Bathroom Remodel. 7 March 2024

 Not about gardening, but about the gardener.    With age and medical stuff, it was a worsening challenge soaking in the old bathtub.  It was hard to get into, and out of, and a fall risk.  The bathroom was crowded, dark, difficult to clean, too many corners to bump into.  The counter was too low.

I wanted a bathtub with a door, on a platform so the user would already be in a sitting position when getting out. A window, for full spectrum daylight.  Wall color that wouldn't make it dingy and eye strain, like the old beige was.  A better height, more functional sink.  Better and brighter light flooring.  A bidet toilet.  

It didn't have to be "update" per se, but it kind of works out that way.  The old bathroom was 50 years old, dark, not so safe or easy to use or clean.

Here's the result.

This is a world better.  I still have to touch up the painting.  I'm not good at edges.  It needs towel racks, and better grab bars.  Those suction cup type really don't work that well.  I want to add a nice medicine cabinet over the toilet.  The tub is not as easy to get out of as I could wish for - a wider door would help more.  But it is still a big improvement, and I think instantly makes life a bit more pleasant.  I like this new bathroom, a lot.

Most things are white, for a brighter room.   The flooring is non-slip, waterproof vinyl plank.  The vanity has storage space for towels, underneath, and foot room at the bottom.  It's similar to a buffet.  The counter is white for brightness.  

For  contrast, here's the 50 year old bathroom.

I had a contractor do most of it.  I bought the vanity and toilet at Lowes.  The bathtub was a special order, shipped across the country.  Most of the rest was via Amazon, returned items to reduce the cost.

Taking out that wall really opened up the space, got rid of corners to bump into, made cleaning easier, and brightened up the entire room.  The old vanity might have been for kids - way too low for adults.    Also, now the door opens completely, so no bumping into that.

Mini Rose Update. 7 March 2024

 Here an update on the mini rose plant (Kordana roses) that I repotted and separated last month.  On nice days, I move these outside, otherwise they are in sunroom under LEDs.  I've pruned most of the tops back a little more, once I saw them growing with some vigor.  That's to give lower branching and more bushiness.  I water with a Schultz liquid houseplant food designed to give a tiny amount of plant food with each watering.

Individual plants.  Almost all of the leaves on this one are new.

And another, more of a mix between old and new.  It got a little pruning of the top before this photo, so lost a little new growth.

They are thriving.  All of the red-ish tinge and dark green growth is new.  Most of the original leaves died off and I removed most of them.  These plants are sold to be a decoration for a while, or a gift, not for the home plant person or gardener to grow.  Their growth conditions are very different from the home.  They are grown in vast greenhouses, under LED lights at special wavelengths, in soil and fertilizer designed for their irrigation systems and shipping.  They are meant to be enjoyed for a bit, then discarded.   I'm sure they are even bred to excel and thrive in those special conditions, not the home or garden.  Still, sometimes we can adapt plants to our conditions and sometimes they do very will, so why not play?

One thing I think is absolutely key, is to get them out of their original growth medium quickly.  That's designed for greenhouse irrigations conditions, misting, travel.  Not for a home set-up.  It dries out very quickly, so the line between damp and desert - dry is very narrow.  Removing the old medium and planting them into a good quality potting soil helps even out the moisture holding capacity and better buffered against extremes.

While I was at Bi-Mart, I saw a rack of micro roses outside, full sun, marked down for sale or to be disposed of.  Most were at a crispy stage.  I found this one, wilted but not crispy.  It wasn't too bad, and had some buds.   I cut off dead flowers, soaked it, removed dead leaves.  In a week, the remaining buds began to open.

These are sold without names, so that's a wild guess.  Comparing with others on line, I think this one might be Daniela but I really don't know.  It was just a couple of dollars, something to experiment with.

Then I saw this one at Safeway.  Much richer red and more classic flower shape.  I bought it too.

I'm actually downsizing my garden. Not planning to start a new collection.  Still, it's fun to play a little and see what happens.  They may go into a patio pot, a larger container, or the garden.  Or all of the above.

Super Easy Geranium Cuttings. 22 Feb 24

Last summer knocked off a branch from a geranium  (or as the call it in UK, Pelargonium).

Here is the branch.  It was lying around more or less in the shade for about a month, while I had other things to concern myself with.

It stayed green and alive looking, somI thought I would use it for cuttings.  I cut it into four pieces, using a sharp knife.

Then Imstuck them all into a four inch pot with potting soil.  Not a special rooting medium, not peat moss or sand, no rooting hormone, no scoring the sides.  Just stuck them into the soil.

Then I watered just like any indoor plant.  They are in my sunroom.

Last month, they had grown quite a bit and were crowding each other.  I took them out of the container, separated them, and pruned back for better branched plants.  Here they are now.

They are growing very nicely.  By Spring, I'll have four nice geranium (pelargonium) plants, nice size and shape, probably in bloom.

I think these are one of the easiest plants to grow, take cuttings, overwinter.  They are very rewarding.

Onion And Leek Seedlings. 21 Feb 2024.

 The onion and leek seedlings look pretty good.  With mild weather conditions, but cloudy/drizzly, I moved them outdoors.  Most alliums don't mind cool Spring weather and they won't dry out as fast outdoors.

Saving A Grocery Store Mini-Rose. 21 Feb 2024

 This is a yellow throw-away rose, bought at grocery store for Valentine's Day.  It's a nice yellow rose.  The challenge with grocery store plants, is they are grown in a peat moss/ perlite medium, great for mass greenhouse blooming plant production, but not good for home growing.  It dries out super fast for me, and the plant goes through successive cycles of wilting and perking up, each time with more leaves becoming crispy dry and useless.

I'd like to keep it alive long enough to plant outside, probably in containers or in the garden.

Here's how it looked.  Pretty sad.

The remaining buds won't do anything.  I cut off the flowers, buds, and the worst of the dead leaves.

Then take out of container.  Not at all root-bound.  It was just that peat/perlite medium dries out so fast that the plant dries out.

This is actually five plants in one container.  I separated them.

My goal is to remove most of the old growing medium, and plant in the good stuff I use for everything else.  It's not necessary to wash off every bit, but I did soak them in rainwater and wash off most of the old medium.

Then I planted each into its individual container, in my usual potting soil.

I hope they grow.  I cut off some additional dry leaves and stems.  They look pretty good.  If buds start growing lower on the stems, I might prune back tower to make them more bushy.

I've never had good experiences growing roses indoors, so my goal is just to keep them growing and alive long enough to  transition to outdoors.