Indoor Light Dilemma. I Need Ideas!

Before I go into my lighting dilemma, please check out an older post here for pictures of my seed starting setup.

Now that you've seen the setup, and my *tiny* grow light that only efficiently covers a 2 foot by 3 inch section, take a quick look at my new light here. I'm sorry I don't have a picture to post for you... I'm in hella pain from my kickboxing workout last night, and feeling very lazy today.

So, last night I received my new light, and when DH and I tried to hang it, the height adjusters wouldn't hold the weight of the light. I'm hoping you, my super smart and innovative readers (wink wink), can come up with some ideas to help me adjust my setup to hold a heavier light so I won't need to make a new one.

The PVC holds the weight perfectly, but the PVC screw shown below won't clamp down onto the wire tight enough, and the wire keeps slipping.

San Francisco Flower and Garden Show; Part 2

It was nice seeing Boy Wonder excited about going from one display to the next with me, but I think next year I'll leave everyone at home and do the tour by myself. There were so many details I feel I missed, there were a couple seminars I would have liked to attend, but couldn't with the family hanging about, and it wasn't until finding links for my previous post that I discovered this was the first year the show had a Victory Garden on display in a tent outside of the event center. I'm so bummed I missed that!

Here are my favorite close ups of a few of the beautiful flowers that were on display at the weekend's show...

This is my favorite picture from the whole trip.

I wish I had a better picture of these ranunculus--one of my favorite flowers.

As we were leaving the event center, and discussing our initial impressions, DH and I both agreed the show felt more like a display area for hiring landscapers to redo your garden. It wasn't until after we left the garden show that I learned this year's theme was "Gardens for the Future." Even when I initially learned about the theme, I was thinking to myself how so many of the displays failed in getting it across in their gardens. When I finally sat down to look at the pictures I'd taken, everything fell into place. I think I did the beginner's tour of walking up and down each isle to make sure I hit all of the garden displays, and all of the kiosks, but upon reflecting about our trip, I realize I missed out on looking at the details of how each artist's rendition captured the theme. Boy, I can't wait until next year's show!

To prepare for next year's show, I think I should learn how to use DH's SLR camera so I can take pictures that look more like this or these. Shh! Don't tell him I'll be making off with his camera!

Harvest Monday; Finally Substantial

I'm so proud to finally have what feels like a substantial harvest come from my garden. Here are the highlights of our homegrown goodies from last week.

These shallot shoots were technically harvested on the 16th, but I didn't use them until the end of last week, so I'm counting them in my harvest now. These shoots went into a vegetable quiche which you can read more about on my cooking blog.

I was kicking a ball in the yard with the Little One (LO), and on a whim I pulled one of the few remaining oranges off the tree, peeled, and ate a slice. Wouldn't you know it?!?! They were sweet! I mean, they weren't bitter at all, and they weren't all dried up inside like they were this time last year (maybe all the rain helped in that regard). Anyway, I'm proud to say we had mouth-wateringly sweet oranges with several meals last week, and I'm sure we'll be having them throughout this week too. Yay!

On Wednesday, I trimmed my three Cameo Basil plants for the first time. Besides smelling the leaves until I felt intoxicated, LOL, I threw the leaves in a spaghetti sauce. Nom!

I also harvested the rest of my Green Arrow peas throughout last week. Not the best picture I took, but look at those little fingers trying to sneak more peas while I was taking pictures! LOL. The LO couldn't get enough of them, and kept asking for more, like he does with cheese (He's a little cheese freak. His favorites are Feta and blue cheese. Weird for a 2yo, right?).

We had some pretty high winds on Wednesday night/Thursday morning which blew many of my pea plants off their trellis. This worked to my advantage by revealing another batch of peas, about the same size as shown above. Today I removed the pea plants and the remaining mature pods. The grand total for this week's pea harvest was... You ready? 8.2 ounces. HAHA... Well, it's enough for us all to have as a side...

And for my grand finale, my Short & Sweet carrots from the salad table. I pulled these yesterday.

Below, the carrots on the left side were the few mature carrots that grew in front of the peas...

Without the tops, the carrots weighed in at just under 11 ounces. Woohoo!  I'll make these into Honey Glazed Carrots.

I probably won't grow peas again simply because they take up so much space for so little harvest, and I had to throw a lot of immature pods away since they can't be eaten. I have to say though, that I love the resiliency of the peas within the pods. The peas ended their season covered in aphids, and there was evidence of something laying eggs within the pod walls, but the peas themselves made it through unscathed.

I'm happy that I finally grew carrots, and I'll definitely grow them again this fall. Production for the space is great, and they're fast growers when grown under the right conditions. Fresh carrots are so scrumptious, and the LO can eat them because they're slightly softer in texture than regular store bought carrots.

Each week Daphne hosts Harvest Monday over at Daphne's Dandelions. Check out her page to see what other's have been munchin' and crunchin' on this week.

San Francisco Flower and Garden Show; Part 1

Today I took my family on a trip to see our first ever garden show at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. The theme of this year's show was "Gardens for the Future."

Tatyana, over at My Secret Garden, introduced me to the "garden show" world with her visit to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. I'd never even heard of a garden show before she posted her beautiful pictures. I was so amazed by the displays she shared with her readers that I bought tickets to this weekend's show in San Francisco.

Boy Wonder and I in front of a satellite dish shaped/sized "Stretch Garden," growing vegetables and strawberries.

I have to apologize in advance for the blurriness of some of these pictures. I'm still learning how to photograph, the lighting was low and I usually take pictures in the sunny backyard, so I'm not used to using my flash. Blurriness aside, I did take a lot of pictures and since I want to share all my favorites with you I'll be splitting today's trip into two posts.

Succulent garden...

A living wall "house" surrounded by water...

A treehouse...

An interesting display of alligator heads in a bird bath, surrounded by succulents...

(I don't get it either)

I was very happy to see one display with chickens.

(My boys are the ones on the right not yelling "bock bock" while harassing the chickens *rolling eyes*).

A very fun and colorful garden...

Neat sculpture...

A "Biospheric System" by Inka

I couldn't leave without bringing something back to my garden. I love butterflies and currently have a fixation with metal sculptures, so this metal piece made from recycled oil barrels is right up my alley.

As I was waiting in line to purchase this piece, the sale lady (Curator?) from It's Cactus let me know that all of the art on display was made by artists in Haiti, and the 100% of the proceeds from the sales would go back to earthquake victims there. Cool.

Check back on Tuesday for a few close up shots of the botanical beauties on display at the show.

Meyer Lemon Update

My Meyer lemon tree seems to be doing a lot better since re-potting it earlier this month. Majority of the leaves have returned to their proper green color, and since spraying a few times where needed with paraffin oil, I only saw a minimal amount of aphids today. 

I never seem to be able to put a plant in the middle of a pot. Let's just say it's my artistic side trying to work it's way into the garden (HA! I totally lack an artistic side). I think I need to redo my supports... Any suggestions?

I spent a few minutes attending the blooms with a paintbrush...

And a few more removing extra suckers. Look at how many more blooms there are waiting to burst forth! This is just one branch!

Have a Bloomin' Great Friday!

Spring is here, oh yeah! Spring is here, uh huh! Doin' my special dance moves up in here (yes, I dance like that)! Woot Woot!

Comice Pear Blooms

Chionodoxia Blooms

Camellia Blooms (in the front yard)

Have a great weekend!

Starting More Things

Just a small update on a few things...

I started my  Isabella Charentais melon seeds on Monday by placing them in a moist paper towel in a ziploc bag, and placing that on a seed warming mat. Two days--yes two days later and they've all sprouted... Craziness!

I've also started my green bean seeds using the same method. These will be going into my left bed along the raised patio which is currently growing Sweetie Baby Romaine lettuce.

I was originally going to grow Royal Burgundy bush beans, but they prefer cooler weather and I don't think they'll do well at this point. So I went and purchased a variety pack of bush beans from Renee's Garden which include Golden Roc d'Or, Purple Queen, and Green Slenderette. I'll be growing as few of the green-green beans as possible since they're so hard to find among the leaves...

I don't have a lot of my gardening budget left to purchase more pots, so I'll be potting the melons, beans and cucumber seeds in home made newspaper pots. I've seen a couple other bloggers out there making these, and someone even posted a great tutorial, but I couldn't find it once I started making mine. So, being a very visual person and needing to see the step-by-step of what I'm supposed to do, I chose to use these instructions from ehow.com. If you decide to make newspaper pots, do yourself a favor, and wear gloves! This is a great little craft to do while watching TV...

Oh, Gnats!

In previous posts I've mentioned my resident fungus gnats attempting to take over the cilantro buckets and salad table, and today I've discovered they're trying to claim territory in my indoor seedling pots.

First off, I don't know why they're called fungus gnats. Seems to me that they'll land anywhere there's dirt. Secondly, why they're finding my indoor plants so attractive besides that fact that they're plants living in dirt befuddles my mind. Can you feel the resentment here? The soil isn't overly moist or fungus-y by any means. Actually, I probably don't do a good enough job of keeping them moist. I don't ever open the window in here, although we open the rest of the windows daily... I guess it was only a matter of time before they found this new resort.

Anyway... I have got to get rid of these flying [enter expletive of choice here] before my plants head outside or I'll just be continuing the cycle--especially with my SWC setup. So, I've spent the past hour in my dining room (probably the most usage it's ever had) battling these guys. My strategy, whether or not it's logical to anyone else but me, is to apply a Neem oil on the soil surface of ALL my pots, and for the first week (today) flush everything but my newly transplanted tomatoes and nasturtiums with a BTi water solution I now keep at the ready. Then apply another layer of Neem oil to the top of the soil. Next week I will do the same to everything (unless anyone chimes in with a better, more knowledgeable strategy).

Not very exciting, but the white flecks are a few of the youngest larvea that have been flushed out of the pots.

Sorry it's hard to see, but on the end of this toothpick is an older larvea that came out.

If you so choose, you may look at more pictures of fungus gnats and larvea here. Blegh!

At least I've enjoyed my dining room a little bit today LOL...

Potting Up The Leggy Ladies

On Sunday I potted up my super leggy tomato plants. I went to the dollar store on a whim a while back and found 5 of these pots for $1. I should've bought more...

Here's what the plant's roots looked like after 40 days. Pretty healthy, yes? I repotted the plants in a mix of seed starting medium, compost, perlite, and a smidgen of Epsom salt and all purpose slow-release fertilizer.

After the tomatoes were done, I potted up my nasturtiums with the Little One's help. Here he is stirring the mix...

And then he helped fill the pots with soil...

Oh yes! My carrots are really taking off now that I'm shading them, and we're in for cooler weather than last week so I think they'll have a fighting chance now!

Have a terrific Tuesday!