Hummingbird

I was sitting outside reading when I heard my hummingbird come back. And this time I had the camera. So now I can show you instead of nattering on about it.

Hummingbird Siting

After waiting months for a hummingbird to use the feeder I inherited, I changed back to the sugar/water mixture instead of the store bought powder, painted the metal flowers red, and hung a red flower on the feeder. Then yesterday I saw my first hummingbird taking a big long drink. Success finally! It was a tan color, not like the shiny ones I usually see. I hope it makes my feeder a regular stop.

Sadly though the arrowhead plant I put in the aquarium has gone to pieces. My terrarium is doing okay though. At first it was too wet, then too dry. Now the sides are fogged up so at least the plants are hurting for water.

Portulaca

I got up early this morning to plant the moss rose before it got hot. Funny plant, it's neither a moss nor a rose. It's a succulent called Portulaca. I planted it around the Anaheim peppers to help keep them moist in their pot.

I'm also fixing the hummingbird feeder. The packaged mix didn't attract any birds, so I'm just dissolving sugar in water. We'll see how that goes instead. All the red had faded from the feeder lid, so I tied a fake red rose to the pole instead, since I don't want to use any food coloring or additives in the mixture itself. I love hummingbirds. I'm sad that I don't have any hummingbird nests this year.

Here are some directions on how to grow it. http://www.ehow.com/how_6766_grow-moss-rose.html

Moss Rose

My mother loved moss roses and I haven't had any in quite a while. I couldn't resist getting some yesterday at the nursery. I'm going to plant them in with my Anaheim Chilis to help keep the soil moist. They seem to love that spot.

I also got my terrarium finished. I added a prayer plant and a pink polka dot plant. I'm still trying to get the moisture just right. When I opened it to plant the new plants, there was some mold, so I let some of the moisture out today. Only then it looked too dry so I put the plastic back over the top. I'll get it balanced right sooner or later.

I also picked a big tomato and had it in the salad tonight.

Terrarium

I had a nice spot along the brick wall where we removed some pink jasmine that had planted itself, so I put the trellis there and planted black eyed susans in front of it. I've always wanted to grow those so I hope they sprout. I should have planted them earlier in the year but I didn't have the opportunity.

Then tonight I bought 2 more Anaheim pepper plants to replace the ones the snails ate. I'm going to plant them in a container this time instead. Both have fruit and blooms on them already.

I also made a terrarium yesterday. When I dug up some moss for it I accidentally cut an earthworm in half. Then as I was carrying the moss from the front yard to the back I planted it in the terrarium and went back inside the house. The cat was trying to pick up something off of the rug. It was an earthworm. It must have fallen out of the bottom of the moss roots. So I put that in the terrarium too. The one thing I don't have for the terrarium yet is houseplants. I picked up an arrowhead plant for the aquarium, and if the root system can be divided I'll go ahead and put some of that in the terrarium. Usually the dollar store has just the right size of houseplants, but this year they haven't got any decent plants in at all. Maybe prices have gone up so much they can't offer them for .99 anymore.

Weedy Tomatoes

We had company over today to work on some gourd projects. I guess the guy really appreciated what we taught him, because suddenly he jumps up and goes and weeds all my tomatoes. Luckily I had just watered them deeply the night before, otherwise he'd have thrown out his back before he got any weeds pulled. Now there is a stack of weeds as big as a bale of hay. I'll let them dry a day or two and put them in the dumpster. I was embarrassed to even have weeds, but I guess he meant well.

The photo is of a gourd I grew. I cut it in half to clean it out so I can make a rain stick.

Aloe Magic

I do believe we can manifest what we think about to a degree. So when my friend Lynn told me she needed an aloe plant last time I saw her, I shouldn't have been that surprised when today a new person I met at a workshop shop says out of the blue that if anyone wanted an aloe plant or two, he had a whole bunch on his front porch that were free for the taking. So I got one for my friend and one for me.

And in case you didn't know, aloe juice is good for burns. So it's a good thing to have around.

First Tomatoes

I'm happy to say I picked the first two tomatoes out of my garden. They haven't been as abundant this year. We are having some very hot weather right now so I have to water frequently. But we are also in a drought so I have to keep a sharp eye out so no water is wasted and there is no run off.

Tiger Jaw

My tiger jaw cactus just bloomed, and as I suspected the flower was yellow. Funny the things we remember from childhood. The bloom only lasts a few days so I'm glad I got a photo of it straight away.

Most of the cactus and succulent collection I got at the swap has survived. I'm nursing one that was almost destroyed by snails in 2 days flat and I lost one that just started dying the second I got it home. It's still alive but seems to die a bit each day.

So all and all to lose 2 plants out of 24 is pretty darn good.

Rabbits, Snails and Beets Oh My

I took some of the fresh beets from my garden over to my new friend's house. The four of us made dinner all at the same time, something that would have been impossible in my tiny kitchen.

So I brought beans I made in the crock pot overnight. My boyfriend brought all the fixings for chili for the crock pot we gave our friends, and I also brought the beets from the garden.

My friend made corn bread, a giant salad, and a German chocolate cake.

They have a giant yard and put in a garden. Unfortunately the rabbits are eating it bare. So though my city garden may be tiny, at least there are no rabbits. I could live without the snails though. We are hang picking them out and tossing them at the moment. I've never seen so many snails.

It was so hot today. I'm glad it's cooling down a bit right now.

Beets Coming Out of My Ears

How am I going to eat all these beets? My boyfriend decided he doesn't like beets. I'm thinking my neighbor from Romania might like them. But everytime I give her something she feels obligated to give me something back. And I hate to put her on the spot like that. Anyway I took some photos for your beet viewing pleasure. I still have a lot more to harvest. Egads! And I have to say once again you don't need a big yard to grow enough vegetables for a family of four.

Garden Photos

I've been super busy in the garden. Today I planted sunflower seeds.
I repotted a bunch of succulents. Then I bought a bunch more at the swapmeet. I couldn't resist getting 12 plants for $10. Here's some photos of my current gardening experiences. Hope you enjoy them. Comment and link me to your blog if you have one.

My Ten Favorite Annuals For the Flowerbed

As part of a writing challenge I'm doing, I've been writing a bunch of online articles on gardening and sharing my garden photos from over the years. Seeing all those lovely photos and sharing my gardening tips has made me happy in a way I never expected. My newest article is about annuals for your flower bed. Enjoy. And then go plant some seeds if you can.
Annuals

Pink Ice Plant

I've been dying to show you the pink ice plant. I planted it last summer so it was pretty small, but it's fabulous this year. Up till now, the landlord kept turning down the sprinklers and everything I planted in that hot spot died. Then I remembered ice plant from my hot summers in Riverside County and knew it would be the perfect plant. Plus it's a perennial so I don't have to keep buying it again each year.

Of the snapdragons I planted last year, only one made it to this year. And it's white. I'm not sure if it came up from seed or overwintered. But the way the gardeners go nuts with their weed whips, it's amazing any seedling survives long enough to bloom. The landlord wants me to let those vipers into the backyard, but there's no way if I can help it. I don't want everything trimmed to within an inch of it's life. I can't do much about the front yard because it's a common area, but the backyard has a locking gate and I hope he continues to respect that.

Snails

On Sunday I bought and planted 4 out of 6 of the plants that were in little peat pots. Then on Monday morning, I saw that snails had totally eaten the top off of one of the two remaining plants. The next morning, I saw they'd destroyed the other one too. Little varmits. Grrrr. I put what was left of them in a covered terrarium. I have little hope that they'll recover without any leaves but at least I can try. One was the Anaheim pepper my boyfriend was so happy to find. It was the only plant he picked out. So I'll have to see if I can get another one next week. I'll be gone all weekend so I won't be able to fix it till next week anyway.

As for the snails, the beer in a dish didn't work at all so I'm back to using Deadline. Don't yell at me...it's no garden if the snails eat it all.

Finally Got the Garden Going

I finally corraled my boyfriend into taking me to a nursery where I got 4 varieties of tomatoes, an Anaheim pepper, and soybean and flower seeds. Weeds were already growing in the spot I cleared for the tomato plants so it took me another hour to clear it, clean up debris and get 4 of the tomatoes planted. Two of the tomatoes are supposed to be pink so this should be interesting. I still have about half the garden to clear.

I'm pretty worried that my boyfriend is going to lose his job, and then we'll have to move and I'll lose the garden, but I'm going to go ahead and plant it as an act of faith, because we can only live in the present, not the future.

Roses in Bloom

I just had to share these rose photos with you that I took Sunday. If I forgot to go in my backyard for a week or two I miss so much. I never get bored with these striped roses. Each one is unique.

When I was out driving around I spotted a glorious orange rosebush. I'm thinking about adding an orange rose to my garden now, even if the original color scheme was supposed to be a fairy garden in purple and pink. I need more yards, that's all there is to it!

Pink Epiphyllums

It's beautiful out so I got my camera and took those epiphyllum photos. I also spotted one of those elusive spiders I've been trying to get a photo of. They are extremely shy, and even though I was far away he ran off after only 2 fuzzy photos. But if you can tell from my photos which spider it is, I'd love to know. This is the first year I've spotted them in my yard.

Epiphyllum Love

Thanks for following Mike.
Now that the epipyhllum is in bloom, it's a much lighter red than I was expecting. Just beautiful. I'll need to get out there today and take photos. If I recall right the blooms last a while.

I definitely want to spend some time outside today. It's going to be a perfect CA day. I never take our weather for granted. I know much of the country is still covered in snow.

The ice plant I put in the front yard in the 'bald spot' has grown like crazy in the spring rains and is about to burst into specatacular ice pink blooms. I'll finally be able to compete with the African daisies my neighbor planted in the yard across from mine. Everything else I had planted in that spot had died when the previous owner turned off the sprinklers. The new owner is really into landscaping and our new front yard looks posh.

Gardening in a Tiny Yard

I just spent an hour in my garden enjoying it and making it look better. First off, I take one of those trash grabber tools. I picked up about 20 things that had fallen into my yard from my upstairs neighbors balcony, including a dirty diaper, chip bags, a charcoal bag, random bits of plastic and wrappers, a t-shirt, some broken toy parts, and a tiny tennis ball which I assume belongs to their chihuahua. I used to try to give them their stuff back but they never seem to learn so now I just toss it. Except for the dog ball. I threw that back up on their balcony and made it in one shot.

Then I used the weed whacker to get the sprawling lantana and jasmine off of the sidewalk. Then I had to hand prune a bunch of the jasmine vines which are determined to be king of the garden. I watered my potted plants, and finally transplanted the spider plant that was completely root bound in his little container. Someone just gave me a hyacinth plant as well, so I watered that again. The pot is so small it needs water daily, so I really need to figure out where I want it and get it planted.

Then I swept everything I cut down into a pile. I'll let it dry a few days so it takes up less room in the dumpster and then I'll toss it out.

My roses are in glorious bloom.