I Need a Greenhouse!

So I had my hot peppers on my enclosed front porch and I bought a thermostat to monitor how cold it got out there. It has dipped below 50˚F and the peppers are really showing that they are unhappy with this weather with droopy leaves and lots of leaf dropping and winter hasn't even hit yet! So I moved them into the actual house into my dining room as much as I was trying to keep plants out of there. I still have two Clivias and a Mandevallia out there. They seem to be holding up ok. I will probably move the clivias up to my third floor and find some space somewhere for the Mandevilla. Winter is so hard to do in this house. There are hardly any windows and if there are any, the window sills are so tiny! I keep trying to downsize, but I amit, I'm an addict :)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention....I was at Lowes a few days ago and they had the new and improved Meyer's Lemon on sale for....$3! What's so new and improved about this one? It is self pollinated! Unlike the one I have already, which needs a pollinator for me to get any lemons! I couldn't pass it up. $3!

Last Minute

The nights have been dipping into the 20s lately. I finally brought my Cymbidiums in the other night. Today I finally had the time to go get mulch, only to find out it was slim pickings! :( I got a bag of cedar mulch instead. On my way out, I noticed they had cow manure! Never seen it sold before and it was cheap enough! So I picked up a bag of that too to dump over my garlic bed. I just put it right on top of my clippings in hopes that it will decompose faster this way! The mulch I put over my buried carnivorous plants. Still need to put more down, but I was running out of sunlight to see so it will have to be done tomorrow instead!

I also picked up another Amaryllis. I just couldn't help it! :D

Thanksgiving Cactus & Meyer Lemon Blooms

Meyer's Lemon

These are actually red, but the camera doesn't show it that well.

Window of Rain

Woke up this morning and thought the weather reporters were wrong as it was sunny and dry! I hurried up and got outside to bury all my carnivorous plants so they could overwinter. Good thing I did as I got closer to finishing the rain started falling! Tried to get some mulch at Lowes, but the one I chose was sorely lacking in materials! Sometime before the hard frost hits I will have to get some mulch! Hopefully I will remember where I buried them next year! Just to document it...I planted one in the garlic bed, one in the place of the bell pepper and four in between the two houses!

A bit late....and on time.

I've been quite busy so I haven't had much time for gardening this year, much to my dismay. The sun set at 5pm today and by the time I got home, it was dark already. I had cut my dahalia a week or two ago and I needed to dig it up before winter set in hard. So begrudgingly I went out in the dark since it was going to rain tomorrow. The clump was smaller than last year, but I probably severed it from a larger root system and only got two small bits. It's probably enough though. This way, I don't feel obligated to save and plant all of it. If the rest of it dies underground I will just consider it compost!

While digging my dahlia out I saw little green nubbins. My garlic had already grown! I hope it has a nice nap this winter and grow some big bulbs for me!

I still have yet to figure out how to overwinter my pitcher plants and the like. I think I will bury some outside. My plans of keeping them inside over the winter were shot as the perfect room to keep them in will be occupied soon for a few weeks. I can't exactly ask guests to sleep in 44˚F weather :) My coal cellar isn't cold enough yet and neither is my front porch, but hopefully my front porch won't get too chilly as my hot peppers are overwintering there since I am out of space, especially out of light!

Overwintering Peppers

This year I'm trying something different...since my hot peppers take so long to mature I am bringing them indoors to overwinter. Not sure how well that will work, but it's worth a try!

The Bhut is Ripening Up!

October happenings

I have been really bad at keeping this up to date....

Last week, Tuesday after Columbus Day, I planted all new garlic as the bulbs I grew this year were really disappointing in size. I planted more Music, German Red and this unknown bulb I got from the farmer's market that I once knew the name of, but I have forgotten since! :\

Last night I discovered that my Phrag. albopurpureum 'Sir Arthur' was in spike! I am excited as I have never seen it bloom! It must be a nice one as it is awarded!

Then just a few minutes ago I discovered a little oncidium I have is also in spike!

My B. nodosa flowers are fading. It has bloomed for quite a long time! My first time flowering it since I got it as a seedling in flask!

I also have a Masdevallia Copper Angel x floribunda in bloom at the moment!

My double tuberose is in bloom at the moment, but the buds aren't opening up for some reason. It smells just as good all the same though!

Amorphophallus konjac

This is, I think, the third year this plant has grown for me...this year is the first time it has grown a pup!

Acorn Squash Harvest

This was out of three plants planted. One may have died early on so it may have come off of two plants only.

My First Large Tomato...Eaten!

Something obviously beat me to my tomato already!

Monarch 1 & 2

#1's chrysalis is starting to turn clear today! #2 started pupating last night. I wasn't able to watch it happen, but I did see it in its "J" form. Today, I woke up to it turned into a chrysalis...albeit a fresh one. It was really pretty too! Striped just like it was before when it was a caterpillar! Backlit...you could see the space in it too. It didn't even eat the four leaves I gave it last night.

Update and Mysterious growths

Mysterious growth on Acorn Squash:



Mysterious growths after a rainstorm:





Squash #1:



Squash #2:



Squash #3:



Squash #4:



Squash #5:



Squash #6:



Tillandsia xerographica in spike:



Lots of green tomatoes!



Epies enjoying more sun as shown by the awesome huge new growths!



Mini bell peppers, habañeros, and a Meyer Lemon:



Black Cherry tomato, Tiny Tom tomato, mystery tomato, Zinnia, Cymbidiums, Banana, Camellias, Gladiolus:

Monarch Progress

Day 7: Molted





Sulking...No food!



Where's the food?



FOOD!



Cup packed with milkweed for Fattie while I was gone to NC:



Milkweed Paradise!



Within hours he grew to 2" long!



Day 12: Fattie was in a chrysalis when I got home from my trip :(



Went to pull the excess milkweed out so that Fattie could have a place to dry his wings when he comes out of his chrysalis and found this little guy!



Day 14: 8/10/10, you can see a faint image of the wings to be!



Day 15:

Apple Tree

So this morning as I am worrying about finding a dentist that is open I heard a loud crack! I looked outside and saw right away what had happened. The old apple tree in my neighbor's yard that was struck by lightening a few years ago....broke. The only surviving mature branch, laden with apples, finally succumbed to its own offspring's weight :( It has a few little twigs on it left, but they are no where near big enough to be bearing fruit. Hopefully it survives since the top has been dead since that strike. I went over and salvaged as many, non-bruised apples that weren't infested with apple maggot, as possible. I've really enjoyed watching this tree over the years.

The owner, who passed away last year or the year before, was the one who sold us our house. Every fall he used to come and pick up all the fallen fruit. He said, at the time, 30 years ago he bought an apple, pear and peach tree for $1 each! They were only a few feet tall and little twigs at the time! The peach tree died early on and I can still see the stump today. I hope the apple tree isn't next. The pear tree is SO pretty each spring when it loses its flower petals. While the house is a rental, I hope the man's sons do not decide to cut down these trees.

p.s. It's really hot out!

Monarch

A few days ago Adam came over for a visit, bringing the flava he got me as well as some other things he wanted to show me. As I was giving him a tour of my patch, he found a little monarch caterpillar!

This was the first day we found it...looked to be at L2 stage, 1/4" long:





Day 2:

You can tell it is getting fatter!

Look at its cute little stripey face!

Day 3:

He looks like he is about to burst!

This is how tiny he is compared to my hand!

Look how much bigger the body is than the head! Definitely a porker!

Day 4:

L3 stage. Looks like Fattie molted! Check out the new antennas!

Looking more like a caterpillar!

Day 5:

L4, Fattie must've molted again last night. Look at those loooong antennas!

Add a caption

I think he was sleeping here.

I think he was sleeping here. I wish I could tell in their larval stage whether they are boys or girls. For now it's a he to me :)

July Growths

Bleeding Heart is going into dormancy and isn't looking so great. I'm also thinking it ought to be propped up like a peony too. Thinking of replacing the peony next to it too since it didn't turn out to be a Sarah Bernhardt!

Another view of the front.

Red blooming milkweed.

The two camellias I got from the Lyman Estate. The one on the left is pink and the one on the right is white.

The wild acorn squash plant! It's trying to take over my peppers!

Honeysuckle, Dahalia 'Seattle', Stargazer lilies, Black Krim tomato, Cherokee Purple tomato, basil, orange mini bell peppers, dill, strawberry.

The famous Bhut Jolokias are ripening! Be scared! Be very very scared! :P

Black cherry tomatoes growing, but what is that big tomato below?!