"Anyone who thinks that gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year. For gardening begins in January with the dream."
– Josephine Nuese
1/20/16:
What a stormy-dark, muddy-squishy January it's been.
Most of the weekends have had cold, wet weather. I hop outside just long enough to dump rainwater from flowerpots, pouring it onto the plants living under the protection of the porch. I sigh as I see that some flowers and herbs are getting chewed up by bugs or slugs, since my spray repellents are getting washed off the leaves by all this rain.
On workdays, the sun rises around 7:20 as I'm getting ready to go to work, and sets as I'm driving home around 5:20, so if I want to check up on my plants, I go outside and tromp around in the mud with my iphone as a flashlight at dawn or dusk... maybe I should experiment with nighttime garden cameraphone photography?
But perhaps our years of drought are ending! California's lakes will be fuller this summer, and currently I'm thankful that all this precipitation gives me a break from many hours of watering plants. The lawn has grown tall and thick, and the daisy bushes are looking the healthiest they have all year.
About a quarter of my containers are empty or contain dormant plants at this point. Although the majority of gardening experiments must wait until early spring, I have planted some ornamental kale and lettuce seeds, and eagerly await to see how they fare.
Clicking on the small images below will bring up a full-size version.
Morning glory, sage, nasturtiums, ivy.
Lettuce-y seed varieties.
Photographing indoor plants at dawn.
I've finished the list of 2015's plants, with information on what I learned about each variety. I haven't included the large trees, shrubs, ivy, bamboo, or anything else planted in the ground, since those are low-maintenance and I want to focus this blog on container gardening. I also have 4 or 5 unidentified plants: I'll figure out what these are and add them to next year's list. I hope that other gardeners will find at least some of the data I've compiled to be helpful, perhaps those who are also near the beginner level in gardening and/or live in a similar climate. As I review the list myself, I'm planning what to try again in spring, while considering improving my strategies, and contemplating which varieties of plants it's really sensible to attempt to grow around here.
The houseplants are doing well overall (even the spider plant pictured above is looking perkier). One exception is my new Christmas cactus. When I'd bought it there were little white buds at the tips of the leaves; all but 3 of these have fallen off. Last weekend I moved it from the bedroom windowsill, where it might have been too cold at night. The house rarely gets below 60 degrees in general, but there is a draft in that room when it's windy. We have vaulted ceilings and it's often 10 degrees warmer up there. So I'm installing hooks to experiment with hanging the cold-sensitive plants up high near the skylights in the living room and kitchen.
I moved some geraniums indoors. They're pretty common, not one of my favorite flowers, but I like that it's easy to grow new plants from cuttings, even in poor soil and lower light.
I'm currently shopping for houseplant-related treasures at thrift stores: I'd like a wide clear glass container to make into a terrarium, and anything that can be used as a tiered plant stand in a corner.
