Cat Grass is a Houseplant's Best Friend

I have two cats, Thisbe and Sebastian. Thisbe loves plants as much as I do. She will sit next to my houseplants and brush her face against the leaves ever so lightly. I have also witnessed her kissing the blooms on my orchids. She is pretty gentle with them, except for the occasional munching on leaves. She is particularly fond of the gardenia. Here is where the cat grass comes in. She will happily eat her grass and not eat my houseplants. She lays her head on it and will just sit and stare at it for hours. I got a bag of seeds from the pet store and plant about a table spoon at a time in a small pot. I put it in a dark place to sprout and they grow for a few weeks before withering and then I start over again. Not only does the grass save my houseplants, it helps with her digestion as she is known to produce quite a few hair balls.

Upcoming Projects

I have several projects that I am working on, and even more that I want to start working on. These are things that I am interested in and will become the future posts in this blog. I'm gonna start with the master list and go into further detail as time and the projects themselves progress. Here we go:

• Photo documentation!
• Making a paper pot maker out of wood
• Starting seeds indoors with paper pots
• Starting seeds in egg shells
• Growing lithops from seed
• Succulent leaf propagation
• Harvesting and growing amaryllis seeds from my seed pods
• Decorating terra cotta pots with moss slurry
• Building a low fence to keep the two legged pests out
• Turning my firetrap/balcony into a vegetable and herb garden
• Making hypertufa planters out of food packaging
• Growing things other than moss in terrariums
• Collecting and storing seeds from my plants

First Seed Order of the Season

On Monday I placed my first seed order with Renee's Garden. I had previously only bought seeds through Burpee, but I wanted to expand my horizons and Renee's Garden seemed very appealing. First of all the seed packets depict adorable watercolor paintings of the plants, a big draw; for me at least. They also have a lot of heirloom and exotic varieties. Also all of their seeds are under $3. Practically everything will be going in to containers. The vegetables are all designed to grow in containers, the tiny eggplant are exceptionally cute.

• Here is what I ordered:
• Little Price Eggplant
• Bush Slicer Cucumber
• Super Bush Tomato
• Windowbox Basil
• Italian Pesto Basil
• Garlic Chives
• Perfume Lavender
• Sweet Marjoram
• Greek Oregano
• Gigante Parsley
• Heirloom Pepperbox Poppies
• French Culinary Rosemary
• Alpine Mignonette Strawberries
• Mrs. Scott Elliot Columbines
• Watercolor Silks Dahlia
• Pastel Sundial Portulaca
• Chantillly Snapdragon
• Junior Sunflower
• Color Palette Sweet Pea
• Scented Gold Wallflower
• Salpiglossis *Bonus*

I was overcharged about 40 cents and I send them an email and I will be getting an extra packet of Salpiglossis! Great customer service, I will sure order from them again. I don't have everything I want yet, I need to get some Petunias, Violas and Pansies for outside. I am also itching to buy some lithops seeds from Ebay.

Almost Killed an Orchid

Now winter has come and with no gardening to do outside I have focused all my attention to my houseplants. It has almost been a year since I brought home my first one; from Ikea of all places. After weeks of bugging my husband every time I saw the orchids in Home Depot I saw them at Ikea for half the price so I bullied him into buying it. I stupidly bought a 8 inch pot for it, thinking it would need to grow into it. This was my first houseplant as an adult, besides a moss terrarium. It was such a lovely Phalaenopsis, white with purple spots, and I loved it so. I would sit and stare at it for minutes on end, admiring it's elegant curve and it's exotic flowers. All the while patting myself on the back for my selection of the large minimalist gray terracotta pot I planted in it. Now it's blooms have long since faded and I am waiting for a new spike to grow this spring. My love for it spurred me to pick up two more at the Depot after getting a BOGO houseplant coupon from their garden club. I got a pure white one and a green one. My puppy ate the green one, thankfully they are not toxic. It was replaced by a lovely white and pink blushed one with yellow lips. Realizing my previous ignorance I have recently repotted my three orchids in smaller pots.

My white Phal however; is currently in the ICU. A few weeks ago I had them soaking in the tub for their weekly watering. My kitchen timer was broken and my husband was home with me; so I ended up forgetting about them and they spent over an hour the water. Upon realizing what I had done I ran out of the room mid sentence. I pulled them out of the water with the same fervor as back in my lifeguarding days. I put them back in their window and was too guilty to visit them for several days. Thats when I noticed one of them was not doing very well. That prompted me to buy the smaller pots and I repotted them all, this time adding a good heaping to pearlite to the sphagnum moss. I was terribly nervous when I examined the crown of my poor white Phal. The roots were terrible, most were hollow and the intact ones were rotted. I was on the verge of tears when I noticed a new plump, healthy root growing. My Phal had the will to survive! I sprinkled some rooting powder on the crown in hopes of encouraging some new growth and I am hoping for the best. I have noticed that the leaves have become more turgid and it definitely looks more perky. Also the new leaf that had started poking out but stopped growing is now growing!