nature walk

I have finally got a decent photo of a bird. Walking in the local nature park, there was a Chickadee very close to the path busy in some dried thistles. Out of the dozen shots I got, this one turned out!

Also got lots of pictures of Canadian Geese on the pond

and we spotted a Heron but it was too far out on the pond and just as I got closer to the edge to try using my zoom feature, it stepped behind the bank of a little island, out of sight. O well, Maybe I'll see it next time.

I've also seen a heron, much closer, at the little lake just a few blocks away by a playground where I often take my kids. Didn't have my camera, but will for sure next time we walk around the lake!

shower

I just did something always read is good for certain plants but never tried before. I took a shower with my fern. To give it the humidity. Hope it's happy now! Looks refreshed.

fern!

For some reason I've always been very fond of ferns, but never had one in the house. Until now! A very nice lady who visited my apartment and noticed how much I love plants brought me one.

It had been a bit neglected and was rather dried out. I gave it a good soaking, let it sit in the bathroom through the humidity of two kids' bath/playtime, and this morning gave it a little pruning. It doesn't look much different after the cleanup, just a bit tidier.

I did find a few little fiddleheads growing deep inside the plant, so it seems healthy enough!

I've never before kept a plant growing in fiber (except perhaps the orchid which died) so this will be a new learning experience for me. I think what it needs most is frequent watering and humidity treatments, as the water drains awful fast from that coir basket.

I'm not sure exactly, but think this is a Boston Fern.

honey!

A few weeks ago we went to the local farmer's market and I was looking in particular for more honey varieties. I picked up these three:

The first jar is honey from a local farm, not a monofloral one but it has its own rich flavor. The mesquite honey, which my daughter calls "desert honey" tastes bright. I don't know how else to describe it. And the last one, a local wildflower honey, has the sharp sweet flavor I recall from another wildflower jar.

They are all amber colored, with the first, "farm orchard" honey being darkest. The summer wildflower honey is the palest in color.

I was particularly tickled to discover that the supermarket close to my new apartment actually stocks local and monofloral honeys. I haven't seen my favorite starthistle honey there yet but they do have buckwheat, tupelo, orange blossom, a few of specific blends from local farms, and several varieties I haven't tried yet- sage and alfalfa in particular. But my daughter begged me to get a jar with actual honeycomb in it (not pictured) so I haven't bought any other monofloral flavors yet. At six to eight dollars a jar it's something I feel is a splurge, and with four "special honey" jars in the cupboard right now it might be several weeks before I bring more home.

I must start trying to use them in my cooking. Thinking about getting the honey book from the library again to read her list of recommended food pairings and try some new things in the kitchen...

As an amusing aside, my daughter was speculating the other day about keeping chickens on our balcony. When I explained why that isn't practical she suddenly got the idea of keeping a beehive there and getting our own honey from it. It's a fantastic idea with two major problems: I don't know if the management would allow it, or the neighbors appreciate it (if they even noticed) and I recall from reading a book how heavy and noisy a honey-extractor can be - I think it was Farm City. Plus not sure if I'd be brave enough to handle bees, even though I've dreamed about it for a few years now. So I don't think I'm really going to put a beehive on my balcony, but I was pleased that my daughter looks at my little gardening operation here and tries to think of other ways we can produce our own food even though we're in an apartment.

more greens

I went back to the old house a few days ago and dug up more plants to bring back to my balcony. I got five more pots of Swiss Chard, the two largest traveled home in a cloth shopping bag

and the smaller ones tucked into a box. That fourth plant in the box is the Curry Plant. I almost didn't bring it because I can't eat it, but do enjoy the scent and had another pot on hand so I stuck it in.

The Chard is still a bit wilted, but recovering somewhat from the shock of being put into pots.

The Curry Plant doesn't seem to have noticed the change; if anything it is spreading out more and looking more attractive.

I've been making an effort to eat something from my grown plants every single day. This week started out the with the end of a swiss chard lasagna, then I made spanish rice with my home-grown garlic and dried parsley in it; enchiladas with most of my fresh-cut Green Onions (the highlight of the week); eggs scrambled with Marjoram on one day, Tarragon on another, Chives on a third; more Chives added to mashed potatoes with cheddar, and Basil plus one Green Pepper diced onto a homemade pizza. Even with the smaller space and limited scope of container garden (plus fewer plants producing in the colder weather) it's not too hard to put something I've grown on the table once a day. If it's just a sprinkling of fresh or dried herbs, that at least adds a bit of flavor and satisfaction that can't be got any other way.

stowaways

I figured I would inadvertently bring along some slugs and pill bugs hiding in crevices in the base of pots, but so far have only seen one slug-slime trail, coming from under the Lavender pot. Will put out a beer trap for him soon. The other main pest is a bunch of tiny caterpillars that came along on my Chard.

But the most prominent stowaway is one we welcome: a Swallowtail caterpillar who has eaten up my Parsley plant! I don't know if there's enough foliage left on there for him to get the energy to metamorph into a butterfly, but we shall see.

fishy

I have been thinking of one day getting a worm-bin and learning vermicomposting to feed my plants... but then realized just yesterday I have another readily-available source of plant food: fish waste!

From the occupant of this two-gallon bowl:

He's hiding because he didn't like it that I moved his bowl away from the kitchen counter into the light (albeit indirect) on the kitchen table to try for some photos.

I tried, but can't seem to get good pictures of him:

It's a male betta, with a lovely purple and blue color. My daughter named him Hector. I'm enjoying his little, silent company so much have thought of getting a slightly larger tank (five gallons?) to house a handful of female bettas, maybe three or five. I was afraid my daughter would be jealous of the idea of mommy getting her own fish, but instead she was thrilled: "then we can put them together and get baby fish!" She even knew all about sequestering the male with one female in a separate tank, then leaving the male alone to tend to the eggs, from reading up on betta care on her own. Fish breeding? Maybe. We'll see. First to get the other fish, which is probably weeks down the road. Just an idea so far...

This picture blurry but you can really see the vivid colors.

So anyway the point of this post was to remind myself that once a week when we clean out the fishbowl, the dirty water ought to go on the balcony plants and give them some nutrients.

chard lasagna

The Chard lasagna turned out great! Here is the assembly stage:

nice and golden out of the oven

scrumptious on the plate.

It didn't taste quite as good as when made with real ricotta, but I liked it and my toddler snarfed down a whole plateful, which is really saying something! All it lacked was- more chard! Definitely have to fill more pots with that plant.

birding

One of the great things about this new place which I didn't forsee is the bird watching! I have lots of large windows flanked by tall evergreen trees, and look right into the heart of their branches. The squirrels make flying leaps from higher locales onto branches just outside the window. I've seen lots of robins, sparrows, and a rosy, streaked bird I don't recognize. Also a pair of brilliant blue jays and a mourning dove. There are plenty of others but they flit around so quick I don't get a good luck (much less a photo!)

But I will be putting these to good use again. I'm fond of this old pair of field-glasses, which see just as good in the dark as daylight! Love the feature that lets me adjust each lens separately to the individual eye. I believe they are WWII  era, German-made. Picked them up in an antique store many years ago.

Chard

I've cut my first bunch of Swiss Chard from the pots,

to make sort of pseudo-lasagna for dinner. I don't have ricotta cheese nor lasagna pasta sheets but all the other ingredients are on hand so will make do substituting cottage cheese and using faralle noodles in layers. It might turn out more like a casserole but I hope the flavor is the same.

Anyway, the chard went from looking like this:

to this!

I think I need to go back to the old garden and dig up more for pots, if I seriously want to eat a chard dish once a week. Didn't get enough for more than half the normal recipe, but I wanted to cut most of it down to make sure I'd rid the plants of their parasite. They were getting eaten by these tiny caterpillars! I picked most of them off the leaves days ago, but found this last one while washing the cut chard for food.

Figure if all the damaged leaves are gone, I can easily see if more new damage occurs and know there's still a pest or two left in there.

houseplants

After a few days of shuffling I think I've figured out where each of my houseplants will be happiest. They all have slightly different light requirements so it took a bit of time observing where the sunlight comes in to see how they'd all do best.

Most of the plants are in the big kitchen window. I've got quite a few Jades (crassula)

my Crotons seem happy with the new light levels; they're already sprouting new leaves (but not lower down on the stems like I'd hoped, in the crown)

The African Violets still show no sign of blooming but look healthy

The other Hibiscus and Marjoram are inside- to see which do better overwintering, indoors or out-

as is the one surviving Mimosa (silk tree) baby- the other one lost all its leaves and hasn't recovered. This one seems to like the warmth inside the house; it is sprouting new growth which makes me so happy. I've always been fond of ferns (but don't have any) so find the fern-like foliage of mimosa especially attractive.

and I kept the little Tarragon plant inside, too. It seems to be growing new leaves at its base, so I hope this one does better now.

The centerpiece on the table is the Poinsettia, looking lovely.

My big Spider plant is always so droopy. I'm afraid I err in overwatering it...

the little SIP one hanging on the wall looks a bit better

I've also got inside here the big Bell Pepper in a pot

(still producing!)

and a pair of Basil plants- they seem happier inside, are sprouting new leaves near the base.

In the living room area the tall Avocado (seems to be suffering a bit of shock)

and my dumb-cane Dieffenbachia which looks the best it has in a long time.

In the tiny office/bedroom I've got my dragon-tree Dracanea (looking more handsome than ever!)

and the little mini-Geranium (odd appearance because I pinched out some stem tips but not others)

also the Creeping Charlie- this one is struggling. It keeps getting leaf burn and dropping them.

But there is also plenty of new leaves growing so I'm hoping it continues well. Moved it back from the window some.

Phew! I didn't realize I had so many plants. And I missed a few- there's also one (nearly dead) venus flytrap, the pothos, the cyclamen.... will get more pics and update again soon.