Photo Spam

My Bougainvillea plant, the colour turned out wonky in the photo but beautiful nonetheless.

An Echeveria succulent, I've affectionately named it Chancho.

Cinnamon Basil flowers, intensely sweet smelling.

Another succulent purchase, I believe it's a Crassula Perforata.

Lemon Balm

Mimosa Pudica, still so fun to touch but it has thorns now.. ouch!

Another Echeveria, the place I got my succulents from do not have plant labels, I guessed the names. I don't know what variety this is.

My Polka-dot plant

One of my first harvests, spring onions!

My gorgeous strawberries

I've harvested so many already. It seems to like the windowsill.

Delicious.

I guessed that this is a Sedum Rubrotinctum, but it's not turning red, so it could be another variety. Let me know if you know!

Plant Tally of 2011!

Gardening season is fast approaching. Though I generally hate hot weather, I'm only happy the sun is out because of my plants. I can finally let them out after being cooped up for so long at my windowsill – not that any of them were complaining. So here it comes, an update on what I've been up to as of late.

There seems to be exciting developments on the home front, while going on a walk with one of my friends, I stumbled upon a happy discovery. As it turns out, there's a community garden in my neighborhood just ten minutes away from where I live! So of course I rushed at the opportunity to grab a little piece of land I could call my own for a short period of time. Given my luck with acquiring a garden plot, I didn't expect to get anything, but after attending a meeting and signing a couple of forms, it seems as though I have a garden plot for this growing season. This makes me so unbelievably happy. I now have two gardens to tend to, and a chance to test my mettle with growing things in the ground rather than in a container. I am preparing myself for thievery and ruination from our little squirrel friends, maybe some humans too. What can I say, I sometimes have lack of faith. As of now I hope that nothing all too tragic happens to my garden. I just have to figure out what to plant, and I'll be set!

So, what am I growing? That's one of those things I've been meaning to update on here. I have a nice list somewhere, but since I lost that, we'll just have to make do with some text and maybe some pictures. Photo spam will be coming. For now, I'm going to tackle the master list of what I'm growing. I plan to sow some other things too, such as beans, a couple of herbs, and other things. I digress, here's the list so far!

DIZZYLEMONADE'S WONDROUS PLANT EXTRAVAGANZA 2011

Pepper Category
- Chinese 5 Colour Pepper
- Sweet Chocolate Pepper
- California Wonder Orange Bell Pepper
- Habanero Pepper
- Rooster Spur Pepper
- Purple Pepper
- Yellow Hot Wax Pepper

Tomato Category
- Green Zebra Tomato
- Golden Nugget Cherry Tomato
- Red Currant Cherry Tomato
- Cherokee Purple Tomato
- Zapotec Pleated Tomato
- Wild Cherry Tomato
- Black Krim Tomato
- Thai Pink Egg Tomato
- Black Cherry Tomato
- Champagne Cherry Tomato
- White Currant Cherry Tomato
- Yellow Pear Tomato
- Amana Orange Tomato
- Paste Tomatoes

Roots/Bulbs
- Bunching Onions
- Bull's Blood Beets
- Cylindra Beets

Fruit
- Strawberry
- Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry

Herbs
- Genovese Basil
- Cinnamon Basil
- Spearmint
- Mint
- Chocolate Mint
- Sage
- Parsley
- Thyme
- Greek Oregano
- Chamomile
- Stevia (Just sown)
- Rosemary
- Lemon Balm
- Red Shiso
- Dill

Ornamental
- Wild PEI Lupin
- Sedum Rubrotinctum (I think)
- Echeveria
- Crassula Perforata
- Mimosa Pudica
- Fuzzy Lamb's Ear
- Blue Hydrangea
- Bougainvillea
- Polkadot Plant

Whew! That was a lot... now to take a breather, a photo post will come soon. Maybe a picture a day of each plant I'm growing to make it less spammy? I need to blog some more, and maybe sow some more seeds.. WEEEE!

Compost

Hello! I'm back from my little hiatus. I've been extremely busy with work and I've had no time to document my progress. The weather has been cruddy as of late, so I've been holding off on updating, I'm waiting for better light for my pics. My garden is doing well so far, but that's not what this entry is about, that will come later. This entry is about compost!

My bin of compost, look at it!

I've been agonizing over the fact that I barely have space in my balcony for a composter. So you say, why don't you try vermicomposting? Well, due to my fear of worms, I can't exactly keep a container full of WRIGGLING creatures. However,  I did hold a couple of them at Seedy Sunday (which I will post about soon) to work on my fear. While at that event, I bumped into my friend Jane who told me about this great Toronto program. I was unaware that the city of Toronto gave away free trunkfuls of compost every year! I did a simple Google search and went to the nearest processing facility here and I picked a bin's worth of this black gold. The compost I've been using on my plants from Cathy's Crawly Composters has had amazing results. Though I picked up a bunch of compost, I still plan on buying some from her next week - I simply love her stuff, I suggest you get some compost for yourself!

Ah resourcefulness! The only downside was the fact that I had to get up at 6:30 am on a weekend. Next time I go, I should bring my own shovel, but a lady there was kind enough to let me borrow one! I must warn you though, that there's all sorts of debris that you can find. My compost had some weird plastic pieces in it, as well as a bunch of pebbles. For some people that's not a big deal, and it's really not. I'm not complaining mind you, but I like a more smooth compost so I'm currently sorting stuff out to fish out miscellaneous items.

A little container with some plastic pieces I found in the compost.

Some pieces of wood and stones that I plan on saving for drainage.

I suggest that if you do live in the Toronto area, take advantage of this stuff! It'll do some wonders for your garden. Especially if you're a balcony gardener like me! I also suggest you try vermicomposting if you're not afraid of worms!

I couldn't help but touch the lovely compost! Thank you for making my tomatoes amazing!

Here comes the sun!

Spring is slowly arriving and my plants at my window can tell. I've seen a recent growth spurt in all of them and I'm excited to show them off. I'm growing a lot of stuff, I can't tell you how many times I've agonized over growing one variety over another, or which herb fits well for my balcony. I finally made my choices (for the most part), and but I'm still constantly on the lookout for awesome seeds. I'm still going to Seedy Sunday yet I have a ginormous seed list (which I will probably post later).

I'm also very very pleased that I got my cilantro seeds from Cubit's – it's not showing on this blog, but I am absolutely in love with that herb. I use cilantro in almost everything and to think, I used to hate it (with a passion). I am particularly happy that I got some organic seeds, at least I can save some seeds and use it for the next season. Also another note, GO TO SEEDY SUNDAY! Get some seeds, it'll be fun.. I promise.

Some other great news, Daniel over at My Small Kitchen Garden finally got the seeds I sent him! He was kind enough to do a seed giveaway and I got some paste tomato seeds from him, as well as Blue Hubbard Squash, and these lovely Neck Pumpkin seeds. I plan to start sowing some seeds again, and will probably blog about the squash. I'm a little nervous, but hopefully it should be fine.

I should post some photos. I took a lot of photos over the week showing the growth of my baby plants. I hope you enjoy the photo spam!

PHOTO SPAM IN 3... 2.. 1.

My little Polka-dot plant, the pink in the leaves is just slightly showing.

 

 

Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry

One of my fave plants, Chinese 5 Colour Pepper, insanely beautiful fruit

 

Lupin, this plant has grown a lot. It makes me miss Prince Edward Island so much.

Red Currant Cherry tomato, it smells amazing and is so cute.

 

 

 

 

 

Cinnamon Basil

Organic Sweet Genovese Basil - thanks for the seeds Cubit's!

Flat-leaf Italian Parsley, just enjoying some sun

Mimosa Pudica, poor plant. I keep touching it, it must be so tired by now.

My chives from last season that came back. I left it outside, no care at all and it came back anyways!

Lamb's Ear, so fuzzy... so awesome.

Free Seeds!

The Eco-Family and Cubit's Organic Living are giving away some seeds!

CLICK HERE TO LOOK AT THE DETAILS!!

The packaging is so adorable, if you don't buy from her, you clearly hate animals and carrots.

Good luck everyone! I've bought a lot of seeds from Cubit's and I can assure you, they're the best! So enter, unfortunately it's only for Americans and Canadians -- free shipping to boot if you get some seeds!

Regardless of whether or not you get some seeds from the giveaway, I suggest you get some seeds from Cubit's anyways. Laura Watt is a lovely lady and her seeds are quality - she is truly a seed magician/wizard! She's so nice and prompt with her responses, and she really cares about GMO free seeds. It's important to be aware of the chemicals that we pump into our systems daily, and GMO free seeds is a place to start.

Plus, they have a great selection over there and I strongly recommend that you purchase something from there! Come on man, PURPLE PEPPERS and free shipping (US AND CANADA)!

Frugality to the rescue!

It's time for sowing seeds and I am trying to figure out what I want to plant this year. I wanted to try growing hot peppers from seed for the first time this year. I've heard that peppers are finicky to grow from seed, they rely, solely on the temperature of the soil on order to germinate properly. After consulting several trusted blogs and books, they all came to the general conclusion that peppers (whether sweet or hot) need consistent heat.

I was looking around for some heat mats made specifically for gardeners and was slightly disheartened that a lot of the high quality ones were a little too steep for my taste. I love plants, but I would love to save some money! So just by doing a little research online motivated by my own frugality, I decided to take thing into my own hands. This is by no means an original idea, but it's a great solution for those of us who cannot afford a heat mat at the moment.

I made a makeshift sort of greenhouse environment for my little seedlings. I already sowed my seeds in some moist soil before I started to gather materials needed for this little endeavor. Remember that once the seeds have sprouted, take them out of the makeshift greenhouse, they need sunlight as soon as they sprout!

What you need:   
    • A tray
    • A garbage/plastic bag (preferably a transparent one)
    • Your planters with seeds
    • A spray bottle

The tray I'm using. You need it to catch the water extra water should you water/mist your plants. It's also for convenience, it keeps your plants grouped together.

This is the garbage bag I used. A simple medium sized bag will do for my tray.

Some of the seeds I've sown in their peat planters.

 

I've assembled the planters on the tray and I'm putting the entire thing in the garbage bag.

 

 

I've tied it all together, there's still some space for air circulation which you need to prevent rot/mold from coming.

Putting the tray in a warm spot will ensure the "greenhouse effect." I put my tray on top of the fridge. If it gets too dry, you can just mist with a spray bottle. Check on them daily, to see if any sprouts come up.

The end result, is speedy germination. Aren't they cute?!

 

 

Winter clean up

A window box that looks abandoned, but really I got lazy and didn't clean up

My little balcony garden needs some tidying up

A dried up red bell pepper that I forgot about!

The view from my balcony, suburbs and snow – most of the snow melted away though

My chives, there's a little bit of green growing out there, I wonder if it'll come back this summer.

Spring, where are you?

It's nearly the end of February and I'm itching to sow some seeds. To be honest I'm so excited about planting things that I just seem to want to plant everything in my garden. I should stop being so overambitious because I need to remind myself that I don't have a lot of space.

In order to satiate my gardening appetite, I've been washing out some pots with warm soapy water (I use dish washing liquid), and a little scrub of a water and hydrogen peroxide mixture. I wash extremely well with some steel wool and I let it dry. Most of my terracotta pots are washed and dried and ready to go. Now, you may be wondering... why make all the effort of washing pots when I'm just going to fill it up with dirt anyway? It seems counterproductive yes, but it's really not. A plants can carry a disease, or a fungus  and the pot can have residue of said disease/fungus. Rather than risk potential infection on a new plant, it's better to wash everything out. I had powdery mildew on my zucchini/courgette plant that just refused to go away, so it makes a lot of sense for me to wash the container that plant lived in. I just don't want to take risks when it comes to these things.

I've also been doing a lot of garden clean up, however, it's been mostly pots. The winter took a toll on my balcony, there's snow and ice, and my window boxes are filled with frozen soil and plants. Pictures to come later.

So spring, please come now. I want to grow stuff outside.

Picture Spam

My collection of seeds so far.

                                         

Herb seeds in little tins

                                         
                                        

Parsley sprouts by my windowsill.

                                          

Wild Lupin, I fell in love with the flowers when I went to Prince Edward Island. The flowers grew everywhere, there were splashes of pinks and purples in every field. I got the seeds from a store in Charlottetown.

                                    

My love affair with plants

I've always loved flowers and plants ever since I was little. It has grown from a little fascination to almost an obsession, I love plants they are simply amazing things. Why did I bother making this blog? Well even though there's a plethora of blogs out there based on gardening made by more experienced people, I thought I'd simply give it a go. I love gardening and I'm always out there trying to find likeminded individuals that share my passion, as well as my lack of space. There are certain people in the blogosphere that I truly admire, one mainly being You Grow Girl, she's truly been an inspiration to me and revived my somewhat dormant love affair with plants.

I'll be honest with you gentle reader, my lack of land extremely discouraged me from doing anything with the limited space I did have, but her Gayla Trail's (You Grow Girl) books have encouraged me to try again. For that I'm grateful, I decided to try again last year and I never looked back. I've successfully managed to grow some great vegetables and herbs for me and my family. Though the yields wouldn't be the same as the yield one would get in a backyard, it was still pretty awesome and a wonderful accomplishment to know you've grown  your own produce. Now that the love affair is back, I've sown some seeds, ordered some and I'm excited for the snow to thaw and for me to start taking my little seedlings out!

There's nothing like seeing a little seedling poking out of the ground pot, is there?