Tag: plants

Peppers

May 20, 2020

Peppers

Have you ever seen a pepper seed? If you’ve had crushed red peppers shaken on your Italian food, you’ve seen the small whitish yellow seeds; the crunchy non-red parts of the seasoning.

They are very small – not carrot seed small, but almost four times smaller than a squash seed.

We do have little tunnel diggers in our yard so we plant each seed separately in its very own little cup. These sprout into two tiny leaves holding the seed coat above them like a rocket punching through the atmosphere. Then we have sprouts! (the picture below show a mix of tomato and pepper sprouts)

We planted our second wave of pepper sprouts into a close bed of 4′ by 4′ with just enough spacing between each one for the plants to grow. They have a few small branches at this point as the picture below was taken about three weeks after transplant and about five weeks from sprouting.

Here they are seen with several little peppers hanging off of their branches. Can you spot them?

We’ve had one supper of stuffed peppers over rice, I harvest one to chop up and toss in my eggs or leftover rice for second breakfast, we even used some to make a salsa along with our fresh tomatoes!

I’m loving the peppers from our garden! (And both Lucas and Thea eat them right off the plant – at least Lucas will wait until they are big!)

Thank you for Reading!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Orchid Care

February 11, 2020

Orchid Care

I have a passion for growing things (secretly, I may be a hobbit) and one of my favorite flowers is the Orchid. I’ve never been able to grow them though. Every time Louis brought me one, it died.

My best successes were roses – my absolute favorite flower – I learned from Grandma Jeanette, Joanne, Mrs. Joy, and many other gardening ladies I knew as a youth, how to make cuttings root, how to feed them with a specific mixture of leaves and compost, what to add, what not to do with them, how to entice blooms, how and where to cut the stems for cuttings for vases and long life or for propagation.

I had quite a rose bush collection before we lost our house. One bush of white roses from a bouquet. Two bushes off of my Kimberlina that got water-logged. Two Joseph’s Coats, one from my Mom & Daddy the birthday I got my house and one rooted from that bush. One Mister Lincoln from Mom and two grown from cuttings. A rose bush each from two bouquets Louis gave me. A rose bush from each of three bouquets from sisters. And a couple I bought clearance from Sams Club. I wish I had pictures of these things, but back then I wasn’t really much into pictures and figured I’d have those roses forever.

I loved, loved, loved orchids though.

It made me so sad that I couldn’t make them grow.

I borrowed books from the library, asked people, spoke to the sellers, but all the directions were so different and orchids were so expensive that I couldn’t just trial and error (although that is what happened about six poor plants).

Then the day I came back to work after my baby sister died, there was a beautiful white orchid on my desk. It made me cry because it was so pure and beautiful, like I remembered Mary – the baby who I was to protect.

My goal was to keep this orchid alive.

I had a new research portal this time… youtube! Perfection! Multiple people with videos showing time lapses, showing the results of various problems, and explaining the actual wild life of the orchid.

So:

  1. Dark green leaves = not enough light
  2. Red-tinged leaves = too much light
  3. In-bloom, move out of direct sun: to start blooming, put plant in direct sunlight.
  4. Water only once a week, take out, cover in water, soaking roots or spraying down roots to remove accumulated salts (the plants remove salts through their roots and it will accumulate and burn the plant unless flushed off!)
  5. Cut stems after bloom leaving two nodes & plant will flower again after 8 – 12 weeks.

I have discovered that if they are not bare root, you have to drain them DRY before putting them back in the pot after watering. This plant loves humidity but hates water logging. They grow bare-root in humid tropical climates where the heat dries them out in between soaking rains or mists.

As for my goal: So far, it’s been 6 months and it’s still thriving!

So, if you are looking to grow orchids, hopefully this helps you out!

Thank you for reading,

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Fearfully and Wonderfully

I’m so amazed by how God loves us and in awe of His creation.

July 22, 2018

Fearfully and Wonderfully

Have you ever stopped to ponder (seriously think, dwell on thoughts) about creation?

I love to watch nature.  I love to watch our animals: fish in their tanks, guinea pigs in the run, chickens in the yard, dogs in the house.  I love to watch my plants grow.  I can’t wait to have roses again!  (Roses are my absolute favorite in the world.)   I enjoy the cycles of life that create our world and the natural beauty of it.

Take plants; they need special nutrients in the soil from decaying animals and micro or trace nutrients left from other plants to reach their best.   Animals eat plants.  Plants “eat” decaying animals.  We harvest food from both plants and animals.

The cycle of water amazes me.  Water is evaporated from the oceans and other waterways, stored in clouds, and poured out onto the land where it gathers in creeks, rivers, and underground aquifers.  The water underground rises (or we drill for it) and we have clean drinking water filtered by the air and rocks.

Each of these systems were spoken into being when God spoke creation into action.  Yet He chose to form each one of us by knitting us together in our mother’s womb.  Does that boggle your mind?  All of these awesome forces of nature spoken into existence yet He takes the time to craft each one of us.  He cares for each of us.

God set up our world to provide us with animals and plants for food, trees, rocks, sand, or thatch to make shelters, and a boundless supply of fresh drinking water.  (Even in the desert, cacti carry water, the ground holds water, and native peoples have amazing techniques for pulling water from the sand!)

Yet He fashioned us.  He molded Adam from dust and breathed life into him.  He knits us together in our mothers’ wombs.  He knows us before we are born.  He surrounds us with examples of His majesty in our natural world.  We have been fearfully and wonderfully made.  He loves us.

To think that Jesus enjoys it when I speak to Him totally blows my mind.  I am amazed by His love.  Thank you, God, for Your awesome love!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

Watching Growth

From plants to chicks to rising bread: we all grow at a different rate!

June 18, 2018

Watching Growth

Have you ever watched bread dough rise?  It takes FOREVER!

Have you ever planted a seed or set out a new plant in your garden?  You sometimes don’t see the slow growth – sometimes you don’t notice until, “Oh, wow, there’s a red tomato on that bush!”  The plant was watered, de-bugged, and looked after for about 100 days but never really watched.

I planted my elephant ears in spring… now they are taller than me!

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Our baby chicks were cute little fluffs of fur, totally dependent on us to keep them safe, feed, and water them.  Now, they are nine weeks old.  Fully feathered, they look like miniature adults.  They don’t need us to pamper them and hide them from the rain or help regulate their body temperature; just some food, water, and a cat-proof shelter is fine.

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My oldest daughter is almost considered by the state to be old enough to command a 1-ton vehicle!  I still see her as the tiny bundled angel in the picture on my wall.  Of course, I literally see that she’s grown.  Sometimes she doesn’t see it.

Sometimes I don’t see my own growth.

God is always working on us.  Since none of us are dead, we are still improving.  Sometimes we get frustrated at ourselves because we don’t see any growth.  Maybe instead of imagining ourselves as rising bread, we should think of ourselves as growing plants.  Maybe not elephant ears – okay, sometimes we do grow quickly.  But with some things we are like the White Cedar (growing about 6 inches per year) or the Saguaro cactus (gets only one to two inches tall in the first 10 years!)

Sometimes slow growth is hard to see.

A wise man plants trees under whose shade he will never sit.

Wow, that thought says to me that those who choose to invest in long-term growth are wise.  So rather than expect instant results when I’m allowing God to work on my life, I understand that sometimes tiny steps in the right direction eventually lead to the finished product.  I will choose not to be frustrated with myself for not being a fast enough learner; I will choose to rest in His care and allow time for growth.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

 

 

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