My Gardening Attempts

Blog has moved to its own host

2009-08-18T22:44:00.006-05:00

Hi,

Thank you for stopping by, I am no longer updating this blog anymore. Please head on over to my new host, Elements Backyard Garden. The site is still under construction. Sorry site is no longer active. Will eventually reopen the site once I have the time for it. Thanks guys - James

Pictures from the Garden

2009-08-03T00:02:00.001-05:00

This weeks Blooms.

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Blog Roll and Link Exchange request

2009-07-17T14:42:00.002-05:00

If anyone would like me to add their blog or website please post a message and give me your link. If I post yours please post mine as well. Thanks.

Element's Backyard Garden is moving

2009-07-14T08:39:00.000-05:00

Element's Backyard Garden is moving. I have my own host and domain name now. Please visit and bookmark my new site please. Element's Backyard garden

This site is still underconstruction. Once the site is complete I will let everyone know. Thanks

Day 6: Oregan Coast Vaction

2009-07-11T00:58:00.002-05:00

Today we went south down Highway 101 to Florence to play on the dunes. On the way to Florence we stopped at the Devil's Chur, drove to top of Cape Perpetua, and Strawberry Hill.

Our first stop was at The Devil's Cusp. We hiked the ruff terrain of the Devil's Cusp trails down to the bottom of the mountain, and crawled and climbed over the ruff valcanic basalt rock formations to get a close look at the see cave and channel the waves cut into the side of the mountain. Our next stop was at Cape Perpetua. Cape Perpetua is a scenic view that takes you to the top of the mountain that over looks the bay and The Devil's Cusp. The next stop was Strawberry Hill, which is a little known spot to view sea lions. Our last stop was just outside of town in Florence, we road the dunes on a 4x4 buggy bus tour. After the tour we stopped at Honeymen State park to play on the dunes and hang out near the lake.

The Devil's Churn

Cape Perpetua

Strawberry Hill

Oregon Dunes

Honeymen State Park

Day 5: Oregon Coast

2009-07-10T01:48:00.000-05:00

Today we got up early and drove to the North end of the Oregon Coast to visit Cannon Beach and Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City. On the way to Cannon Beach, we stopped in Tillamook, Oregon and toured the cheese factory. After lunch at the factory we stopped along the way and took pictures of some haystack rock formations and the rocky beach. Once back on the road, we drove about an hour and a half north to Cannon Beach to walk the beautiful beach and do some shopping in town. Once finished at the beach we headed back south to Pacific City to eat lunch at Pelican Pub & Brewery for my wife's uncle's retirement party. After eating dinner, we hiked the big sand dune and saw amazing views from both sides. Believe me, though, if you're out of shape, it hurts! Too bad there isn't a way to just go down them... that part was fun.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Haystacks on Hwy 101

Cannon Beach

Cape Kiwanda

Fishermen hauling their Dory Boat back home

Bottom of the Sand Dune

View from the top of the Sand Dune

Day 4: Oregan Coast

2009-07-09T01:25:00.000-05:00

Today we went inland and visited 3 wineries. The first winery we visited was Maysara Winery which practices both organic and Biodynamic agriculture. The second place we stopped at was Eyrie Vineyards and then we stopped at Amity Vineyards. All three places are a must if you want to try local wines of Oregon.

Maysara Vineyards

Amity Vineyards

Day 3: Oregan Coast

2009-07-07T23:26:00.057-05:00

Today we spend most of the day visiting different sites between Lincoln City and South Newport, Oregon. First, we stopped at Boiler Bay and took in the sites. This stop had some great views of the coast and some interesting rock formations. Next, we stopped in Depoe Bay for some whale watching in the harbor. There are several whale watching tour guides and a whale watching information center. We visited the information center and watched the local gray whales breach the surface a couple times. We were told that sometimes you see them and at other times you do not, but we were lucky enough to see them a few times.

Our next stop was at the Devil's Punch Bowl. The Devil's Punch Bowl was created over time as the waves formed a sea cave and then eventually the roof collapsed. We also stopped on the bluff long enough to watch a surfing class with new surfers learning to surf. On our way into Newport, we stopped at Agate Beach and walked along the misty beach. After the beach walk, we stopped for lunch in town at a local pub down in the marina. Our final stop for the day was the Rogue Brewery in South Newport. This brewery was set up in an old marina warehouse. We took a tour and sampled some of their beers.

Boiler Bay

The Devil's Punch Bowl

Agate Beach -- overcast and misty

Rogue Brewery

Mixing Tanks (first Stages)

Bottling

Day2 of vaction - Oregan Coast

2009-07-07T02:15:00.000-05:00

Today was a good day. I spent most of the day just hanging out and playing on the beach. We spent the early part of the day with my wife and her parents shopping at the outlet mall. We found some good deals and didn't have to pay sales tax.

About 4 in the afternoon the overcast wore off and we spent the afternoon on the beach playing Frisbee with my wife's cousins. Then late in the afternoon my digital camera fell and landed in the sand. Before we could recover it the waves washed over it and it died. Of course I am not happy and we lost the chance for some good pictures, but tomorrow I get to replace it with a new one! Plus I will be getting my wife a nice pocket sized camera for her as well.

Her are a some more pictures of the beach.

Spending a week on the Oregan Coast

2009-07-06T01:21:00.000-05:00

Today we arrived in Portland from a 9:30 A.M. flight from DFW. Then drove another 2 hours down to the coast to Lincoln OR. We are staying at very nice beach house that is within walking distance from the beach!

It started misting about 20 minutes from the cost and has misted on and off all day. the weather is a breezy 60 degrees and overcast. More to come as the week progresses.

Here are some pictures of the beach taken at 6:00 P.M.

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Elements backyard garden is moving!

2009-06-30T09:57:00.002-05:00

Elements backyard garden is moving to its own host and changing formats to wordpress! Please visit the new site and make a comment. How do you guys like it? Right now I will keep both sites open and posting regularly to both. Should have the same content at least for now!

Yesterday I did my First Staining project.

2009-06-30T08:00:00.001-05:00

Late yesterday, I decided to stain my porch screen door. Originally when we rented the house it had a nice screened in porch but it did not have a screen door or any type door so it was pointless to have a screened in porch and do to the mosquitoes we could not use the porch.

One day my wife and I went to one of the big box stores and purchased a cheap unfinished screen door and had it cut down to the correct size. We also bought a fancy screen door brushed nickel door handles and hook lock. The next day I installed the hardware and put the door up. About two years later, the door started to look kinda shabby. I was also worried that the door would start to rot since the door was not treated for the weather.

So late yesterday evening, I decided to remove the hardware, the screen, and sand down the old wood. Once that was that was completed, cleaned and prepped the area for staining. I then got a cheap set of all purpose paint brushes and small can of stain. All together it took about 2 hours to complete the project. Tonight after work, I will inspect my handy work and decide if it needs another coat. If it does this time I will pull out the trusty saw horses and remove the door and hinges and add another coat.

Maybe tomorrow I will post a picture of the door once it has had time to dry.

Veggie Garden Plot Phase 1

2009-06-25T21:02:00.002-05:00

Over the last few months, I have been working on several new flower beds. One of those flower beds was originally setup for in ground plantings for Tomatoes and Peppers. But due the heat and other factors I lost most of the seedlings. So this year we purchased our veggies from several different places and planted in three and five gallon buckets. Because of the heat some of the younger tomatoes are not doing so well. A couple of them were hidden and did not get water for a couple of days. But they will come back and should produce some tomatoes in a few months.

This bed is a 20ft x 8ft bed. Half this bed is setup for in ground close proximity plantings and the other is setup for five to eight gallon container veggie gardening. The container section can be converted to in ground planting if we decide we want to commit to a veggie plot.

As for the soil conditioning, I mixed in homemade compost, worm compost, donkey manure, leaf mulch and landscaping mix.Then weed screen was layed across the entire bed followed by hardwood mulch.

Phase 1 Almost complete - Need to organize and tie everything up

Tomato Pot - That brown stick is a blackberry cane I haven't gotten around to removing.

Candy Striped Tomatoes - Can't wait till theire ready to eat!

The Worm Factory

2009-06-14T23:37:00.047-05:00

3 weeks ago my wife bought me an early birthday gift. She got me The Worm Factory and I love it. I put it together in about 20 minutes. The first steps are to take it out of the shipping box and assemble it. The instructions were simple and easy to understand. I will not bore you with the instructions but, I will show some pictures of the install process.

The next step is to prepare the bedding for the worms. This kit comes with coconut coir and strips of newspaper. All that is needed is a layer of newspaper sheets unfolded and enough to cover the bottom of the tray. Next I soaked the coir in warm water for about 20 minutes. After the coir was ready, I mixed in the newspaper and some compost from my bins. Once mixed in I added this mix to the tray. I then added tow large handfuls of rotten vegetable matter and covered with several more sheets of water.

Once the worms arrive, I added them to the worm factory. Once I added the worms to the factory I then added a cup of water to the bin.

When you are ready to close up the bin, add several more sheets on top of the worms. The worms will look small and skinny, but once they are refrigerated and had some time to much on the debris in the bin they will fatten back up. In about a week, check on your worms and make sure they are doing okay. If the worms are doing well, most of the food will be gone and add food as needed. Once a week add a cup of water to the bin.

blog is moving!

2009-06-11T00:31:00.000-05:00

Sorry its been a while since I have last updated. As before I just haven't much time to work on the garden and post new updates. But I promise to update you soon. I have several projects I am working on and hopefully I will post up soon.

As the title says, elements backyard garedn is moving! I finally got around to moving to my own host. I am still working on the templates and it looks like I have to manually import since wordpress to blogger is does not seem to work on my host. Anyways take a look at my new site. Once its open and running I will post up here and let everyone know again.

The site is elements backyard garden

Just an update

2009-06-01T00:32:00.002-05:00

Just an update. Sorry about not updating my blog in a while. I have been to busy to work in the garden and with all the rain, I haven't worked that much in the garden. I will post some new pictures soon

Spring Blooms

2009-04-28T15:04:00.000-05:00

Some more Spring Blooms

New Blooms

2009-04-06T00:15:00.000-05:00

Dutch Iris - Iris x hollandica

Iris - Unknown, was here before we moved in.

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Confederate Rose or Cotton Rose (Hibiscus Mutabilis)

2009-03-05T00:20:00.010-06:00

The Confederate Rose or Cotton Rose (Hibiscus Mutabilis) is a shrub or small tree from China that thrives in the southern gulf coast of the United States. The Confederate Rose can reach a height of fifteen to twenty feet tall and have a spread of ten feet. The foliage has a coarse texture on the underside and the size of the leaves range in size from five inches to seven inches. In the Dallas Fort Worth area the Confederate Rose will drop its leaves after first frost. After the first frost, the Confederate Rose will die back to roots if the weather stays below thirty-two degrees for more than several nights. From late summer to October, Hibiscus Mutablis will be in full bloom. In the morning the blooms will start out white or light pink and grow darker throughout the day, until it reaches deep red in color. Most blooms only last twenty four hours. The blooms are delicate and range in size from three to five inches. After the blooms have died, a small round seed pod forms. Once the pod has dried, the pod can be removed and the seeds can be harvested.

Plant Care: The Confederate Rose needs little care. Once established, it will thrive in most soil types, but it prefers a soil high in organic materials.
Moisture: The Confederate Rose loves water. In the Dallas Fort Worth Area,
it needs to be watered every day. If the Confederate does not get enough water,
the leaves will wilt and start to droop. If watered in the afternoon or evening the leaves will perk back up.

Hardiness: USDA Zones 7-9.

Propagation: Propagate from cuttings in the spring or in the fall

after first frost. The prefer method in the Dallas Fort Worth Area is to take
cuttings after first frost. Place cuttings in a bucket of water and let it sit until next spring. Depending on the amount of light available and the temperatures, cuttings may form in a few weeks or take as long as 6 months before roots have formed. Propagation can also be done by seed, direct sow after last frost.

Updates...

2009-03-02T17:44:00.004-06:00

The last few weeks I have been spending most of my time studying and working on different website and multimedia projects. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will have the time to start working on the garden.

My current project that I am working on is for the Fort Worth Garden Swap website. I completely revamped the main pages, the only pages I could not change were the forums. Take a look at the site. It is still under construction and the client and I are working on some ways to bring in more users.

Fort Worth Garden Swap

Week 6 for the AeroGraden

2009-02-08T01:47:00.019-06:00

Its been 6 weeks since I have last posted an update about my new AeroGarden or even to the blog...

Since last post, I finally found a job, and I decided to go by to school for a degree in multimedia design, and other items that I prefer not to mention.

As for the AeroGarden, I love it. The only issues I have with the system is the loud air pump, and sometimes the light timer schedule changes. Orginally I set to come on at 8 AM, then it changes to 10 AM about 2 weeks. Then a week later the timer changed to 12P. Not sure why this happened. And no my power never went out.

The pictures below show the progress of the plants.

2 weeks

6 Weeks

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New Garden Toy for Christmas!

2008-12-28T23:36:00.005-06:00

Late last night we got back into town, my wife and I spent the week in Wesson Mississippi and Northport Alabama visiting my relatives. After we got unpacked and visited with friends from out of town, it was to late for us to open our gifts from each other and gifts from her in-laws.

One of my gifts from one of the cousins got me an AeroGarden3! I put its together and so far I love it. I have been interested in these little guys for quite some time. If this smaller one works out as well I hope it does, I will spend the money on several other models I have had my eyes.

I put together the AeroGarden3 in less than 30 minutes. It took me longer to figure out where to put it than to assemble it. The first step is to assemble the arm for the light to the base and install the light bulb. Once the that is complete you then attach the base and grow surface to the system. After the system is setup, you will then add the grow seed pods, seed starting formula tablet, and water. Then plug the system in. The light source will run for 17 hours and be in the dark for 7 hours.

So far, the only thing, I do not like about will live with is the water pump can be loud if you are in a quiet room, you will hear it. But more to come on that later on.

As time goes on, I will report my findings. Below you will find pictures of the assembly process and the completed unit.

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Overwintering is not fun...

2008-12-07T22:41:00.000-06:00

Not sure why this didn't post earlier, but I will repost again...

Last weekend, came time to overwinter all my tropicals and start some more cuttings. I converted a wasted space in my garage into a pepper storage area, use my side of the garage to overwinter tropicals and some Brug cuttings, and put the rest on my covered porch.

As for the pepper storage, eventually I will have this up with better lighting but for now this will at least keep them alive and finish off the last of the peppers.

The above picture is a small window pot filled with peat and perlite for a batch of cuttings that I could not fit into my rooting chamber. What I did was take three wire coat hangers and cut them down to size and stuck one end on one side and took the other and looped it over. I set one support on each side and one in the middle. Hopefully they metal will not rust before the plants root.

Pepper Plant Storage

This is where my car is suppose to be parked. It looks like I will have to come out to a cold car in the morings.

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Its a been a while since my last post...

2008-12-03T23:18:00.002-06:00

Well, its been while since my last post, and I am sorry. A lot of things have happened in my life lately and I just haven't time nor the money to work in the garden.

First I lost my job back in October and I have not found steady employment yet. Second my grandmother had another stroke and passed away 2 weeks after losing my job. But on the good side a friend of my offered me a job in the audio/visual field and some video shooting running second camera and assistant for the lead cameraman. I was also offered some constulting work for an internet web design company ran by one of my gardening friends on Garden Web as well. So if you need any web work or need a new host let me know...

Also I just harvest a lot batch of peppers today and have about 15 more that will be ready to harvest. Unfortunally I do not know what they are. All the tags were lost when I moved the pepper to the side yard to fend for themselves after they did not produce any peppers this year. I figured I would keep the survivors and start some news ones next year. It looks like most of them survived and even produced. If you know what kinds they are let me know.

Thanks guys.

Pride of Barbados

2008-10-26T23:27:00.006-05:00

Caesalpinia pulcherrima 'Pride of Barbados'

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Japanese Tea Gardens In San Antonio

2008-10-14T08:02:00.003-05:00

Last weekend my wife and I spent the weekend in San Antonio, TX for her 5 year reunion at Trinity University. Between alumni events, my wife and I were able to sneak away and spend a few hours at the Japanese Tea Garden right across the highway from the university.

Currently, the gardens are being renovated, and you can see how hard they are working at keeping and making this a wonderful place to visit. Of course we chose a time of year when most of the flowers were
already spent but it was still very beautiful and I will planning to visit next spring, if we have the time. My favorite part of the garden is all the hardscaping and the way the park is sunken into an hold rock quarry.

History: A complete history can be found at Japanes Tea Garden History.

In 1881 the San Antonio Water Works Company, through its president, George W. Brackenridge, donated 199 acres to the City of San Antonio to be used as public park. In 1901 the park was officially opened and today still holds the name of Brackenridge park. At this time their was a working operating rock quarry west of the park on land owned by the City of San Antonio. The stone cutters had been leasing this land since the mid 1800s. Then in 1908 Quarry company closed down the site after it needed to bring in rail lines to expand the project. Instead they purchased a new site.

In 1915, another 11 acres were donated, the land immediately adjacent to the abandoned quarry for a city park. City Parks Commissioner, Ray Lambert came up with the idea of a lily pond would later became the Japanese Tea Garden. From July 1917 and May 1918, the City used prison labor to turn the quarry into complex that had walkways, stone arches bridges, an island, a Japanese pagoda. Local residents donated bulbs, exotic plants were donated by local nurseries, and the roof used palm leaves from the palm trees in the city parks. Ray Lambert only spent 7,000 to create his ideas

Over the years, the park made changes to the design and improvements were made. Currently this is what the park looks like as of October 10th, 2008.

Another Busy Weekend

2008-09-28T22:57:00.002-05:00

This weekend was a busy one. I created and finished up on my new Iris bed. I am not sure I like it and I think I will re do the bed next weekend. I made two trips to the dump for more mulch, finished laying mulch down in the new backyard garden, gave my new lawn mower a tune up, and rebuilt the broken door casing.

Here are some new pictures of the new flower bed in the back. Its not done yet and the plants will not be planted until I decide that I really like the layout. I think I may just leave them potted up and put them in garage for the winter and plant them next April.

The larger plants in the front are milkweed, candle stick, and cigar plant. These will be moved out to another spot but right now they are still small and will not block the view of the other plants.

The main layout will be Lantana, Turks Cap, Red Saliva, Lady in Pink Saliva, and Pine Apple Sage. I then will look for some sort of vine to climb the trellis that can take part shade and noon to 5 PM west sun. I will also be repotting all of the smaller pots.

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Went To the City Dump Today

2008-09-27T19:55:00.002-05:00

Lately I have been renovating the beds in my yard and creating new ones. Once I complete those bed, I mulch the bed with hardwood mulch. Some cities now have a recycling of hardwood program. Some cities have better programs and some have none. If you are looking for free mulch and other garden products, check out your local city programs.

As you can see the City of Garland has a large pile of mulch. a few months ago this pile was a lot larger. There are several other areas with smaller piles. I am not sure what these piles are for but they are deep in organic matter but, they were set to side of the pit. Hopefully Garland will start a better program and start a compost program.

Worked On New Flower Bed This Weekend!

2008-09-21T22:52:00.003-05:00

Last April I bought a flat of Lantanna and never found a place to plant it. This weekend I finally found a place. I planted in a spot that gets sun most of the day but shaded from 4 PM till dusk. The plants are in bad shape but they should recover. Hopefully the will make it through this winter. If do not, I can get some more.

First I dug out the grass and weeds from the area. Then dug out about 3 inches and added six inches of top soil, landscaper's mix, compost, cotton burr compost, blood meal, bone meal, and lots of donkey manure. And topped with city mulch.

Of course this part of the bed is not completed. I ran out of mulch. Next weekend I will load of the blazer with a large load of mulch. Once completed I will show the completed project with yard clean and the bed finished. Next season I plan to plant 3 to 5 Turks Caps and followed by some columbine (maybe) or something a butterfly attracting plant that take partial shade. And on the side next the porch it gets sun most of the day. I will plant Red Saliva and Lady in Pink Saliva. With large vine with red or yellow flowers growing up it.

Some New Performers In The Garden

2008-09-11T22:54:00.002-05:00

Tecoma stans 'Gold Star'

I picked this plant up from Lowe's clearance section. I only paid a Dollar. In a few weeks it will be covered with blooms.

Malvaviscus Arboreus Var. Mexicanus 'Mexican Turk's Cap'

Salvia 'Lady In Pink'

Asclepias Curassavica 'Mexican Milkweed'

'
Asclepias Tuberosa 'Yellow-Flower Butterfly Weed'

How To Build A Propagation Station

2008-09-10T00:35:00.003-05:00

Previously I posted some pictures of my propagation stations as promised for Wicket Gardener. Today since it rained most of the day and the garden was flooded there wasn't much for me to do today. So I took some cuttings from my Light Pink Oleander, some Red Oleander cuttings I got last weekend from my in-laws, and Purple Crepe Myrtle cuttings. Instead of just putting them in water or putting them in some peat and keeping the cuttings watered, I did some research and came up with some ideas that a lot of people say they have had with great success. I decided I would take all the good ideas and make a large station that can be broken down easily and put back together quickly.

My New Propagation Station:
Supplies:

1 large 64 Quart Clear Rubbermaid or like container. I went to Wal-Mart and I picked up the container that is all clear and haslocking sides for $8.

Depending on the size 1 to 4 inch terracotta pots. They need to be untreated and no glaze on them. Water needs to seep out. $. 70 x3

Peat, soil, or seed starting mix. Need enough to cover the soil up to the lip of the terracotta pots or 4 inches material to cover the bottom part of the cutting.

Pruning shares

Silicone if there are water holes in the pots.

Cuttings

After gathering up the supplies, I use silicone to seal up all the watering holes. I then let it dry for about 15 minutes. While the pots were drying, I added a mixture of peat, perlite, vermiculite and some left over seed starting mix I had left over to the container. After getting the medium in the container, I then watered down the medium. The medium needs to be just wet enough to be sticky not, soggy. That will cause your cuttings to start rotting instead of growing.

Once you have all the medium in place I put the pots into the mix. You want to leave some of the medium on the bottom the container. Then fill the medium around the pot up the lip of the pot. Careful not to get anything into the pot. This will faul the water faster.

After adding the pots, comes the fun part. It's time to make more plants. First I started with the Light Pink Oleander. Step one was to take 6 to 8 inch cuttings from the new growth. I then made the cut at a 45 degree angle near the first node. I then stripped off leaves and flowers from the first 3 or 4 nodes. I then gave the cuttings a hair cut. This will conserve water in the cuttings and the cutting will spend more time working on roots than maintaining green. Once the cuttings are ready to go into the peat, I then dip each cutting in root hormone. I then took my finger and punched a 3 inch hole into the medium. I then did this about every 2 to 3 inches apart . Once the holes were ready I added my cuttings with root hormone to the container. When I was finished with that section I then added some plant markers of what the plant is, color and when I started the rooting process. After I finished that plant, I then repeated the same steps for the Red Oleander cuttings.

As for the Crepe Myrtles, the process is about the same. I took green cuttings and stripped away flowers, leaves, and extra branches. I then put the cuttings at 6 inches with a 45 degree cut at the first node. Once the cuttings were prepped I then followed the same processes as the Oleander.

Both Oleander and Crepe Myrtles root fairly easily, I choose this method as a test because I know I can root them in almost any condition. Second these were the only plants that I had on hand to test and I know I will need these plants by next spring, I know people will want these, if I made to many.

If this works, I will purchase 1 more of these and use to root some other plants when needed. I will also purchase smaller boxes to use for some of the smaller items, such as propagating house plants and other smaller cuttings.

After the cuttings take root, I will then move the cuttings from the bucket once I see enough root growth or there is more top growth. I will then pot these plants in whatever pot sized is needed for the plant. Usually a 6 inch pot or 10 inch pot. It all depends on the roots and how much I have to work with. Once its transplanted, its watered with seaweed emulsion and root stimulator. I will then place them on my hardening off shelf. The shelving system will have more light on them later in the year. Once I have my rooted plants, I will have to have somewhere to over winter them. They will live on the lighted porch until next spring.

Just Downloaded Scribefire

2008-09-07T00:12:00.000-05:00

Just testing my new blog editor. I downloaded ScribeFire to see if it works better than blogger editor.

Propagation Station and Over Wintering Project

2008-09-06T01:30:00.002-05:00

Last year, before our cold winter started I took my screened in porch and lined it with clear well almost clear plastic shower currents and clear plastic drop cloths. I then setup a plastic folding table for seed trays and lined up cheap work shop lamp fixtures w/ full spectrum and grow lux sunshine bulbs. As my tropical plant collection grew I setup some cfl spot lights and lined my porch w/ them. As you can see some of the tropicals bloomed through out the winter. When the weather dropped below 35 degrees I setup a space heater and ran it on off most of the night and early morning hours. This kept the temps in about the 50s and when the temps dropped into the 20s the temps on the porch stayed around the mid 40s until mid day. This worked very well, this year I plan to line the porch with a thicker liner and run some more lights. Hopefully this year I will still have room to use my porch furniture.

The last few pictures are of my seed closet. I took and old closet in my garage and ran some cfl light fixtures on each shelf and lined aluminums foil. These shelves will hold 2 72 Bio seed starting trays. Sometime this winter I will replace the foil with mylar and run some ventilation in the cabinet. Right now my grow closet will reach the high 90s in the winter and as them gets warmer the temperature in the closest grows as well.

I will post a walk through sometime in the near future on this project.

Blogger Editor is getting on my nerves

2008-09-04T22:55:00.004-05:00

Either in compose mode or editor mode I can not get my layout for my next post the way I want it. I can not control the way the pictures go on the screen. I spent 45 minutes trying to move pictures around and got no where.

Anyone have a better way to create blog posting with multiple pictures and still look good. I normally use Dreamweaver to design my webpages. - Thanks Element

It finally stopped Raining... I Think.

2008-08-20T22:11:00.003-05:00

At about 5 PM, it finally stopped raining. My yard looks like a swamp. But on the good side my cannas loved every drop of rain. Tomorrow I will go out and inspect the garden and see if I lost any of my plants to a drowning.

If its dry enough I plan to work in the garden. If it isn't, I will start prepping my propagation station for all the cuttings I plan to take this fall.

Today It Is Raining!

2008-08-18T20:38:00.000-05:00

Well today I was hopping to finish up cutting the backyard, repotting my new plants, and seting up my cattle panels for all my vining veggies. But its raining! I can not complain. It has not rained all summer. If did it never hit our garden or it rained so little that it did not make a difference. From the weather reports, it looks as if it may rain for the next few weeks. We need over 2 inches and the lakes are at least 2 feet low. So the more rain the better!

Got Some New Plants

2008-08-17T23:25:00.006-05:00

Today I went to the new Lowe's in the city of Murphy. I found this Lowe's to be a lot nicer and had better plant prices than the one in Garland near George Bush Tollway. The Lowe's in Murphy had some many plants on sale and they were great prices. The prices ranged for 50 cents to 7 bucks.

I picket several different types of salivas, lantana, and Dwarf Banana Tree. I will have more info on the banana tree.

I then took the Salivas and Flame Acanthus that I potted in large nursery and placed them under my hanging strawberry patch. Before placing these pots around the posts. I installed some old news paper down to keep the grass from coming up around the pot. I then put wood mulch down. Its mostly composted, so I will have to get some fresher mulch next week.

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Not much going on in the garden

2008-08-13T22:24:00.005-05:00

I know its been a while since I last posted. Its been so hot and I have been so busy that I have not had nything to talk about on here. The last fews weeks, I have been transplanting my 4 inch pots and weeding my overgrown flower beds. I am weeding one or two beds a week. I am starting to see butterflies in the yard. They seem to love the Zinnias. Then again they are the only things blooming in the yard right now!

I haven't seen in humming birds yet but hopefully some of my Turks Caps and Flame Acanthus will bloom and I will get to enjoy them for a little while. I finally got the Oleander bed finished. This fall I will rework the bed and figure how to get it stand upright again.

Another New Friend in the Garden

2008-07-30T22:46:00.001-05:00

Today I was out in the back of the garden behind my shop/lab weeding the disaster zone that I have been ignoring all summer. I pulled grass, weeds and wild morning glories that were taking over my storage area. Because of this, stuff just gets piled around the yard and taking up valuable works space. I found a huge infestation of aphids and other small bugs feasting on the morning glory vines. While smashing and ripping off th vines I found my first praying mantis trying to hide from me on my wood fence. It didn't work...

Got A New Composting Bin Today

2008-07-28T23:02:00.002-05:00

Sunday afternoon we were out looking for some lawn furniture and we stopped by WalMart to check and see what they had left. Since its almost the end of the season, Walmart had dropped the prices on most of the items in the garden section. By the register they had an end cap display for the Super Composter for only $45! Walmart's and Sams both had these composters for 80+ through out most of the season.

After looking the display model over, I decided it was worth a try and it is a lot nicer than my are.

The composter is packaged in shrink rap and the instructions are pictures only on the back of the label. So do not damage the label while opening. The first step was to seperate the parts and make sure I had all the parts. Next I put the for sides together. Next add the corner brackets. Followed by installing the door and hinges. Putting this together will take about 30 minutes or less to put together. It is poorly designed and I would love to able to have screwed/nailed something together. The composter is injected molded thick durable plastic. But the sides do not line up well and the looking tabs will lock completely. The lid is durable and has sturdy spring loaded hinges. Once the composter was in place it looked real good.

Today I added a large bag of fresh grass clipping, shredding paper, coffee grounds/filter, bone meal, blood meal, and alfalfa pellets and mixed in. It is to early to recommend this item. I will see if this composts faster than my homemade units.

I will keep everyone up to date on my findings.

First Pepper Of The Season!

2008-07-27T22:44:00.002-05:00

Today I came out and was moving some of my pepper plants around I found that my sweet banana pepper has a nice young pepper on it!

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Created Another New Bed Today

2008-07-26T22:43:00.017-05:00

For the last few weeks I have been trying to figure out what was eating my garlic bulbs. Last night I caught the thief. It was my little lazy garden helper! She such a traitor. I found her with a face full of mud and doggie breath that smelt of garlic!

So to fix that I went to the local big box store and bought 6 cinder blocks and set them under my garlic pots. This will put the post just high enough that she can't jump up and get to them. If she does the pots will fall over and she will get caught in the act and I can train her not to go over there.

Before starting my project I tied back the Oleander. Its taking over the whole area. But that project is for another post. Sorry guys!

When I went out work on the yard, I noticed that it was time to move all the plants and cut the high grass down. I really HATE this. Moving a hundred plus plants around in 95+ degree weather sucks! So at 8:45 PM, just after dark, I decided to setup some lights and turn this area in a bed with hardwood mulch from the city green project. First I laid down newspaper and then threw over a hundred gallons of hardwood mulch over the newspaper. Once that was completed I then sprayed down the bed with an insecticide to kill any bugs that got into my mulch from the compost area. When I hit the big box store tomorrow I will get another large bottle and spray again.

I had plenty of light for light duty work. I setup 2 shop trouble lights and a clamp on Desk lamp to light up my work area. Tomorrow if I have the time I may setup some more yard lighting. I have a couple of Christmas lawn decoration spot lights that will work great to light up the dark spots in the yard so I can work past dusk when it is cooler.

After getting my area of mulch down, I placed 6 cinder blocks down and put 3 pots down on top of them. I think once I get the Oleander tied back I will put some stepping stones where the pots are and push the garlic back a few feet and add some plantings around the pots to high those ugly blocks. Maybe some lantana or something that trails.

Once I get the bed finished and I have more mulch I think I will pull my herb garden up and complete the project under there as well. Eventually this bed will rap around the entire Oleander bed and remove most of the grass in that area.

Update on my Veggies and the garden

2008-07-23T21:47:00.004-05:00

Its been about a week since I last posted. Its been so hot outside, I haven't done much. Right now I am in the middle of prepping a 10 x 10 shaded bed. So far I have ammended the soil with, top soil, donkey manure, composted mushrooms, landscaping mix, and humus. Before I started that bed was rock hard. I took me hours to get the bed ready for planting. It still needs a little more tilling but right now its in good shape and I will be adding new plants shortly.

Right now the bed currently has some English Ivy that is has some starts in it and ground cover that produces little purple flowers. It starting to take up a large part of the bed. I may pull that up once I get the bed established. I planted Ajuga that I received from a gardening friend in Copper Canyon and some coleus that I never got around to planting earlier this year. I eventually want to fill the bed w/ some ferns.

I did lay a soaker hose down. It took several hours to get it right. I do have several spots that stay dry but, that will be that way until I can raise and level the bed. But thats a different story.

On Sunday I mixed of some compost mix and added to my veggies. This mix has 3 parts donkey manure, 2 parts mushroom compost 1 part peat moss, 1 part landscaping mix, I then added several large hand fulls of bone meal, blood meal, and alfalfa meal and mixed it up. Took that mix and added to my winter squash, sweet potatoes, cuccumbers, zucchinis, tomatoes, and peppers. I added this mix to around the plants and worked it into the top layer and covering all surfacees for each pot. I then watered each pot. Today I checked on the plants and they are greener and look healthier. Tomorrow I will post pictures of my plants.

I Have A New Guest In The Garden!

2008-07-16T22:17:00.000-05:00

Today I was out watering when I noticed that both of my new 4 inch pots with small passion vine starts were stripped to the main stem. When just yesterday it was looking promising... After being a little noisy looking for pest I can across our new guest and he is more than welcome to as long as he likes!

Gulf Fritillary

Tulum Mexico

2008-07-13T21:39:00.007-05:00

Last year, my wife I honeymooned in Tulum Mexico. We stayed at the El Dorado Seaside on the Riviera Maya Mexico. If you ever spend time in mexico near Playa Del Carmin, Check out El Dorado. They have great food, great staff, great view, and great hotel.

The view from our porch .

On the beach near our room

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Tyler Rose Garden May 17th 2008

2008-07-12T00:40:00.010-05:00

I finally found a way to post slideshow /gallery using flickr and blogger. Its called PictoBrowser Builder. All you have to do is put your username in the fields and pick what album you want to use, set your theme, and cut and paste the code to your blog . Anyways I finally got around to working on my pictures from this weekend. I found that my camera malfunctioned and most of the pictures did not come out. I believe it was a combination of the hot weather, bright sunlight, and a lot of operator's error! I At least have some of my favorites came out. I will be going back for Rose fest in October.

Tyler Rose Garden is huge! We walked out on the entrance from the balcony and we were amazed at the size and where to start. Once we got started we found a lot of the rose were already spent. Their rose beds needed to have all the spent roses cut back and it looked as if the roses were burnt and needed more water. We went from bed to bed taking pictures and taking notes for our future rose gardens we are planing. When we finished up with the rose gardens we took some time and hung out in the shade of the Meditation Gardens and shade gardens.

I spoke with some of the locals and they said we came about a month early. They did mention that the garden will be out of the growing season and will be blooming by the time Rose Fest starts!I promise better pictures and better review.

tylerrose.JPG

2008-07-11T00:13:00.004-05:00

tylerrose.JPG, originally uploaded by element321.

Just setup Flickr. I am testing their posting feature with blogger. I am not sure I like. Their website is very slow and I haven't the time nor the patient to figure how to create linkable sideshows or how to post from their posting feature with multiple pictures. I as for this picture I will post more about this photo album tomorrow

Giant Cloneflower Finally Bloomed!

2008-07-09T23:22:00.004-05:00

Last April I received a Giant Coneflower in a plant swap. It doing good. It isn't as big as is it suppose to be but its getting there!

Rudbeckia maxima "Giant Coneflower"

Just broke 1000 Page Views

2008-07-09T17:18:00.002-05:00

I broke 1000 views today! Anyone who reads my blog and has a blog, please comment and ask me to add you to my blog roll. I am always looking for more blogs to read!

Went to Minneapolis for the weekend!

2008-07-07T23:06:00.005-05:00

Last night I was to tired and it was to late to post about my travels. On this trip my wife and her family met up in Minneapolis MN for one of their cousin's wedding. We got to spend most of the day last Saturday visiting the sites. My favorite sites there is the Minneapolis Sculpture Gardens. We did not get to visit but a part of the gardens and museums, on our next trip we will visit the rest. Here are some pictures of the gardens.

"Big Damn Spoon with a Cherry on Top!"

Technorati

2008-07-01T22:03:00.001-05:00

I just joined Technorati.

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Green Thumb Sunday

2008-06-29T22:38:00.002-05:00

Zinnia

Mexican Milkweed

Zinnia

Mexican Fire Bush

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Received More Seeds

2008-06-29T02:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went through my seeds. I received seeds from from Vanillalotus and Wicket Gardener. Received these a few weeks back, but just haven't the time to inventory and post on them. Sorry guys.

New Sprout

Wicked Gardener

Echinacea purpurea 'Purple Coneflower'

2008-06-25T19:36:00.004-05:00

Echinacea purpurea 'Purple Coneflower'

Hedychium coronarium 'White Buerfly Ginger'

2008-06-22T20:30:00.004-05:00

Picked up Hedychium coronarium 'White Butterfly Ginger' earlier this week. I finally got it into a pot. I know its a little small but it should hold them until I can figure out where the best place to put them.

Picked up Hedychium coronarium 'White Butterfly Ginger'

Since these guys had to be planted so close to the surface, they are top heavy. I couldn't get them to stand on their own. I took four bamboo stakes and wrapped them with a sturdy twine. Eventually I will be able to remove them. Once I find the perfect spot I will stake the pot to the ground and mount the pot so it won't tip over in a bad storm.

Zinnias

2008-06-21T00:10:00.002-05:00

Zinnias - These guys are coming up all over my yard like weeds. I have a bunch I need to transplant so I can cut my yard this weekend.

daylily Collection

2008-06-19T23:46:00.003-05:00

Daylilies -unknown types. Please post if you know what type these are.

purple Butterfly Bush

2008-06-18T23:26:00.002-05:00

Purple Butterfly Bush 'Buddleia Nanho Purple'

Transplanted My Confederate Rose

2008-06-17T22:30:00.006-05:00

Last fall my grandmother gave me some of her Confederate Rose 'Hibiscus Mutabilis' cuttings. I have been propagating these pretty plant for about 5 years. I usually root them and give them out to friends and family. This is the first time I have lived in a place that is big enough and had enough sunlight grow these guys. These plants were almost everywhere in the south, but now I almost never see them. I would love to see these plants make a come back.

Cutting taken last fall. As you can see there is just a little growth on the stock. Usually at this time its full of roots. I guess, the cutting is to long.

Fully rooting cutting with green growth. Planted June 17, 2008

If anyone knows where I can find seeds/cuttings, I am looking to start a collection of the Confederate Rose. Please let me know. I will trade cuttings of this pink bush, next fall/winter when I get more from the original.

It was to hot this past weekend

2008-06-16T22:29:00.004-05:00

originally suppose to be posted Sunday May, 16 2008. Internet went down during the posting process.

This weekend was not very productive. Friday night I got sick with what I thought was strep throat. I got up at 8AM to start my yard work and felt like crap. I was weak and very sore. By 2 PM I was up and moving around. My sore throat was gone but I was still very tired.

I went out to get the wife's oil changed and went to Lowe's to check on their clearance items. I found a 3 gallon Purple Butterfly Bush and another saliva to add to my collection, 3 Quanalt ever bearing Strawberry plants. I also purchased and built another plant stand out of 2 X 6s and Cinder Blocks. This will house more small pots and cuttings that have taken root and are ready for some sun.

On Sunday, I started relapsing so I could only stay outside for about an hour before the heat hit me. Its now so hot outside, I can only work in the mornings until about 10 AM and then go back out about 6 and work till dark.

Tomorrow I am going to take it easy and hope I don't come down with something that will put me out of work for a few days.

New herb garden and seedling garden

Strawberry patch. Project not completed. Eventually the bamboo will wrap around the iron post and the pin mandevilla will eventually wrap around the posts .

Took advantage of the cool weather

2008-06-09T21:07:00.004-05:00

Today it rained on and off all day. Surprisingly the weather was cool and very comfortable. I took advantage of the weather and did as much work as I could in the few hours I had before dark and the mosquitoes eat me alive.

Today I ripped up my last year's batch broccoli that never produced and used the pot and half of the mix for my sweet potatoe slips. I then moved a shelf from my propagation center outsidto where it gets mostly sun and is in the shade in the late afternoon. This is going to be my herb garden / small pot garden.

Herb Garden and Seedling Shelf

Vegetable Garden: Tomatoes, Peppers, Sweet Potatoes, Winter Squash , Cucumber, and Zucchini.

Last weekend was busy but fun

2008-06-08T21:48:00.004-05:00

Friday after work I planted out my Peach and Cherry trees. They have been sitting in their nursery bag for way to long. I can already see new growth on them!

Saturday morning I got up early and watered my plants and finished potting up most of my seedlings. All I have left is some sage and other shade plants that need to be planted when I have more time.

Saturday Afternoon my wife and I went to the Texas Discovery Garden Texas native butterfly plant sale. We picked up Mexican and Texas Milkweed, Cigar plant, Candlestick plant, frogfruit plant, 2 flats of Lantana and a bunch of organic products to try in our garden.

After we finished up our trip to Fair Park, we stopped by Rohde's Nursery and Nature Store. We bought a bunch of different types of herbs, some everbearing strawberries that were clearance out, and a Mexican Firebush.

My little car is almost full. If we had more time we would gotten more.

After I got my car unloaded and cleaned up I headed out to meet one my friends. We ended up going to a Texas Rangers Baseball game. We were off the first base line second level. We had great seats that were in the shade. It was about 95 degrees and every seat in our section was filled. It got very hot.

June 7 2008, Texas Rangers Stadium. As you can tell I had a great view of the game.

After the game was over, we met up with some more friends for a few beers at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar in Addision TX. That was fun, but it was crowed and hot in there as well.

Today Was A Lazy Day

2008-06-01T01:06:00.000-05:00

This weekend I had so much stuff to do but I did not get much done. Today I got up early after a ruff night of almost no sleep and hurting joints. (No I am not getting old, just not in good shape.) I got up early and pruned back some more of the black spot on my roses. I then Sprayed my Roses with NEEM. I am not sure this will help with the black spot but, it will help with the aphids that were all over one of the Knock Outs. As the day got hotter I went back in and took a nap. When I got up, I went to store to take care of some personal business. I stopped by Lowe's to see if I could find an organic fungicide that actually says it will help control black spot.

I went to the organic gardening sections to see what they had. I found a several products and finally went with Safer Brand 3-in-1 garden spray. Its label says it helps control black spot. Tomorrow morning I will get up early and test this product. I will let everyone know how the test works out.

After I got back, it was just to hot to get anything done outside. Since the wife was having a girl's day out with one her close friends, I chose to have amovie day for me. Its been months since I set down to some violent action movies! I watched The Marine (not so good), 3:10 to Yuma, (Not bad, a lot of good actors, Christian Bale and Russel Crowe rocked in this movie), and The last Legion ( not bad, will have to watch again, lots of violence, and sword play!)

After the movies I was in a man mood. I went out and worked on my truck for a while. I got it running a few months ago and thought I would get the last bit of engine work on it done and make sure things looked / sounded right and take it out for some wheeling out in a field near the house. I normally do not do those type of things, but that field has been calling my name for 4 months!

The truck needs a lot work, but its suppose to look bad, its an old farm truck my brother and I rescued from rusting out and ending up in a land fill or junk yard some where.

Here are some pictures after my fun in the mud. Its not much, I just wanted to test the 4 wheel drive out and check out the fishing hole near by.

1982 Chevy K5 Fullsize Blazer 4X4

Finally Back in Town!

2008-05-30T19:48:00.006-05:00

Its been about 2 weeks since I have done any posting. This month has been a busy one. Almost every weekend we have been out of town. We have put nearly three thousand miles on my car. This past weekend we went to the family farms and visited my grandmothers. They would make some great gardens. But thats another post.We visited family in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Stopped by Memphis Tennessee for some BBQ Ribs. To bad they are over eight hours away.

After getting back Tuesday night, I took some pictures of the garden. I do need to cut the yard. But I did have some more daylillies and coneflowers produce more flowers. I lost a lot of my seedling in the 3 and 4 inch pots. Because of all of the rain the last few weeks my roses even my knockouts are infested with black spot.

Today I removed the spent rose buds and removed as much of the infested leaves. This weekend i will have to plant the rest of my seedlings, trees, and cut the yard as well.

Pictures of the garden:

First bed of cannas.

Bed 2 of cannas

For weeks after Zinnia seeds being sowed.

Bed of Purple Coneflowers and daylillies.

Mandevilla X amabilis 'Alice du Pont'

Spent the weekend at Lake Palenstine, TX

2008-05-18T22:56:00.000-05:00

Just got back into town. Last weekend, my wife and I celebrated our first anniversary! We spent the weekend out a little B&B with a view of Lake Palenstine TX. The place was great. great food, great view and within 20 minutes from almost everywhere we wanted to visit.

Saturday we got in the morning to watch the sunrise and eat breakfast on the lake. We then spent the rest of the day visiting all of the Wineries in the area.

On Sunday we spent the day at the Tyler Rose Gardens. The gardens were beautiful. The museum was closed for the day and most of the roses were spent. We are planning to go back during the rose festival in October when all the flowers are in bloom. Once we finished up there we went out and visited some of the rose nurseries and some of the other local nurseries.

We ended up bringing back a clearanced out rose for $2, Pink Mandevilla, cherry tree, peach tree and a Japanese Maple all for less than 45 bucks.

I will post up some of the pictures of our adventures once I have the time and I get over the alergy attack that just started up when I started this post.

Oleander, it needs some help

2008-05-14T23:17:00.000-05:00

This a picture of the Oleander in my backyard. Its flowered so well, that its to heavy for it to support itself. It looks like I will be staking this guy.

Harvested Yellow Columbine seeds

2008-05-13T22:36:00.005-05:00

Today I harvested seeds from my Yellow Columbine plant.

First I went out and pulled all the dried seed heads from the plant. I had a hard time not spilling the seeds all over the place.

I then took the seed pod and pored the seeds onto a paper towel. I then split the pod open and scrapped the rest of the seeds out.

After poring out all of the seed pods, I have more seeds than I know what to do with.

I then bagged up my collection and stored them in a coin bag until I am ready to trade or sow the seeds in the garden.

So far this is what I have been able to collect since last summer. I will post a trade soon. If you have anything up for trades, let me know.

Oleander is Blooming!

2008-05-12T23:53:00.001-05:00

Last year we only had one or two blooms. This year our bush is so heavy w/ blooms, its sagging. I will post a picture later this week. I have a love hate relationship w/ oleanders. I love the way they look and the way they produce and you can almost ignore them and they do great. These guys are poisonous to us and to our animals.

First Daylily Opening of the Season

2008-05-10T00:02:00.003-05:00

I received these yellow Dayliley last April during the Fort Worth GardenWeb plant swap. I cant wait for the rest of them to bloom!

Got Some Cuttings Today!

2008-05-08T23:22:00.000-05:00

Last week I received some cuttings from a woman who cutting back her overgrown garden. She gave me a bunch of different plants and most still need to be planted or stuck in rooting mix After sitting in water for a week, I got to to take some of my cuttings and put them in rooting pots.

The first thing I did was cut the large branches she gave me into 8 inch sections and I through a way the hardwood sections. After cutting the branches down I found had10 more usable cuttings to put in the rooting mix tomorrow. Next I took those cuttings and removed all the leaves from the bottom 2 inches. Once the leaves were removed I dipped them into the rooting solution and put them into the smallest nursery pots I had.

Rosmarinus officinalis 'Prostratus'

In about 3 to 4 weeks I should have a some new plants. Once they take root, I will move the to larger pots. If most of them take, I will have extras for trade! I will keep you posted on my cuttings.

Finally got my seed trays finished and ready to plant

2008-05-05T22:40:00.003-05:00

I finally had time to plant out my seed trays. Over the Christmas break I bought 2 72 cell Jiffy biodome seed trays. I setup my first in early March and finally got around to planting them out. My first experience didn't go so well as you can tell. But I did get 6 tomotoes and bunch of herbs.

As you can see I lost most of them....

The potted up herbs. I can not remember them all right now, but I will give updates later on.

Part of my little herb garden.

And now my second attempt, I only lost 5 or 6 cells. The most important ones were the hot pepper mix and the Tomatoes that are doing great.

These guys are sitting under the trees in deep shade harding off.These guys turned out very well.

What I have been doing the last few weeks

2008-05-04T23:17:00.000-05:00

In the last few weeks, I have been so busy that I haven't had the time to work in the garden or post any new posts. Last weekend we went to Houston. The actual city we were in was Sweeney TX. Out near all the oil refineries. The area is all small town and country farming. We were visting a friend that works out there and was moving to Los Angeles. We spent the weekend eating BBQ from a BBQ competition and drinking a lot of beer.

Because of that fun weekend, I lost a whole weekend and I was so exhausted that it took almost the whole week to recover. During the week, I did some work on the garden but that was nothing to brag about, mostly maintenance. Hopefully things will slow down enough that I can start posting most more often.

This past weekend I finally got almost all of my beds prepped and the seeds sowed. I have 1 and 1/2 beds to complete and that will be done sometime this week. Once I get the garden cleaned up from my disaster area, I will show what the beds look like. I sowed several types of zinnias, cosmos, wild flower mix, cosmos, and impatiens. I will be adding several other in the next weeks, I just do not know where and what is needed.

I also got my all my tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers planted.

I still have 6 hot peppers and tomatoes to pot up. I am also going to plant 4 sweet potatoes and some winter squash. Once I get them all potted up I will work on evening this out and staking up everything. I have some ideas for a homemade trellis using cattle panels, bamboo and some stock posts. More to come on this project in a few months.

Green Thumb Sunday Blog Roll

2008-04-22T22:29:00.000-05:00

New Opens!

2008-04-22T20:17:00.003-05:00

I spent the last couple of days cleaning up from last Sunday. But I did have time to take some pictures of my latest openings!

Climbing rose thats starts out with a light orange color and turns a dark reddish orange color. I have no idea of what type of climber this is but, it does grow fast! Less than 2 months ago it was half this size!
Both of my Clematis' opened this week. If anyone has any other colors or type II or III up for trade or gifting, please let me know. I am always on the look out for other types.

Purple Coneflower just opened! I have a bunch of seeds up for grabs. I will be planting some as season goes on. At the end of season, I will have many types of seeds up for trade!

Not a plant opening but its still an opening. My brother came into town. We cranked up the grills for some burgers and stakes. As from the picture we didn't forget the beers either.

Spring Cleaning!

2008-04-19T20:10:00.005-05:00

Today I cutthe yard or I should say my weeds and moved all my over wintered plants from the porch to their new spots in the yard. As the season grows warmer I will move some things around until I find the perfect spot for them.

This bougainvillea is a surviver. Last summer when we moved in it was dead and looked as if it hadn't been watered in a year. I left it for dead and was planning to removed it. I am glad I didn't, sometime in October, it came back and bloomed through early January on my porch.

By summer this side of the porch will be covered in blooms. The hummers and the butterflies will just love it.

This plant was left behind when we moved in as well. I had just enough room on my porch and it was the last one I wanted to try and as you can tell it did not do to badly.

What a productive weekend...

2008-04-14T23:34:00.001-05:00

This weekend was one of the most fun weekends I have had in a while. This weekend I attended the Fort Worth Garden Forums Plant Swap! Even though I am new to gardening and I have a very limited amount of inventory that I can trade for, I still got a lot of the plants I was looking for! After the swap I followed a fellow gardener back to her place in Copper Canyon to get some donkey compost from her.

Going to the Swap was a bit out of the way for me. Its about 50 miles away one way. Add in the trip to CopperCanyon and heading home I probably put a 150 miles on the truck this past weekend. But it was well worth it. Met a lot of great people, got a lot of new plants and eat some good food.

As you can tell I have been busy! About 3 hours before I took a picture, my yard was a lot worse. At about 2PM on a windy, cool Sunday afternoon I started my plantings.

I took a small section of yard where it was nothing but weeds and other yard trash and cleaned it up and dug out about 8 inches of top soil and mixed in a mix of EarthGro Topsoil, Donkey Poo, humus and landscapers mix to build a raised border less bed. I did my best to to keep the new organic soil off the the rotting fence. Eventually I will create some sort of border for this bed, I just have to find some recycled bricks or yard borders in order to complete this bed. I topped off the bed with a thick layer of hardwood mulch from the city recycling center. Before adding the Mulch I planted 5 large cannas that will reach about 10 feet tall and 2 rows of smaller red cannas. Now I have no Idea what these guys will look like. If it looks funny or does not go will I will move them next year. Once I see what they look like I will research and figure out more about these guys. Once the plants come, I will complete the layer of mulch and take a bag of decortive mulch and cover the decomposing stuff up if needed.

The bed is another small bed of canns. Now the cannas are a little close to my weeping crepe myrtle but I will deal with that when the time comes. I just do not have the room for both. I l figure I will be digging up some extra cannas when they get to large!

In this part of the bed I planted a Turk's Cap and several different types of red and orange daylilies
All the small 4 inch pots are new seedlings, I traded for. There are some Turk's Cap, Flame Acanthus, and several types of Salvia, that I can not wait to pot up!

In this group I received a Red Bud Seedling, Mock Orange, Purple Lantana, Salvia Greggii, and Salvia Guarenitica.
I also received 2 coral honeysuckles. I plan to let 1 run up the unused chain length gate for privacy and the other I am going to put it near my Cape Honeysuckle and let it climb and drap over a fence or a trellis.

And of course I planted a small amount of wood ferns. I plan to let this take of over this empty mud hole under my big tree. I will sprinkle some shade flower seeds and other types of seed that can handle more sun as it gets to the end of the shade areas. I will also let the vinca and ivy take over but keep both vines thin and trim.

I also received Blackeyed Susans and Giant Coneflower both are not ready for the camera.

Over the next few weeks I will be potting up the rest of my plants in the seed starting closest, prepping the last two beds and planting them. I have a very limited time, money and days left before it gets to hot work out here. I will post more updates as I work on the garden...

Thanks for reading...

More New Opening This Week Part 2

2008-04-10T22:38:00.003-05:00

Even after all the hard rain and severe wind we had last night had some more rose openings!

Don Juan Climbing Rose. Purchase last year

Unknown climber. I found this guy at Lowe's and it wasn't tagged gave it to us for 5 bucks!

Double Knockout Red fully opened!

More New Opening This Week....

2008-04-09T23:20:00.005-05:00

Double Knockout red first bloom with many new buds about to open

My daffodils are starting to bloom, but the rain ruined this one tonight.

My Light Pink Knockout w/ another beautiful flower.

Starting a Blog Roll

2008-04-07T23:20:00.002-05:00

Well I have had over 250 views since I started this blog! Go me!

Anyways if you read my blog and want me to link your garden related blog please post a comment. All I ask is you please add me to your site. Just post a comment that you want me to add you. Thanks guys!

-Element

I have my first vistor of the year.

2008-04-06T23:25:00.001-05:00

I found this little guy sitting on a patch of weeds I was about to pull.

I moved the ladybug over to an infected Hibiscus with spider mites and aphids.

She is hiding from me. She is just a little camera shy. At least there is some food in there for her!

First Rose Bloom Of The Season!

2008-04-06T00:05:00.001-05:00

Today my light Pink Knockout Rose Bloomed. Such a pretty sight!

Landscaping pictures taken at Richland College

2008-04-05T00:45:00.000-05:00

Over the last couple of weeks I realized that Richland College in Dallas TX added some spring color to their landscape. I have to save its looks pretty good. Just a warning, the tulips are just about spent.

Spring Is In The Air! Part 2

2008-04-03T23:57:00.005-05:00

Went to the garden again today and I am starting to really see the spring time flowering to start!

Snapdragons 2 different types in an over crowded bed!

Another bud almost ready to open on my Knockout Rose. I hope this one makes it!

Another Snapdragon. Dang Tree rats..umm I mean the squirrels ate my others in this pot!

Lantana finally re sprouting. I can not wait till they all are up and producing flowers!

Blotanical - What a great graden blog Community

2008-04-02T18:44:00.002-05:00

Blotanical is a gardening Blog community. I joined on March 30th and since then I am getting around 2o + extra views a day. There are a lot of features that you can use to gain more readers or find new garden blogs to read. With in the first day I had a posting from someone Oklahoma. The more points you gain from reading, posting and doing little things to help the community, your blog gets more visibility.

If you are looking for bloggers in your state, you can select what country you want to look at, then click on the state you want to view, then select the blog of interest or just start reading them all. Only thing I do not like is, when you have to many blogs in one area, you can not click on some of them because they overlap. I have spent several minutes trying to click on a blog and could not open it.

Word of caution..... You can lose all track time, while surfing this site!

Please Check the site out!

Spring Is In The Air!

2008-04-01T22:48:00.011-05:00

Today I got off early enough to go in the yard and take some pictures of my plants that are starting to bloom and have a lot of new growth on them. I tested some macro settings and I think the pictures came out quite well!

Knockout Rose - Pink. Purchased last spring!

The Knockout Rose is one of my favorites. They come in pinks, reds, and yellow. I currently have a dark pink and a light pink. I am still looking for a red and yellow one to add to my collection. If anyone has one for trade, or knows where to get one. Please let me know.

Almost all of my are roses lined up on the walkway. Those empty looking pots have new Peonies that still have not put up new life. Not sure if they will make. If not they are going back to Home Depot.

Native Yellow Columbine

This little guy is doing a great and is a wonderful new addition to my plant collection. I love surprises. The columbine was a dieing plant that the previous owners left behind. I did not know what it was until about a month ago. I am glad I kept it. I now want some moreof these little guys.

Snapdragon - I forgot to log what kind it is.

I planted the snapdragons last August. They are survivors. I am going to try and baby these guys through the summer. I will post some more pictures when the whole bed is blooming.

Alpine Strawberry hanging patch.

Only three of the original ten of roots made it this year. I planted these guys in a 16 inch hanging basket. But for some reason they dead about 2 weeks after planting. I hope the runners will take root soon.

Took some cutting of my Clematis today

2008-03-31T00:25:00.003-05:00

Today I decided to take some cuttings of my Clematis, I do no know what type it is. I took 2 nice and healthy links about 8 inches each. I then removed all the buds and new growth that was starting. I then soaked the freshly cut ends in a seaweed solution of 2 to 1 and left it there for about an hour. Once I completed my other choirs for the day, I grabbed the cuttings and got some seed and cutting mix from Miracle grow. I soaked the mix for about 15 minutes. I then cut each section into smaller ends. I dipped the lower end into a rooting hormone and planted them in a newspaper pot. I then set the pots under a grow light setup on my enclosed porch and watered them again. Hopefully in a few weeks, we should have 6 new plants. If this works, I will post a walk through on this.

This is What Happens When You Do NOT Have Enough Pots Part 2

2008-03-30T22:39:00.005-05:00

Today I had to replant my Tiny Tim Tomatoes and Sweet Peppers. Of course I still have not recovered from my transplanted Beef Steak Tomatoes that I re-potted last week. I sat down and started making small transplant pots from the jobs section of the Dallas Newspaper. I finally found something I could use that section for! I then used the seedling pot to plant my Sweet Banna Peppers and jalapeno Peppers I picked up from Roach Feed and Seed a couple of weeks ago.

Free Mulch, Everyone Should Get Some!

2008-03-29T00:35:00.001-05:00

Today I went out to my local recycling center and picked up 4 18 gallon containers of wood bark mulch. The mulch was free for local residents of our town. In about 10 minutes I had picked up enough mulch to get most of my beds mulched for the season. Of course I will have to sort through and remove wood to big or other contaminants before using the mulch. Tomorrow I will find a nice spot for my new mulch to cook a little longer while I prep my beds.

Free mulch gotta love it. Not only is free, I get to reuse a product that was destined for the landfill.

GIMP - What A Great Program!

2008-03-28T23:51:00.003-05:00

Created my first banner using the program GIMP. GIMP is a great photo editing software package as strong if not, stronger than photopshop like programs. The best part is this program is free and can be used on the Linux platform. I will be using the program in the future to create and edit my pictures.

If you are wondering, the banner picture is not mine. That is not my yard and I can not remember where I found the picture.

What do you guys think?

Don't you love surprises!

2008-03-26T19:11:00.007-05:00

When we moved in to our place our garden was run down and brown. I went around and inventoried the yard to see what plants were dead and what could be salvaged. After several weeks I savde some of the flowers and plants in the yard.

But next to my Oleander there was a welted brown plant that was about to die. At first I thought I would pull it because I did not know what it was and wanted the brown out of the yard. At the last moment I decided to leave it and try and bring it back to life. If I did not save it, I would have time to figure out what to put there.

In a few weeks the plant started to get better. By late September the plant had doubled in size and I still did not have a clue what is but I thought I could wait till next summer to pull it if it did not do anything.

Just a few weeks ago I got my first yellow bloom! It turns out its a Native Yellow Columbine! Its a keeper.

This is What Happens When You Do NOT Have Enough Pots

2008-03-23T23:41:00.003-05:00

This weekend I found it was time to move my tomato Beef Steaks from the seedling pot to a bigger home. When I looked closer I did not have 6 plants but I had 12 plants and I only had 4 pots for the transplant.

If it was a month from now I would just plant them outside in the yard and get a head start. But here in Dallas we could still have another freeze before the end of April. In fact, tonight we will have a low of 37 degrees. That is just a tad to cold for my tomatoes that are used to 75 to 85 degrees in my seed closest.

So I went to my recycle bin and grabbed six Sunny D 1 gallon jugs. I cut the tops off just as the pot turns inward. I then took a screw driver and a rubber mallet and punch a bunch of holes in the bottom for drainage. I then mixed my own personal seed starting/cutting mix and transplantted my tomatoes into any container big enough to hold them for another month.

Here are the results. What do you think?

So Happy, Park Seed is Sending Part of My Order

2008-03-19T19:21:00.001-05:00

After eying Park Seed's Online catalog for what seemed like years, we ordered some new plants! We ordered a Blueberry Sunshine Blue (Vaccinium corymbosum Sunshine Blue Dwarf) and Dwarf Pomegranate Nana (Punica granatum Nana). Today I received word that my Vaccinium corymbosum Sunshine Blue Dwarf was shipped out this morning! We should be receiving our new blue berry bush shortly. They have not shipped my Punica granatum Nana yet, but it may not be the right time a year for them to ship it.

I will post again about this once my new plants arrive.

Container Soil

2008-03-19T18:28:00.000-05:00

Since last summer I have been experimenting with different mixes of soil for containers. I have tried Miracle-Gro® Moisture Control® Potting Mix. This works well, but the price was a little more than I wanted to spend for the amount of soil we need in our garden. Toward the end of the summer I found Sta-Green's Potting Soil with Mositur Control.

Using this potting mix is great. The soil has a lot dark and rich organic material. The soil will stay moist longer and there is a small amount of fertilizer to kick start the plants. The price is great. I can usually find a 40lb bag for about 7 bucks.

As the months went on I started mixing different types of mixes to save money and see if I can make a better mix. I started mixing cheap $2 potting mixes with the Sta-Green mix. I added extra perlite for my coco hanging basket and humus to add extra organic matter. This mix works great, the roses that I potting in just Sta-Green do not have a lot of growth on them. But my new potted roses with my mix has a lot of new growth and are doing great.

In the next few weeks I will be changing my potting mix recipe to a mix I found on the fourms of Garden Forums. Under the container garden forum do a search for Al's Mix. Everyone says this one of the best mixes around. Below you can see Al's Mix.

My Basic Soil

I'll give two recipes. I usually make big batches. I also frequently add agricultural sulfur to some soils for acid-lovers or to soils I use dolomitic lime in.

5 parts pine bark fines
1 part sphagnum peat (not reed or sedge peat please)
1-2 parts perlite
garden lime or gypsum
controlled release fertilizer
micronutrient powder (or other continued source of micronutrients)

Big batch:

3 cu ft pine bark fines (1 big bag)
5 gallons peat
5 gallons perlite
2 cups lime or gypsum (you can add more to small portion if needed)
2 cups CRF
1/2 cup micronutrient powder (or other)

Small batch:

3 gallons pine bark 1/2 gallon peat 1/2 gallon perlite small handful lime or gypsum 1/4 cup CRF 1 tbsp micro-nutrient powder

I will be modifying this recipe just a little. I will be adding several large handfuls of humus.

Please leave a commit about this. I await your ideas.

So Happy! My Camellia is Blooming!

2008-03-15T01:59:00.000-05:00

I bought a camellia about two years ago. It was in a 1 gallon container and very small. I put it into a small pot and set it on my wife's (girlfriend at the time) porch. The first winter and spring nothing came up. I then re-potted last fall into a 16 inch pot with a lot of high quality potting soil and a seaweed drink almost every week.

I know most of people would say my pot size is to small, but we live in a rental house and do not wish to leave my plants behind when we move. But because I love Camellias so much I had to get several and pot them. Once we are settled I will build a proper bed for them where they will be happy.

About November, I noticed a bud that started to form. I got really excited but nothing ever came of it. Only about 2 weeks ago it opened for me. Now it has a ton of buds and more blooms are opening daily.

New Compost Bin

2008-03-10T01:52:00.004-05:00

Late last summer we started composting our our garden and kitchen waste. We started with a basic 35 gallon black Rubbermade trash can. We spent about 12 dollars and in about 15 minutes we were up and running. Once we got the trashcan home, I took a drill and drilled out 100 small holes all over the can including the bottom of it for drainage.

Within a couple of months we filled the first one up. We then bought another one and started the same process all over again. Of course we filled this one up as well. After several months of research, we decided to go bigger!

We went out and bought a 55 gallon food grade barrel for $22. From the local feed and seed store. Originally I was going to build a tumbler composter out of 2x4s and a food drum. After getting the Drum home I changed my mind to use that money toward some other garden project in the next few weeks.

I used a heavier duty drill and drilled over 150 holes to provide for air circulation and drainage. The more air the compost bin gets the faster the material inside will compost. Because the drum has an air tight lid I will fill the barrel up about halfway and tip it over and roll the drum up and down the driveway several times, once a week. Once the barrel gets to heavy I will remove some of the composted materials in one barrel to cure. The other barrel will be used for new materials waiting for its turn in the tumbler.

Quick Directions for building a "rolling compost bin"

Materials Needed:
1. 55 gallon food grade barrel .
2. Drill and drill bit
3. 20% bleach water mix
4. Black spray paint for plastic. (optional)
5. Bricks to make a stand.

1. First thing you need to do is clean the barrel out. You may need a 20% bleach and water mix to clean the barrels. With my barrel it was easy. I Only needed dish soap to clean the barrel
2. Let the barrel dry out.
3. Once dried, start drilling holes. You will need to drill holes every 5 inches all the way around. At least three rows will be needed. Once finished add rainage holes into the bottom of the barrels.
4. Once completed you can paint the barrle black. By painting the barrel black this will help heat the barrel.
5. Fill the barrel with garden waste and kitchen waste.
6. Once a week tip the barrel on its side. Check and make sure the lid is on and secure.
7. Start rolling the barrel around the yard.
8. Once finished put in a sunny spot out of the way and let the composting begin!

- All I have left to do is paint the the bin. I will update this post once that has been completed.

Please post your opinion on this homemade garden project.

My Favorite Gardening Product

2008-03-05T23:45:00.000-06:00

Since last fall I start using seaweed emulsion, and I love it. I use this product as a 2 to 1 solution for soaking bulbs, Cuttings, soaking roots, and a weekly misting on my house plants and weekly waterings for all my plants on a 1 to 1 ratio. So far the best organic product I have found is Maxicrop. The only place local I have found the product at a reasonable price is Lowe's. They carry the 1 quart and the 1 gallon concentrate.

I bought the 1 quart to test and use during the winter months. I have about 20 indoor plants and several more plants I am over wintering on my screened in plastic covered porch. I used the solution every other week when watering. I would mist the plants every week with a spray bottle.

All my plants that were summer bloomers that should have stopped flowering kept flowering and are still flowering even though I stopped adding seaweed to my weekly routine.

I just bought the 1 gallon bottle last week and I hope this will last me through the summer. In about a month I will try Maxicrop's fish emulsion productions for my roses and the rest of my garden.

Its Snowing in Dallas!

2008-03-05T01:52:00.000-06:00

As some people may knowduring the day yesterday we had mostly rain and mist. As the day went on the temperature slowly fell. By the time I got off work around 5:30 PM it was raining and the weather was very cold. The Radio said the temperature was falling very quickly. By the time I got to work, It was sleeting.

After several hours of class, several people came into the lab and said it was snowing! I did not think much of it. We generally do not get that much and if it does snow it only lasts a few minutes.

When I left class, I found that it was still snowing, not just a little but it was hard and my car had almost an inch covering the hood, windshield, and the roof. I drove home and there was not much as to accumulation.

About midnight I went out in the backyard and yard was white! All my plants were covered. My Oleander was flattened and my camellia that is about to bloom was covered in snow.

What I did this weekend...

2008-03-03T01:50:00.000-06:00

This weekend I spent most of the weekend running around getting supplies and researching what I was going to need to plant 4 peony roots I got for my wife for Valentine's day last week. We went to Wal-mart to get some nice looking pots for a great price. After pricing out four 15 inch pots at 20 bucks we realized that they were just to small and we really did not going to need anymore 15 inch pots. We started looking at what large pots we could recycle and repot plants that needed to be re potted. I then remembered I had at least four roses that needed to be re potted. We looked around for a little while and we came across the prefect pot. We found 21 inch slate colored pots for $10.52 each. We bought 4 of them! Of course we lost $40 now instead of the $20 in pots we had planned to spend on them and still have to spend another $40 in a few weeks.

During that same trip we bought 15 strawberry roots, one small Pineapple Sage, and a small pot of sweet basil to replace one of our basils that is dieing out.

Sunday afternoon before the rains started I went out to buy potting soil. I spent about $18 on potting soil and hummus for the roses. In total I bought about 300+ lbs of soil. My poor little Kia was riding low today!

This is what my roses look like now. They did not handle last summer very well, I lost 3 roses and 1 was almost killed by bag worms, that kept coming back for seconds and thirds. Most of these roses I have had since college days and never re potted them. So today came the day I had to re pot them in large 21 inch pots!

After mixing up my soil and prepping the plants I moved them to their new home. As you can tell, the pots I move them to is a lot larger than their previous home. In the future I would not put a rose in anything smaller than a 16 inch wide with a deep base. The roots were so tight I almost could not get them out of the pot. I then removed some suckers from some small trees that started growing in there that I did not notice until I started working on them. Once I got all the plants in the pots and they were seated firmly I then trimmed about half an inch of old growth and removed any black spot I could find.

As I was finishing up it started to rain. I then moved all four plants back to their spot. I could not find my dolley and had to move all that weight by hand. I now hurt in places I have never hurt before. By the time I got them all moved into place and my supplies and cuttings removed to their proper places.

Below is the completed re potting of my roses.

Drainage Wows

2008-02-28T02:26:00.000-06:00

My wife and I moved into a rental property that our land lord just bought from a elderly gentleman that recently passed on. The man is what most would call a "weekend warrior do-it-yourself" handy man. Everything he worked on was either done half way right or all wrong.

When we first moved in I noticed, a bunch of sprinkler boxes(you know the big ugly green ones that house water valves) with a bunch of drilled holes on it. I also notice at the end of our yard up against the base of our rotting fence another sprinkler box raised up with chicken wire wrapped around it and holes drilled into the sides near the ground. I did not think much of it and thought it was a neat and cheap idea for a drainage system.

After a couple of months we had a small storm. I noticed that our screened in porch had standing water about 2 feet inside on the porch. I took a look at the drainage and saw the one of the down spouts was angled toward the house. I moved the spout and angled it toward the alley and went on about my business. Over the months we have had several bad storms and the water always came up on the porch but when it rained I was either asleep or at work. So I never how bad the drainage was or where it the problem was.

About 2 weeks ago I happened to be home when we had a light rain. I went outside and checked our drainage. I found that our gutters and drainage was homemade and not done correctly. Every joint and angle was not sealed correctly or the sealant was the wrong type. Some of the downspouts (I never noticed were uphill and would not drain until the gutters were spilling out and tearing up the flower beds. All the joints leake and those green sprinkler boxes did not even work right. The boxes were flooded and about 3 inches of standing water was up against the foundation.

After the flooding I went out a couple days later to check on the drains and to clean them out. I opened them up and they were still full of water. After looking for the drains I only found 1 actual drain in the boxes. It was just about the water level close to top of the box. I cleared it out and some of the water was removed. I checked on the box at the back of yard and found it the same way. It was to small and my shed was flooded.

When the ground was dry enough to do some digging. I removed all the dirt around the drain near the fence and made a small berm to block the water from flowing into the shed. I then cleared away some weeds and junk near the drains by the house. When fished, tested the system by putting the water hose into the gutters and started watching the show. Within about 5 minutes the drains fill up and started to flood my porch.

At that point I realized the old man did not build the system right and the land lord was going to have to re due the drainage system. The hard part is explaining this to the land lord and telling what needs to be done before the foundation is damage.

More to come on this story...

Open Air Cati Terrarium

2008-02-24T04:58:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I saw a great idea about keeping different types of Cacti and succulents in a small space. I after reading up on the best ways to do this, I combine several different approaches, and came up with a good one. Right now I am still testing this to see how well the cacti are doing but overall they are doing great.

I made the mistake of not photo documenting this little project. But the next time I make one I will make sure to documenting this project and repost.

My wife and I worked together to create this. To recreate this you will need the following;

A glass container of your choosing
Cacti potting soil
Horticulture grade charcoal - (regular non instant start BBQ charcoal will work)
Pea Gravel for drainage
Fiberglass window screen.
Enough plants to densely populate the area for growing - (over crowding is good)
Pea gravel, decortive rock or sand can be used to cover the potting medium

The first thing you need to do is clean your container out with a soapy solution. Once cleaned and dried. You can start creating your new cacti garden. Next you need to crush up the charcoal so it a fine powder and add that to the bowl. After that you will need to add the pea gravel for drainage. Once the pea gravel has been added you will need to cut a piece of the window screen to lay on top of the gravel. This will help keep the roots from digging into the drainage. Next you will need to add the potting soil. Add enough soil that the root balls will have enough room to be buried properly. Once you have the soil at the right height you will need to prepare the plants to be planted. Some plants will need to be divided if they are to large or if you are not pleased with the shape of the plant. In most cases you will have to gently remove the dirt from the root ball and cut away a small amount of the root. By doing this you make more room for all your plants and slow the growth of the plant. This will cause the plant to spend more if its energy on the root system. After all of your plants are planted and they are where you want them to be. You will need to cover the surface with your decortive rock. The final step is to mist your plants.

Do not water your plants by watering can or in the sink. This will cause the container to be water logged and this will kill your plants! Only water your plants by misting. If you do not have a spray bottle you can get them almost anywhere. Walmart, Lowe's, Home Depot and many grocery stores carry them for less than $5.00. You only need to water you plants about once week, if that. You should only water the plants when the soil is dry or if the plants look as if they need watering. Cacti and most succulents do not need very much water.

When placing your plants, make sure to place your plants in a sunny window or a well lit place in your house or office. Make sure the plant gets at least 6 good hours of sunlight. If you can not get enough light or the plants start browning up then add a spot light or a desk lamp will work. You can purchase CFL 26 watt Daylight bulbs that will give it the right kind of light and it uses very little energy to run.