Woooooo, a non-thesis related post! (or, at least not all of it)
One week of writing and running down, couple more to go (so far, it looks like I might have a rough draft of my thesis finished by mid-July but yeah, knocking on wood and all that here) and my first instinct was to blog about the epiphany concerning my working theories I had today on the train home but then I remembered that I've made a ton ass posts about my thesis in the last couple weeks and you might get a little tired of them.
So, instead: gardening!
It's been a couple weeks since my last gardening update and a lot has happened to the plants. Out of everything I seeded, only one pot didn't yield any results (the Korean perilla), everything else came through \o/ I also somehow acquired even more plants along the way (how did that even happen? WHERE DID ALL THOSE PLANTS COME FROM???). And this how the balcony looks now:
As you can see, the cardamom seems to be pretty happy in its current spot. I just really need to repot it, though because it just won't stop growing.
Cherry tomatoes. I didn't even want to grow tomatoes and somehow ended up getting one, anyway (I got them for my birthday, from friends of my parents'. For the new people: I share my birthday with my mom, and Dad's birthday is three days later. Which usually results in me getting presents as well when my parents invite their friends for their birthdays...). I stopped growing tomatoes like two years ago because they're fucking divas and I don't do diva plants but those seem to be more on the humble and hard-working side so I'm keeping them, anyway.
Okaaay... in this, we see aniseed hysop, lemon bee balm, lime tree, two kinds of chili, butterfly bush, salvia, African lemon plant, olive plant (not an olive tree, but some kind of herb that tastes like olives), watercress, agastache "Navajo Sunset", orange tree, chives and taragon. Fuck, that's a lot of plants. Where do they all come from?
Different angle, plants that weren't in the last picture in the back: Russian basil, honeydew melon salvia and the blueberry bush. Sadly, even though I had a lot of blueberry blossoms, I didn't get any berries. But hey, last year, I didn't even have blossoms. So that was some progress, anyway...
Yep, 'nother angle. Look at the salvia. Mom used some of it today, I hope it'll survive it. I haven't had much luck with salvia yet, so I was a little wary about buying it but yeah, couldn't resist the opportunity at trying my hand again, so we'll see how long this one will make it.
Blueberry bush corner close up. See that teeming plant next to the blueberry bush, in the right corner? That's this very sad plant from a few months back... I have no idea how that came about but hey, that's one salvia I didn't manage to kill yet \o/
So, that's this year's nasturtium and it looks fine but for some reason, in the end, nasturtium leaves always turn yellow in my care and I have no idea why that fucking is. I only water when the upper soil is dry (which is like every fucking day. How much do these plants suck away?) and fertilize it every couple weeks. Anyone got any ideas?
These are supposed to be poppies and cornflowers. I think the large ones are the cornflowers and the smaller ones are the poppies. Unfortunately, both are currently in full bloom and I'm a little afraid that the poppies won't mature in time and I won't get any blooms. Keep your fingers cross!
Cilantro, oregano and basil sitting in their little pot and looking surprisingly healthy for supermarket plants. Anyone know whether I can still eat cilantro once it's bloomed?
Left side, orange tagetes (meaning the flavor reminds me of oranges, not its color) and parsley, also a supermarket plant and yes, I could repot it but it seems to do okay?
Another attempt at thyme, once again lemon thyme. One day, I will keep a thyme plant alive for longer than a year.
The one surviving strawberry plant. The berries are still minuscule but the microscopically small things do taste really good!
Scented geranium (mint flavor), originally Mom's but let's be honest, Mom couldn't keep a plant alive even if her live depended on it so I took it under my wing last year and surprisingly, it survived the winter. Unlike, you know, my scented geranium (cola flavor)...
Last one, physalis. I'm a little concerned because I bought it last year and it grew like a weed in the exact same spot. This year, it's going really slow which is a little worrying. I'd been hoping for more fruit this year (had exactly one last year. It flowered once in summer (and by that I mean there was one blossom) and then again in September, with loads of blossoms but I had to cut it down before they could grow into fruit because it was either that or letting it freeze in the November cold...) so keep your fingers crossed.
So... what's been growing in your gardens and on your balconies lately?
So, instead: gardening!
It's been a couple weeks since my last gardening update and a lot has happened to the plants. Out of everything I seeded, only one pot didn't yield any results (the Korean perilla), everything else came through \o/ I also somehow acquired even more plants along the way (how did that even happen? WHERE DID ALL THOSE PLANTS COME FROM???). And this how the balcony looks now:
As you can see, the cardamom seems to be pretty happy in its current spot. I just really need to repot it, though because it just won't stop growing.
Cherry tomatoes. I didn't even want to grow tomatoes and somehow ended up getting one, anyway (I got them for my birthday, from friends of my parents'. For the new people: I share my birthday with my mom, and Dad's birthday is three days later. Which usually results in me getting presents as well when my parents invite their friends for their birthdays...). I stopped growing tomatoes like two years ago because they're fucking divas and I don't do diva plants but those seem to be more on the humble and hard-working side so I'm keeping them, anyway.
Okaaay... in this, we see aniseed hysop, lemon bee balm, lime tree, two kinds of chili, butterfly bush, salvia, African lemon plant, olive plant (not an olive tree, but some kind of herb that tastes like olives), watercress, agastache "Navajo Sunset", orange tree, chives and taragon. Fuck, that's a lot of plants. Where do they all come from?
Different angle, plants that weren't in the last picture in the back: Russian basil, honeydew melon salvia and the blueberry bush. Sadly, even though I had a lot of blueberry blossoms, I didn't get any berries. But hey, last year, I didn't even have blossoms. So that was some progress, anyway...
Yep, 'nother angle. Look at the salvia. Mom used some of it today, I hope it'll survive it. I haven't had much luck with salvia yet, so I was a little wary about buying it but yeah, couldn't resist the opportunity at trying my hand again, so we'll see how long this one will make it.
Blueberry bush corner close up. See that teeming plant next to the blueberry bush, in the right corner? That's this very sad plant from a few months back... I have no idea how that came about but hey, that's one salvia I didn't manage to kill yet \o/
So, that's this year's nasturtium and it looks fine but for some reason, in the end, nasturtium leaves always turn yellow in my care and I have no idea why that fucking is. I only water when the upper soil is dry (which is like every fucking day. How much do these plants suck away?) and fertilize it every couple weeks. Anyone got any ideas?
These are supposed to be poppies and cornflowers. I think the large ones are the cornflowers and the smaller ones are the poppies. Unfortunately, both are currently in full bloom and I'm a little afraid that the poppies won't mature in time and I won't get any blooms. Keep your fingers cross!
Cilantro, oregano and basil sitting in their little pot and looking surprisingly healthy for supermarket plants. Anyone know whether I can still eat cilantro once it's bloomed?
Left side, orange tagetes (meaning the flavor reminds me of oranges, not its color) and parsley, also a supermarket plant and yes, I could repot it but it seems to do okay?
Another attempt at thyme, once again lemon thyme. One day, I will keep a thyme plant alive for longer than a year.
The one surviving strawberry plant. The berries are still minuscule but the microscopically small things do taste really good!
Scented geranium (mint flavor), originally Mom's but let's be honest, Mom couldn't keep a plant alive even if her live depended on it so I took it under my wing last year and surprisingly, it survived the winter. Unlike, you know, my scented geranium (cola flavor)...
Last one, physalis. I'm a little concerned because I bought it last year and it grew like a weed in the exact same spot. This year, it's going really slow which is a little worrying. I'd been hoping for more fruit this year (had exactly one last year. It flowered once in summer (and by that I mean there was one blossom) and then again in September, with loads of blossoms but I had to cut it down before they could grow into fruit because it was either that or letting it freeze in the November cold...) so keep your fingers crossed.
So... what's been growing in your gardens and on your balconies lately?