February's changeable weather does not deter Judith from enjoying indoor gardening endeavours.
Greetings fellow gardeners,
At the beginning of the week I went outside, and the cold took my breath away. Today it is mild and pleasant with wind and rain in the forecast and then snow. This yo-yo of weather is what we get before spring finally arrives. Remember to keep an eye on the garden and be sure the snow is still piled on it. The temperatures are promising to go down and we want to keep the garden protected.
Somedays I find the cold grey days difficult. The lack of sunshine makes it worse. Fortunately, I have an orchid that rescues me every February. It is a bright happy yellow and never fails to bring a cheerful air to my plant compound. I used to ignore orchids; I thought they were fussy and difficult. I was lucky enough to go to a talk on orchids given by a very knowledgeable Master Gardener and she gave me a moth orchid (phalaenopsis) as a gift.
All I knew about orchids was something about giving them ice cubes once a week, but she quickly dismissed that. I learned that they did not grow in soil but in a woody bark-like medium. They like some humidity and of course light. So, I water my orchid according to her instructions. Once a week I put the pot in a container, run water on it and let it sit in the water for thirty minutes. Once the time is up, I let it drain. It sits on a tray of pebbles to which I add water once in a while to increase the humidity, but the pot never touches that water. My orchid is approaching four years old now and blooms twice a year at least and adds a sparkle to my day.
Orchid in bloom
I finally got my sweet pepper collection planted. I put four seeds in each little pot of seed-starting soil and made sure that the soil was suitably moist. I put the pots on a heat mat and if it was at all breezy, I would cover them with plastic. The air is quite still where I have them. As you will see from the pictures, it is very important that these peppers are well protected in my plant compound. Those too-many cats are just too curious.
The collection I planted consisted of the following:
Early Calwonder – a very sturdy fruit that goes from a thick green to deep scarlet and is very mild.
Pimento – I love this tiny heritage pepper. It turns bright crimson and is very sweet.
Sweet Cubanelle – this is a larger pepper and are yellow, red and lime green in colour.
Hungarian Yellow Sweet Banana – this is also a heritage pepper and is bright yellow then turns red with lots of tasty fruit.
Looks like I am going to have a yummy harvest this year and more pepper jelly.
Tula is interested
Maggie is waiting for me to stop looking
I am continuing to enjoy the show going on outside my kitchen window: blue jays and sparrows, with the ravens and the three turkeys all scratching away at the hügelkultur. I look forward to the next new adventure.
Enjoy your week. Judith.
(Email: sghorticultural@gmail.com)
Veggie Bites are available at https://sghorticultural.wixsite.com/website or https://gardeningcalendar.ca/articles/veggie-bites/
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