Growing Houseplants

 

I have left the Farmer's Market, at least for the winter. I'm officially a retired "home-body" now. I will have more time for the things that I enjoy doing, like painting and gardening. In the middle of winter, I have to dig in the dirt. It's a mood uplifting thing, I think. The soil is good for you, so I grow a lot of houseplants. 

 

Christmas cactus

I like all of my plants, but my favourites are the philodendrons and the little bright pink Christmas cactus, of course. Who doesn't like a blooming Christmas cactus? It was blooming a month ago. I grew it from rooted cuttings from a friend.

p. black cherry

 

I collect philodendrons and have several different varieties. Most have come from cuttings from friends and a friend who gave me a "black cherry" philodendron.  

 

 

p. hederacium

 

 I have the common p. hederaceum with heart shaped dark green leaves, in the same pot with a p. hederaceum ‘Brasil’ (variegated) . 

I also have a small p. micans, and another small one with longer green leaves. I'm not sure of the exact variety of that one. 

 None of my philodendrons are pothos plants, the so-called "devil's ivy". I have one of those too. It's an entirely different plant, so please stop calling it a philodendron.  :)

 

m. adansonii

I have a Monstera adansonii that looks like a philodendron with holes in the leaves, but it's a small monstera type. I'd absolutely LOVE a big monstera! A rooted cutting from a friend would be marvelous! I like living in a jungle. :) 

 

 

 

Syngoniums: red, green, red centers

 

 

I have lots of other plants, many are special to me, I'm just partial to the philodendrons. I have a small coffee plant that's interesting. Maybe I'll get some beans from it in a few years. I have three different varieties of syngonium arrow leaf plants in matching pots, in a three pot hanger I made just for them (above). 

Lipstick plant

I have a small lipstick plant that I grew from one tiny cutting. I have always wanted a lipstick plant so I babied it and it's growing very well now! It's one of my favourites. I am excitedly looking forward to blooms! It's a gesneriad, like African violets. Once upon a time, bk (before kids), I had 40 African violets in various sizes. I was trying to collect as many different variations as I could fine. Some of them grew to tremendous widths and had to go in large 1 ft tall pots. Then sweet little Sarah came along. lol. She discovered backing up to sit on things just the right height for her. She sat on all of the ones on the floor. I kept them going until she started chewing on the leaves, then they had to go. I traded a friends 40 earrings for the 40 plants. I would like to have some African violets again and can root plants from leaves, which is how i got 40 in the first place. If only a friends would give me some leaves...

 

f. fiddle leaf

I have a little fiddle leaf fig tree. It's little but it's growing. It's a ficus, like the benjamina but with larger leaves. I take really good care of it too. I want it to get six feet tall! It's only about 6" tall right now, but it'll grow. I'm hoping it won't drop it's leaves everywhere, like the f. benjamina does.

 

I have an anthurium, and a variegated ti. Both in the photo at the top. I love the anthurium. It will grow well in a pond in the warm summer weather in the shade. I might make a small water garden outside this summer. I have saved a little water pump to make a small fountain. Something else that loves to grow bareroot in water are impatiens. They do well in a pond, in the shade. Another good and unexpected pond plant is a canna, in a pot of soil in the pond. I don't have cannas now, but I have had in the past, in the pond. 

 

Sugar vine

I have a sugar vine. It is doing well and I like the light, feathery foliage. I got cuttings for it from the same friend who gave me the lipstick plant cuttings and the p. black cherry plant. It was a lot longer, but I took some cuttings from it a couple of weeks ago. 

 

 

And, of course, I have a large spider plant. Who doesn't? I couldn't have one when I had cats previously. They ate the spider plants back all the way to the dirt. They liked those!

 

I have a large jar of cuttings taken from various things. I change the water and replace with warm water every 1-2 days. I hope they root. I know it's the wrong time of year for that and warmth is important, but I used rooting hormone. Here's hoping! 

 

Cuttings

These are the cuttings I am rooting. There are two avocado pits rooting in a small glass there, as well. I have the purple striped "wandering jew" and an angelwing begonia. You can see the  cuttings, taken from my own plants. The plants are both kind of sparse now, with the cuttings taken. I like the angelwing begonia. I had one previously that bloomed well when kept outside. It has large pendulous beautiful blooms! I will be moving some of these outside in the shade, when the very warm weather comes. 

I have a "china doll" that I have always liked because of the name and also the fineness of the foliage, but it's not doing very well. It's still alive, but some of it has died back. It continuously dies and regrows and dies and regrows. Disappointing.  

Another disappointment is the umbrella plant that keeps dropping it's leaves. I have moved it to non-drafty warm locations several times and it still just keeps dropping it's leaves. I have just about lost hope for it. Even the new growth it put out awhile ago is dropping. 

One more disappointment is my grape leaf plant. It's in a big bucket with no holes in the bottom and I think I over watered it. It's wilted and not doing well at all. I might be able to save it if I repotted it in dry new soil in a pot with holes in it, but it's winter here. It's too cold to do this outside, so it's probably a loss. I'm not that thrilled with it or the umbrella tree, so if I lose those, it won't bother me. I'll be more disappointed if I eventually lose the china doll, but that's life with plants. It happens. 

My lipstick plant and sugar plant are planted directly in pots with no drainage. I'm very careful watering, but I think I will repot them soon indoors, anyway.

I keep my tender herbs on a south windowsill all winter too. They seem to do very well there. I have successfully overwintered rosemary, lavender, oregano and several others in the past. I'm trying lemon balm this year and it seems to be doing well. 

I'm looking forward to spring. I have plans to add an herb garden this year and more flower space.  

Grow Your Own Goji Berries

The picture above is not mine. This is the Wikipedia picture (address below).
Organic health food has taken off in popularity. More and more we see "Organic" labels on the food at the grocery store. We are eating healthier these days in our search for longevity and more energy.

Super foods are coming into focus. One of these so called "super foods" are the goji berries (also called wolfberries), ostensibly from Tibet where monks in the monasteries are known for their long life spans. I am sure this is the result of the book entitled "Lost Horizons" and not necessarilly due to the longer life spans of the residents of Tibet.

Regardless of the reasons for this, people are eating a lot of dried goji berries bought in health food stores. I buy mine from a bulk food store by the gram and have found this to be the cheapest way to buy them.

They will grow anywhere that has a winter. They don't need any special care and will flourish in poor soil and semi dry conditions. They are very easy, although slow, growers. The goji bushes should produce some berries in the third year with full sun and a little care, or so I have read. The goji berry bushes I have were grown from seed this past spring and are only about 3" tall right now. They have another two years to go before I will know for sure how long it takes to produce berries. Even if you do get berries in the third year, there probably won't be a lot of them. Of course, if you are growing them from seed, you can always plant a lot of bushes to have a bigger harvest sooner.

I grew my goji berry bushes from seed this past spring and had a good germination rate. It was an experiment, as I am always looking for interesting and unusual things to grow and trying seeds from many foods purchased.

There is an important piece of information you should have if you are going to try growing goji berries from the dried ones purchased. The berries contain a chemical prohibiting germination, so you have to hydrate the berries, separate and wash the seeds, removing any pulp or juice from the berry. Its a very simple process and I have included directions below to help you.

The hard, dry purchased berries have to be soaked in hot water for a day or two to rehydrate. When the berries are soft and mushy, they are ready.

Slit them open with a knife and you will see the seeds inside. They are very small. I use the knife to scrape the seeds into a fine strainer for washing.

Hold the strainer under warm water and wash the seeds. Use your finger to stir them around in the strainer and remove any big pieces of pulp. Rinse the berries, while stirring around, for a few minutes until you are sure all the juice and most pulp has been removed.

I dump out the clean seeds on a papertowel and spread them out to dry. I let them dry for a week or so then place in an envelope and label.

 

I keep out a few for planting myself and keep the rest for trading or giving to friends with a green thumb. After preparing a tray with soil and wetting it so that it is slightly damp, sprinkle the seeds thinly on the soil. Lightly sprinkle soil over them, but not much. Put in a warm location, keeping the soil slightly damp. It helps to keep it damp if it is covered. You should see the seeds sprouting in 4-6 weeks, or sooner. Mine took about 5-6 weeks to sprout but were in a cool window. As soon as the seeds sprout, move them into a sunny location to grow. Transplant outside when they are 2-3" tall.

They don't need winter stratification to germinate, although they will probably do well wintersowed.

This method can be used for a lot of fruits and vegetables from the grocery store. This is how I save my ground cherry seeds, as well. Some seeds may need a cold winter or scarification to germinate. You will just have to experiment.

You can see more pictures and information about goji berries at the Wikipedia site here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfberry

This is what my goji berrry bushes look like now, after a summer of growing. I planted them in March but they have not had a good summer. They were kept in little pots longer than they should have been and were moved a few times, stepped on and generally mistreated. Your berry bushes will probably be quite a bit bigger and healthier than these after a full summer of growing in the right spot with tender care.

 

Rooting Herbs From the Grocery Store

 

Spring is almost here and we are having spring like weather!! I am busy planning my garden space, old and new, for this coming season. One thing I want to grow this year are a lot of fresh herbs. I do grow thyme, oregano, sage and chives. This year I am going to add several more to this list.

I have seeds for basils, cilantro, rosemary, dill and a few more that I cannot remember at the moment. These things will grow from seed but it is a slow process, especially for the perennials, so I am attempting to root new plants from fresh pieces I purchased at the grocery store for the cost of a package of seeds.

Today I bought rosemary and last week I bought and planted terragon cuttings.

When I look through the packages of fresh herbs at the grocery store, I look for pieces that have tiny bits of root still attached. These will need less time to continue rooting and start growing. I am not sure this is root. It could be a piece of the stem that didn't break away cleanly but I will leave it there, just in case it is a root piece.

I don't know for certain that rosemary stems will root but I will try it anyway. I am not losing anything, as I will still have the pile of leaves that I stripped from the stems. I can continue to cook with those.

The first thing I did was fill a small container with light potting soil. I buy the inexpensive stuff from Walmart for this. It is better for rooting and seeding if you mix it with perlite, but I am not going to at this point. Mainly because I don't have any at the moment.

I use all kinds of containers to plant in. This is the bottom half of a vegetable juice cocktail jug with holes in the bottom. The aluminum foil is to catch the water that runs through when I water it. Dampen the soil with warm water before starting.

I use rooting hormone gel for this. I put a tiny bit in the corner of a throw away plastic thingie (its an industry term ;-). I keep my rooting hormone gel in the fridge. I have read that this gives it a longer life span. I don't know this from my own experience, but, it can't hurt and it doesn't take up much room in the fridge.

Lay out the branches of the fresh herb. Remove all but a few leaves at the top. One piece with long enough for me to make two rooting pieces out of it with a few leaves left at the top of each one. When this is done, recut the bottoms of all except the pieces with a slight root still attached. Leave that alone.

Dip the end of each piece in the bit of rooting hormone. Poke a small hole in the damp soil and insert the end. Fill in the soil around it.

I plant all pieces in one container together. It takes up less room that way and it will be awhile before they are so big that they need a pot of their own. I am hoping they can go into the cold frame, or even the ground, by that time.

These are the terragon cuttings I rooted a few days ago. They wilted at first but seem to be perking up now. I did not cover these with anything but I am going to put a bag over the rosemary to help keep them moist while they root. Put the cuttings in a light place but not in direct sunlight until you see real, new leaf growth.

I am looking forward to using these fresh herbs from my garden this year. I use them to make soap, as well as cook with them. One thing I want to make this year is a lot of pesto! I might also make myself some herbal bath oil, hand lotion and hair rinse.

 

Primulas

 

I love primulas, also called primrose or polyanthus. They are one of my favourite flowers in the garden. One reason I like them so much is because they are so hardy! They stay green under the snow all winter. They bloom in the early spring and late autumn, even in the snow. They can be grown on a windowsill as a houseplant and do very well outside in the shade. They are an excellent shade garden plant that flowers.

Primulas like to be kept slightly moist and do not tolerate drying out completely. They do best in shade and like cool temperatures. A truly northern flower. They like slightly acid, humousy soil. (Is hymousy a word?) Sounds like a good peat bog plant.

I grew my first primulas from seed and had those plants for a decade. I continued to divide them as they grew and spread them around the edge of the flowerbed.

They are very low to the ground and make an excellet edging. You will want to keep them in the front of the bed as they don't get more than about 6-8" tall.

There are a lot of newer varieties of primulas. Some are taller with blooms on a stalk and they come in a rainbow of colours.

I bought these marked down to .25 each at the grocery store. They were almost dead when I brought them home. All they needed was a drink but they are in very light, poor soil so have to be constantly watered. I think I will replant them into potting soil until the ground thaws. Then they will go directly into the shade garden.

 

Grow Your Own Tobacco

 It's so much healthier!

No, I don't smoke. It goes against my constant struggle towards healthier living. There is another member of my household that does smoke, however. I figure, if he has to smoke, he should at least do it in as healthy a manner as possible, without inhaling pesticide residue and other added chemicals and more in keeping with our newer frugal and self sufficient lifestyle. Your own home grown tobacco will have a lot more flavour and less filler. Can you buy organic tobacco? I don't know about that. You can, however, grow it yourself.

Did you know that it is not illegal to grow your own tobacco? In Canada, you can have 15k per year of processed home grown tobacco per household member over the age of 18.

Most people don't grow or process their own because they don't think they have enough garden room or the space needed to dry and cure it. A person could grow and process just a few leaves at a time for personal use.

Tobacco leaves need to air dry completely before storage and use. Some commercial tobacco farms hang the leaves in a big open barn type structure with fans going all the time. It can also be dried outside in the sun. This produces the lowest nicotine and a light flavour. We are going to try this method, as well as air drying it under the veranda.

As each leaf matures on the plant, It is cut off and hung to dry. The leaves at the top are the strongest but a blend of all the leaves is usually used. As each leaf matures, it is picked and hung to dry. You will want to rinse the leaves with the hose before drying, to wash off any dirt, bird poop and soil residue.

The tobacco leaves must be well dried before being used. This is an important stage. Fresh, green tobacco is so high in nicotine and ammonia that is can be dangerous to smoke and it stinks! It stinks while it is drying too! As if cigarette smoke didn't already smell bad enough, as it is.

We plan to grow our own tobacco this year. I have a field all prepared for it and seeds waiting to be started early indoors. They are tiny, tiny seeds so I am going to scatter them on a tray and transplant into small pots as they get bigger. Up here in the north, they need to be started early indoors. If you have flourescent lights, you could probably grow one all year indoors and always have your own tobacco in various stages of growth and drying. They do get very large, however, so you might need a big light!

This will be my first try at growing smoking tobacco. I have grown nicotiana for years, an ornamental tobacco and I love it. Its easy to grow! I have read that any tobacco is easy to grow. Few things eat it. As a matter of fact, you can use tobacco juice to make insecticide.

We do plan to sun dry the tobacco leaves as much as possible. This is faster and produces tobacco with much lower nicotine levels and less ammonia. We also have a large, open garage type buildling where we can hang it from the ceiling to dry and we have an open front veranda the width of our house with a high ceiling where it can hang to dry. I have heard that it smells a lot when it is drying so I don't know about using the veranda, may do it anyway and see how it goes. I also have misgivings about using the garage, as the tractors and motorcycle are in there and I don't want exhaust and diesel fumes in the tobacco smoke. What would be healthier about that? I am going to stick to the sun dried method, at first anyway, and hang them outside to dry like this. They can be completely cured in 30 days in the sun, but you would need 30 days of dry, sunny weather for that. I think I might hang them on a portable thing that I can move to the veranda if it rains, maybe. Its just a thought...

Tobacco gets smoother as it ages and releases toxins as it dries. If you are curing it in a homemade wooden kiln (recommended for home growers) it is ready to use in about six weeks. If air curing out of the sun it will take about a year. The Chinese used to boil their tobacco to cure it. This sounds interesting and I am looking into this method now. Maybe this will work better than sun or air curing or using a kiln. I will probably try various things with a few leaves to see what works best.

There are some simple home made tobacco kiln directions on the net. I would do more research into buildling a tobacco kiln. I am sure there are even less expensive plans out there. We are going to build one after we see how the crop does. Even an expensive kiln has to be cheaper than buying your own tobacco.

After it is dried and aged, you will need to crush it or grind it for use. You will also need the paper and filters to roll your own. You can buy little, inexpensive kits with the paper rolls, filters and a manual cigarette maker thingie (industry term).

This is an exciting new venture for us! I don't know anyone who grows their own tobacco around here. Its just unheard of. I hope it catches on. Here's a thought: maybe we can make a business out of selling tobacco kilns. We could make small, personal kilns, as well as larger ones.

Tobacoo plants are very large and will produce a lot of tobacco leaves in a relatively small area, so it seems to be worth doing if you smoke and are concerned about the added chemicals, toxins and the cost. Time will tell. Anyone can grow their own tobacco, hang it somewhere like a spare room with a fan to dry for a year and use it. I will be saving my own tobacco seed this year and so will have a lot for next year's trading.

Here is another interesting post from another blog on the subject:
Growing your own tobacco at home.

Drying & Processing Herbs

Drying and Processing Herbs

First gather the fresh herbs you want to use. The herbs I use are what I can easily get where I am located. If you have access to others, do your research first, and use those. You are not restricted to just what I use. Be sure the herbs you choose to use are safe for yourself and everyone else before you decide to add them to your salves. 

For my general healing salve, I use plantain, purslane,dandelion, horsetail, yarrow, calendula, lavender, rose, spruce, lemongrass, rosemary, peppermint, clover, feverfew, cayenne, stinging nettle, thyme, oregano, usnea, chamomile. This is the basic salve recipe but there are others I can and have used, i.e. creeping charlie, dead nettle, hen bit, sow thistle. All of these have anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, healing properties. You might want to do an allergy test before using these herbs, just to make sure you aren't making a salve that you react to. Know the herbs you are using. If in doubt, skip it.

I enjoy gathering, drying and working with herbs. It's relaxing to be out in the fresh air and sunshine, gathering. I like the herbal smell they give my house and I find the handling of the fresh herb to be healing, especially for my hands. I try to gather leaves and flowers with long stems or small branches so I can hang them in bunches. I dry small pieces on a paper towel, turning them daily or on a screen. If you can score some large screens and bricks you can make a screen shelf on a covered porch, specifically for drying herbs and seeds. I like to put a layer of window sheers over the screens to catch the tiniest seeds and herb pieces. If this set up is outside, the mice and squirrels will like it too. That's what cats are for..

You can dry herbs quickly in your car on a hot day and your car will smell wonderful. You can dry them in the oven on a very low setting. You can also dry them in the microwave, but I don't recommend it. It only works well if the herbs are half dry to begin with. If you put fresh herbs in the microwave, they will often spark and start a fire. Not recommended! Believe me...it can happen...I know... I think many of the stronger herbs contain too much mineral for the microwave. I prefer to dry them naturally. It takes about two weeks in the home for them to be completely dry. It's important that all ingredients in the salve be completely dry. Even one small drop of moisture of any kind, and the salve will grow mold. 

I use tin ties to tie the bunches of herbs. (No, I didn't put the tin ties in the microwave. lol). I add a scrap of paper as a label. The dried herbs often all look alike, so it's important to label them. I then tie the bunches to a clothes hanger for easier hanging. I have strung wire under the porch roof for hanging, I have hung herbs on lights and lamps, on hooks in the wall, on shelves, on string across the wall, on curtain rods, on ceiling fans, anywhere I can find to hang them.

If you are hanging herbs to dry naturally, you will need to tighten the ties every day for a few days. The herbs will shrink as they dry and fall out. If your floors are clean, and you can get to them before the dogs and cats, I would just hang them up again. I hang herbs high enough to be out of the reach of the cats. Mine love horsetail and anything minty! 

When the herbs are very dry, I crumble and grind in my spice grinder, if they need it. Some are fine enough without grinding. Then they go into glass jars with tight lids. Clean pickle jars work well. Any clean glass jar will be fine. The herbs will keep for a very long time like this. I collect, dry and process them in the growing season, then make the salves in the winter.