Rain and shine.

- Today is gloomy and rainy, kind of perfect for sitting indoors and writing about things that make me feel warm inside.  I spent my day yesterday reading in the Comenius Garten in Rixdorf, Neukölln.  I was reading, leaning against this statue of Comenius, who was a teacher, educator and writer.  It's really funny that the man who founded this garden and patrols every so often to make sure that nobody is leaving garbage lying around really looks like Comenius.  It's like his ghost is walking around the garden!

The flowers are really blooming in there now, there are all kinds of yellow's, red's, blue's, white's, pink's, and green's around.  Very pretty.

 - My first ripening cucumber!  The last one that I photographed and showed on here shriveled up and fell off.  Now I've got this one which looks like it will go somewhere.

- I haven't talked about my propagating succulents in a long time, so here we go.  As you know I placed the leaves onto a soil bed and little mini succulents started growing out the ends.  I then waited until there was a mini plant on the side to see if I could just rub it off the leaf.  They all just fell of the leaf after they had sucked all the moisture out of it.  And then I finally planted them into an old peanut tin and some normal soil.  Usually succulents have their own soil mix (cactus soil) but I didn't want to have to buy a whole bag of soil.  I am going to keep them on the dry side and not water them too often since there is no drainage in the tin and the soil is pretty absorbent.

- Also, my corn has grown loads already in just a week!  I just hope that they keep growing and bulk out a little bit.  I was told to be careful of them getting leggy, meaning that they don't have enough sunlight and are stretching to where the sun is.  Let's cross our fingers that the growing process will be fine.

- When I was young I got a sprouter either for Christmas or my birthday.  I don't remember which.  Anyway, I was really obsessed with sprouting alfalfa seeds.  I remember vividly taking my purple Hello Kitty lunchbox to school with my supplies for making my sandwiches which were toast, tuna, and alfalfa sprouts.  I can't remember what happened to the sprouter in the end, but I looked online for methods where you don't need a sprouter and found a way of sprouting seeds in jars.  So I tried it with success, and ate my wonderful wonderful alfalfa sprouts last week, on tuna sandwiches of course!

Thanks for reading and have a lovely evening.

..love..

Fruits and shoots.

- This week I ate my first produce of the year.  I finally picked my beans that have been hanging on my bush bean.  They had been hanging there for far too long and were a little bit pale from the sun that had been shining on them, but they were still tasty in my dinner tonight!

- I planted winter portulak/postelein (miner's lettuce for you English speaking folk) and it has been growing steadily.  These are two pictures taken one week apart.

Taken last Sunday the 4th of May.

 Taken today, Sunday the 11th of May.  I had to take this picture from further back because it has become quite dense!

- My lemon seedling is growing more and more!  It has the most luscious dark green waxy leaves.  Luscious!

- Last but not least, I must update you on the corn that I planted last week.  HOLD ONTO YOUR HAIR GUYS...YESTERDAY I DISCOVERED SHOOTS!!!!  They are ACTUALLY growing.  And you might think, well of course they're going to grow, you put them in soil and watered them...but I just find it insane that I've got corn growing in my ROOM.  CORN!  IN MY ROOM!  I shouldn't be too excited yet, you never know what might happen, but EEEEEEK!!!  Three out of the four seeds I've planted are already growing.  Insane.

 There's not much to see yet except the little shoot.  But WOOP THERE IT IS!

And with that I say goodbye and goodnight.  Another week is over with a new one around the corner.  Thanks for reading.

 ..love..

A mish-mash of happenings.

Good day to all.  I will just dive right into this post as it feels like I've got so much to write about today.

 - Let's start with my cucumber plant which has become a bit of a monster.  It has stretched itself over to its neighbouring plant pots and has anchored itself on their support canes.  What a wild thing!  Every day I wake up and take in the wildness of the cucumber and one day about a week ago I was standing there in awe when I discovered a TEENY TINY cucumber hanging off this monster's tentacle!  It is super small and super cute and in that weird cucumber forming stage when the fruit still looks like a very small cactus!

 Please excuse the slight blurriness.

- From cucumber, to basil.  My basil seems like it has resurrected from the dead.  In the winter it just seemed all stick, no leaf and pretty pale.  Recently it has started producing bigger, juicier and greener leaves that smell and taste incredible.  It has made me realise that this Mediterranean plant definitely does need sun and warmth to thrive.  The seed packets speak TRUTH!

 

 - My tomatoes are just growing and growing.  I cannot believe that the kumato tomato seeds that I've planted are doing so well!  I've also noticed how different each type of tomato plant is.  My cherry tomato plants are quite long and have quite a lot of space in between each branch.  Last year i had such a mess of long and winding tomato stems everywhere.  I thought I had done something wrong.  I didn't, it is just the type.  Already on my bigger cherry tomato plant I have pinched out the new shoots at the top in hope that it will start growing outwards and not too far upwards.  My yellow pear tomato plants are looking bushier and lighter in colour than the rest.  Hopefully I will be able to harvest more tomatoes from them this year.  Last year it only produced around 2 or 3 tomatoes.  They were nice but since I wanted to save the seeds I couldn't enjoy them as much.  Lastly, the kumato tomato plants are the darkest of them all in colour of leaves and stem.  They are also getting quite bushy and looking super healthy.  I have quite a few tomato plants already but I would still like to try growing a different type such as tiger stripe or columbiano.  Let's see if I find any.

 Yellow pear on the left and Kumato on the right.  In between the two are my unsuccessful parsley and nasturtium jars.  I think the seeds were just too old.

Here is just a mess of leaves.  My cherry tomato plants are back there somewhere.  The bushy plant in the front is oregano that my grandmother pulled out of her garden and gave me.   

- I finally made it to the Gärten der Welt in Marzahn.  I'd seriously recommend going on a sunny day.  The entrance fee is only 4 Euros and totally worth it.  So first of all it is a HUGE park.  You can sit on the grass, bring a picnic, play frisbee, or bring a blanket and sun yourself.  There is very large hedge maze for getting lost in.  A Chinese tea garden where they serve traditional teas and sweet dumplings by a little lake.  There is a Korean garden with a stream, a humid Balinese garden, a Japanese Zen garden and an Oriental garden.  There are more but these are the ones that I saw.  It was a great day with great company.

I had forgotten how pretty ferns are.

Look at all the shades of red on this Japanese Maple.

It is the season for lilacs.  I had to stop at every tree to smell them.  Last week I was cycling with my grandmother in the south of Germany and whenever we passed a lilac bush we both put our noses up in the air and enjoyed the wonderful scent that when mixed with evening air embodies spring.  I advise you to do the same when you see one.

 Tulips that look like they are blowing in the wind although they're not!

 Tulips that look like they've been salted like a Margarita glass.

- A friend came to see me the other day and she brought me two babies off her cactus that is just growing and growing!

 - In conclusion to this week's monster post, I went to the Plant Market at the Prinzessinnengarten on Moritzplatz on Saturday.  They had loads of exciting seeds and plants to buy there.  There was a lady who had a stall and she had huge jars of corn seeds for sale.  I asked some questions regarding my growing situation and whether or not there are some small corn varieties that don't grow so tall as I am growing in my bedroom.  She said most corn grows pretty tall.  I didn't care.  I bought 4 corn seeds.  I will plant them into my 5 litre buckets and cross my fingers that I will have sweetcorn to eat in autumn!

Look at these buggers!  Not only do they look like really big teeth but they are so beautiful.  I can't stop taking out of the packet and looking at them.  I should plant them quick before I rub them until they break.

So, after this giant essay of a post I'd like to say goodbye, thanks for reading and have a lovely Sunday.

..love..

Flowers are for remembering.

Lots happened last week and with no proper internet access there was no blogging possible.  What I wanted to talk about is death.  What I always like to think about in the event of death is that that little light has burned down but another one gets lit somewhere near or far.  Yes it is a little bit cheesy and sometimes hard to think of it when one is emotional, but it does make me feel better.  What also makes me feel better is stunning sunsets and pretty flowers even if they are linked to going to a graveyard.

Cycling towards a sunset through the woods.

Flowers are for honouring, celebrating and remembering.
Thanks for reading and see you Sunday.
..love..