OK, just had to share in the fun,
ELLA DON"T CHOKE!
Dancing is as close as I could get to headbanging, reggae dancing piggies. (Terese, hope you don't mind if I borrowed your chia images ;) )
Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #22
Had I been sipping my tea, I would have choked - LOL! I love it!
Lissa..
Thanks for the warnign swallowe dmy coffee and put my cup down.
Hahahahha that just way to funny. ROLOLOF!!!!!!!!!
Glad ya joine din Lissa.. Don't be afraid to jump in anytime. We all just learnign and sharing here.
Hahahah wil have that imagien all afternon while i finish piggy seeds. heheheheh
And this is what I'm doing instead of taking down lights?
You guys had me chuckling...couldn't seem to help myself.
Ah geez.. what's prepared for second pic. Joked on my coffee and coughign away here. Gues s we all have to start singnign pig-chia. hahahahahahahahahahahah
Hi Just back from Holidays and don't think I will ever get caught up , still reading on thread #21 when I realized there is a # 22.
When I checked in last there was a question on how long it took to let cider turn to vinegar. I asked my Mom she said about 6 months... sooner in the summer hot months and a little more in the winter. If you save the ''mother'' brown stuff at the bottom of the jug and add water (well or distilled) you will get more vinegar in time.
sorry in the long delay in answering
Welcome back gardengus! And thanks for the info on the cider vinegar - apple cider is on my list to pick up this week.
bluespiral, I can always count on you giving me something to think about - Casals and gourds, whould'a thunk it? And as for red things in the garden, don't forget Lobelia cardinalis.
>>don't forget Lobelia cardinalis.
Robin -- my seeds are already sown!! can't wait... i LOVE red.
Great photos. You always make me laugh.
WIB,
SW
NOTICE FOR EVERYBODY IN SWAP
I don't know how to do a group blast so posting this here before I lose power for the day, gettign close to tornadoe winds here.
We have alot of the extra seeds that are all the same. We have enough hyacynith beans for evrybody to have a packet and it the same with some of the other flowers too. Guess everybody pretty much grows the samething. We all just got good taste. : )
I tryign to make sure evrybody has somethign a bit differnt in their extras pile from out of my stashes. You may not get many seeds and some are gonna be so tiny and few that ya will need to be very careful opening them, this way I can make sure everybody has somethign a bit different.
Some of these seeds are not even on the market yet, and not many come in a packet, so if ya only got ten or twenty dust seeds, ya may want to sow them with a bit of sand in the package and scattered out in a small shallow pot or tray.
Also, we got in a few packets of seed that were huge, snack size baggies full, so to giv emore folks vareity have busted them up into small packets too.
Just wanted ya all to know, so that when ya seen a bunch of yoru extras with little just little pieces of index card in them with name ya know what going on.
Thanks Ella. CAN'T WAIT!!!
Hey you, be careful in the storm. I spent my teen years in Iowa and was born in Nebraska. So I, also, know firsthand about tornadoes. SO BE SAFE!!!
Good grief Ella - put those seeds down and make sure you're safe!!
Thanks for the photo Lala, I was sitting here trying to explain a chia pet to my daughter... then I saw your post!
I did it, knuckled down and did the spreadsheet today (still lots of details to go, but the basics are in)! After having it all in black and white, I'm wondering where I am going to put all these beautiful flowers? I have to try them all!!!!
Maybe a pen full of these piggie pots would be appropriate...
What Robin said Star!
LOL glad I could be of some illustrating assistance Kelly. I've not seen chia pets anywhere in years (maybe because I wasn't looking for them?) and didn't even realize they still made them.
I'm finally getting ready to start. Wooohooo. I need a refresher....how long do I want to sterilize my medium? It runs in my mind that it's 20 minutes, but if there's anybody out there handy who knows better please jump in.
I seem to recall a 30 minute nuke in the microwave does the trick, although I've not nuked dirt in my microwave as it's supposed to leave a rather permanent, er, smell.... I think some other folks do a slow bake in their ovens.
Thanks for piping in Robin. I actually kind like the smell. Not "like it" as in I want to take a bite of it, lol, but I think the aroma has one of those association things for me. I like what it means, so I like how it smells....if that makes any sense.
You can find Chia pets at Walgreens Drug Store. I think it would be kind of cool to have a Chia piggy. I had to try it once, only lasted for a short time, but was pretty while it lasted.
Be careful Star, tornadoes scare the squat out of me. I'm a transplanted Oklahoman. I'd rather live through an earthquake than a tornado. Tornadoes are harder on my nerves.
Was just out in my greenhouse. Sad because I lost another tropical, and I may loose DH's African Masks too. : (
My mini roses are blooming though. : )
WIB!
SW
I read somewhere where you can run boiling water through the soil a few times and that should sterilize it, then just drain the water off and cool it.
Been following the posts, and am SO grateful to Star for her herculean efforts.
I scored big time today at the local nursery, I will be picking up my really BIG score tomorrow because it would not fit in my car. I got a potted (in a gorgeous Asian-style large pot) full grown Variegated Ginger (Zinzibar variagatus) that is huge for $50 from our local nursery. It is huge, about 5 feet across and 5 feet high. It should flower with white flowers. Will have to keep it frost-free, but it will go out on my patio in a very neat alcove next to my bay window.
Also got 3 huge tricolor willows for $10 each .
My yard is a blank slate so I am using their sale to help fill in.
GTG, more later
pyromomma,
I'd be jealous if I wasn't so happy for you! : )
It not only should the Ginger look great where you want to put it, but being by the window might give it that little extra help to be happy and frost free. Most of my plants that I moved onto the patio haven't had any frost damage, except last night two got hit hard by the cold temps, and I hadn't covered them. : (
They will come back, as it didn't kill all the leaves, just the ones on one side.
Please send pictures of the Ginger and the tricolor willow, I don't believe I've ever seen a tricolored willow.
WIB,
SW
10 minutes of boiling water sterilizes glass jars, so 10 minutes of steam is my rule of thumb for sterilizing in the microwave, also. I use a big container with a lid, fill with MOIST potting mix and put the lid LOOSELY on top, then nuke on high about 12 minutes until it gets steamy. At that point, the lid goes on and the steam keeps working for 10 minutes until I take the lid off to let it cool down.
I have never noticed a whiff of odor in my microwave after doing this (and I've sterilized lots of potting mix), and the mix itself has a slight scent when warm that quickly dissipates. Sterilizing dirt in the oven, on the other hand, is a different story...
See?? Critter Knows All.
I'm with you on the earthquakes SW - I've been through tornadoes (we won't mention where I was sitting when the first one blew over Mom and Dad's house), hurricanes, horrid thunderstorms, ice storms that required some rather creative driving (in a Pinto, no less), floods, and earthquakes. I base my preference on the simple fact that earthquakes don't give you time to worry your pants off - they just happen and that's it. I much prefer that to sitting in a basement or some other place waiting for Mother Nature to land on you with steel-toed boots!
OK, off to make note of how to sterilize soil in the microwave.... Critter, is that something you covered in one of your articles and I just missed it?
Ok, just checking... I've not heard about sterilizing before... Do you sterilize mix only if you're reusing, or do you need to sterilize new seed starting soiless mix?
See?? And you thought this was just a seed exchange :-) From what I know you should sterilize soil that's previously-used (like spade-fulls out of the garden). Stuff that comes straight from a new bag should be OK. Without sterilization you're prone to nasties, in addition to weeds and such. BUT, I know we'll get more accurate info from others....
I sterilize potting mix for seed starting (even "new" mix in an unopened bag isn't necessarily sterile, and once you open it it's not sterile for sure)... I also usually sterilize mix for propagation and for my African violets. I don't bother sterilizing for winter sowing, and I usually don't sterilize mix when I'm up-potting seedlings, just for seed starting pots/trays. I think it reduces damping off and other issues.
One of my seed starting articles last winter was about preventing damping off. There are instructions about sterilizing potting mix and a number of other tips that might be useful in it.
LOL, Dryad... Critter is learning, at least! And a lot of what I've learned, I read right here on DG. :-)
Ella-I can't find the DC slip-I have no clue where I put it-I will find it-URGH!!! Probably in my piles of seed crap from getting this done-it is a priority shoebox.....I made you something I hope you like and I put the $$ and my list (which I did in a super hurry) on the top-keep any extra $$, I sent enough I think for my postage back to me and to help with any give away postage and some left over for you to hopefully pool with other left overs and get yourself something like some nice plant markers or something.,..Everyone has their own baggie and then there are loose ones in the box.....
The Luna Pink Swirl Hibiscus are the ones that had the bugs-sorry folks who wanted it.
Someone asked for Spooky Dianthus which I couldn't find for the life of me...
Also-I guess somehow I missed a stack of seed packets and forgot to put in the Coreopsis Autumn Blush-sorry folks who asked for this....I spent A LOT of hours on this-at least 100 and well over that many-printed off the packets from DG, cut them out, pasted them together, typed out all the seed info, cut all that out, sorted seeds into packets and then into a bizillion baggies!! I don't know if I can do another one like this-I just don't seem to have the time to pull it off very well.....
Unbelievable the amount of learning there is to do. Good news is, we'll never have to find new hobbies because this one gets old! I may need to see if I can get some extra storage space for my brain though... running out of room for all this good info!
LOL
DH just got a new computer. It has a *terabyte* of storage on its hard drive! (That's 1000 Gigabytes.) I mentioned it to my mom, and she says she wants one like that to connect to her head!
Fairy that's why I had to shut mine off a little early. I was spending 4 and 5 hours a night cleaning, sorting, and making labels. Obviously I enjoyed it 'cause I did the same thing last year too, LOL. But it was getting too close to the holidays and I had to switch my priorities around.
I must have taken Seed Starting 101 from Critter 'cause I seem to do everything just as she does. I also sterilize all seed starting soil regardless of whether or not it's fresh from the bag and I usually try to sterilize my containers with hot bleach water too. But once the seedlings are up they're pretty much on their own. I slap them in a cell pack tucked into some Miracle Grow and just let them do their thing.
LOL, you either took Seed Starting 101 from me or *with* me... those articles are a summary of what I've learned here, plus some of the things I learned from Tom DeBaggio's book. :-)
UGH-I don't care if I see another seed for at least a few weeks!!!;)
Mornign evrybody.. Oh it feels good to be online. Was i a panic. About the time I was gonan tell ya all don't worry, was gonan get off, all the power went and my puter too. Was like noooooo. Was gonan cry if I had blown another modem. Woudl have had to be goig to library for a while. Took abit but finally got it up and runnign this morning. So doign the happy dance.
Fairy.. don't worry about the dc thingy. Just needed to make sure ya was on the way. Don't worry there a few things of mine I can't find. I know they here somewhere , but where, I have no idea, and then it didn't help I dumped a whole cup ofco ffee on some of my seeds I was bagging up and ruined them. No piggy gonan go hungry that for sure.
I knwo when evrybody finally ships out it gona be a day or two before I cna even look into my trough and see what folsk sent me. I see seed all day and night and even in my dreams. LOL
With having double the participants this year at a rough estimate figure between us all we have moved about 7,000 packets of seeds or better and our surviors are gonna be able to rebuild them and their neighbors. Ya all have made seed available to them that they would neve rbe able to afford or get for many many years thanks to yoru generosity to them.
I wanted to participate again in the piggy swap, but mor eimportantly I wanted those in need to be able to rebuild again and have some beauty and joy and hope again in their lives and ya all have made that possible. Ya all helpign them do my favorite saying " You can build bricks from ashes"
Having been in damaged areas and helping and workign with surviors, and even watching my own property beign destroyed years ago, I know how much evry one fo them seeds ya al donated is gonan mean to the folks not only gettign them to grow , but their ability also to be able to grow and share them with other folks and slowly rebuild a community of unity and beauty again. I give ya all big hugs and oodles of thankyou and ya shoudl give yourselves all big hugs and glad to be associated with a gardenign community that has such big hearts as they cna reach out to others in times of need and dispair. Tears of joy and love all goign out with every one of them surviors troughs. Life is good when ya can share your fuits of labor and love with another person.
Soil sterilization. Critter right, the only soil ya really need to sterilize is yoru seed startign mix. Even once ya have sterile soil. It not gon abe long before the bacteria and other bad microbes are gettign right back into the soil. havign sterile soil, gives your seed a chance at better germination and a chance to try and get a root and some stem and some germ fightenign properties built up before the soil attacks the plants again.
There alot of contraversy on which method is best and times and such. Can tell ya all this. Ya don't wantyour soil temps to get higher or lower than 180 F If ya got a cookign thermometor aroudn it good to use it. under 180 F and ya don't kill off the bad microbes. Over 180 F and ya kill off all the good ones. Soil temp is very important.
ya don't want to try adn cook more than two pound sof soil at one time. Too hard to get the temps right.
Think the reason some folks micro for so long is that in a microwave ya need at least 90 seconds at 180 F but ya need to let that soil sit and keep hot for about 20 minutes at that temp.
if ya use a micro and use a microwave container with a vented lid like Critter said ya do better.
here a secret about bleach. When ya cleanign all them used pots to sterilze them. Use cold water, not hot. Nevr wash pots in bleach water in the sun, find a shady place. The sun breaks down the bleach even faster.
Do not do a dish soap bath and then a bleach bath together. the soap leaves a film and the bleach cannot do its work. No need to soak your pot s in bleach water for more than five minutes. After ten minute s your bleach water is no longer effective. Do not rinse pots after bleaching, just let dry naturally. The bleach disapates after a few minutes.
>>DH just got a new computer. It has a *terabyte* of storage on its hard drive!
WOW Jill ... lucky him!!
I'd been watching them [TB drives] as external for a few years now -- thinking... how in the heck... would one fill that up??
I put a 500gb in my machine last summer and have an ext 500 + a 200gb
with back-ups and a lot of images, it does fill up fast.
but Ahhhhhhh, to have a new play toy.... how much fun it that??
KlStauart. Love your little piggy pot. : ) Looks like a happy piggy with them plants in it.
I wish somebody could tell me how to get rid of file son my puter. I runnign out of available space. Everythign was fine til I had to do all that fungal research and stuiff and go to al them sites.
Now when I do a disk clean it says like 4,638,950 for the topic compresse dfiles in disk clean. It won't go away and everyday the total gets biger and bigger. I do disk clean all the time and also defrag too and the numerb still get sbigger and have no idea why or how to get it back down to zero or at least a lower number.
Ella, I found that the Computer Forum on DG is extremely helpful - no matter how stupid the question I ask, they stay with me until I fix whatever it is - and I learn something about computers in the process in spite of myself.
Star -- are you using just the 'disk cleanup' that comes with Windows?
[and yes the Computer Forum is great] http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/computer/all/
I use a free program called Glary Utilities ... it's gets rid of all the 'gunk'
http://www.glaryutilities.com/gu.html
Terese I am wondering if I need anything like that last link. I have no idea what I have my computer bogged down with and am very leary of downloading things. Do you use this often? and for what? Do we need to continue this conversation over on the computer forum or in a D-mail?
Sorry Star for butting in on your problem. Let me say right now that I admire you so much for your generous and caring heart. You also seem to be a very patient person. Best wishes for a much needed rest and I can't wait to read all of your (all Piggies) posts about your seed and eventually lovely flowers.
>>Do we need to continue this conversation over on the computer forum or in a D-mail?
either or.... if you put in in the Computer Forum, others too will jump in... and some of the others are pretty smart/knowledgeable.
but -- i'm pretty fanatical about 'cleaning' [except my house] ... if I'm bored some evening... i clean my computer.
Wait a minnit - now I have to worry about the temp of the soil when sterilizing? And I gotta go bleach containers today, thanks for reminding me.... There's just so much I can cram in this wee noggin - guess I'm with your Mom Critter, I'd LOVE to be able to wire one of those directly to my head!
Star, have you been emptying your Recycle Bin? Things you think you've deleted collect up in there and it's easy to forget to empty it. I'm fighting for space on my computer too because of all the image files from my camera.
I don't want to hijack this much more on computer stuff, but i also got an external hard drive (500 gig) just for pictures. It has made a huge difference. The problem is I have too many programs!
Heard from Lea - she's hanging in there.