Katxena's journal
Member since: May 08 | Last seen: Mar 12 | Years gardening: 10 | Organic gardener
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10 Apr 2011
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More seed planting, a bit of a harvest
Tiny Farm gardenI planted a mess of seeds today. I was inspired by Cristyn to try a less structured approach to planting. First, I noticed a few “volunteer” carrots (not really volunteer, they’ve likely sprouted from seeds I scattered last fall), so I sprinkled three kinds of carrots around th...17°C / 62°F -
05 Apr 2011Lettuce 'Really Red Deer Tongue' Sprouting and Microgreens tray #1 garden
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Cloudy 7°C / 45°F -
01 Apr 2011Cress, garden Sprouting, Orach, volunteer Harvesting, and Corn Salad Harvesting
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I just realized that I forgot to enter the greens I hurriedly planted 2 weeks ago, just before I left for vacation. I’ve entered them all now, and some are sprouting. A few days ago, I even harvested some orach microgreens and corn salad for a sammich. Yay spring!5°C / 41°F -
15 Mar 2011African Violet garden , African violet, Pink girl Blooming, and African violet, White and blue Blooming
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3°C / 38°FI have two African Violets that are blooming like crazy today. All my AVs have suddenly perked up a bit — maybe they know it’s spring? I’ve always love the doubled flowers on the pink one. The blue and white one seems to be getting more blue on the flowers as it ages. I don...
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13 Mar 2011Tiny Farm garden and Microgreens tray #1 garden
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A busy couple of hours out in the garden today. First, I emptied my covert compost bin into my Southwest extension bed. It was good stuff. I dug a hole in the Northeast bed and set up the bin there — it will get lots of sun. I’ll keep it there for the season and then empty it again...Sunny 6°C / 42°F -
12 Mar 2011Chives Breaking Dormancy, Garlic Chives Breaking Dormancy, Orach, volunteer Sprouting, Miner's lettuce Spro...
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My chives have broken dormancy (both regular and garlic — looks like the regular have been up for a few weeks and I just never noticed. Mache is doing well, miner’s lettuce has emerged, and I saw some volunteer orach sprouts. No volunteer mustards yet, but it might be time to plant t...8°C / 47°F -
28 Feb 2011Tiny Farm garden
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I have too many seeds. WAY too many seeds. They are a problem to store, and more importantly, a problem to use. I get overwhelmed when I try to find something. So I’ve decided this spring that I’m going to grow microgreens, which I’ve never done before. It will give me a way...Cloudy 7°C / 45°F -
23 Feb 2011
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So — I haven’t updated my journal here for a while. Whew. I’m dusting things off for Spring. I just got two seed orders and entered them all into my stash. Now I’m poking around to see what’s new here.Sunny -1°C / 30°F -
28 Dec 2010Kalanchoe (yellow pot) Blooming and Kalanchoe (clay pot) Blooming
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11°C / 51°F -
21 Aug 2010Squash, Royal Acorn Dying, Squash, zeppelin delicata Dying, Swiss chard, oriole Harvesting, Perpetual spina...
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I think I can’t grow squash. This is the third year I have tried, in two different gardens, and they have all ended in failure. Between the squash bugs, the SVBs and the powdery mildew, they just don’t have a chance, even with supreme efforts from me. I removed the last of my squash...22°C / 72°F -
21 Aug 2010Worm Poo garden and The Worm Factory Harvesting
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I harvested 3 trays from my worm bin. I had 5 trays on the bin at the time — which is the most I’ve ever had at one time. I think the extra trays really are helpful. The lowest tray was very finished and had few worms in it. I found a ton of worm eggs in that level. The next 2 tra...22°C / 72°F -
06 Aug 2010African violet, white
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Sunny 22°C / 71°FMy white AV is doing the best of all of them. It’s potted in a homemade self-wicking pot. This is definitely the way to go for potting AVs. I’m going to transition all the rest to similar pots in a year or two or whenever they need repotting. It’s a nicely formed plant. The ...
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06 Aug 2010African violet, Rose pink with backside surprise and African violet, Pink girl
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Sunny 22°C / 71°FMy two pink AVs are doing ok. Neither one is blooming right now. The one I call “rose pink with backside surprise” is in the first photo. It tends to put out a lot of flowers all at once. They last a while, then die all at once. I would complain except that the foliage is so beaut...
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06 Aug 2010African violet, purple , African violet, purple , and African violet, purple
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Sunny 22°C / 71°FI finally had a chance to take more photos of my African Violets today. My purple/blue AV is doing particularly well. The flowers on this one last a very long time, and the foliage is very even and keeps it’s color well. Sometimes the center gets a bit tight, but when it does, I just stic...
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04 Aug 2010African Violet garden and African violet, White and blue
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Cloudy 29°C / 84°FI need to update my African Violet photos. I started taking pictures of them today at work when my boss walked in my office. He’s an AV lover, so that was ok, but it meant I only got this one photo taken. This AV struggled for a while, losing over half it’s leaves. I thought for su...
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26 Jul 2010Tiny Farm garden
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Once again, my county has issued mandatory water restrictions that restrict outdoor watering. And once again, this is not due to a supply problem, but due to a failure in our infrastructure. This is the third time in 6 weeks this has happened — the first two times were water main breaks, ...Sunny 24°C / 75°F -
23 Jul 2010Squash, zeppelin delicata
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I found another suspicious looking site on my squash last night and cleaned it out. Although I never saw an SVB, I’m pretty confident one was there.34°C / 93°F -
19 Jul 2010Squash, zeppelin delicata
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My theory that late planting would thwart squash vine borers has been proven wrong. My plant is under attack. I’m off to scrounge through cristyn’s journals to see if I can find her instructions for how to cut them out. Since these are grown in a container, and partly trellised, I a...27°C / 80°F -
14 Jul 2010Tiny Farm garden
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My CSA delivered Anuenue Lettuce lettuce this week. It’s starting to bolt, but is very good and flavorful. Keep this in mind as a “summer” lettuce. The CSA does use shade protection.Cloudy 21°C / 70°F -
13 Jul 2010
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My purple ruffles are green -- and other basil news
Frontyard garden , Tiny Farm garden , Basil, Thai "Siam Queen" , Basil, Red Rubin , Basil, holy , Basil, le...My purple ruffles basil is green. I planted 8 or so seeds of this basil, and they’ve all come up green, except for one plant. They also aren’t very ruffled — again, except for one plant. This is totally fine with me, because I planted 3 kinds of purple basil and only 2 kinds o...31°C / 88°F -
12 Jul 2010
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I foliarly fed, then it rained
Frontyard garden and Tiny Farm gardenI mixed up a batch of half-strength fish/seaweed brew and sprayed it on my squash, leafy greens, herbs, onions, rosebush, lavender and lawn*. One hour later it rained. Sigh. *The lawn only got some because I had extra. I hate my lawn and wouldn’t ordinarily treat it this well.31°C / 88°F -
12 Jul 2010African violet, fuscia/purple Dying and African Violet garden
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My purple/fuchsia African violet died. Three weeks ago, I was out of town and asked a coworker to water my violets for me. Two weeks ago, when I got back, I noticed the purple/fuchsia one looked sad, but I figured it just missed me and didn’t pay two much attention. Last week it had not i...31°C / 88°F -
11 Jul 2010Squash, zeppelin delicata Budding
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My delicata squash was planted 2.5 weeks later than the lemon squash I grew in 2008 (I didn’t grow squash in 2009). Although it was planted late due to laziness, I wonder if it’s also saved the plants from squash vine borers. The delicata is a vining winter squash, and the lemon was ...29°C / 84°F -
06 Jul 2010Tiny Farm garden , Frontyard garden , Artichoke, Cal Green Globe (WS) Dying, and Sorrel, red veined Dying
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So we’re in the middle of a heat wave, and our county water commission instituted mandatory water restrictions which meant I could not water outside for 4 days. Something about a weakness in a water main, not even a real break. Temperatures have reached 100F (~38C) and higher, with humidi...Cloudy 27°C / 80°F -
01 Jul 2010Tiny Farm garden and Frontyard garden
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A water main in my county is broken, so we are under a water restriction — for at least 4 days we can’t water outdoors. And there’s no rain in the forecast. I guess I’ll break out the buckets and start saving gray water.Overcast 16°C / 61°F -
06 Jun 2010Bay tree
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Cloudy 22°C / 71°FMy bay tree is doing well. For a while I thought it was stunted and dying after I transplanted it, but now it’s putting on new growth. I can’t decide if I should let it be tree shaped, or if I should pinch it back to make it bushier. The tree option seems prettier, but the bush opt...
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06 Jun 2010Swizzle
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Cloudy 22°C / 71°FThis is Swizzle the Euphorbia. Look at the nubbins on the edge of the plant — I think Swizz is growing new branches. Cool!
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06 Jun 2010Cute Chick
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Cloudy 22°C / 71°FI had this goofy juicer that looked like a frog wearing a sombero. But since I never make juice, I decided to make the base into a planter. I drilled holes in it and planted a hens-n-chickens plant. The hen has been in the planter for 2 years — it stays outdoors year round. In the winte...
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06 Jun 2010
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In which I admit to being behind
Tiny Farm garden , Pea (pot) , Peas (bed) , Pea (shoots, left corner) , Squash, Royal Acorn , Squash, zeppe...24°C / 76°FYesterday I planted my long beans, squash, cucumbers and basil. And by planted, I mean I stuck some seeds in the dirt. I am behind. “Better late than never” is my motto at this point. Things are looking a little rough and bare out in the garden at this point. The main photo shows my...
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28 May 2010Beet, mystery greens Bolting, Corn Salad Seeding, and Corn Salad Dying
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I harvested all my corn salad seeds yesterday, shook them off the plants, and put them in a bowl to dry. I left the bowl by the sink, and a little while later, Mr. Katxena came by and did the dishes — and washed my seeds down the drain. Sigh. In other news, my over wintered betas are sendi...Cloudy 21°C / 69°F -
26 May 2010Peas (bed)
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I noticed this morning that my beautiful peas were looking wilted. I took a closer look and saw that a creature had dug a tunnel under the bed. This afternoon, I found that the pea vines had all snapped in half and fallen over (having gotten too tall for their supports). This fall, I am definit...24°C / 76°F -
19 May 2010The Worm Factory
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The two new trays I ordered for my worm bin arrived today. They fit my Worm Factory just fine. In fact they I was pretty sure they would, but not 100% sure, so it was a relief that they did. So I bowed to the better judgment of the Folia masses and unswitched my worm bin switcharoo. The former...Cloudy 15°C / 59°F -
15 May 2010The Worm Factory
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I’m not very interested in my worm bin these days — it’s doing its thing, and it’s working well. But I have a garden outside to tend to! So I don’t want to mess with the worm bin right now. I needed to harvest a tray, but I don’t want to do it now because I d...Sunny 14°C / 58°F -
13 May 2010Tiny Farm garden , Onions, Top set , Miner's lettuce , Radish, cherry belle , Radish, French breakfast , Ch...
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Last fall, I planted beets, chards, chives, walking onions and bunching onions in the extension I made to my Northeast bed. The idea is that I want the onions and chards/beets to self-seed and take over the bed. They are mostly doing well. The walking onions are starting to make flower buds ...Cloudy 14°C / 57°F -
02 May 2010
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Various milestones for this weekend
Baby plant garden , Tiny Farm garden , Basil, holy Moved, Basil, Siam Queen Moved, Sage, Berggarten Moved, ...29°C / 84°F -
02 May 2010
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"Like sin" doesn't even remotely begin to cover it
Frontyard garden , Pink Rose Fertilising, Artichoke, Cal Green Globe (WS) Fertilising, Lavender, Provence F...I took the lid off of my weed tea and to say that it smelled like sin doesn’t even begin to cover it. Not even remotely. I have no words to describe the stink. Perhaps this small fact will help illustrate — within 2 minutes of taking the lid off, the bucket was swarmed by flies. B...Overcast 29°C / 84°F -
30 Apr 2010Sage, Berggarten Moved, Tiny Farm garden , and Baby plant garden
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I’ve been crazy busy these last few days. I’ve given up hope of having time to do a lot of gardening all at once, so now I’m just trying to do one small thing each day. Last night I planted out my new Berggarten sage. I put it in the same container with my other sages (which a...17°C / 62°F -
29 Apr 2010Baby plant garden , Bay tree Hardening Off, Basil, Thai "Siam Queen" Hardening Off, Basil, holy Hardening O...
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It cracks me up to call this hardening off. The truth is they are dying inside because they aren’t getting any light. So I put all my new plants from the National Arboretum sale out in the front foundation bed this morning — so that they wouldn’t die!13°C / 56°F -
28 Apr 2010Tiny Farm garden and Frontyard garden
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The row covers and buckets are out again — tonight’s low is supposed to be 37F. Another freeze warning has been issued.Sunny 11°C / 52°F -
27 Apr 2010Visited garden
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Sunny 7°C / 44°FI visit the National Cathedral a couple of times a year. It’s a beautiful place. Unfortunately, the Bishop’s Garden has been going downhill. There are fewer types of plants, more uniformity, and the garden seems unkempt (and not in a good way). The greenhouse was closed last year,...
