Orchid 201

May 2, 2018

I think I have FINALLY figured out my Orchid!

So, a little back story. Whenever my husband buys my flowers, it's usually something I have to keep alive. I do well with my garden outside, but not particularly all that well with indoor flowers, that most likely need to be repotted if they are going to survive a tiny bit longer than a week...Anyway, in March or April of 2014 (I can't believe it's been four years!), Scott bought me an orchid. I've almost killed it at least twice, but I have always managed to bring it back to life. I've repotted it at least 3 times and have never seen in rebloom.

But guess what? It's still alive!! Thriving actually. It recently grew a new leaf and another one is growing! It is also growing a lot of new roots that are trying to grow through the pot...literally. I'm crossing my fingers that it will produce a shoot this fall so we can see some flowers. (I honestly don't even remember what color they are. I think maybe yellow/purple?) You can check out Orchid 101 here and see what this baby looked like back in February of 2015. (Took me long enough to figure it our, right?!)

Since this orchid of mine is growing and doing so well, I did some googling. According to Google, Orchids go through their growing season in the spring/summer and then after the main growing season will hopefully produce a shoot! Though, I don't know how this will work since they typically grow new shoots from old ones and mine hasn't bloomed since I got it...I guess we will see!

Here are the tricks that are currently working for me:

Adequate Light Source (not too much and not too little):
Orchids are fickle. Seriously... when I first almost killed my orchid, it was because it was getting WAY too much sun and the leaves were burning. (I also may have been over watering..) 

My orchid currently resides on my front room windowsill, facing east. Our window also has a shade screen on it, which helps with Arizona's bright and very hot sunshine. It resides here indefinitely, unless it's in the kitchen after getting watered. This is perfect for my orchid. Morning sun and then bright light the rest of the day.

Watering:
Too much water and it will rot and die. Too little water and it will shrivel up and die. Another happy medium! I water my orchid every Saturday, or once a week. I let the water run for at least 15-30 seconds on each side, making sure the planting medium is nice and wet. I also let the water run over any exposed roots. Don't forget to dump out any excess water! And don't get any water in the center of the leaves! If you do, use a paper towel to get it out.

Pot/Container:
Orchids need a lot of airflow, so you need a pot with holes. They also have plastic containers that you can put your orchid in and then place that in a decorative pot that doesn't have holes. The nice thing about that, is you can change out your pots/container as often as you'd like and it may be easier for future repotting.

My pot has holes and with how my orchid is growing, I may need to break the pot whenever I have to move it to a different one! (Some roots are growing out of the holes!) We will cross that bridge whenever we get there.


Planting Medium:
This may determine how often you water your orchid. My orchid is in this Special Orchid Planting Mix that I found on Amazon. I just repotted my orchid in March, so in a month and a half, it has already grown multiple new roots and new leaves. So, I am going to say this stuff must really be special! The bark is a lot bigger than I was expecting, but it works perfect! And it's growing, so we must be doing something right.

Sheesh! So much work for a silly little plant! But I love them. They are so pretty when they bloom! And I am determined to get mine to bloom again. I've had it for 4 years, so I'm committed. If you have any orchid tricks, please, let me know! I could use a little help!

May 10, 2018

Happy planting! Cheers!


   

Strawberries 101

Who doesn't love strawberries?! I recently purchased some to experiment with my seemingly greenish thumb. I love picking berries and eating them before I leave for work or when I come home!

I bought the strawberries below around February 11.

And they started producing berries! Some of them got fairly funky shaped... but they still tasted pretty swell. Not much berries since though. I've been picking them off so I can get more leaves! 

This here was my first real good looking berry. It was still pretty little compared to berries everywhere else, but I grew it! And it was so sweet! I'm hoping that when my plants get a little more established that they will be able to produce a little bit bigger berries. 

This here is what a cute little strawberry flower looks like. :) And yes, the middle is what will eventually turn into a strawberry. So precious! 

Berry Info: Quinault Strawberry

Planting: Space 6 to 18 inches apart, depending on type. (Read the stick tag that comes with the plant for specific spacing recommendations.) Be careful not to bury the crown of the plant, or it will rot.

Strawberries are also sprawling plants. So seedlings will send out runners, or ‘daughter’ plants, which in turn will send out their own runners. Pretty neat huh? Because of this, if you are wanting to plant quite a few of them, make sure you space them a little further apart. However, I didn't really do that... I have a balcony hanging planter thing that has 2 strawberry plants in them, and they are closer to 6 inches apart.. they seem to be doing fine though! My other one is in its own pot and seems to be doing great as well! 

Light requirements: Full sun. Strawberries require 6-10 hours a day of direct sunlight, so choose your planting site accordingly. I have my berries in the morning sun since I'm in zone 11 and I don't want the heat mixed with the sun to scorch my plants! 

Soil requirements: Strawberries need well-drained, nutrient-rich soil. Amend heavy clay or sandy soil with compost or other organic matter prior to planting. Create raised beds if soil is heavy or drains poorly. Soil pH should be between 5.5 and 6.8.

In the first year, its a good idea to pick off blossoms. This discourages the plant from fruiting. If not allowed to bear fruit, they will spend their food reserves on developing healthy roots and more leaves. The yields will also be much greater the second year. 

Water requirements: Keep soil consistently moist throughout the growing season. Moisture is the key to plump, fully-formed berries. Mulch soil to reduce water evaporation. Moisture is incredibly important due to shallow roots. Water adequately, about one inch per week. They need a lot of water when the runners and flowers are developing and again in the fall when the plants are mature. Also, make sure you keep in mind about your climate! If it's warmer, you will need to water more frequently. 

Frost-fighting plan: Strawberry plants are sensitive to frost. Temperatures of 28º F or less (a hard frost) damage flowers. Protect newly planted seedlings and established, budded plants by covering plants with straw or a frost blanket. By fall, strawberry plants have formed the flower buds that will open the following spring. To protect them through winter, apply a 2- to 3-inch mulch of straw, pine straw, or other loose organic material.

Common issues: Slugs can be a problem when using organic mulch, so use plastic mulch to discourage them). Keep birds from feasting on berries by covering plants with plastic bird netting. Small, misshapen berries are can be caused by drought or high temperatures.

Harvesting: Pick berries in the morning, when fruits are cool. Select fully formed and colored berries, as unripe berries won’t continue to ripen once picked. Carefully pull strawberries (with stems) from plants. Aim to leave about a half-inch stem on each berry.

Storage: Refrigerate unwashed berries (caps still on) in a plastic container with a loose-fitting lid. Place a paper towel in the bottom of the container before adding berries, then arrange berries in single layers separated by clean paper towels. For peak flavor, use within 2 to 3 days, although berries may last up to 7 days.

vv Down there is my brand new and a two months later photo. vv 

It looks so great and healthy! I'm a little afraid that I won't be getting much more berries though. I feel like I'll have to water them a lot more to get good berries in this dry heat. They tend to dry out... I'm still in the process of figuring this all out, but so far so good. I love strawberries. Strawberry fields forever! <3

Happy planting! 

Sunflowers 101

I absolutely love sunflowers! They are so pretty and happy! I'm attempting to grow some and I am super pumped. These ones are the super gigantic sunflower. If they were in the perfect environment, they would grow up to 16 ft tall with a 10 in diameter for the bloom. That's huge! When I'm at work I sometimes think, "my sunflowers could be taller than the ceiling!" And if all goes well, I will have blooms by the end of April.

I have 12 seeds that I'm trying to sprout right now. I began my little project on February 12th and I already have 3 pretty little sprouts! (Keep scrolling for the progression!) And more are growing. They probably won't reach their full potential because I'm only going to be keeping them in a smaller pot. One day, I would like to have a field of sunflowers and daisies, and of course strawberries everywhere!



I am really enjoying this whole gardening thing. (One of my new found hobbies) It's so fun! And so far my thumb is green. :)

So sunflowers, like its name, need sun. They follow the sun and thrive in full sunlight. They take about 2-3 weeks to germinate and they take 65-75 days to bloom. Another great thing about sunflowers is their seeds! You can harvest them to roast and eat, or use them to plant some more. I'd prefer to just use the seeds to plant some more! In the Phoenix Valley, the best time to plant sunflowers are in-between the months of February-July. The approximate harvest time is 90-100 days, but that also really depends on when the back of the sunflower starts yellowing. (A good sign its about time to cut the flower for harvest) Also, if you are planting them in a garden, some good companies to the wonderful sunflowers are cucumbers, corn, peppers, tomatoes, and soybeans.

This is the little greenhouse I got for my flowers. Just add water! 

See? Ta da! Ready to plant!

2/20/15 Already have some seed activity and only after one week!

2/22/15 The first sunflower is about to fully pop out! 

2/23/15 And one day later, we have a seedling! See the disruption in soil in the second one from the top left?

2/24/15 This is right before I replanted it because the big one was toughing the top of the greenhouse.

2/26/15 Ta da! Look at that?! Four more!

2/27/15 This is the three that are newly planted. Nine more to go! (they are happily under my new grow light!)

I can't wait to see what they look like in a couple weeks! And then in another month! Especially now that I bought a grow light for them, they should have great progress. :) Can't wait for pretty flowers. I also can't wait for the progress on all my other plants! Hooray for springtime!!

Stay tuned for more updates! And check out my instagram for more current updates!

Orchid 101

I love orchids. They are so pretty! One catch... they can be pretty difficult to keep alive. I would know, because I pretty much killed mine and have since been bringing it back to life

Somewhere around March or April of 2014, Scott bought me an orchid! I wish I had a picture, but I guess I forgot to take one... I think I had it at my parents house while we went to New York for the summer, and it pretty much died. At one point it had WAY too much sunlight. (I used to think sun was good, but its bad. However, sunlight is good.) After coming back, I have been determined to nurse it back to life! And reviving it has been quite a process. Orchids are such picky plants. Direct sunlight and the leaves will burn. Too much water and they will rot. Dry air is bad. Not enough airflow is bad. Normal soil is bad... I have my orchid on my windowsill in the kitchen right now and it seems to be doing quite well. You can see in the pictures below!

My first task with this plant was repotting. There were these teeny tiny little bugs in the bark and bugs are never good... So repotting was a must! I used this website for some assistance. The first step is to determine if it needs to be repotted. Bugs should also be on the list because bugs eat roots, which is bad! I also didn't soak my orchid potting mix overnight...just for a couple hours maybe...and I did strain it because you just want mainly the bigger pieces of park and straining/rinsing will help with getting rid of any possible bugs hanging out in the potting mixture!

I think I did fairly okay with my repotting since the orchid is growing a new root!! (New roots come from between the leaves and will grow down. Flower spikes come from the leave and grow up. Also, flower spikes are usually green, not purple like my new root. More about that here or here) My orchid had some pretty nice leaves, and one stunted leaf. Maybe I'll get lucky and there will be a new flower spike in the near future!

Anywho, check out my orchid progression photos. I included the dates of the pictures as well. :) 

Orchid as of 10/09/2014

Orchid as of 10/22/2014

Orchid as of 2/03/2015

Orchid as of 2/11/2015
Repotting

Those roots look so sad! 

Pretty new pot! 

Orchid as of 2/12/2015
New growth! 

Orchid as of 2/21/2015
Do you see that beautiful new root growth?!

Orchid as of 2/21/15

It is just looking so beautiful! I'm excited to see how this thing looks in a few months from now. Stay tuned since I'll probably update again eventually.

Also, be sure to check out my instagram for current updates.

Cheers!

Gardening 101

If you follow my instagram, you may have seen my attempts at growing an avocado tree from a seed, reviving my orchid and trying to grow a baby pineapple into a plant to get another pineapple. It is now time to officially test out how green my thumb is! I went to Home Depot the other day. I was pretty stoked and bought some things to grow and plant, replant, etc.

Here are the things I got at Home Depot:

1. Kellogg Patio Plus (1.5 cubic FT): $5.97 
• There are a lot of different soils out there that will work fine. The gentleman in the gardening department suggested this particular one to me. You get a LOT for a little. He also said that this soil is good for both flowers and fruit/vegetable plants. Win - win
2. Vitamin B-1: $5.98 
• This helps stimulate root growth and helps prevent shock. It's a really great deal as well. For each use, you only use 2 Tbsp's that will be added to a gallon of water. It will basically last a long while. I got it mainly for my strawberry plant (I'll go into it a little more in that post)
3. Miracle Grow Orchid Potting Mix: $4.77 
4. Jiffy 12 Peat Pellet Greenhouse 
• This helps grow seedlings before planting to a larger pot
5. #3 Black Nursery Container (the bigger one): $3.57
6. 8" Newbury Plastic Planter: $2.67
7. 5.5" Glazed Clay Pedestal Bowl: $6.98
8. Strawberry plant (2 little bushes): $3.68
9. Sunflower Seeds (American Giant): $1.58

Here are my to do's for my mini gardening:

1. Replant orchid
2. Plant avocado seed (it has been growing roots from sitting in water)
3. Plant pineapple plant (it also has been growing roots from sitting in water)
4. Pot my strawberry plant
5. Plant my sunflower seeds in the little seedling starter
6. Grow an orange tree from a seed

Since I have so many different plants that I'm attempting or working with, I'll be updating them individually. (I don't really want the posts to be ridiculously long...and I'm sure you don't either.) For my gardening to do list, I will be linking the initial post for each one (once I have posted it) to each number on the list. So stay tuned!

Also, feel free to check out the Gardening tab at the top of the blog to keep updated with everything I've been doing in reference to gardening and planting.  

Come with me on my gardening journey and maybe you will decide to plant some things too!

Cheers!