Trapped Cactus Starts 07/28/17
Trapped Cactus Starts 04/15/18.
One section is heavy and resting on the ground. Have taken starts of the new growth and placed them in other areas of the garden.
Plan to build a small trellis to support the cactus to keep it a bit more upright.
Trapped Cactus One of Two Buds
Trapped Cactus Second of Two Buds
Trapped Cactus April 15, 2018
Trapped Cactus April 15, 2018 Buds
Trapped Cactus One of Two Buds
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Trapped Cactus Two of Two Buds
20180420
Wisteria and a Brug
Made a decision that this Spring I would clear out my box of seed. Some of the seed was either purchased or harvested as long ago as 1999, so quite old. They were not kept in the best of conditions, just a box in the garage where they were forced to endure all temperature changes.
Are Pumpkin Seeds Harvested in 2011 Viable?
I popped the pumpkin seed in a tray on 3/21/18.
This is what I found this morning, 4/4/18.
The small out of focus sprouts next to the pumpkins are carrots.
Loads can go wrong from planting to harvest. First comes seedlings, followed by vines, transplanting to garden, then pumpkins.
Since beans are usually quick to grow, pretty sure they are no longer viable. There isn’t a single sprout.
This is the first time using trays from Plantel Nurseries. I like that the trays are sturdy, less soil is used per cell, and the trays are a great space saver. When I rotate them, they are a tad heavier than they appear, but again very sturdy.
I became aware of the trays when I visited the Santa Maria fair last summer. Plantel Nurseries was giving away free vegetable plants and the plants were in their trays. The plants were easy to slip out of the cells. Still taking cuttings from the kale, chard, and celery plants I brought home from the fair.
Pumpkin Seed Sprouts 4/4/18 Evening
Remnant of a Pine Cone Flip Side
Placed at Base of Its Parent
When I visited my family in SC, I spent time wandering around and taking photos of plants, interesting textures, possible art making materials and processes, and things that struck me as odd.
As soon as I saw the moss growing on the grate inside a free standing wood burning fireplace, Don McLean’s American Pie started looping through my mind. Especially the line: moss growing fat on a rolling stone.
And while writing this post, again the song is swirling though my mind.
Not being a sit around a fire person, I had to google the proper term for the fireplace. It is a chimenea. According to Wikipedia this is the definition for chimenea.
A chimenea /tʃɪmɪˈneɪ.ə/, also spelled chiminea (from Spanish: chimenea means chimney), is a freestanding front-loading fireplace or oven with a bulbous body and usually a vertical smoke vent or chimney.
So, a wood burning chimney. Odd that moss found its way to growing inside the chimenea. It is sitting on a concrete patio in daily full sun. The chimenea must offer enough shade and protection to prevent the death of the moss.
Sad that the moss will be destroyed the next time the chimenea is lit.
Don McLean’s American Pie was popular when I was in high school. So much so, my high school English teacher thought it would be cool to decipher its lyrics. The result, even today I remember the bulk of the lyrics for the 8 minute 36 second song.
More connections–I remember my best friend from high school who died suddenly five years ago. Not in a plane crash, but he was the director of my hometown airport. Connections of all sorts can be found when you least expect it. Certainly wasn’t thinking about him when I started this post, but it would have been something I would have shared with him. He would have understood my moss/song connection. We would have talked about the song. When we first heard it. And other reminiscing.
Thinking about my friend, reminded me of a Henning Mankell quote from one of his Kurt Wallander books, Firewall.
Who was left who connected him to his earlier life?
Washington Post article about American Pie written by Justin Wm. Moyer.
Succulent Near Drive
June 2017
Succulent Near Drive
April 2018
I recently read through all of the seed planting recommendations for plants that I plan to add to my gardens.
Most of the seed will be planted in Plantel Plant Trays from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply.
It is recommended that some of the seed be planted in biodegradable pots, to prevent disturbing the roots of the seedlings.
Rather than purchasing peat or coconut fiber pots, I decided to use the Yellow Pages that have been piling up in my studio. Does anyone actually use printed paper phone books?
I viewed several, how to fold paper pot tutorials. DIY: Newspaper Pots for Seed Starting/Cuttings on Youtube is the best tutorial I found. The instructions are clear and easy peasy. Before beginning to fold a sheet from the Yellow Pages, I removed a strip from the side to alter the proportions.
The pages were torn to 4.25″ x 8.5″
The strips will saved for use when working in clay.
The finished folded pot is 1″x1″x1″.
Whenever I learn a new skill or technique, I always think about how it can be used in the studio.
I have made loads of boxes in the past, but rarely a square. This is a square box, roughly 3.5″, that I never quite completed. It is tree wrap with some dried plant bits and twine.
49 Paper Pots Ready to Use
Several years ago I purchased a Solandra maxima from a fellow at the Saturday Farmers’ Market.
April 4, 2013 Bloom
It became a 12 foot long plant on a trellis. Numerous cuttings were taken to make more plants that are growing in a numerous locations in my gardens and gardens of friends.
Last year after the annual bloom, the plant lost all of its leaves. I meant to remove it, but just couldn’t find the time.
This evening I was photographing the Brugmansia growing in front of the Solandra maxima.
To my surprise I found that the Solandra maxima is leafing out.
Don’t know why it was without leaves for nearly a year, but I am glad I didn’t remove the plant. Maybe it will even bloom this year.
Iron Bunny with New Aloe
New Cactus
Dead or Alive?
Bunny Memorial Patina 5 February 2018
Bunny Memorial Patina Today
I have been looking at the little iron bunny in one of my succulent gardens. It seems to disappear into the soil. Had thought that laying a bed of flat grey rocks for it to sit on. Today when I was visiting the neighborhood nursery, I saw this plant.
I have a rule when purchasing plants. They must be planted the day they are purchased.
Today was unusual because it was and still is raining. Rainfall on the CA Central Coast is a bit of an odd occurrence.
I slipped on my seldom used raincoat, pulled the plants out of the pot…
Eight aloe and a cactus.
…and popped them in the garden.
Placed one directly in front of the little iron bunny with two more plants in an imperfect triangle.
Three aloe in a previously open space in the garden.
Two small aloe juxtaposed with some plantlets in the making, all near the memorial bunny.
The volunteer cactus could use a dusting.
Tomorrow when it is no longer raining, I will remove the soil from its spines.