Propagating Geraniums or Cloning

With life being what it is lately…as in rather all over the place, I failed to start my pelargonium seeds (aka: zonal geraniums).   So what is a flower lovin gal to do??



Clone what you have…mine are all non-patented from seed so no infringement here.

 The benefit of cloning is you get the exact same plant as the one you love where seeds may have cross pollinated and you never know what a seedling will look like. 
First you start with a nice healthy plant.  I overwintered some of mine in my studio and upper bedroom window. 

Take a cutting from a fresh green branch just below a leaf node. Cut with something clean and very sharp, like a razor or xacto knife. 

See, fresh green branch.



Old crusty branch…this is not what you want..



Make sure you have some potting mix ready to load up your freshly washed and sterilized little pots with.  My mix is half potting soil (Ace brand) and perlite. 



These are 3 inch pots, you can use smaller or even the Jiffy pellets work well, I have heard though I have not tried them personally.

These have all been washed in hot soapy water with a touch of bleach, then rinsed well and air dried.



The cutting should be about 4 or 5 inches long and leave two healthy leaves on them.  When you put the stem into the dirt make sure two leaf nodes are covered by the soil mix.



Water well and press the soil firmly around the cutting.



Put a clear lid on your tray to maintain moisture and keep at a moderate temperature and in bright light.  I have mine in the greenhouse but you can put them under lights in the house as well.

You can also tent clear plastic sheeting over the top, just be sure to prop it up away from the cuttings.  You do want air circulation so don’t seal it.  My domes have little holes in the top for air.

Here is my petunia cuttings done the same way under their clear dome roof under grow lights in my dining room.

Hopefully they are putting down nice strong roots and will grow, and grow.  I will fill my hanging planters and my house will be festooned with lovely bright petunias and pelargoniums all summer long.



And here is my latest work in progress…she will be lovely as can be once I am done. 



Come back to see her all gussied up. So now, I am off to paint signs in the studio, I have quite a few orders to fulfill and need to get to work!

Until next time, I wish you sunny skies and mild temps.

Join Me on My Morning Walk

I will give you fair warning, this post is laden with flower photos.  So if you are hoping for some pithy words of wisdom, forget it! 

If you want a colorful morning in the garden, grab a cuppa and join me for a spell.

I did a post on starting these Delphiniums from seed.  I sent to Dowdeswells for this glorious variety (not available in your ordinary garden center.)

Here are the results. I Love this shade of blue, it pops amongst all its garden comrades.



This next one has the large black bee (center part) and really catches the eye. 



You can see the Delph in the background of this photo of my impressive Warsaw Nike Clematis.

It is the one leaning over way in the back there…



I was pleased to get a white one from my mixed batch of seeds.  The photo is poor, it really is an impressive one.



This is my mid-blue with a white bee, the color is in between the lighter colored one at top and the darker one.  I love the range of blues.  I want to make sure to plant them altogether for an impressive show. 



The lilies are starting, most of mine are a vibrant orange and an orangey red. 





I tried to get an overall shot too. You can see the California Poppies at their feet.  This is the time of year when my garden goes from predominantly purples and pinks to more yellows and oranges.



There is still plenty of pink though…

Rose Campion



This is the Sweet William I mentioned before, with the multicolored blossoms. 



Pink Canterbury bells.  This one surprised me, the parent plant is purple.



Dragons Heart Cranesbill geranium



Oh there is more, but I have to go to work now, and I must get ready to go…so stayed tuned.  I shall share the rest ASAP. 
Ta….

Backwoods Cottage.com

Just checking in.

We had a lovely weekend even if Sunday turned out cloudy and cold. 

Saturday was warm even if the breeze had a coolness to it. That just made it more comfortable to work outside.  I weeded the front flowerbed and decided to plant my broccoli there. It gets great morning sun then when it is hotter in the afternoon it gets the shade.  We shall see how the broccoli plants like it there.  I have a small lot so I must make the best use of space that I can.

This is the before…



Yes, my front yard looks a bit shabby still. 

My husband was helping me Saturday by hauling wheelbarrow loads of compost from one spot to another and he perused the homeliness of this front space and asked with a disdainful curl to his lip, ”Does it always look like this at this time of year or is this year particularly bad?” 

It does look bad this year but you would too if you had 6 feet of snow sitting on top of you for several months!

He is more used to it looking like this, and this is not really up to par. 



This is my broccoli in the ground.  It is small and if the deer will leave it alone it will fill in fast(note hoof print in ground, already, and I am missing a broccoli plant) , also we need the sun to warm back up.  We had starting temps in the mid-30’s this morning…brrr. Last week it stayed in the 40’s at night.



So slowly I am getting the yard tidied.  I cut back my broken down Butterfly Bush, it should recover quite nicely.  My tulips out front are starting to bloom and so are my Hyacinths. 

My tomatoes in the greenhouse are more than ready to be planted, but I must wait until after the 3rd weekend of May.  Our last projected frost date.  Lots of Brandywines, some Marzano’s, Camp Joy cherry and my favorite sauce tomato, Costoluto Genovese.



My English Delphiniums are coming along, I have only lost one seedling and that was my own fault, it dried out and keeled over. 

When I get so many plants going in my greenhouse some get overlooked.  I need to get rid of what I am not keeping then it will be more manageable.  Plus it got fairly warm last week, 2 days it hit 80 degrees here so it really heated up in the greenhouse. 

This is one of the mixed colors but my blue ones I started a couple weeks after these are catching up quickly.



The chicks are getting big, the 4 to the right are the Black Copper Marans and the 2 on the left are the Welsummers.  All lay the darker brown eggs.  I can’t wait until they start to lay to see how dark.  Of course, some of the Black Copper Marans may well be roosters.  I know one is as he is noticeably more aggressive than the others. 



I now have them in the pen with the older hens. I only keep them cordoned off so the big hens do not eat their special food and visa versa. 

You can see the fencing separating them in the background where the green waterer is

I have let the hens out a couple days this last week to forage and scrounge for worms, they love pecking the green sprouts (be gone weeds!) and roaming.  I keep an eye out for local dogs (I need my yard fenced), coyotes or other chicken killin’ critters!

I was thrilled to see that not all my Raspberry Ripple geraniums were taken out by a weird fungus.  This one survived, thankfully.  I love the fun sprinkles on the bloom.



Yesterday afternoon I tested the Chalk Paint I want to use on my potting bench. 

I am painting a sign using the leftover cedar fence boards from building our potting bench and I base painted it with the Old White and some of the Country Gray.
I have to say I am already loving it. 

 Karen at Classic Wall Finishes explained to me that the Chalk Paint weathers beautifully outside with no protective finish, like wax or the varathane I use.  I am anxious to see how that does go.  I will only use the paint on my potting bench with no other product and give it a test run. 

Well, today I need to get all my shopping and errand running done.  I have a large order of signs on my docket and I need some painting supplies.  I need to make out the weeks menu so meals are easy and I can be sure to have all ingredients on hand then the rest of the week I can focus on painting. 

Happy Monday!

To see my signs just click the photo below, it is a link to my website.

Towering Tomatoes

This is the time of year when my seedlings seem to grow faster than I can pot them up.  Thankfully, the weather has been more pleasant making it enjoyable to work in the greenhouse.  More of my tomatoes and some jalapenos were ready for roomier digs so I whipped them out to the greenhouse for some repotting.  This is another batch of Brandywine Heirloom tomatoes, I have a total of nearly 30 of these going now.  And in the background my constant companion on any given day, ice tea.  There was a flash of a glass in my post about painting hydrangeas also.  You will, most likely, catch a glimpse of a tea filled glass in many of my photos.

Here are my Jalapeno plants, I love hot peppers!  I have a batch of Habanero’s growing too but I got some called Zavory that are supposed to be very mild so you can enjoy the Habanero flavor without frying your taste buds off.  As you can see, more than ready for some leg room. (or root room)

I start by putting a quarter inch of perlite in the bottom of the pot to help drainage.

Then a tad of my potting mix (compost, perlite and sand, I am still out of vermiculite), I don’t put much in yet as I want to plant my seedlings deeply. A nice healthy root ball on this one, it goes all the way down in the pot.

I fill it with potting mix up to the rim of the pot.  As you can see most of the stem is in the pot now, the plant will develop roots all along the stem under the potting mix making it a sturdier plant. 

They all get a shot of diluted seaweed water, and though they look a bit shell shocked here I can guarantee you in a day or so they will have shot up quite a bit.

Here is a great post on planting your tomatoes in the garden, she has quite the recipe to put in your planting hole before popping in your tomato plant.  She has 10 foot tall tomato plants so she must be doing something right!
http://www.growbetterveggies.com/growbetterveggies/2011/04/repost-how-i-plant-a-tomato.html
Her recipe:
1.  A fish head (for slow release nitrogen and calcium).
2.  Two handfuls of Sustane 4-6-4 all purpose dry organic fertilizer.
3.  One handful of bone meal (for extra calcium and phosphorus).
4.  Three or four crushed chicken egg shells (for even more calcium).
5.  Two aspirin tablets (for added immunity to disease).
6.  A handful of worm castings (for all around good health).
7.  A tablespoon of humic acid (for stress help).
8.  A teaspoon of mychorrizal fungae sprinkled on the root ball.
For  spacing, depth, and some of the science behind this seeming madness, click through to her full blog post.
 
There are a few things starting to pop up in the greenhouse.  My Echinaceas for one.  I have red, yellow, orange and white ones coming up, they have names like Tomato Soup, Maui Sunshine, Fragrant Angel and Tiki Torch, how fun is that! You can’t start these from seed they are hybrids but they do put out little plantlets at the base you can separate off and pot up or plant around your yard.  I love them, they are hardy in this area.

And this little beauty is blooming away, this is Apple Blossom, a pelargonium or zonal geranium I started from seed last winter.  These are so easy to start from seed. 

I hope you have enjoyed your time in my greenhouse as much as I have!