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..

Scotch bonnet pruning.

Last night I watched a video on how to prune pepper plants, which gave me inspiration on pruning my scotch bonnet plant as it was very tall.  Hopefully it will encourage more growth towards the bottom of the stem.  The middle was looking a little bit bald.

Here are some pictures of all stages of my scotch bonnet plant grown from seed.  Some of these pictures are from 2013.

2013

2013

2013

2014

Before I pruned it.

2014

After i pruned it.

2014

The top bit I have put into a glass of water, maybe it will grow roots!

..love..

Starters and more.

Although I started this blog yesterday I have been taking photos of some of sown seeds before that.  

On the 9th of February I started by sowing chives, spring onions, coriander and putting lemon and papaya seeds in a jar with a moist tissue for germinating.  By the 16th of February the chives, spring onions, and coriander seeds had started sprouting!  The lemon seeds and papaya seeds had started going fuzzy and growing a small layer of mould on them so I wiped the seeds and changed the tissue.

On the 22nd of February I sowed some more seeds.  I sowed cherry tomatoes, kumato tomatoes (seed saved from a store bought kumato), yellow pear tomatoes (seed saved from tomato plant bought in 2013), and salad cucumbers.  These little pots I made from toilet rolls I put into a tupperware box next to some seeds I put in for germinating.  On the moist tissue bed I put bush beans, peas, and sweet pea flowers for germinating.  I put the tupperware box into a really sunny spot in my room and now have to wait to see what happens.  The tupperware box technique has been a success for many years so this will hopefully also be a WIN!

I took a photo of my non-edible plants as well.  (That's a lie, my scotch bonnet is hidden in there)  Look how sunny it is!!!!

To finish off this blog post here is a picture of some leaves from succulents which I collected.  I went to a plant shop and noticed all of these leaves lying on the soil in their plant pots, since I recently learned that one can propagate succulents from their leaves, I decided to take them with me and see if propagation works for me.  I am now letting the ends dry out for a couple of days before I lay them on a soil bed.

I have been reading up about succulent propagation on these two websites, if you're interested you should check them out, they are really wonderful.
http://needlesandleaves.net/blog/2013/5/31/propagating-leggy-succulents
and
http://www.succulentsandsunshine.com/ 

OK then, that's enough for today!

..love..

Here's to a new gardening season!

Welcome to my new blog.  Dedicated to all things green and growing.  I had a successful bedroom gardening season last year (2013) and decided that this year (2014) I would document my growth.  I'd like to throw in that I am really really lucky to live in a 4th floor apartment with south facing bedroom windows which is a definite plus on any gardening venture.

My 2013 Berlin bedroom garden looked like this:

lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers, and scotch bonnet peppers

Hopefully 2014 will similarly bring magical bedroom edibles.  This year I will try growing vegetables that I have never grown before such as beans, peas, lemons, and papayas.  Tomatoes are on the list again.  Cherry, Yellow Pear, Kumato, etc.  I am going to try to keep my tomatoes in check this time round, growing short and bushy instead of having to try and find space and direction for my loooooong tomato stems.  Cucumbers, basil, coriander, and chives are on the list.  Maybe I will have a go at carrots, kohl rabi, and kale for the winter.

I have also got a new found love for succulents, so we'll see what happens there.

Anyway, I cannot promise that all of my conquests will be successful this year, but here goes to trying!  We'll see what happens!

 ..love..