Propagating succulents.

Back again!  I missed last Sunday's blog post because I was busy travelling back to Berlin from London after a wonderful weekend seeing friends.  So finally, here is an update on my propagated succulents.  Look at them!  They are growing little plants on them.  I really did not think that this would work at all.  But I guess all you need is a little patience and time.  

It is soooooooooo exciting!  Also new on the gardening front, I had a bit of an Asian culinary week last week and bought round rice paper to make summer rolls along with udon noodles and lots of fresh vegetables to stir fry.  And decided for the first time to try cooking with lemongrass.  It is a wonderful herb.  I put the lemongrass that I didn't use into a glass of water, and look at these new roots growing!

I LOVE PLANTS.

..love..

Scotch bonnet rebirth and Garden Betty blog.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to prune my scotch bonnet pepper plant as it had quite a massive bald spot in the middle of its really long stem.  At first I thought, oh dear I have definitely killed it now.  But I was patient, and I waited to see what would happen to it.  And sure enough, there is new growth sprouting!!!  It is super exciting!  

 Full frontal.

Aerial view.

Since last week, all of my repotted seedlings have been doing nothing but growing!  Look at those bush beans in the left hand corner.  They are growing like mad!

I have discovered a new gardening blog that I absolutely love right now.  It is written by a woman living in Los Angeles, California.  It is about growing vegetables, raising chickens, cooking, and about all of her extreme sport adventures.  It is a really beautiful blog that has given me a lot of inspiration.  From her blog I found out that you can eat the young pea plant shoots like salad or in stir frys and that nasturtium pods can be used to make capers.  YUM YUM YUM.  Gotta try it all!  Whoever likes looking at beautiful pictures of nature alongside gardening and chickens should definitely check out Garden Betty's blog.

http://www.gardenbetty.com/2012/05/how-to-grow-green-onions-without-dirt/#more-4418

Hope you're all having a wonderful Sunday.

..love..

Repotting and a sprung spring

So yesterday was my big day of repotting plants.  I bought a 20 litre bag of soil and began the messy but wonderful job.

Here are my beans, peas, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber.  My cherry tomato seedlings are still teeny tiny and look a little ridiculous in their big buckets!

These are my various tomatoes.  The yellow pear tomato seeds I saved from last year's tomatoes.  And the kumato tomatoes are kind of an experiment.  I saved the seeds from a store bought kumato tomato.  I'd like to see if they will end up bearing fruit or not. 

I didn't repot my chives, but I just wanted to show how great they are doing!

At the end of February I sowed some peppermint seeds in an old yoghurt pot with a transparent lid (great for keeping seeds warm and moist).   They are finally sprouting!  And they are absolutely tiny little seedlings.  Looks like a very small and very cute forest.

So spring has definitely sprung here in Berlin and one thing I love about spring is the abundance of beautiful flowers that you can buy.  I received these tulips as a gift, they are so beautiful and super photogenic.

 

I hope you all enjoy a springful Sunday!

..love..

Succulents and seedlings

My tupperware greenhouse is doing really well already.  My cucumbers are shooting up, tomatoes, beans and peas are also starting to sprout.  Even my papaya seed is opening up revealing a little white shoot.  I took this picture on Saturday.  Today is Monday and everything is even BIGGER!  I guess it has been a really sunny weekend and being inside a tupperware box on a sunny windowsill is perfect for plant seedlings!

view inside the tupperware box on Saturday the 1st of March

 view inside the tupperware box today the 3rd of March

Today I went to visit the Kakteengärtnerei Matk in Lichtenrade, south Berlin.   They specialise in cacti and succulents which they sell to big shops like Bauhaus.  They had a HUGE selection of different cacti and succulents spread out over 5 or 6 large greenhouses.  It was wonderful.  I left with these two beauties.  A Pacchyphytum oviferum and a Sedum pachyphyllum.  They are really beautiful.  I could have left that place with a lot more succulents but I restrained myself.  What I liked about my purchases is that they look like juicy grapes, and I LOVE grapes!

..love..