More Christmas Blooms!

Since I have a lot of orchids, my house is full of many different blooming plants at Christmas time. Orchids are really not that hard to care for and they are so pretty to look at when they bloom! In addition to orchids, cactus is in bloom now too. (You really can't get a more easy-care plant than a cactus - anyone can grow one.)

Here are a few other blooms I have been enjoying this December.

Try your hand at some blooming houseplants! Many don't need much care are are so rewarding to display when they bloom!

'Treating' The Poinsettia Plants - Part 3

I wanted to show you how pretty some of my Poinsettia blooms turned out to be. If you recall, I started the 'turning' process on October 1st. It really does take 60 days to get the beautiful red blooms from the plants when you are treating them at home. Here are the two super big ones. I have been 'turning' these at home for quite a few years and I didn't have any problem 'turning' them to get red blooms. (Light differences are because of the different rooms I placed them in - one gets morning sun and the other gets afternoon sun.)

For the baby ones that were only a year old, I got mixed results. One 'turned', but it took 75 days of treatment. This is entirely too long! If it doesn't turn within 60 days next year, I will toss it and get a new one to try. At this rate, it will be New Year's or beyond before it becomes a full, lovely flowering plant!

The other two.... NOTHING! These plants will be tossed in January. If they won't 'work' for their keep, they can't live at my house!

I have already purchased their replacements! I have two new poinsettia plants in small 4in (10.16 cm) pots. They will go into the bigger pots in January. These two currently are living in my bathroom.

I truly am in awe of God's wonder with this plant! (It is still one of my all time favorites - even if I can't get them all to perform for me!) I am quite happy with my work and the beauty they provide!

If you liked this post, you may also like:

Time to 'Treat' the Poinsettia Plants
'Treating' the Poinsettia Plants - Part 2

The Colder Weather is Coming! Completing Some Pre-Winter Gardening Chores.

I had some chores to do out back and decided to take one of the warm days we had last week to accomplish my end-of-the-year gardening tasks.

It was 75 (23 c) degrees outside late last week and I needed to change the water in our hot tub (I despise doing this in the cold weather and today it is only going to be 61 (16 c) degrees!!! I am glad I did it last week.) While I was waiting for the hot tub to drain, I decided to pick some of the last summer squash (I got 12!) and also wanted to take cuttings from one of my plants that grew too big.

This plant is a frangipani. I got it at the outdoor market in New Orleans 2 weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit there in 2005. It took 11 years to get this big. It is over 6 feet (1.8 m) tall! I no longer have room for it in the house. (It must come inside for the winter where I live.) Time to take cuttings to save for next spring.

Taking cuttings is so easy! Just cut off a piece. I used a hand held saw.

These will stay in the grass until the white milky sap stops running. I am going to leave them there overnight. That is it! Store them in a cool dry place until next spring! (The leaves will drop off as the pieces go dormant.) Then, in the spring, I will replant them to start growing all over again!

FYI - if you live in a sub-tropical climate, they can can be planted outside in your landscaping.

Another pre-winter chore I do every year is to prune the apple trees and grapes. To me, the apple trees are easier than the grapes. As you can see in the first picture posted above, my grapes grow on a trellis. It is quite challenging to figure out which vine to cut! I use the power of prayer to help me decide which of the pieces needs to go!

Here is one of my pruned apple tree. You can see, the pieces I removed are piled in the front of the picture (along with the princess!). I will cut them into smaller pieces and save for kindling for the fire place - they will not be used until next winter - they need a while to dry out. Apple wood makes great soap so I will be saving the ashes from the fireplace! 

Pruning is necessary to make sure that branches do not rub on each other. (That invites diseases.) It also helps the tree to maximize the number of apples you get each year. Pruned trees produce more apples. The last thing I need to do is spray with dormant oil. I will do that when all the leaves fall for the year and the trees are truly dormant. That may not happen until mid December.

The hot tub was draining slowly so while I waited, I also decided to plant a few more bushes in one of the new landscaping areas I created this summer. This area has some encore azaleas (they bloom in the fall as well as the spring) and razzleberri chinense flowering bushes. These things grow 4 to 6 feet tall (1.2 to 1.8 m). They will be perfect to screen the view of the fence! I plan to mulch them tomorrow.

I also harvested some of the carrots and put up my mini greenhouse on one of the raised beds that is growing additional carrots, spinach and peas. This should produce all winter long!

Harvesting Your Own Loofah Sponges

This is the first year I have grown loofah sponges. I have no idea why I haven't done it before, it was so incredibly easy! Really! All I did was plant them in a plastic pot full of potting soil and put the pot in the mulch next to my fence. (I tried planting directly in the soil, but they didn't like my clay soil.) Here is a picture of some gourds left to harvest.

I think I watered them twice all summer - and we had a hot, dry summer! The only time I touched the plant is when it tried to climb the side of my house. I wanted it to stay on the fence so I pulled it off the house and used a twisty tie to secure it to the fence. I literately did nothing else! I planted three seeds and was blessed with 15 gourds that will make a lot of beautiful sponges! In reading about these sponges, I believe if I payed a bit more attention to them I would have gotten even more gourds. Still, if I can plant it and forget it, and still get 15, I consider it a win! Since it was so easy, I think I will plant more next year!

Fall is here and even though the temperature is still in the low 80's, it is time to start harvesting the sponges. I started with the first few gourds the plants produced. They were starting to yellow and dry out, exactly what you want when harvesting the sponge. 

I read that some people wait until the gourd is completely dry before harvesting. In my opinion, that will make it harder to peel. They are supposed to be easier to peel when still slightly moist. When you slightly squeeze it, you should be able to feel that the outer skin has separated from the sponge. Squeeze a bit harder and you will feel a 'gap' before you feel the sponge. 

Here is a picture of the second one I harvested. The first thing you need to do is to press your nail into the skin to create an opening to start the peel. (As you can see, Molly wanted to help!)

Then just peel the skin off. It does have a bit of a slimy feel to it - that is sap. 

Next, shake all the seeds out of it. I just slapped mine against the patio for the first two, but later on I switched to using a bucket (it is faster - just hit the sponge back and forth against the sides of the bucket.)

Now, it is time to clean it to remove the sap. I washed mine in a bucket with some soap, rinsed well and then let it dry in the sun.

You can find videos on the internet that say to soak the sponge in a bleach solution to get it white. I didn't do that - the sun works just fine! In this picture you can see the first one that dried in the sun (on the left) and the second one that I just finished washing (on the right).

I trimmed off the ends of the first sponge to provide some shape, and to size it for using in the shower. Some of the larger sponges that will be harvested next, I will cut up and use to make soap scrubbies for Christmas gifts! 

Stay tuned for that post later in the month!

'Treating' Poinsettia plants, Part 2

It has been one month since I sent my Poinsettia plants to 'treatment' to turn them red for Christmas. I thought I would provide an update on how they are doing. (If you want to read the original post, you can see that here.)

Some are doing quite well and others need more time in the darkness. It takes a few days to remember to consistently open the blinds in the morning and then shut them (as well as the door to the room) at night. I have been so busy in the garden that for the first two weeks, my application of their 'treatment' was spotty to say the least! I ended up putting a note on my refrigerator to remind myself both in the morning and at night. It has worked, and the last two weeks of the month I was much more consistent with the 'treatment'.

So this is what my plants look like now. These two plants are older. (This isn't their first time at the rodeo.) They 'get' what they are supposed to do; so (for me) older plants are always much easier to turn.

These three are baby plants from 4 inch pots last Christmas. I re-potted them this summer and they grew like weeds! It is their first time 'turning' in a home environment. They are still confused and don't quite understand what they are supposed to do (yet).

I am sure by November 15th or so, they too will start to turn red!

Look what I picked!

While fall is definitely here, fall in the south is comparable to summer temperatures in the upper north. It is in the low 80's with plenty of sunshine and night temperatures in the high 50's/ low 60's. My tomatoes and squash are still going strong!

Here is what I picked this week:

My lemons on my lemon tree finally started to ripen! I still have quite a few left on the tree that are somewhat green. I am going to make old fashioned lemonade with these!

I am thrilled with the Italian summer squash I planted this year. I am up to 100 squash harvested so far, including these.

This is the second picking I had from the chili peppers. There are tons more green ones! I expect I will pick these until the first frost (probably sometime in November). The green ones in the bowl below fell off when I touched them; I will set them aside to ripen.

Carrots are doing great, and the peas and garlic are up too. (Pictures next time.) The broccoli didn't germinate, I think the seeds were too old. I will go out this week and get some new ones at the store.

I do love fall in the south! This is the best time of year to plant bushes and trees. I plan on planting two more blueberry bushes before the month is over!

Time to 'Treat' the Poinsettia Plants

Do you throw out your Christmas Poinsettia plants each January? It isn't necessary, and purchasing new ones each year costs a lot of money. Also, they are not a short lived gift plant. Instead, they will last years and years if treated like a normal house plant. I have some that are years and years old. I also have some that are as young as three years old. 

The red leaves will last until about May if the plant is kept in bright light. I love the look of Poinsettia plants and enjoy looking at their red leaves all winter and spring. When the days get longer in late spring/early summer, the red leaves will drop off and the plant will start to grow new stems. (You can transplant into a bigger pot at this time if you wish.) Since this is the time the plant will grow, it will need fertilizer through the end of September. Here is one of mine. I transplanted it into a new pot in May and it lives in my bathroom.

Here is another one. This one did not loose all of it's red leaves this summer. It is in the same pot from last year.

I want them to be red for Christmas this year. So, to turn these red myself, I will 'treat' them with a forced dark period. It is super easy to do!  It takes approximately one minute per day. If you do some research on the internet, you will find that most articles will say you only need to treat them to a forced dark period for two weeks to get them to turn red. That may be true if you own a greenhouse with computerized light switches that allow you complete control over the light. When treating them in a home environment, my experience over the years is this treatment needs to continue for 60 days. However, since it only takes 1 minute per day, it is not a big effort at all.

So the first thing I do is move them to a room that will not be used at night. This is the hard part. Who wants to live in a house with rooms that are closed off at night? So, if like me, you don't really have a spot that meets that requirement, use a room that gets the least amount of use after the sun goes down. I put my plants in my guest bedroom.

Treatment takes 30 seconds at night and another 30 seconds in the morning. When the sun goes down, turn off all lights in the room and close the blinds. Shutting the blinds is necessary so the moon and/or streetlights do not shine on the plants all night. Then, as you exit the room, shut the door. This is also necessary to block the lights in the rest of the house from reaching the plants. If you need to go into that room and turn on the light later in the evening, so be it. Just be sure to turn off the light and shut the door when you leave. These 'interruptions' of light during the dark treatment is why it takes 60 days to turn the plants red in a home environment. If you can be really disciplined and completely block off a room that will not be used at night, you can reduce the number of days the plants needs the forced dark treatment.

I have noticed over the years, that the red Poinsettias are the easiest to turn. White, pink and other variations, don't do as well for me.  If I want a Poinsettia plant that is another color, I will purchase a little one at Christmas time to enjoy that color. I still keep it for a few years and give it my forced dark treatment, but my results have been less then satisfactory in getting them to turn colors. Those plants I tend to eventually toss out.

When Christmas time come this year, consider keeping your Poinsettias as full time houseplants. Turning them red for the next year, is definitely doable! No special skills or equipment needed! 

I will be sure to post updates as we get closer to Christmas so you can see the results!

Still Harvesting the Summer Crops

Although I am moving somewhat slower right now.  For the third time in my life, I have the chicken pox. (After the first time, the disease is called Shingles.)  I even got the Shingles shot!  I think this is something that is going to plague me every few years for the rest of my life!

While it was cooler out this morning, I did manage to pick the cotton. It is not all ready yet, I still have quite a few bolls that have not opened. I grew second generation hybrid white cotton and heirloom brown cotton.

Since the two varieties were right next to each other, they cross pollinated. I am going to save these seeds and plant them next year. I am not sure what color cotton I will get next year!

I also started to harvest the peanuts. I harvest by hand. This is a slow process under normal circumstances. With me being sick, it is twice as slow. 

It is important to loosen the soil before you pull the plant. (It is very easy to leave some peanuts in the ground if you don't.) After all the plants have been harvested, it is important to turn over the soil a few times to look for stray peanuts. No matter how long I look, I always have some that I missed come up in the spring!

Most of the peanuts clump at the roots.

However, they also grow along the plant stems as well.

Peanuts will continue to grow as long as the plant is in the ground. The key is to pick a time where many of the first peanuts that formed in late spring don't germinate themselves and make new plants, yet give enough time for many of the later formed peanuts to fully develop. For me that is somewhere between September 15 and October 1st. So far, I have only seen a few peanuts germinate to make new plants. This means I should be maximizing how many I get. Only pulled up one three foot row so far and filled the bottom of the bucket.

I am going to juice some more apples this afternoon and go back to pull up additional peanuts later when the sun is gone. Sweating with a chicken pox rash is very uncomfortable!

Look What I Picked Today!

I believe it is time to start making tomato sauce!

These won't last long, we will have them for dinner soon!

The corn has a lot more drying to do.  I have given up my dining room table until they are ready to store. I got 42 full ears and about 10 more half ears. (The half ears did not have full pollination.) Most of this will be popped for popcorn.  The rest will be used to make cornmeal (my husband loves cornbread).

The cotton looks really good! Not all the bolls have opened yet, but you can see some at the bottom that have opened. I haven't picked any yet but will before the week is over. (I will write a series of posts on how to turn it into yarn once I have picked enough.)

I I also picked 7 summer squash. (I forgot to take a picture before I cut them up to dry.)

In addition, I have started the fall garden.  Where the corn was, I have planted carrots. I will put the peas in soon.  When the green beans are finished, I will put in garlic and onions too.

Harvesting Is In High Gear!

Harvesting is is high gear this time of year and I am right in the middle of it! I have canned every day (except Sunday) for the last two weeks!  Mostly I have canned green beans and apple juice. I have also dehydrated quite a bit of summer squash. The tomatoes are starting to ripen now as well but I don't have enough to make sauce (yet!)  

However, I have been preparing to make sauce. Part of that preparation is to harvest and dry the Italian herbs that truly makes the sauce special. I have done a lot of that the past two weeks as well. While I have a dehydrator, I don't use it for herbs. I do like drying herbs in the microwave, but I don't have one (well, I don't have a working microwave - and haven't for over two years).

So, instead of using electricity to dry herbs, I do it the old fashioned way! I gather the herbs and dry them in a brown paper bag.

In this picture I have thyme, oregano, sage. I also harvested basil but it isn't in the picture.

The first thing I do is tie the herbs in bunches.

Then put them in the paper bag. Sometimes I just staple them to the bag and sometimes I will tie them to the bag. If I get too many bags, I like to tie them so I can hang them up, out of the way. In this picture, I used a staple.  

They should not take more than a few weeks to dry. I fully expect they will be dry when I have enough tomatoes for sauce. They do make the house smell wonderful!

Links to a Few Other Gardening Articles I Wrote

The last two weeks in July, I wrote three gardening articles for another web site, The SurvivalistBlog.net. The SurvivalistBlog.net is a preparedness web site that has lots of good information on how to be prepared for emergencies. (While I also cover preparing for emergencies, MD Creekmore's site is devoted 100% to preparing for all types of emergencies.)

He sponsors a writing contest and encourages others to write articles for his site. As a guest writer, I entered his contest with my three gardening articles as my entries.  And the surprise of all surprises is I won!

I will write reviews of some of the prizes I won in the month of September. Today, I would like to provide you the opportunity to read the articles.  Here were my entries:

• Combating Fungus Problems on Fruit Trees
• Saving Seeds: A Different Point of View
• Practicing Survival Gardening

Enjoy!

A Tour of This Year's Garden, Part II

I started a tour of this year's garden a week and a half ago, so I thought I would show you the rest today.

The cotton is doing beautifully.  The only problem is I didn't plant enough.  I think next year I will not put in peanuts and plant that area in cotton as well.

Here is a closer look at some of the bolls.

The peanuts are right next to the cotton.  I expect a bumper crop this year.

Here is a look at my apple trees.  The baby tree in front is a Gala (my favorite!) My husband is training it to be in an open 'V' shape. The tree way in the back is a red delicious.  Those apples are not ripe yet, all the rest have been picked. Most will be made into apple juice because that is what I am short of in the pantry.  The rest will be made into applesauce. (I tried a few times to get Molly to move out of the way - and she did because she is a good girl! - but kept going back to this spot to lie down. So, she is is the picture too.)

Even with the heat, I am still getting strawberries (although they are small). 

When the fall comes these ever-bearing plants will pick up the production and make some BIG berries!

I picked most of the purple grapes, although there are still a few more on the vine that need to ripen. I expect to make two gallons of juice from them when everything is done. Tomatoes are also starting to turn red so I expect to be making and canning tomato sauce before the month is over as well!

The only other veggie growing in my garden this year is chili peppers. These are grown for insecticide - we don't eat them. I used so much chili pepper powder on the peanuts and corn while they were germinating that I am quite low on my stash. So, this year I planted twice as many plants (6 total). There isn't anything to see on those yet, none of them are ripe. I will take a picture when I pick some.

Boy, I wish my yard was bigger!  I would definitely grow more.  It is a good feeling to grow and can your own food!  And in my opinion, it is frugal living at its best!

Making and Canning Grape Juice

The grapes are finally ripe and I started picking them to make juice. I  have been looking forward to this grape juice all year! It tastes nothing like store bought! I picked all the white grapes and will get started on the purple ones soon.

Last year I bought a NORPRO Juicer/Steamer. This is so much easier then using a jelly bag to strain the juice! Just wash the grapes and add to the steamer, 1 hour later you have juice.

I also purchased a gas cooker because I wanted to do the majority of the food processing this year outside (without electricity). However, this summer we have had too many days with 100 degree heat index. I decided to process and can the grapes inside.

Canning juice is quite simple too! Start by heating clean jars.

Then, heat the juice.

When the juice reaches 190 degrees (87 C), hold that temperature for five minutes. Then, ladle the hot juice into the hot jars.

Add a lid. (The lids should be heated too.)

Add a band to finger tip tight.

Process according to your geographic location.  (Process times are longer for higher elevations.) 

If you are new to canning, I recommend the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. It will give you all the information you need about how to process foods in both hot water bath canning and pressure canning. You can also see more information here in another post I wrote Canning the Summer Harvest.

The white grapes gave me five gallons of juice! God has certainly blessed me with a bountiful harvest!