity
Several of the babies, barely visible, have sprouted. I have planted 16 varieties of Hosta and Nine have sprouted so far. They are tiny, fragile, and we'll see what happens. This is, however, a very good start. Over half of the 144 seeded cells are growing something, and I need to give time for the others to follow suit.
Plant sets were all started Jan 31/Feb 1 so this is 12 days of age. Some varieties take well over 2 weeks to germinate, so there is hope for the stragglers.
Negusto on 02.13.09 @ 06:01 AM CST [link]
Tuesday, February 3rd
More Stuff about the Previous Stuff
today's weather: 0°F Mostly Clear
weather forecast: friggin more Winter
[Above picture] Sadie thought I better tell you a bit more about what I'm doing for Spring plantings. Actually she just wanted more food and a cuddle, but I thought I'd put her persnickity mug on here.
I'm planting the rest of '07 seeds and adding some of the stuff from '08. Hostas do *not* grow true from seed, but many will resemble the parent plants in most ways. Much of the '07 stuff was pollinated by humans, meticulously standing over plants with Q-tips and toothpicks. Most of the '08 stuff was pollinated by the random bee or ambitious ant.
In all, I have started 16 different varieties of Hostas from seed so far. None of these are purebred and none of these are designated crossbreeds. If you expected anything special or patent-worthy, you've come to the wrong place. Hosta snobs will hate me - but this is for fun.
The kiddies I am producing have parents ...
Bressingham Blue
Joseph
Paul's Glory
Gold Tiara
-random blue mix
Blue Angel
Blue Belle
Blue Umbrellas
Lunar Orbit
Peridot
Lacey Belle
Crepe Suzette
LC (From my Grandmother's garden)
Elegans
Francis Williams
Unforgettable (From my parents' garden)
My baby Hosta growing area is a 55 gallon aquarium. It holds two flats and I kept the gravel in it. The plant warmers and light setup are shown in the previous entry.
I have plenty of seed for a second planting when time allows. 144 potential babies is not enough!
Negusto on 02.03.09 @ 02:27 AM CST [link]
First Planting 2009
today's weather: 1°F Mostly Clear
weather forecast: Partly Sunny High: 22°F
[Above picture] Surprisingly, I opened the cell-packs I bought this year and they are 8 sets of 9 to make a total of 72 per tray. Last year I swear I bought the same things and they were 12 sets of 6 (same total = 72). A small adjustment, but it did throw me for a loop..
[Above picture] Warming mats. I start my seeds indoors during Winter... in the basement. It's 58F down there so I need to raise their temp. The heating mats raise their temp 10-12 degrees to 68 or 70F. The mats don't seem to use much electricity (rated at 17 watts) but they never get 'hot' so they may not work in colder conditions but are ideal for a cool basement.
[Above picture] For germinating, the trays are covered, and covered with newspaper (not shown) as they do not need light until they poke out of the ground. Once the majority of the cells have a viable plant growing, they are allowed to have light.
[Above picture] This is my lighting setup for when the seeds become seedlings. It looks crude, but the PVC frame allows me to move the lights up and down using #12 ground wire wrapped around it. The lights are generic space clamp lights from Ace Hardware but using GE energy smart compact fluorescent 13 watt (60 watt equivalent) bulbs. I haven't had a bulb go bad in 2 years so I don't know about replacement cost, but the 13 watt per light is easy on the electricity bill.
Negusto on 02.03.09 @ 01:08 AM CST [link]