Another Light Out

I forgot to water my plants again this week, much later than usual, but they usually fair ok with the delay. As I descended the stairs down into the basement, where my light stand is located, I am greeted with extra darkness...more so than the one fixture that burned out, prolly due to the power surge that also ruined a few other things. Florescent tubes don't usually burn out together so I assume the surge got this fixture too. I didn't test it....but I did get everything watered. Moved some plants around so that those in bud could get some light. The rest of them can sit in darkness for awhile until I get around to picking up new lights. What I don't understand is that all the lights were plugged into surge protectors. Doesn't seem like it did any good...

Electrical Short

For once, since starting school I felt like fussing with my plants today. Maybe it was fate b/c as I groomed my plants and was looking them over I heard this noise that sounded as if someone was walking around the kitchen and the floor was creaking. The floor never creaked before.... Then the telltale "sssssstt!" sound came about above my head as I was squatting looking at the lower two shelves of my orchids. I looked up...I knew what that sound was! I just had to locate where it came from. I saw the smoke, but wasn't sure where it came from still...all the lights were working! I flipped the switch off so that it wouldn't start a house fire and went and got J. He came over to look at it. We could definitely smell it now....electronics burning. After his lookover we turned on the lights again on the grow stand and it wasn't the light I thought it was (top light), but instead it was the second shelf that was out! I guess the smoke rose... I unplugged that one. I guess now instead of buying more bulbs I have to buy a whole new unit too! Ugh...they are not easy to get in once the stand is where it is supposed to be with plants underneath it! I don't know what would've happened had I not been there. How is it that I am always around when electrical shortages happen???

Last Warm Day...

I hate it when winter teases us like this. The last few days have been spectacular! Tomorrow it'll get cold again :( Hope nothing is coming out of dormancy yet. I've taken the dog for walks since it's been so nice and it's been nice to be able to get out of the house! I'm sure he appreciates it as much as I do! I am ready for spring!

Warming Up!

Wow spring is just right around the corner because today was warm enough to wear just a light jacket or none at all if you are hot bodied! Got to clean up the yard a little...all those dead tomato plants got cut down except I missed one. Oh well!

Winter

It has been cold, but while I was in NC for Xmas I guess it was pretty warm here in Pittsburgh also. As long as my plants stay underground during those warm spells I'm ok, but it sure makes me worry each time it freezes and thaws!

My Oncidium Twinkle 'Red Fantasy' is in full bloom right now. It smells SO good! Hwra. Lava Burst 'Punani' is also in bloom. The Cycnodes is going out and this other orchid I have down in the basement is going dormant since it is losing leaves.

My worms are escaping from my worm bin...not sure why. It's not too wet or too dry.

Two of the habanero plants we are trying to overwinter are dead. Not sure why either...maybe lack of light since its in the basement.

Orchid Society Holiday Party

The orchid society party went well. That was last Sunday. Nice theme, Hawaii, wish we could all be there! Great food as always! Somehow, I think gardeners know how to cook and eat! It was a good time, but I was a bit bummed out from the night before, my own holiday party where hardly anyone showed up. I didn't feel like being very social. I did however, win a door prize. A Cycd. Jumbo Puff 'Jumbo Orchids' SM/TOGA! I was told mine was blooming the female flowers and luckily, someone brought in one in bloom with male flowers so I had a short lesson on how to tel l the difference! As usual, the female flowers aren't quite as showy as the males and they have bigger (what I call) "shields" (the lip). Hope I don't kill this unique orchid! Looks like it will like my semi-hydroponic (SH) media though!

From Orchids

MG Holiday Party

Man I have a weekend of parties. Tonight was the first one, my Phippps Master Gardener Holiday Party. It was a great time except for the fact that we were saying goodbye to our MG coordinator. She's been so wonderful! We'll miss her lots and she will remember us too with the gifts we got her :D Anyway, wanted to share a cute little jingle we sang. It's to the tune of Let It Snow:

Oh the soil outside is blightful,
But the gardener's so insightful;
And because I got lots of dough,
It's gonna grow, gonna grow, gonna grow!

Well, It doesn't show signs of sprouting,
But now's no time for doubting;
So at the problem, Cash I'll throw!
Make it grow, make it grow, make it grow!

When it finally goes to seed,
I will try to get back on track;
So all the Garden Books I'll read,
And next Spring I'll attack!

Well the weather is slowly chilling,
But gardening is sooo fulfilling;
And until it freezes DOWN BELOW,
Let is grow, let it grow, let it grow!

Year in Review

The backyard on the side and by the wall in the back did not get enough water this year. I had a hard time growing my ferns and since those are the only things that would grow back there in an area that lacks such light that was a bit disappointing to me, but the soil is clay. I need some compost mixed into it....maybe that would help retain some moisture. I'm hoping that my ferns just went dormant and will come back next spring. I was really hoping for a nice lush fern garden!

My herb pot did really well this year and I wish I could've saved it for next year, but I couldn't keep them going inside the house. There just wasn't enough room for another big pot! Hopefully next year I will be able to find the same herbs to grow and maybe the front porch will be done by then so that I could maybe save my herbs.

The sweet potato vine grew like a weed up front as you saw in previous photos. When I finally cut it back after our first hard frost I found potatoes! I saved those in hopes that I could just plant them next spring.

The garlic was a big small this year, but that was to be expected since I did not plant them last fall (I didn't have any!). So hopefully next year....I'll get some good ones!

I didn't eat any of the tomatoes I grew...the ones that I would eat were the result of weed & feed and I did not want to ingest things grown with that. I did however, try the garlic grown in it since I just had to taste what home grown garlic would taste like after trying to grow them for a few years! It was some STRONG garlic!

The grass I thought looked pretty good this year...it helped that Samba did not run zoomies in it all the time now that he is older and more mature. There were some clover in it, but it fixes nitrogen in the soil so I didn't really mind too much.

I barely made it....I was going to plant the bulbs I forgot to plant yesterday, but I ended up staying out a bit too late and it was too dark and rainy to plant them. Woke up this morning to snow! It's not sticking yet, but it is quite cold. Managed to get my Landini lillies, Moutain bells, Persian Blue Allium, Gladiator Allium and Hyacinth 'Fondant' in the ground! Can't wait to see what it'll look like next spring! Hopefully the chipmunks and squirrels will leave them alone! So far so good with the Alliums I already have along with the lillies so I don't think I will have much of a problem besides running out of space!

I got all my plantings done, did the dishes, doing laundry, changed the water in the aquarium and vacuumed the gravel, fed & bathed Pele, fed Samba, added bonemeal to my garlic, repotted two new orchids that I didn't get around to repotting (good thing I did too the one didn't have much roots left!), answered emails, and hopefully settle into studying some before I have to purchase a new washer & dryer tonight when the deal sets in and I have to pick up my sister's bf from the airport tonight...I need more time in the day!

Garlic Planted!

Last weekend I planted my garlic. The kind John gave me (not sure the variety) and Music, which I got at a local nursery! Music had some HUGE cloves! It was tough finding space for all of it, but I managed to get them all in the ground! Hopefully, next year I will have a HUGE crop of garlic! Some to eat, some to plant, and some to share! :D

Unfortunately, I forgot to plant some other bulbs so hopefully I will get to do that this weekend! We also raked up 6 bags of leaves out of our backyard! Thank god for the leaf blower and mulcher!

Sweet Potato Vine

Check this out! I planted two chartreuse sweet potato vines this past spring and after the frost killed the leaves I cut them back and dug it up and this is what I found! That huge tuber on the left was sticking up about 1/3 of the way. This was not the area where I had planted it. This was part of the vine that had decided to root itself down into the soil and grew this! I am attempting to save them for next spring to be replanted. Hopefully it will work! I could probably divide them with an eye each and get a ton more plants out of it. The two plants got HUGE!

Stinky Ginko Fruit

Wow....when they said that Ginko fruit stinks they weren't kidding! Someone said it stunk like stinky feet and my teacher said it smelled like stinky cheese! It fits the cheese more for sure. How do I know this? I picked up one of those fruits this morning at school. Peeewwwy! It stunk so bad I took it to the bathroom, peeled off the fruit and saved the seed in a paper towel. Then I proceeded to wash my hands real well!!!

Mulch

So yesterday I got a bag of pine mulch. It sure looked heavier than it actually was! Covered my Cyps. with it and planted my Betilla and covered that also. I should've probably planted those at an angle so they'd grow straight, but I didn't. I should've also taken it out of its pot, but I also didn't! Maybe next spring I will dig them back up and take it off, but right now that is how they are going to overwinter! The one that couldn't overwinter outdoors I brought back indoors and placed it on my enclosed front porch, which leaks still so it is doing a slow cool down to dormancy. Hopefully it'll overwinter ok!

Got some garlic bulbs too. I think they are called "Magic", but since the nursery didn't mark it anywhere I'm not sure.

I also bought 3 pumpkins. They were expensive! $12.99 and $11.99 each! And a small one for $1.99! But since I was there already I didn't feel like driving elsewhere and wasting more gas! We'll have to carve them later this week.

It is getting cold quickly here. I am not enjoying it! What happened to that indian summer???

Autumn

This has been a really chilly autumn. All the plants are indoors already except for one terrestrial orchid that is outside. I am waiting for it to die back and go dormant before I bring it in. The other terrestrial orchid needs a home outside and I can't decide where to plant it! I still have yet to plant my garlic and other bulbs I got in the mail. Can't forget about those or else I won't have flowers or garlic next year! Other than that, not much going on....just trying to stay warm and improve my life with yet another degree!

Roses at CCAC

So I have been attending school again at the local community college since August and every time I walk from the parking lot to class I catch this whiff of sweet smelling air. Turns out it's these gorgeous roses at this one mansion. I think it is part of the school, but I remember being on the haunted tour a few years ago and they said the place was haunted. Either way, what *awesome* roses! Alas, all the flowers have faded mostly. There are a few hanging in there and trying their best to look pretty and smell good. I can't wait to smell them again in full bloom next year!

Saffron Crocus, Temp Drop, Plantings & Update

The temperature has dropped quite a bit in the last week or so. So much so that I had to bring everything back inside. My saffron crocus is blooming at the moment! I am glad to see that coming back. My Cyprepedium died back so I planted it underground so it can overwinter outside. Will have to mulch over it so it survives the winter! The orchid cactus and Cymbidiums are still outside getting their "cold treatment" in hopes that they will bloom! Here is what the Stapelia bud bloomed out to be as shown in the previous post:

Stapelia & Neofinetia

So I brought two orchids, of which I was unhappy with, to the OSWP meeting this afternoon and gave them away for free. I, of course (must be an unwritten rule of orchid-holics), bring home three new ones instead! LOL I got a yellow flowering Neofinetia and one with red tails. Both are from Japan. I wish I could've bought more as I loved some of the real itty bitty ones! Maybe in the future. I also got a freebie Dendrobium. No idea what it'll look like, but I'll give it a shot!

So I come home, repot them like I normally do with any new orchids I get, cuz if I don't, they'll die! Especially if they are potted in sphagnum moss like these were. It just holds too much water and rots at my house. As I am putting my new plants on my light stand and watering them I notice that my Stapelia in bud...has gotten bigger! Not the plant, but the bud! It is cracking open too so this should be a pretty interesting and impressive flower! Much bigger than I am used to with my maroon 3/4" flower. This one looks to be a lighter color with spots too. Will get a pic when it opens, but this is what it is currently looking like:




I also came home to find my Bulbophyllum in full bloom, but it is all contorted. I tried fixing it prior to this pic:


This is what it is called in case you were wondering:

Neomarica longifolia in bloom!

Wow, I have waited a long time for these "walking irises" to bloom so that I could remember what color they are! I walked outside to an awesome surprise tonight, N. longifolia in bloom with two flowers and a bud! Of course I got pics! Will add one when I feel like downloading them. Now I have to go get a label so I don't forget what it is when it is done blooming! They are called "walking irises" because after they bloom a small plantlet will grow at the end of the bloom stalk and when that plant gets big enough gravity will pull it down to the ground and that little plant will root out into the soil, thus "walking" :D

Ok, here it is!

End of Summer Update

Seems the end of summer is here. The days are much cooler than we were used to. Here is a little photo update as to what has been going on:



Sunday night, September 14, we had the remnants of what was hurricane Ike that touched land in Galveston, TX. We got no rain, but what a windstorm! We had power outages and things were blown around quite a bit. Pretty scary when I was outside! Can't imagine what it would be like to hunker down while a hurricane passed by...I would NOT want to be there!

My Black Krim tomato in the ground is so big that two stakes isn't holding it up any longer that I had to add two more!

Worms

If there is any doubt that weed and feed doesn't harm you, just look at your soil life. I received my earthworm cocoons today in the mail from Gardens Alive! and I went around my yard digging holes for these little guys. There was not one worm to be found! Not even the red wigglers I accidentally put into my garden last year! So if you don't think weed and feed is harmful....think again! Hopefully, I won't have to order new earthworms again now that I have re-"seeded" the yard again with them. I will be throwing away that bag of weed and feed ASAP to avoid this happening again!