Thinning the Seedlings - oh the HORROR!

I woke up extra early this morning and spent the time with my Green Babies. Looking at all of the newer sprouts I actually remembered that I should start thinning some of them - a task that usually I conveniently forget about until I want to transplant them or they need a bigger container.

After all the anticipation and worry of whether at least one seed I plant will sprout I am usually super happy if more than one sprout because then there really is a chance that at least one will make it to the garden. Doubling or tripling the chances say. When they are still small I like to wait to thin (don't want to narrow it down to one seedling and then have it damp off or something) until the first pair of true leaves are well grown in. And by then I'm partially attached to all the little Greenlings and it seems like such a waste to snip the extras off.

I need to get better at thinning the flowers earlier, no point in letting several start growing well and then killing them trying to separate them later. It's not so bad with the veggies though - I made a nice breakfast snack out of the bok choy, cabbage and kale (I'd let them grow to 2 pairs of true leaves). Some veggies I learned do fine growing several seedlings together and separating later - onions, garlic, cabbage & sometimes broccoli and cauliflower. I'm sure there are more but I haven't figured it all out yet.

OH THE HORROR!

Tip for today: 99 Cent Store peat pots are highly prone to mold and fungus (that's why they're in the toss-bucket). It's paper & Starbucks cups and TP rolls from now on!

Pre-Landscaping

After a long long long period of debate my parents finally decided to re-landscape the yard this year. We were supposed to start in January right after pruning the roses but there was yet more debate on the layout so it was delayed until now. We're starting completely from scratch - everything goes (well, not the potted plants). They ripped up the main area of the yard yesterday. Say buh-bye:

We're widening the walkway along the front of the house (seriously long-gone designer, did you think 22 inches would be comfortable?), re-grading so water doesn't get stuck or flow towards the house, replacing the fence with a purty one (with a sliding driveway gate and a separate walk-through gate <3), putting a new walkway from the new gate to the door, building raised flower beds for the roses and building some for other plants, and building an arbor with built-in bench. You know, just to spruce up ;)

The only part I'm not excited about is that my personal corner flower bed will also be wiped out with the new fencing and raised beds. I have scooped out all the plants that I could to re-plant in the new beds later - but there are several I can't. I'm especially sad about the poppies, I started them last fall and they're nice and healthy - I'm sure they'd be gorgeous during bloom - but because of the tap root I know they're most likly die anyway if I tried to transplant them. Better to leave it to the contractor when I'm not home :/ Most likely it's coming out today or tomorrow. Buh-bye:

I'll update on the progress of the yard soon.

My First Succulent Arrangement

I meant to post this last week but things were too busy. Anyway, finally got around to making a succulent arrangement. My unbiological brother keeps talking about one he wants to make (well actually his is going to be a succubus arrangement-but that's another story) and he kept getting me thinking that my aloe must be lonely in its wide pot....

On the way home from the office one evening I stopped at Lowe's for some other errand and noticed their succulent racks. I was ecstatic to find they had the exact one I've been looking for everywhere! Echeveria gibbiflora hybrid - I like that the leaves are rather slim not plump and have that bit of frilliness and touch of color. Apparently that's the hybrid part. My friends have 3 at their house that I really like but couldn't find anywhere for the longest. I spent way too long picking out a third plant to go with them and ended up getting a fourth I spied while at the register :/

Anyway I think the arrangement worked out well enough for now. I was going to place the echeveria centered and discovered the aloe has started a new offset which I decided to allow to grow. Maybe I'll fudge with it later, I'm waiting to see how the new ones grow in first.

Far Rear Left: Felis silvestris catus "solar itis"

Back: Aloe Vera
Front Left to Right: Echeveria gibbiflora, sedum makinoi, sedum morganianum "burrito"

Retro pot hand-painted by yours truly :)