Holiday Cactus is blooming!

My Holiday Cactus (Schlumbergera) is blooming for the first time in a couple of years.  This plant has suffered a bit.  I trimmed it way back in the spring, along with my Poinsettia, because neither were looking to good and I wanted to give them a second chance.  Both have responded well.  The Holiday Cactus has spent most of it's time at an East-facing window.  Most water has come straight from the tap without plant food.  Like most of my plants, I don't give it too much attention.  It does, however, benefit from being in a clear pot next to the kitchen sink, so I usually notice when the soil has gone dry.

 

Winter revival

It's nearly the end of the year and I haven't posted to this site in many months.  One of my new year's resolutions is to not let the site fade completely.  I won't make any promises to myself about frequent posting, but I do hope to make it happen a few times in this next year.

Radish Harvest!

OK, it's pretty meagre, but I didn't give many of these plants much chance to stretch out their roots.  The few who had the opportunity didn't disappoint.  They look great, but the real test will come when I taste them tonight.

Graduates

Several of my seedlings are lucky enough to relocate to pots large enough in which to mature.  Unfortunately I have only a few of these and many more seedlings still crammed into ice trays.  Poor planning.  The weather is warm enough that I'm going to risk moving them outdoors without the gradual hardening-off process normally recommended.  If it doesn't work out, I take a different approach with other seedlings.  In fact, I turned on the A/C this week, so it's much warmer outside now than it is indoors.  One large pot contains 4 radish plants, which still might be too cramped.  The other large pots will soon contain single chard, chili pepper and tomato plants.

Too much of a good thing?

As I begin to move some of my seedlings into larger pots, I realize I have so far been more successful than I anticipated.  What I mean to say is that I have too many healthy seedlings and not enough pots.  So, I'm scrambling to find old pots, old yogurt containers and whatever else I can to allow these young plants to continue to grow bigger and stronger.  Also, because these plants are not mature enough to start hardening off outside, I'm also scrambling for more sunny window space.  Not that I'm complaining!  I couldn't be happier with how things are growing and I can only hope this continues into and through the summer.

Signs of Life

I'm happy to say that I've managed to not fail miserably in my first two weeks of vegetable gardening.  The lettuce continues to grow.  The radish seedlings are looking hardy and the tomatoes and chili peppers have even begun to emerge.  I planted some radish, Swiss chard (Bright Lights variety) and spinach seeds in small pots outside (west facing deck) and I've seen the radish seedlings emerging there too, despite the coolness and greater temperature fluctuations.

Unfortunately, I think the basil plant is suffering a little because it's been pushed out of the best light in favor of the new seedlings.  If I'm feeling especially lucky, I might try to plant a curry seed or two soon.

Lettuce continues

My lettuce sprouts are still looking good.  The radishes are also coming up fast.  I'm only beginning to see two tomato sprouts and no peppers.  I planted a few more tomato seeds last night in lighter soil.  I might need to do some more if the first batch doesn't come up.

I'm also enjoying reading Alice Waters' "Vegetables" cookbook for inspiration.

Here are the lettuce sprouts as of this morning.