Moving Lavender, Sage, and Rosemary Cuttings Outside. 30 Dec 24.

These are the lavender plants I started from cuttings last summer, plus one that was broken off from a 24 year old plant during cleaning up, plus one bought this fall at Winco (Godwin Creek Grey), and a French lavender that I potted to compare survival with one kept outside all winter.  

I decided to start keeping them outside, as long as the weather stays above freezing.  They are probably OK with that too, but being in containers might be less hardy.  They are drying out too fast in the sunroom, so being outside in cool and rain might also be better.

Spanish Lavender.  Also culinary sage cuttings that I took last summer.  They are doing great too.

Godwin Creek Grey, and the rescued TLC start.

The French Lavender.  Also, the Hesperaloe that I'm overwintering to plant in Spring.

The Rosemary starts.  I also rooted these cuttings last summer.

Up-Potting Pelargonium (Geranium) Seedlings. 30 Dec 24.

 I up-potted the Pelargonium seedlings.  These are the series Maverick, colors Scarlet, Coral, and White.

They were starting to look crowded, and the tops a bit weak, so I gave each a new pot.

Before.

The roots weren't all that crowded.  Not root bound.  There were 2 to 3 seedlings per cell.

I potted them into 3" round or 2" square - but- deeper, containers.

Considering how fast they've grown, I could have waited another month or two to start them.  Still, that just gives them a better head start.

Repotting Lavender Seedlings. 27 Dec 24.

 I repotted the lavender seedlings.  Now each is in its own 2x2 cell in eight-packs.  Sine they grow slowly,  I think that might be enough until spring.  It's possible they'll need to be up-potted once before it's time to plant in the border.

I think that since mature lavender can handle frost and freeze, these young plants will be able to handle early Spring weather by March.  They'll be bigger than now, but not too much to care for.   

I'm glad I decided to grow them from seeds.  That gave choices I haven't seen in the stores.  The expense of buying this many plants would also have been too much.  They germinated quickly and easily without need for stratification.  Maybe that's a sign of good quality seeds?  (Swallowtail gardens, on-line).  

These varieties were described as first-year blooming, compact-growing varieties.  Bandera purple, Bandera Deep Rose, Blue Spear, and in the first group, Blue Vicenza which I think will be somewhat larger.  I think the first two are Spanish type lavender, and the second two are English type.

Major Repair To Raised Bed. 24 Dec 24.

 This raised bed has been very helpful.  It's at a good height that I can work the soil and p,ants much more easily.  Also keeping weeds controlled and managing the irrigation.

Unfortunately underground animals undermined the side, and it was in danger of falling.

My initial thought was to make it narrower too, but that would have involved moving too much heavy soil.  So I decided to, just repair it.

That involved moving all of the blocks on that side, as well as the corners. Then I leveled and tamped the soil under the blocks.  When moles dig tunnels under the cinder blocks, they push the soil up into the blocks, leaving a hollow underneath resulting in leaning.  So I added a (recycled) hard foam underlayment to prevent them from moving the soil into the blocks.  I wanted to add posts or rebar inside the blocks, but didn't have any on hand.  I might, later.

Then I re-laid the cinder blocks.  That actually took a few efforts to make them straight and even, and match the corner blocks.   I had to dis-assemble part of both ends, down to soil level, to make it work.

Then I rebuilt the side.

I'm pretty happy with this result.  I haven't re-filled the soil there.  I will leave some open for trench composting through the winter.

The capstones are easily removed if I can find some posts or rebar for better stability.

Lavender Seedlings. 19 Dec 24.

 I repotted the first batch of lavender seedlings.  These are Vicenza Blue and Bandera Deep Rose.

I used a good quality, regular potting mix (Black Magic, I think).  I continue to keep them under LEDs.

These are slower than the Pelargoniums, but not at all difficult.  They just need some patience.

Geranium (Pelargonium) Seedling Update. 19 Dec 24.

 Spring is a LONG way away.  These didn't need to be started so soon.  But they are fun.

These are the Maverick varieties, Red, Coral, White.

They may need repotting soon.  I think they will start to bloom in early Spring.

Winter Care For Container David Austin Roses. 19 Dec 24.

I pruned back the container David Austin roses.  Removed old rose leaves and mulch.  Re-mulched with chestnut leaves.

Now I think they are ready for winter.  I have them in a sheltered location, out direct sun (north side of shed, on concrete base) to avoid freeze/thaw cycles and prevent warming sun from causing coming out of dormancy too soon, which can cause frost injury.

I  the Spring, I may prune back further,

Repairing the Big Raised Bed. 19 Dec 24.

 This raised bed developed a sagging side.   I was concerned it might fall.  I had to remove the entire side, and re-start from the bottom up.

My original plan was to make it more narrow, because it's hard to reach the muddle.  But this is too much hard physical labor for an old, handicapped guy like me.  

I had to use that steel fencepost to pry the lower blocks out.

I can see that moles undermined the outside side, causing the soil to sink.  I'll fill in the gaps with lava gravel, which I hope is more difficult for moles to dig.  Then re-build in place.

I can mulch the difficult-to-reach area so it doesn't need much care this year.  It's not a lot.

I'd like to finish before the soil freezes, but I need a break first.

Micro-mini Roses, Year Two. 19 Dec 24.

 Here are two of the micro-mini roses that I was playing with last year.  

I want to keep them very compact, so they will fit in the indoor shelves garden.  Also, I kept them outside for the summer.  They had problems with spider mites and aphids.  I sprayed with a neem spray, which caused the leaves to look bad.  Finally, I gave a dose of systemic houseplant insecticide - which I don't like using- and cut the stems very short.  Basically leaving only the lowest viable looking buds on each stem.  I gave the remaining stems a spray of neem oil.

Here they are a few weeks later, putting on new growth.

I think they'll do OK.  I saw a tiny amount of webbing on one stem, so sprayed again with neem oil. 

These are the "button flower" type.  The type that look like mini tea roses seem to grow bigger.  The yellow one grew too big and had leaf spot, so I discarded it.

This is the other one.  It had spider mites too.  I just gave it the same treatment as I previously did for the others.

I thought about discarding it, but decided to give it a try too.

Strawberry Cleanup For Winter. 19 Dec 24.

 Here are the container "Ozark Beauty" strawberry plants, cleaned up for winter.  I uses a kitchen scissors to cut off all dead or dying leaves, and all remaining fruit clusters that were missed earlier.

I mulched with some loose straw bits for protection.  I moved the planters to a location that won't get rain, or too much sun, under the house eaves.

These will need dividing around March.  I planted five plants per container.  That's too many.  I will change to three.

Poinsettias In Full Bloom. 19 Dec 24.

 These are the poinsettias that I grew over the past year.

This one is in its third year.

I'm very pleased at how colorful it is.

This one is in its second year.  It's bigger than I want, but I'm still happy with it.  It's a very rewarding plant to grow.

I don't do any special darkness treatment, even though lots of websites say to do that.  I think our nights here are long enough. 

I think a key thing to do, is repot before starting to "over summer" them.  The peat is too easily dried and too difficult to re-wet.  I use a regular potting soil.  Also, they become top heavy, so I use fairly heavy ceramic pots.   In the summer, I try not to let them dry out completely.  I use a houseplant fertilizer (Schultz) per label instructions.

I want to keep these growing.  I may see if the variegated on can be pruned back a bit further, or re-start a cutting from it.

I don't want too many, but this week I added this small Poinsettia.

I don't care much for the other color varieties (white, pink, cream"), but I like the bright red and white speckles on the variegated ones.  This one is quite small, so I think I can get it started right in a good potting soil and good attention to pruning, early and short.

Lavender Seedlings. 25 Nov 24.

These are my second attempt at growing lavender from seeds.  I sprayed my first attempt with BT in an attempt to avoid fungus gnats.  That killed the tiny seedlings.

This is how the new seedlings look at about four weeks after sowing.  These are sowed on top of moist seedling mix, room temperature, under plant lights, no stratification.  Two cells weren't planted.

Those are starting to grow their first real leaves.  Pretty nice.

These are two or three weeks after sowing.  Same treatment.  I ordered a couple of additional varieties to try.

They are growing just as well, just a little behind because I sowed them later.

This will give me a variety of colors of blooms and plant type, for the xeric border and containers.  These varieties are described as very compact growing, and blooming the first year if conditions are right.

Lavender Cuttings And Indoor Overwintering. 25 Nov 24.

 I'm overwintering some lavender plants in the sunroom, with supplemental LED light.

This was a broken-off piece from a much older, dried out and almost dead looking plant.  I trimmed back the top and roots, and potted it in potting soil.  Given how it's recovered, I think it could become a nice bushy plant and bloom next year.  The shape looks like Lavandula angustifolia (English lavender) but I can't say for certain.

This one is the hybrid, Goodwin's Creek Grey.  I bought it at Winco.  It's a good variety, and kind of unusual.  I don't know if a lavender plant, planted so late, will survive bitter cold ahead.  So I'm wintering it in the sunroom.  So far, about three weeks, it's thriving.

This one is "French Lavender", Lavandula dentata.  I read that this species wont survive outdoors in bitter cold.  

I'm doing an experiment - one is planted outdoors in the border, one is in the sunroom.

These are cuttings I took last summer from a Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas) plant.   They are growing well, and have roots emerging from the drainage holes, but need shelter for the winter.  I'll plant them outside next Spring.

Here is part of my sunroom setup.  They are on a plant stand with LEDs.  They are doing pretty well, along with some rooted rosemary and sage cuttings.

Geranium (Pelargonium) Seedlings. 25 Nov 24.

 Geraniums (officially "Pelargoniums") are a favorite.  They are colorful, nice in the dry conditions, although in containers at least they do need watering and shelter from the worst sun and heat.  This year they gave a lot of color.  When I find one I like, I keep it going by storing the dormant plant in the garage for the winter, or starting cuttings to grow in the sunroom.  Some are five years old.  One is twenty years old.

This year I didn't care as much for some of the new store varieties.  They are hybrids between ivy leaf and zonal, growing from a tight cluster of leaves with huge pom poms of flowers covering the plant.  Nice, especially in the store, but more challenging to water n containerso because they shed water to the side.

I had a difficult time, finding varieties that I liked at the store.  So I decided to grow from seeds.  I chose the "Maverick" line, the red, coral, and white colors.

I started them now, because I read they are slow to get to blooming size.  Plus, it's something to do indoors  in winter.

I planted these a few weeks ago.  They germinated pretty quickly on the seed warming mat. 

Germination was about 50% to 75%.  OK, but I will start some more.  

These might be ready for the sunroom plant stand with LEDs.  Pelargoniums do well there.  They may also need individual containers and real potting soil, soon.

Schlumbergera Blooming. 8 Nov 24.

 Here are the Schlumbergera.  They are pretty showy.

Lavender Seedlings. 4 Nov 24.

 I bought some lavender seeds online, to add variety to the xeric border.   I wanted plants that might be a little different from what I already have, or can find in stores.  Also, that are advertised as blooming the first year from seeds, if started early.

I'm starting them extra early in hopes of getting a head start on next year.

I chose the varieties Vicenza Blue and Bandera Rose.  Bandera Rose is a mini variety, Vicenza Blue might grow a but larger but still not huge.

I sowed the seeds on top of moist seed starting medium.  I spritz them every day.  They are at house room temp, not on a heating mat.  Around mid 60s F to about 70 F.  It has been ten days.

No seedlings yet in one of the Vicenza Blue containers, and the other has fewer than the Bandera Rose.  I don't need a lot of plants, so I'm happy so far.

UPDATE:

Oh well.  I sprayed the seedlings with BT, hoping that would nip a fungus gnat situation in the bud.  They all died.

Trying again.  I had to re-order a variety, and added a couple more.

Now just hope that was the BT and not damping off.

Rosemary Cuttings Rooted and Replanted. 21 Oct 24.

 Here are some of the rosemary cuttings that I started, late summer.

Originally, I tried rooting them in water.  After several weeks, no roots.  So I cut off the lower portions, scraped the sides of the lower new underground stems to expose cambium layer, dipped in rooting hormone, and planted in potting soil.

They's been showing roots through the bottom holes for a few weeks.  Nice root systems now.

I started two per container. I separated them now, quite easily.

Repotted in approx 4" containers in regular pitting mix.

Now I'll keep them in the sunroom under lights, until early Spring.

Next - some sage cuttings will get similar treatment.  I'm not sure about the lavender cuttings.  I don't see roots, but they are not wilted or dried out looking, either.

Second Garlic Bed Completed. 21 Oct 24.

 I think the timing is similar to previous years.  This is a bit more garlic than usual, all the Music variety. Music consistently produces by far the largest cloves / bulbs for me, with strong spicy flavor.  The cloves peel easily once dried, and keep almost a year after harvest in my garden.

This time planting where I had peppers.  The enclosed 25 gallon fabric containers that acts as a 4 x 8 foot bed.  

All planted.  Not much to look at.  I took out the top approx 5 inches of soil, added chicken bone meal, crushed eggshells, and organic vegetable fertilizer to the soil underneath, mixing it in  Then set 7 or 8 garlic cloves in place and buried by replacing the soil.  This compares to about a 4 foot row in the regular raised beds, with 8 rows.  So about the same number planted  per bed.  The garlic cloves are about 4 inches deep.  I forgot the bone meal for the first crop, so that can be a comparison.

Fortunately I was able to collect enough maple leaves to cover them all.  

Now the main over-wintering crop is settled in for the season.  The sole remaining task for these will be to repair and re-set the drip irrigation loops before dry season next summer.

First Garlic Planting. 17 Oct 24.

 I finished planting the first raised bed of garlic.  This year, I'm solely planting the Music variety, bulbs that I set aside to keep from the July harvest.  These are reliably the best harvest for me, most flavorful cloves, the biggest, and are easy to peal.

Same as previous years.  This bed contained the fresh-eating tomato crop this year.  I had already cleaned it up and mixed in crushed eggshells.

I made trenches about 4 or 5 inches deep, added organic fertilizer to the bottoms of the holes, cultivated that in, and placed the cloves in the trenches.

Then I filled in with the soil, and smoothed with garden rake.  I mark each row with a bamboo rod.

Then I raked red maple leaves and mulched the raised bed.  This is how I do it each year, and I always get a good crop.

The drip irrigation lines will need re-installing.   Not urgent.  The urgent jobs will be to harvest the remaining green beans, and to clear the second raised bed to plant more garlic.