"If I could put my woods in song
And tell what's there enjoyed,
All men would to my gardens throng,
And leave the cities void."
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
5/27/16:
I've finished writing about building a terrarium, and have combined the text with photos to create a resource to share: (downloadable PDF). I'd like to put together another terrarium someday, maybe a globe-style, but have moved on to other garden crafts for now, such as decorating some of my flowerpots with beads. It could also be fun to braid or weave my own plant-hangers... is macramé "too 70s"?
The hanging container I chose for the new peperomia is a simple plastic one, but it goes nicely with the colors of the leaves. This plant seems to like being near the skylight. Steve trimmed back a pine tree next to the house (branches were leaning over the roof, blocking much of the morning sun) so now there's more light coming into our living room.
Clicking on the small images below will bring up a larger version.
Peperomia.
African daisies.
Grow quickly, little seedlings!
Among the varieties now blooming are purple African daisies. I transplanted these into a large wooden container in February, since the plant seemed root bound and more of a bush variety than appropriate for a 1 gallon pot. Many of the stems died off shortly after, so I was afraid I'd killed it. But although it's now only half the size it was, the flowers are showing up again.
I have all these big empty pots in the corner of my yard, just waiting for tomatoes or peppers that are tall and sturdy enough to transplant. It's hard not be impatient with the seedlings. Reading my older blog posts, I'm realizing that the tomatoes were a little further along in May of 2015 than where they're at this year. Too early to predict, but it could very well be another long summer, in which my crops will have plenty of time to mature and bear fruit. I'll try to be hopeful about the plants I have at the moment.
We're having guests over for a Memorial Day barbecue on Sunday. I've done a bit of tidying up around the yard every evening this week. When moving potted plants further away from the pathways and barbecue grills, I've disturbed more than a few worms, so I'm relocating them to my compost hole. They should do well there. I often find worms whenever I'm digging; we seem to have a good population, with few of their natural predators about: cats have eaten any moles that get into the lawn, and we have more seed-eating birds than robins and the like.
