Crazy Plant Lady
Feb. 25th, 2021 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39Well first the exciting news.
On February 21st around 1:30pm California time, my sister Kayle had a beautiful baby boy!!
He is my new nephew, and his name is Drexel.
Isn't he cute?? I mean, all babies look little and pink. But this one's my nephew so, cute.
Giving birth is mind-boggling. I can't believe she's done it twice now.
I hope everyone stays healthy and happy. My parents were able to be there in person for the birth, although they likely won't be able to hold the baby or anything. Eventually I'm sure they'll get to. I'm very happy for everyone and sad that I couldn't be there too.
My younger sister is due in June for her first baby, also a boy. I'm really hoping to at least be in the area for that birth, and to be a source of support or whatever is needed.
As for my life, it's still boring. No cute babies here, just one very depressed adult and one very lost adult trapped in covid purgatory like everyone else.
Jameson has started rehearsals for a musical with Encore, a local group of entertainers associated with Disney who like to put on their own shows. He doesn't have a lot of confidence right now, but I'm really hoping that getting out of the house, socializing, and getting to express himself a bit will bring him some joy.
My spring garden is established and the last few plants are trickling in.
I thought it would be fun to list all of the plants that I have currently. There are between 30-40 plants in total, although around a third of those are just veggies that will be eaten and another quarter or so are just meant to be incorporated into nature, used by pollinators and more or less ignored by me. Here we go...
Veggies and herbs that I am growing from seed this year include
Right?
I have guilt lately about how many plants I have, for someone who doesn't have a yard. I shouldn't have guilt. But I do. I should save for the cost of steno school and equipment. I should buy my sister's children presents. I should use that money for home repairs.
But I wanted plants.
I wish material things didn't cause me such guilt. I took a whole bunch of stuff to the thrift store recently because all the Christmas and birthday presents made me feel like I had too much. The truth is, I hate too many personal belongings. I hate having more than can fit in my car.
I guess that's a topic for my therapist. If I ever afford one instead of buying plants.
Part of the adventure of getting these new plants is the fact that many of them can't just be bought at a hardware store. You've got to troll plant forums on facebook and reddit, and find individuals who grew their plants from cuttings or who are running amateur greenhouses or citrus farms from their backyards. Last year I got my passiflora and vanilla orchid from Crowley's Nursery, which was a magical jungle hidden away near Tampa. This year I got the java banana from some random dude in the middle of nowhere St. Cloud, and the black sapote from the most adorable family I have ever seen. I drove through a shady trailer park, and their lot was at the very end of it, guarded by this massive gorgeous tree.
There were chickens running everywhere, a lovely barrel fire going, and a huge variety of fruit and nut trees everywhere you looked. To be honest, crummy trailer park aside, this was just the kind of land I'd love to end up living on...backed up to some gorgeous woods, huge old trees and vines, loads of rich earth for planting and space for just existing alongside nature. I wonder if I'll ever get to enjoy that, or if I'll have to wait for another life.
Well, I picked a smallish black sapote and regretfully left that beautiful family and their beautiful plants behind.
They had white sapotes too, maybe I'll be back for one of those someday.
The finger lime arrived Tuesday night while I was in steno class.
It was taller than I expected, and covered with wicked-looking thorns. Cool!
On Wednesday I spent a solid two hours working on the garden. Mostly everyone needed to be watered. The bananas needed to be fertilized, and I also tried out the fish/seaweed micronutrient blend on pretty much all of my plants. It smells nasty but supposedly plants love it.
The big project was getting the black sapote, finger lime, and meyer lemon all repotted to a nice set of matching pots I found at At Home, which is a home furnishings store. Here is the before and after.
This hawk has been hanging around our yard lately. I've seen mice or voles or something in the underbrush occasionally so I'm not surprised. He seems to be examining my new plants.
Here are the thorns on the finger lime. Cool, right? They're on the branches AND the trunk!
I made the mistake of putting packing peanuts in the bottoms of two of these pots. Why, because the internet suggested it. But apparently my packing peanuts are biodegradable, so as soon as I watered the plants, the peanuts dissolved and the plants sank! It's not a huge deal, but I'm going to have to buy more soil at some point. Sigh. There's always something.
I was going to post updates on every single plant, but that would be tons of pictures. So instead I'll just share highlights.
The passion fruit vine has nearly doubled in size, and the new growth has potential buds! I'm really hoping for flowers this year!
The vanilla looks sickly, but it's still alive so I'm doing the best I can for it. I gave it orchid fertilizer and will help it as much as I can.
The milkweed and pentas are starting to bloom in the pollinator garden. The pipevine is badly frostburned but it has new growth so I'm hopeful for it.
One of the java bananas has frost burn, the other does not. They both have new growth and I think they'll be fine as long as the conditions are to their liking.
I don't think my pretty Thai basil bush will come back, but I'm keeping an eye out for seedlings as it did drop a lot of seeds.
The cranberry hibiscus looks crummy but it's flowering.
The thyme and dill look great. Most of the seeds I've planted haven't sprouted yet, just the radishes (they're always quick to come up first and steal sunlight and nutrients from everyone else haha). The tomato and jalapeno have both grown visibly even though I just planted them last week.
The carnivorous plants are doing well, although I'm still stumped about why the trumpet pitchers are doing so poorly. I thought they needed the same things as the others, but maybe not.
The sundew seems very pleased with its environment and is always putting out beautiful, glittering droplets of deadly sticky saliva.
The butterwort looks absolutely gorgeous, downright cute. It has started producing a flower.
The Meyer lemon has a lot of blossoms and smells fantastic. This time last year it already had tiny little lemons growing, so we're behind by about 1.5 months this year, but that's ok. It's such a small little tree, I'm sure growing takes a lot of energy.
When I was done planting cleanup seemed to take forever. Eventually I got cleaned up and ate lunch, had a little break, then got started on this week's loaf of bread from the Bread Baking for Beginners book: "panned loaf". It's just a plain loaf of white bread with an egg wash. Up until now I've been adding a little white wheat flour into all of my loaves, just to get rid of it so I could have room for a full bag of all-purpose flour. This time I followed the recipe exactly, using entirely all-purpose flour, measuring all of the ingredients carefully, and proofing for the exact times described.
Well, except for the second proof. The instructions stated very clearly to proof ONLY until the dough "mushroomed" over the top of the bread pan, "about 1 hour 30 minutes". Well, by that time I had started cooking dinner and the kitchen was four degrees hotter, and when I checked the dough after an hour it was 1" above the edge of the pan. I decided to end the second proof 30 minutes early, which apparently was a mistake as my bread split along the side. It also shrank and crackled a little, but from what I've seen online that is not necessarily due to anything I did wrong, it just happens sometimes due to moisture in the loaf. The crumb seems very uniform to me, and the bread is light and fluffy and tastes very good indeed. So even though I'm STILL not proofing correctly, I'll call this a success. Yay! Better proofing will come with time.
We had "smashed" hamburgers and air fryer zucchini fries for dinner, then Jameson gamed with friends while I cleaned up and wrote to one of my circus friends.
On Thursday I woke up around 9 because Jameson's alarm went off, he has a lot to do today including a photoshoot for one of his bands. He's very self-conscious and self-depreciating lately so he doesn't want to go. I wish my saying, "You're very handsome!" were enough. But some things need to come from the inside. I'm speaking from experience there too.
While he was grading assignments I had a nice slow breakfast, did my meal prep, and dropped some more seeds in the planter because I just can't believe none of the other seeds have come up after a week and it makes me think something went wrong. If too many things sprout I can always pull them. Then I weeded the pool deck and had lunch, savoring a cup of real matcha tea with pea milk, courtesy my sister Kayle.
Next I got to work making a batch of caramel for my coworkers as they've been reminding me that I promised to make a batch just for them :P
The caramels came out well, that recipe is THE BEST. I still want them chewier, but that's a personal preference thing. I want, like, the texture of a cowtail, but I'm not sure that's achievable with home caramels. I'll just keep increasing the final temperature by two degrees each time until it works or I end up with rock candy.
For dinner I made chicken souvlaki, which was supposed to be on skewers but I'm lazy and unless we're actually eating outdoors what the hell is the point of the skewer? Served with lemon orzo rice that turned out way stickier than intended, and a simple salad tossed in red wine vinegar that saved the day with its zing.
After dinner and cleaning up, I started cutting up the caramels but ran out of time before steno class started.
Class was ok, we all got admonished for not doing enough practice, which is fair. Honestly though, to do what they want I'd have to put in two hours per day. I could do more than that on weekends I guess but then that would take away from my cleaning, cooking, baking, and gardening. Those things are important to me, for sanity purposes. I'm going to do the best I can to do more on weekdays and all days, but I'm not going to give up the only time I have for a few hours of personal enjoyment (and necessary chores).
Anyway, after class Jameson had his first-ever D&D game with some friends! I had promised to pop my head in but felt strangely shy, so just listened to what he was doing. It sounded fun! Maybe next time I'll actually watch what he's doing for a while.
Back to work.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention! I saw my first butterfly of the year on my milkweed, and it was a monarch!
Last year I only saw one monarch the whole year. Maybe it's a good sign.
On February 21st around 1:30pm California time, my sister Kayle had a beautiful baby boy!!
He is my new nephew, and his name is Drexel.
Isn't he cute?? I mean, all babies look little and pink. But this one's my nephew so, cute.
Giving birth is mind-boggling. I can't believe she's done it twice now.
I hope everyone stays healthy and happy. My parents were able to be there in person for the birth, although they likely won't be able to hold the baby or anything. Eventually I'm sure they'll get to. I'm very happy for everyone and sad that I couldn't be there too.
My younger sister is due in June for her first baby, also a boy. I'm really hoping to at least be in the area for that birth, and to be a source of support or whatever is needed.
As for my life, it's still boring. No cute babies here, just one very depressed adult and one very lost adult trapped in covid purgatory like everyone else.
Jameson has started rehearsals for a musical with Encore, a local group of entertainers associated with Disney who like to put on their own shows. He doesn't have a lot of confidence right now, but I'm really hoping that getting out of the house, socializing, and getting to express himself a bit will bring him some joy.
My spring garden is established and the last few plants are trickling in.
I thought it would be fun to list all of the plants that I have currently. There are between 30-40 plants in total, although around a third of those are just veggies that will be eaten and another quarter or so are just meant to be incorporated into nature, used by pollinators and more or less ignored by me. Here we go...
Veggies and herbs that I am growing from seed this year include
- radishes
- carrots
- beets
- lettuce
- chives
- basil
- "better boy" tomato
- jalapeno
- dill
- strawberry
- Meyer lemon
- mint
- thyme
- milkweed
- pentas
- bulbine
- blue daze
- pipevine
- passiflora
- cranberry hibiscus
- vanilla orchid
- venus flytrap
- butterwort
- sundew
- trumpet pitchers
- snake plant
- philodendrons
- the Rick and Morty Chia Pet that Jameson got me
- java banana
- black sapote
- roselle
- finger lime
- possibly morning glories
Right?
I have guilt lately about how many plants I have, for someone who doesn't have a yard. I shouldn't have guilt. But I do. I should save for the cost of steno school and equipment. I should buy my sister's children presents. I should use that money for home repairs.
But I wanted plants.
I wish material things didn't cause me such guilt. I took a whole bunch of stuff to the thrift store recently because all the Christmas and birthday presents made me feel like I had too much. The truth is, I hate too many personal belongings. I hate having more than can fit in my car.
I guess that's a topic for my therapist. If I ever afford one instead of buying plants.
Part of the adventure of getting these new plants is the fact that many of them can't just be bought at a hardware store. You've got to troll plant forums on facebook and reddit, and find individuals who grew their plants from cuttings or who are running amateur greenhouses or citrus farms from their backyards. Last year I got my passiflora and vanilla orchid from Crowley's Nursery, which was a magical jungle hidden away near Tampa. This year I got the java banana from some random dude in the middle of nowhere St. Cloud, and the black sapote from the most adorable family I have ever seen. I drove through a shady trailer park, and their lot was at the very end of it, guarded by this massive gorgeous tree.
There were chickens running everywhere, a lovely barrel fire going, and a huge variety of fruit and nut trees everywhere you looked. To be honest, crummy trailer park aside, this was just the kind of land I'd love to end up living on...backed up to some gorgeous woods, huge old trees and vines, loads of rich earth for planting and space for just existing alongside nature. I wonder if I'll ever get to enjoy that, or if I'll have to wait for another life.
Well, I picked a smallish black sapote and regretfully left that beautiful family and their beautiful plants behind.
They had white sapotes too, maybe I'll be back for one of those someday.
The finger lime arrived Tuesday night while I was in steno class.
It was taller than I expected, and covered with wicked-looking thorns. Cool!
On Wednesday I spent a solid two hours working on the garden. Mostly everyone needed to be watered. The bananas needed to be fertilized, and I also tried out the fish/seaweed micronutrient blend on pretty much all of my plants. It smells nasty but supposedly plants love it.
The big project was getting the black sapote, finger lime, and meyer lemon all repotted to a nice set of matching pots I found at At Home, which is a home furnishings store. Here is the before and after.
This hawk has been hanging around our yard lately. I've seen mice or voles or something in the underbrush occasionally so I'm not surprised. He seems to be examining my new plants.
Here are the thorns on the finger lime. Cool, right? They're on the branches AND the trunk!
I made the mistake of putting packing peanuts in the bottoms of two of these pots. Why, because the internet suggested it. But apparently my packing peanuts are biodegradable, so as soon as I watered the plants, the peanuts dissolved and the plants sank! It's not a huge deal, but I'm going to have to buy more soil at some point. Sigh. There's always something.
I was going to post updates on every single plant, but that would be tons of pictures. So instead I'll just share highlights.
The passion fruit vine has nearly doubled in size, and the new growth has potential buds! I'm really hoping for flowers this year!
The vanilla looks sickly, but it's still alive so I'm doing the best I can for it. I gave it orchid fertilizer and will help it as much as I can.
The milkweed and pentas are starting to bloom in the pollinator garden. The pipevine is badly frostburned but it has new growth so I'm hopeful for it.
One of the java bananas has frost burn, the other does not. They both have new growth and I think they'll be fine as long as the conditions are to their liking.
I don't think my pretty Thai basil bush will come back, but I'm keeping an eye out for seedlings as it did drop a lot of seeds.
The cranberry hibiscus looks crummy but it's flowering.
The thyme and dill look great. Most of the seeds I've planted haven't sprouted yet, just the radishes (they're always quick to come up first and steal sunlight and nutrients from everyone else haha). The tomato and jalapeno have both grown visibly even though I just planted them last week.
The carnivorous plants are doing well, although I'm still stumped about why the trumpet pitchers are doing so poorly. I thought they needed the same things as the others, but maybe not.
The sundew seems very pleased with its environment and is always putting out beautiful, glittering droplets of deadly sticky saliva.
The butterwort looks absolutely gorgeous, downright cute. It has started producing a flower.
The Meyer lemon has a lot of blossoms and smells fantastic. This time last year it already had tiny little lemons growing, so we're behind by about 1.5 months this year, but that's ok. It's such a small little tree, I'm sure growing takes a lot of energy.
When I was done planting cleanup seemed to take forever. Eventually I got cleaned up and ate lunch, had a little break, then got started on this week's loaf of bread from the Bread Baking for Beginners book: "panned loaf". It's just a plain loaf of white bread with an egg wash. Up until now I've been adding a little white wheat flour into all of my loaves, just to get rid of it so I could have room for a full bag of all-purpose flour. This time I followed the recipe exactly, using entirely all-purpose flour, measuring all of the ingredients carefully, and proofing for the exact times described.
Well, except for the second proof. The instructions stated very clearly to proof ONLY until the dough "mushroomed" over the top of the bread pan, "about 1 hour 30 minutes". Well, by that time I had started cooking dinner and the kitchen was four degrees hotter, and when I checked the dough after an hour it was 1" above the edge of the pan. I decided to end the second proof 30 minutes early, which apparently was a mistake as my bread split along the side. It also shrank and crackled a little, but from what I've seen online that is not necessarily due to anything I did wrong, it just happens sometimes due to moisture in the loaf. The crumb seems very uniform to me, and the bread is light and fluffy and tastes very good indeed. So even though I'm STILL not proofing correctly, I'll call this a success. Yay! Better proofing will come with time.
We had "smashed" hamburgers and air fryer zucchini fries for dinner, then Jameson gamed with friends while I cleaned up and wrote to one of my circus friends.
On Thursday I woke up around 9 because Jameson's alarm went off, he has a lot to do today including a photoshoot for one of his bands. He's very self-conscious and self-depreciating lately so he doesn't want to go. I wish my saying, "You're very handsome!" were enough. But some things need to come from the inside. I'm speaking from experience there too.
While he was grading assignments I had a nice slow breakfast, did my meal prep, and dropped some more seeds in the planter because I just can't believe none of the other seeds have come up after a week and it makes me think something went wrong. If too many things sprout I can always pull them. Then I weeded the pool deck and had lunch, savoring a cup of real matcha tea with pea milk, courtesy my sister Kayle.
Next I got to work making a batch of caramel for my coworkers as they've been reminding me that I promised to make a batch just for them :P
The caramels came out well, that recipe is THE BEST. I still want them chewier, but that's a personal preference thing. I want, like, the texture of a cowtail, but I'm not sure that's achievable with home caramels. I'll just keep increasing the final temperature by two degrees each time until it works or I end up with rock candy.
For dinner I made chicken souvlaki, which was supposed to be on skewers but I'm lazy and unless we're actually eating outdoors what the hell is the point of the skewer? Served with lemon orzo rice that turned out way stickier than intended, and a simple salad tossed in red wine vinegar that saved the day with its zing.
After dinner and cleaning up, I started cutting up the caramels but ran out of time before steno class started.
Class was ok, we all got admonished for not doing enough practice, which is fair. Honestly though, to do what they want I'd have to put in two hours per day. I could do more than that on weekends I guess but then that would take away from my cleaning, cooking, baking, and gardening. Those things are important to me, for sanity purposes. I'm going to do the best I can to do more on weekdays and all days, but I'm not going to give up the only time I have for a few hours of personal enjoyment (and necessary chores).
Anyway, after class Jameson had his first-ever D&D game with some friends! I had promised to pop my head in but felt strangely shy, so just listened to what he was doing. It sounded fun! Maybe next time I'll actually watch what he's doing for a while.
Back to work.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention! I saw my first butterfly of the year on my milkweed, and it was a monarch!
Last year I only saw one monarch the whole year. Maybe it's a good sign.
https://instagram.com/p/CLut8M-gYvT
