Today was....

Today was warm (near 60) and sunny [need to work on my Teva tan!]. 

Today was the first day of the year that I saw a bee [hooray for crocuses - what else would the poor bees have to eat this time of year?].

Today was the first time I got to use my new Felco Pruners [this is what happens when you take a day off work to stay home sick and have internet access and a credit card].

Today was the first day of the year for me to get my knees so muddy [but the veggie garden is completely weed free now!].

Today was a good day.




WANT MORE.

Wednesday Weeds and Wine

We had our first meeting of the Wednesday Weeds and Wine Women last week - the idea was to plan this year's garden. Our current area is roughly 16 x 16.  You'd think that would be plenty of room.  I guess it depends on what you want to grow.  As expected our meeting produced a list of wants that would feed all of our families for years.  Of course it would require a massive expansion of the garden area...  I guess we should have held off on the wine.

[yeah, like holding off on the wine every slows down a group of enthusiastic gardeners who've been stuck inside all winter]

We passed around a seed catalog and I have a list of plants to research and order.  Bush beans, 2 kinds, Pole beans, 2 kinds, spinach, 3 types of beats, carrots, arugula, and a hopefully slow bolting cilantro.  That doesn't include the tomatoes and lettuce that we'll buy locally or any of the basil or other herbs we're planning.  Hmmm.   Think we're going overboard?  

Think we'll have leftover seeds?  

[Anyone want any leftover seeds?]

Did I mention that one of our members has about 120 garlic plants in her yard that she's planning to share (if we'll help her with the weeding and harvesting)?

[Me?  I just want home grown tomatoes and organic basil all summer long.  Everything else I can get at a local farm stand - we have excellent farms stands around here.  Well, maybe a few other herbs, too...  And maybe....  See, we all get carried away!]

The area where we garden was abandoned for years so we still have plenty of weed seeds.  We'll need to pull these soon.  Then it'll be time to add compost and start planting the cool season crops.

Whew.  Winter is almost over!

And soon I will have chives for my potatoes.  Yum.

There's something wrong....

The Husband picked up some flowers during his last trip to the grocery store and there's something...   odd...  about them.  See if you can tell what it is.

Can't see anything odd?  How about a closer view?

Still not seeing it?  Here's the BIG CLUE.

That's right.  There is some sort of dye that has leaked out of the flower stems and into the water.

WTF people?  There are plenty of nice, red colored flowers out there.  Why do you feel the need to dye a daisy-like flower red?  Because it's just after Valentine's Day?  Really?  

I've seen flowers of this shape with a red color that occurs naturally.  This is nothing new under the sun!  If you're going to make something artificial why not create something that doesn't already exist!  How far is it from fake colored flowers to flowers made of silk or plastic? 

I am so disappointed in the florist industry.

Miscellaneous Monday

1.  I do not want roses for Valentine's Day.  Short lived blooms, often grown in far-away countries (high carbon footprint for transport), using pesticides, herbicides and too much fertilizer to achieve the perfect blooms at just the right time, regardless of growing conditinos.  Nope.  

I would much rather have a new plant.

No.  Not a rose bush.  I don't have a lot of full sun locations and I have too many other things I want.

So what would be appropriate for Valentine's Day?

I know.  A nice plant with (sort of, if you use your imagination) heart shaped flowers.  And, well [mom, look away] somewhat....  phallic.... parts sticking up.  An Anthurium.  But not just any Anthurium (I already have several) but the rare and elusive purple blooming cross.  I've found them available if I have them shipped from Hawaii.  

Probably costs about the same as a dozen roses.

2.  Am I the only Science Geek out there who watches The Big Bang Theory and argues with the title song lyrics?

"The Autotrophs began to droll" - I think not!  Chemotrophs came first.  Autotrophs evolved from them and they produce energy without the need for a mouth so how could they drool?

[key terms:  Autotrophs are organisms that can produce their own energy, like PLANTS that photosynthesize.  Chemotrophs have to get their energy from the environment, like people who have to eat and have mouths that actually could drool.  Where are plants going to drool from?]

And then there's "Neanderthals developed tools"  ha!  The oldest stone tools predate Neanderthal by around 2 million years.

You'd think song writers could get their science facts straight.

Sheesh.

C.  This semester I'm teaching an introduction to human anatomy and physiology course.  I don't like a lot of the illustrations from the text so I've been finding images on Wikimedia Commons (they have the copyright information right there so you know if you can legally use the image, very convenient).

My question?  Why is it that nearly every search term I use brings up at least one picture of a penis?  Terms like thumb or muscle contraction or abnormal feet.

I guess it's a good example of Rule 34.

[Sorry, no picture to illustrate this point.  You want images?  There are plenty on Wikimedia Commons.]

Wait.... What?

I got home from work today and the outside temperature was quite warm.  So I put on my sandals and went outside and saw...

Blooming crocuses!

I may actually have some outside blooms for February's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!

If this keeps up I'll need to start my spring gardening chores soon.

I can handle that.

New Houseplants

Over the winter break I was moved into a new office [I guess my old office neighbors complained about all the noise coming from The Mad House - that's what happens when you stick people together who have the same sense of humor].  The new office space has (gasp!) a WINDOW.  With a WINDOW SILL.  

My view is of the next building over and I don't get great natural light but being a True Gardener some of my first thoughts were "what kind of plants can I put there?"

Low light.  Tolerant of dry air.

I have a small  Philodendron hederaceum with chartreuse leaves (variety notlabeledus, possibly aureum).  I can repot that and set it on the windowsill.

One plant will not do. I need more, more I tell you!

This sounds like I need a trip to Kane's (the closest garden center that carries houseplants).

I knew what I needed.  A hard to kill indoor plant.  Spathiphyllum (peace lily).  Kane's had large leafed ones (too big) and smaller, more typical ones.  I bought the smallest pot they had (it'll grow).  It's not in bloom right now but I bet I can get it to bloom.

Unfortunately [????] they also had a large variety of Anthurium.  I have one (Anthurium grocerystorensis) that has a red spathe and a red inflorescence (spathe is the big leaf shaped bit and the inflorescence is the sticking up in the middle bit).  Kane's had...  Wow....  Lots of variety (no purple ones, though.  Dammit.).  I picked up a small (it'll GROW - why buy big?) one with a red spathe and a yellow infloresence.

Sexy!

Now comes the hard part.  Where do I put the new Anthurium?

I need more windows...

NEW USDA HARDINESS ZONE MAP

Related to yesterday's post...

The US Department of Agriculture has created a NEW plant hardiness zone map (located here).  The Edge has moved from hardiness zone 6a to hardiness zone 6b.  Woo-hoo!  I can't wait to make lists of all the plants that are now considered hardy here.  Muhlenbergia (pink muhly grass) please?