Propagation efforts and results ( the basics) Dec ,

My broccoli and chard seeds are up in the fish room. Using rainwater greatly speeds germination. I pulled in a bucket of frozen rain water when I started them.

Rain water is really good for growing inside and out. You don't get the build up of lime and calcium on the top of the soil on inside plants, and the nutrients are high. Oona just came out and is beckoning Grandma to pet her, sun is out, it is going to be 40 can't wait!

I'm going out to hopefully move the raised onion bed and put the onions in. but I also have to feed the bees, and that comes first.... Luck! going to be 53 here today

We had a nice rain last Tuesday. Same day California had the mud slides.

Vern and I are still fighting colds/flu. Can't determine which. Had the flu shot but has all the symptoms of the flu. Mild anyway, so that is good.

I have a new garden landscape company starting next week. First they are going to do a major cleanup and then weekly maintenance. Old company stopped doing residential after using them for 12 years. This company will cost more but I will cut back on personal landscape helper.

I took some photos this morning in the front landscape. Had a hummer buzzing me and a butterfly keeping close by. Weather was again beautiful.

First photo is Echeveria. Second ad 4th photo are oxalis. Third photo another Echeveria. Fifth photo is an amaryllis that thinks it is sprig.

Butterfly in the garden. Not quick enough to get the hummingbird.

Las Vegas does have pretty nice weather. Hope you and Vern get well soon Sharon

Very Nice Sharon , Not good on losing personal help but at least you have the help and cold /flu thing is not as bad as critical , Get well , be well , Nice to share the enjoyable garden ,
17 degrees and snow covered here

Hi guys. I have been lurking around in the background, popping in once in a while and enjoying all your posts. Not a lot to post here but today I thought I might share an update of the bones of our 2018 garden that are invading my wifes space in the basement. I have pretty much taken over every square inch of available space between all my coleus and succulent cutting stock and the goldfish.
1) 4 foot shelf above the washer and dryer in the laundry room
2) spare bedroom in basement where 20 of the succulents enjoy the wide window ledge. Of course these are the healthiest of the succulents. A table of taller coleus cutting stock up against the window that are now too tall to fit under any of the lights. A 3 tier 4 foot wide light stand in the background. This is the stand where I start all my seeds in the spring before they get moved to the greenhouse.
4) a closeup of a few of the succulents from the window ledge to give you a better idea of just how healthy they are looking this year

Fish to follow

1) plastic barrel with all the bigger fish squeezed in between the heating oil tank (we heat primarily with wood but have fuel oil as a back up) and the electrical panel.
2) 20 gallon aquarium with smaller fish. You may also remember that my grandkids keep quite a few of the smaller fish at their house. I bought this tank in the fall of 2016 because we had so many new babies that year. It gave me nothing but grief last winter. I lost a whack of the babies. The water was constantly fowled up like gross pea soup. I had to almost weekly dump most of the water and chsnge it. I had it on a dresser in the other spare bedroom in the basement. The dresser had a window behind it. We kept the blind closed but there was always a crack of direct sunlight coming through right onto the tank. After struggling through all last winter I decided that crack of sun must be the culprit so knew I had to try something different this year. In the furnace room there is just a narrow space between the furnace and the back wall where I stack a large pile of kindling for starting the wood furnace. There was nothing above the kindling and this area gets no natural light so I built a heavy duty shelf there last fall. What a difference. I haven't had to change the water all winter and it is always crystal clear

This message was edited Jan 16, 2018 1:45 PM

Ox, you need to get some Campfire Jade. Photo attached.

I agree. Could be like pulling hens teeth to find that around here! LOL

OMG, Sharon! Why did you do that to me? I googled if for more pictures and now I have to have it! Absolutely striking!

Chuckl

hahaha. I'm sticking with my chard and broccoli seedlings for now

Nice bunch of plants and fish, Keith, I love coleus and lost all mine this year, didn't take any cuttings since my mom passed right when the cold front came in.

Beautiful garden shots, Sharon, hope you're on the mend, only time my husband ever had the flu is right after he got the shot, he won't get it anymore.

Looks like we'll see a couple more nights of freezing, Florida looking a bit brown from all this cold weather.

Thanks Sherri. Sorry to hear about your mom.
Keith

Keith, it grows like a weed here in the heat and propagates very easy. I have one flowering. I will see if it sets any seeds. Can plants be mailed from the US to Canada?

Vern and I are finally making the turn. I still break out in a sweat if I do anything so not doing much. Thank goodness I have help with Vern every morning for 3 hours and help at bed time. Dinner is left overs tonight.

Keith, take a look at this one. Aeonium Kiwi.

Seeds can cross borders, plants aren't allowed across. Mine was cold, apparently Dr says the sore mouth/teeth are part of this, but I am clear now.
I really like the coleus, setting my sights on tomatoes, oxheart type. Made it to 33* here, ice melted under the sun freezing or no, but I am dripping faucetts tonite for sure. My daughter saw a white buffalo in Colorado, they are enjoying their vacation. I am enjoying lazing around.

Hi Sharon,
Kitt is right. Plants cant cross the border. Seeds can if you are ordering them through a catalogue seed company, I'm not sure about an individual sending seeds to another individual in an envelope and would rather stay away from that but thanks for the offer. I have the Kiwi Aeonium and it us one if my favorites. In the sun it gets a fair bit of pinky red. Didn't plan on sending pictures when I went in here so hope I selected the right thing from thumbnails. There should be one in the pot below. If not I'll look one up and send it later. Take care of yourselves
Keith

This message was edited Jan 18, 2018 11:46 AM

This is a better one from August of 2016
Keith

I go through that on thumbnails Keith, can't ever tell what I'm sending unless I open the photo file in explorer and view first. I think except for iceplant and autumn sedum all my succulents died. Iceplant is in a pot in the greenhouse and another in the fishroom. Can't kill autumn sedum, it's resprouting in the raised bed, I threw some mulch over it

SO MUCH COLOR!! Hope everyone is on the mend health-wise. My basement garden is hanging in there, even tho I have not spent much time on it. I did lose all my coleus starts, so good job, Keith as always. I'm so tired of winter.
At least I ca get on here and see all your eye candys. Going thru some seeds today, so many to sort, but it needs to be done.

I'm just happy to see green. Waltham Broccoli and Swiss Chard

This message was edited Jan 18, 2018 1:33 PM

Yup, those seedlings are definitely the right colour Gypsi. Curious as to what you are referring to as Autumn Sedum. I googled it and all I got was Autumn Joy and Autumn Fire Sedums. Somehow i doubt these are what you have. Autumn Joy is hardg here.

That is a beautiful one. But mine is different. Mine has silver on the edges you can see on the photo. Not really obvious to the naked eye but probably I do not get down and get close.Keith I think the 3rd one is the same as yours.

This message was edited Jan 18, 2018 4:49 PM

Forth photo is the wrong photo.

awwwww I just love how cute little baby plant seedlings are ...:D

I think Autumn Joy Keith, which would explain why it lived

Yup, your little bit of frost would not have given it much of a shock

Keith, do you know what this one is? I have these two and another that is more yellow.

Yes Sharon, I have one of those on my window ledge in the basement. I believe it to be Senecio Serpens (Blue Chalk Sticks) or something very closely related. Most of my succulents were just labelled as mixed succulents when I bought them or were labelled and I lost labels. So last year I spent a lot of time on Google and believe I gave most of them correctly identified now. I have created a board on my Pinterest account with pictures pasted from their vast file showing their correct name's so that when people ask me "what's that?" if I don't instantly know I can pull out the IPad and get a quick answer as I just did for you. I have also done the same thing for my coleus where I have nearly 40 varieties. That has come in very handy. I have made those 2 boards Private in case somebody gets the idea that I am trying to make claim that the photos are mine and make plagerism issues. So unfortunately I can't suggest to people like yourself to follow me on Pinterest so that you can share those 2 valuable resources.
Keith

Nice collection, Sharon. I just kill succulents. I do like how pretty they are, tho.

Debra the only succulents I seem to be able to keep alive are Autumn Joy and Ice Plant. it is a slow death for the rest.

Thanks Keith, that is what I am trying to do. I have ether lost tags or just bought nameless succulents because I liked what I saw.

Green one is called Senecio Green Fingers. Keith, thanks so much. They do not freeze or miss a beat here whether it is hot or cold.

So I don't have to bring succulents in in winter? I lost my first ice plant leaving it out in the ground so except for the Autumn Joy I've been bringing everything in and kill with whiteflies I think

I do not bring in any succulents. Only plumeria, delonox trees, and tropical hibiscus. Succulents are fine here as long as they do not get wet and cold at the same time.

I tried growing some Senecio serpens a few times here, it did well in the dryer winter months, but once our summer rains came it died. Not many succulents can't take the rain and humidity FL has to offer. Some aloes, Euphorbias, and Sansevierias do very well here. Every Echeveria, sedum or Adeniums I've tried die, so I just admire them in the nurseries now and keep on walking.

Here are some, all taken in mid December, but the Euphorbia in the last photo, the first was taken in August, right before the hurricane, It is so tall and heavy I can't carry it in anymore, the last photo was taken a day ago after many hours in the upper 20's, the branches are not falling from the cold, that was the hurricane that did that, but it still hangs in there.

Nice stuff Sherri. Had no idea growing succulents would be a challenge to so many of you. The only one I've tried and not been successful with is baby toes. They have NO tolerance for getting wet. They turn to mush real fast.

Sansevieria looks so nice outside in the garden. I'm so use to seeing it overgrown and tipping over in a pot in an office somewhere. I wonder if it would do good outside during summer in NJ. I also did not have a lot of luck with those tender succulents here. I do insist they go out for the summer. They looked great for some time but eventually they are attacked by something and all the leaves are marred.