It's almost Spring and my attention turns to the garden. So I've always done some gardening each year. Nothing too massive, just a few veggies and lots of flowers. I like to grow my own tomatoes, peppers and lettuce. It's an Italian garden with lots of basil and other herbs. And I have an orchid garden in one of my south windows that I just cleaned up. Most of these orchids I got from Lowes for $1 each on the half dead and dying rack about 2 years ago. I've gotten some more this year for $1, $3 and $4 at different stores and in different conditions. You have to talk to a manager to get them that cheap though because of their crazy markdown pricing structure. They actually want half price for a dead looking plant. It is just way too high. You can talk them down.
my orchid window
Walmart is the worst place to buy an orchid. They leave them to rot in water and they usually just pitch them in their compactor. They don't trash them, they compact them so nobody else can have them. But I did go to one Walmart where they were marking them down from $14.95 to $7 for the ones that are still in bloom! That was lucky so I bought a yellow one. It's gorgeous!
new orchid
Last year I planted hydrangeas in several places in my yard. I even took cuttings off a few of my favorites and grew some new ones. I also made room for a few new hostas. I've bought and planted White Feather hostas before but that's not what came up so I tried again last fall. We'll see if these are labelled right and I actually get some White Feathers to come up.
my growing system for orchids
Friends don't let friends plant annuals... unless you can keep them going every year. But my favorite annuals have always been geraniums. In warmer climates geraniums are perennial. I buy them every year. I even love the scented varieties. I used to be able to buy the seeds at the stores years ago but for some reason they just quit selling them. And now I won't pay the high prices in the stores for seed geranium plants. But that's O.K. cause I found an online seed supply for fancy geraniums so last year I ordered several varieties of seeds from Valley Seed Supply on Etsy. Gonna grow my own.
LA Lights hydrangea
I planted all the seeds last Fall and they all germinated, every single one of them! I got 100% germination rate. So I put them in a sunny window and they grew all winter. I just potted them up into bigger 4" pots and as soon as the weather warms a little more I will start setting them outside in the day to harden off. So I've got over thirty geranium plants this year! That's all I had room for in my windows. I hate to see the price of them this year. Last year they were going for over five dollars a plant. I figure I saved at least $150 seeding my own.
awnings for last year's geraniums
And now I can collect my own seeds from them if I want. Most likely I will keep them going from cuttings and bring them in when winter comes. I know some people pull them up and brown bag them in a cool dry place all winter but I have not had good luck doing it that way. Only about half of them survive like that for me.
african violets 'Rose Bouquet'
What I do is get a big container and fill it with potting soil and plant them right into it as crowded as can be. My goal is just to keep them alive, not keep them show quality.. A sunny window and barely watering them all winter. They not only thrive for me but they bloom too. Only lost one or two like that all winter. I've had geraniums blooming at Christmas time. And then come nice weather they are all ready to set outside in their own pots and containers. Not too many bugs will bother geraniums but I do spray them off before bringing them in every year.
second bract of new orchid
I had the worst year last year for growing geraniums and I don't know why so now I go to YouTube and watch Mr. Pelargonium to get some good tips on how to care for them. Did you know that geraniums don't like the full sun in the summer? That might have been part of my problem since I had them in full sun... duh. They can scorch and burn. They also like plant food and don't like to be kept bone dry just because they can take a lot of heat. They really like dappled sun or morning sun best.
the pond
I don't plan on buying any plants this year. I have sown some herbs and tomato plants from seed already. I had volunteer Dill come up last year! So my garden looks pretty raggedy right now waiting for all the seedlings to come up and then picking the weeds from the plants is never easy when they're young. But I'll eventually get it sorted out. Expecting some happy gardening in 2024 and lots of geraniums!
