You cleaned what?!? Wednesday
Featured, General — By Shannon Schmid on April 7, 2009 at 7:32 pmFor this weeks “You cleaned what?!? Wednesday” – I did a little cleaning, and also a little getting ready for spring!!
I haven’t lived in Texas that long, and I really don’t have a firm understanding of the soil here. I’ve planted a lot of things in our front, and backyard over the last two years…and only a couple have actually come back the next year. It’s really irritating, because my dad, and his side of the family are AMAZING gardeners. He and my aunts, can get anything to grow. I apparently did not inherit the “green thumb” gene.
However, I have discovered a cheaters way to plant. Instead of tilling the soil and weeding, and all that nonsense- I just started planting things in containers!! I buy some potting soil- which is already perfect, and ready for my plants- and I pour it into a container, add my flowers and water!! Yay!!! Gardening over!!!!
The three pots above, were some shade loving Begonias I planted in ceramic containers in the front yard. As long as I keep them watered they should last all summer. Last year I still had Begonias growing at the end of fall! They last a long time!
This is a pot of daffodils I planted in a cheap Walmart container in the backyard. I missed the bulb planting season, so I “forced” the bulbs by putting them in warm water in our laundry room for a week. Once I saw them begin to sprout I planted them in this pot. And within a day of being outside there were blooms!!! They also smell great!
Our bird feeder is now filled with seed, ready to entice all sorts of birds to come fly by our kitchen window. I’m excited for Molly to get to see all the birds pretty colors. Of course once she sees them, she will probably start shrieking in happiness- and scare the poor fellows!
And for some proper cleaning- I wiped down ALL the doorknobs, drawer pulls, keyboards and phones in the house! Doing that was especially timely since I am still getting over being sick. Hopefully I can keep Michael and Molly from catching anything!
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6 Comments
Great blog Shan! Wow, cleaning outside and getting ready for spring that way is a great idea! I didn’t know that you could “force” the bulbs. thats interesting! (i think you did get the gene btw to be doing that stuff!) I wonder why they sprout, maybe cause its so warm? anyways, very cool. I love the way the plants look in the pots on the ground! so pretty and villaish:) (if thats a word?) and i’m sure its healing to be outside with the fresh smelling flowers:) I’ve gotten a few seeds to plant but haven’t gotten around to putting them in soil with water in the bins on the terrace yet! i’ve got alot of red basil I wanted to plant. I can’t plant any herbs at the lake or else bears come for them hehe.
Thats awesome that you wiped down everything! phones are a great addition to cleaning all of the keyboards and knobs! love you!
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Thanks Nikki! “Forcing” bulbs is really easy. You just trick them into thinking the season changed quicker than it really did! In my case I just put the bulbs in a plastic tub with warm water on bottom, and left them in the warm dark of our laundry room for a couple weeks. The started to sprout almost right away. Then I just planted them outside in the pot. Here is a more detailed explanation in case your interested in trying it- http://www.savvygardener.com/Features/forcing_bulbs.html
Red basil sounds great! Can you use it in food? I’d love to plant an herb garden one of these days. How cool would that be?
Sending you hugs from Texas!!
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YAY for more creation of new green lifes!!!
Yay for cleaning doorknobs..
I am glad we have blogs so that when and if I ever decide to force bulbs to do things I can refer to your blog, cause I’m not sure I can take back my Aloe Plant (I call her AloeVeraWang)… that I almost killed in PA and then my mom saved and is willing to give up to me again (aww)..
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Aloe Vera Wang- you crack me up:)
I’ve never had an Aloe plant, are they difficult? I bet it be handy to have, I burn myself on the curling iron every time I use it! Maybe I should put one in the bathroom! My fave plant is bamboo- becuase I am telling you- you cannot kill it!!!
Well, actually you can (and I have), but it’s REALLY hard to kill. So that be a good plant for your apartment:)
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LOL! Aloe Vera Wang – too funny
And yes, bamboo is difficult to kill, but I have also managed to do that Shan. You’re so not alone on that one haha 
I have an aloe plant that sits on our kitchen counter. I’ve had it for over a year now and most of it is still very much alive and well even though I only remember to water it like once a month (but being next to the sink and with the sloppy way I do dishes I imagine it gets watered fairly frequently…lol). And it is a rockstar plant when it comes to burns! I have used it for curling iron burns and it’s fantastic! Zaps the pain away and reduces redness and swelling. You’ll need to keep applying the gel in the leaf every 5-10 minutes though for 1/2 hour to an hour to keep the pain at bay and inflammation reduced (or so I have found – I’m no naturopath but I do love the aloe!)
And an herb garden would be wonderful! If the cats wouldn’t eat the plants, I would have one (probably for about a month until I managed to neglect and kill the garden).
And I agree with Nik – you must have a green thumb to be able to force the bulbs! Maybe it’s just a latent talent that will continue to “bloom” (bad pun intended) as you practice it
Love you!
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yes you can totally use the red basil in food! I’ve used it in salads or with mozz and tomato:) its pretty strong though and tastes (for some reason?) alittle sweeter than green basil. thanks for the tip Shan! If I plant bulbs, I’ll definetly do that.
lol aloe vera wang:) love that name! (you know what i just thought? that aloe might be a cute name for a girl! right?)
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