Been feeling a little down lately about life, friendships in your 40’s, and kids acting all summer crazy, so I had a little therapy today…. any by therapy I mean I got a burr up my rear to go outside in the heat of the day and take care of some garden “projects” that have been piling up, mostly because I lack the effort to put into them and it’s full-blown “Summer in Texas” out there.
The heat and wacky weather have really taken a toll on my veggies, mostly the tomato plants but some of the others as well. Then the spider mites jumped on the bandwagon and I fought that losing battle for a while before I decided to just give up and pull the plants struggling and wait until cooler fall temps to replant a few of them. I have a few tomato plants I’m babying along until fall if I can, and quite a few pepper plants that have just now started somewhat producing.
So out I went and spent 3-4 hours pulling stuff up, fixing beds, planting stuff I had that I kept thinking I should plant but never found time to do it… which led to putting together a new succulent hanging basket for the front, creating a trellis structure for my golden raspberries, a few other general garden/yard/patio clean ups, and then watering it all before collapsing inside like the limp sweaty noodle I was.
But…..
A “few” peppers and pollinator favorites:-)Plumeria “teens”, plus some herbs, peppers, and tomatoesMore Plumeria and SucculentsGone are the plant tents I had my squash and zucchini in to protect them from SVB, but I am still loving this bed and my “young adult” plumeria area!Up against the house for (not shown in this photo lol) added shade from the brutal afternoon sun.
I am SO PLEASED with my work, and even better, too tired to be feeling down and cranky. 🤣🤷♀️ we’re going to be headed to the beach fairly soon so I’m leaving the big bed the way it is, but I plan on converting it (half of it at least) to another Plumeria area for some of the older seedlings. I have several hundred more coming up in the lights inside, so fairly soon I’m going to have to think fast about a solution to keep all these seedlings from going dormant this winter!!! 😳😳 Accepting all thoughts, ideas, and suggestions…. 🤣🤷♀️🤦♀️
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So I’ve gotten way in to this gardening thing, and it’s been going really well! My newest project is starting plants indoors from seed, and I’ve been working on the setup required to do so! As of today I have three varieties of Cauliflower that have already germinated, and two varieties of Plumeria in the seed trays as well!
I started with these Burpee Seed Trays from Amazon, in both the 16ct and 8ct sizes. I originally got all 16ct but then I realized especially with the Plumeria, that I probably didn’t want to start 16 of the same variety at a time, and I didn’t want to combine different plants in the same tray as they’d probably grow at different rates and then the lighting would get all wonky, so back to the store for some smaller trays!
The potting medium I used was recommended to me by a class I took with The Dallas Garden (a GREAT follow if you’re not already doing so!), and so far I’m super happy with the results. It’s the Miracle-Gro Cactus and Palm Mix, which you can pick up readily at any Lowes, Home Depots, or local garden store!
I filled the seed pods with the soil mix, dampened with a bit of water, placed my seeds in each pod, then covered with Vermiculite – I filled the bottom watering trays about 1/4″ deep and put the seed pod tray inside, then placed them under these handy adjustable clip-on grow lights for 12 hours on / 12 hours off (helps that the lights have a timer ha ha ha) – and PRESTO, 4 days later I have 16+ Snow Crown Cauliflower, 8+ Flame Star Cauliflower, and 8+ Lavender Cauliflower seedlings emerging and looking awesome!
Lower the grow lights down to just above the seed pod trays for best results! Not like shown. LOL! I’ve adjusted those now!
If you look closely you can see the tiny seedlings emerging from under the Vermiculite!
This morning, and throughout the day, the seedlings are growing like crazy!!! I took an image this morning with the lights on, and then again this evening with the lights off, and they’ve grown at least 1/4-1/2″ throughout the day! I can’t believe how fast these things are taking off!
Monday 8/1/22 AMMonday 8/1/22 PMMonday 8/1/22 PM
To say I am excited is an understatement! I’ve also been doing a lot of research on growing Plumerias from seed – I’ve been growing Plumeria plants from cuttings for about 12-13 years now and had a TON of success, but I’d love to try getting some seedlings growing. I have a tray of 16 planted in seed cups/soil currently that are a white/yellow mix, and then another tray of 7 that are an orange/yellow mix. The interesting thing about Plumeria seeds is that they have completely different DNA from the parent plants, and so can be completely different colors from the mother from which the seed pod came! Germination can take anywhere from 7 days to 30 days, so it’ll be interesting to see if both the seeds from one of MY seed pods, and also the seeds I ordered on the internet germinate, and if they do, do they germinate at the same rate?
Mother Plant – My Seed Pod =)Mother Plant – Purchased Seeds
Meanwhile, just for grins, I decided to do another experiment with the plumeria seeds which I’ll probably try half/half purchased seeds and my own seeds using hydroponics to grow! I wasn’t quite ready to shell out the big bucks for an Aerogarden, so I did a little digging and found this less pricey option by iDOO.
I’ve seen other growers have great success using one of these, and it has a lot of nice features that I’m looking forward to seeing if they make a difference one way or another. If this works as well as I think it will, I’ll probably go ahead and get a couple more, because I plan on starting a LOT of Plumeria seeds.
That’s your garden update for now! Keep posted, because there should be a lot more updates coming soon as these babies start growing up and the Plumeria plants start sprouting! Happy gardening everyone!!
