Tag Archives: plants

Flowerbed Progress

About a year and a half ago, Ray and several of his friends rebuilt our front porch. It’s beautiful and I’m still 100% in love with it. During that process we pulled up several large bushes that had been planted along the front of our porch area. I was glad to have those ugly bushes gone, but then the front of our house started to look real bare.

In March we cleared out the area right in front of the porch. We dug weeds, tilled the soil (and oddly enough found lots of seashells mixed in the ground), added compost, added more top soil, added bricks to mark off the bed, and added a plastic covering to avoid weeds.

Now, I do want to create a proper flower bed with a mixture of seasonal foliage and flowers… but for right now I’m fine with more of a shabby cottage style bed. I need big, bright, colorful flowers that will last throughout our sweltering summer. On the same day we cleared out the flower bed, I started my zinnia seeds. It was crazy to watch these tiny seeds germinate within 6 days!
You can see the progress below:It might be too late in the season, but I would like to add some Delphiniums behind the zinnias, along with a few variegated hostas along the sides of the bed. I’ll keep you updated on the progress!

Up Close and Personal: Indoor Plants

A few years ago Ray got really into gardening. He researched, bought heirloom seeds, built a raised bed, used natural homemade pesticides, and took care of our vegetables. With Ray having multiple surgeries and feeling relatively awful for the past 9 months, we majorly scaled back on our outdoor garden this year. We only planted tomatoes, peppers, and herbs.
To unintentionally make up for our smaller garden this year, I think we’ve doubled (tripled?!) our indoor plants. I love having something alive and growing in our home. Ray lives like a vampire with all curtains closed all the time, which isn’t very conducive to growing house plants. Thankfully, we have a tiny sun room at the front of our house, too small for furniture but perfect for plants.
The other day I was playing around with macro lenses, not planning on posting or using these photos for anything. But guys, look how fun they turned out!
IMG_0463IMG_0461IMG_0465IMG_0473IMG_0469IMG_0470IMG_0462IMG_0472And now the best part! Teeny tiny cactus spikes! We had a cactus that was a little beat up by Black Cat. He usually doesn’t mess with our plants too much, but I guess he really liked this one. We moved the sad cactus outside in hopes of reviving it. After it didn’t improve, Ray cut it into strips and left them in the pot. Several weeks later we discovered teeny tiny baby cacti growing from the cuttings!!IMG_0475IMG_0478IMG_0477IMG_0480

Plant Day

IMG_1678IMG_1686Last Saturday we went plant shopping and grocery shopping at Sam’s. So, I guess you could say we’re practically elderly. We discovered a new-to-us nursery with hundreds of interesting plants. Everything was so pretty I had to take iphone photos for documentation.IMG_1677IMG_1675I LOVE this hanging plant! It reminds me of tortellini! IMG_1676IMG_1682IMG_1684 We ended up only purchasing 3 Dwarf Greek Basil plants. Maybe so many plants were just a little over overwhelming for us.   🙂IMG_1683

 

New Plants

Last Valentine’s Day Ray bought me a few succulents and a cactus. Over the last year we bought a few more house plants here and there. Then we started growing herbs in our sun room. Now it’s just out of control. Last weekend we repotted some of our plants into larger pots and started our hydroponic growing station.IMG_0015IMG_0049 IMG_0053IMG_0036IMG_0034IMG_0038We also planted some basil. I LOVE basil, and for some reason I’m really bad at keeping those grocery story basil plants alive. I get them home and they immediately shrivel. Maybe growing basil from seeds will do better? We can only hope.
IMG_0060Recently purchased plants:
– fittonia
– watermelon pepperonia
– snake plant
– moss
– a medusa-like plant I don’t know the name of
– a couple of cacti
– rosemary
– thyme