More herbs, orchids and the amaryllis

Herbs are holding out. Mints look pretty lanky though.








Succulents are thriving.




The amaryllis is going to bloom.





I dropped my favorite orchid. Check out the damage on the top layer of leaves.





It's fall didn't damage the blooms though.

Herbs + new amarylis bulb

My herbs are, I think, doing well overall. Some — the thyme, lemon verbena, marjoram, and stevia — put out a lot of weak, tender growth. I'm not sure what to do about it. Maybe I'll just harvest the spindly bits to encourage more compact growth.

I had a helluva time keeping them watered. At this point I have them on a schedule of every other day. Although, some of the tender (and thirsty) ones like the lemon thyme and the mints get a bit droopy. Last week I forgot to water them until day 3 and almost every plant started dropping leaves. Even the ones that really like it to be dry and I hadn't had any trouble like that from before (the thyme, oregano, lavender, and sage).

I think the design of my apartment contributed to the problem. I have to keep the plants in front of the windows so they get enough light. But the heating vents are also right in front of the windows, so the plants have hot air blowing on them — making them dry out faster.

On the plus side, they keep the air nice and moist. Last winter I had to have a humidifier running full blast every night and sometimes during the day, just to keep the air comfortable. Out of habit I ran it a couple days when we turned the heat on last month, but woke up with condensation all over the windows. Even the curtains were slightly damp. So I turned it off, and put it away. Plants rock :D

I wanted to get some tulips to force for xmas, but I got to the garden center too late to get the ones they put out for fall, so I got an amaryllis bulb instead. A few days after I potted it I saw a bunch of little maggots wiggling around on top of the soil. Ick! So I threw the soil away and rinsed the bulb as well as I could. I didn't have enough potting soil to re-pot it, so I used sphagnum moss. At one point I let it get too wet and a bit of mold developed on the top layer, so I picked it off, and I'm trying to do better at monitoring when it needs water. It won't bloom in time for xmas, and maybe not for New Years. I'll have to make a note to start earlier next year.

More orchids! 2

Check out this adorable green/yellow guy :)

I picked the best one I could find, but I got what I paid for...



It's super cute, but some of the buds shriveled up :( This happened to me last year, when I bought my first orchid. After a couple fell off, I just trimmed the ends off those branches. Luckily, some of the buds are still green and plump. One even bloomed and all the other blooms still look good! So maybe I got it in good growing conditions soon enough to save it.



Aren't the little red freckles pretty?!


And if anyone noticed the black/white photo in the first shot, yes it's an orchid — the photo was taken on our honeymoon to the Biltmore estate. The greenhouse had the most beautiful orchids. So yeah, I have an orchid growing next to a picture of an orchid. :)

More orchids!

Walmart had $15 orchids again!

So I got a couple more — one for each side of the bed. I spend a lot of time digging through their inventory looking for ones that looked absolutely healthy. This white one I think I made a good choice on — a couple more buds have opened since I bought it a week ago! And everything still looks nice and lush. I'll post photos from the other one tomorrow.

Enjoy some close-ups. I want to know what makes the petals sparkle — so pretty!

My orchid is going to bloom! UPDATE

The flower stalk has grown several inches from when I first posted about this particular plant about a month ago. It started curving over, and developed little bitty buds. I wonder how much longer until it blooms!

Entering domant period in 3...2...1

Slowly going downhill
Strawberries
Orange Mint
Iris

Still hanging on, at least enough to stay green
Alyssum
Pansies
Petunias
Chives

I tried planting a fall crop of lettuce, but in August+September it was too hot, then October was too wet, now they're starting to grow, and I just know there's some bad weather around the corner that'll kill it all. Crossing my fingers I can get a mini-salad out of it before it snows.

Inside, the lemon thyme dropped a lot of old leaves. The lemon verbena dropped a lot too, but I think that's because I accidentally let it dry out. It's really hard to keep everything watered. They're thirsty!

And the stevia is growing some new sprouts.

The herbs make my bedroom smell so good! But they get really thirsty. If I don't water them every day they wilt and start dropping leaves. BUT the extra work paid off when I wanted fresh herbs to make pasta sauce the other day!

Harvesting stevia

I got the chance to harvest the stevia the other day. It was really bright and sunny when I woke up, so I broke off the stems and hung them in the window.

I read that it's best for them to take a day or less to dry in the sun. But these took a couple days.

When they were nice and crispy I tore off the leaves.

And packed them in jars.

They're really, really sweet. I just nibbled a corner and it was almost overwhelming. It didn't have any of that overcooked broccoli taste the other stuff ended up with either. Yay! I think they'll be nice for sweetening tea.

Succulents on the windowsill

What's dead and what's clinging on

  

 Alyssum

   

Peppers

 
Petunias

  

 Nasturtiums

  

 Violets

  

Strawflower

 

 Violas

  

Lantana

Stevia flowers (inside)

 

I saved the last nasturtium blooms before they froze

My orchid is going to bloom!

I bought this guy at Wal-Mart — of all unlikely places — last year.  I guess I didn't take care of him very well (temperature, water, bad karma from shopping at Wal-Mart...who knows?), because all his flowers fell off within a week.  So I hacked off the stem, and waited. This summer he grew two leaves, and about a month ago I noticed him sending out new air roots and this new flower stem. 

I don't know what I'm doing right.  He's just sat on my dresser or this southeast window sill.  I kept him watered, but didn't do it regularly, or pay him any special attention.  The balcony garden took up too much of my time. I can't wait to see if he blooms successfully!  The flowers last year were perfectly white.  I'm going to have to rummage around my garden supplies for the stake and clips he came with to keep the blooms upright.

How to overwinter your herbs

I couldn't bear to leave my fresh herbs outside to die in our horribly cold Iowa winter.  I'm in zone 4a, and I can't expect anything to make it through alive if it's outside.  But I'm hoping I'll be able to do something about the strawberries...still working that out though.

So first I dug the herbs out of the hanging boxes. 

Then I replanted them in individual pots.  That way I can better monitor their water needs and cater to their preferences.

The stevia and lemon verbena were already in individual pots.  Neither of them would have a snowball's chance in hell of surviving an Iowa winter.  But, I successfully overwintered that lemon verbena last year. It lost all it's leaves, though, so I guess it's deciduous.  But it's twice as big now!  Hopefully after I harvest the stevia it will grow back in the spring.

The rest get their own pots.  They're sitting in the southwest window of the bedroom.  It's the best light in the whole place, especially when the southeast window curtains are also open.

Tips:

• They need at least 5 hours of sun/day.
• If you don't have a south-facing window, you can use a florescent light for 10-12 hours/day.
• Use well-draining soil and let them dry out a bit between watering.  This will keeps the roots happy AND help control those annoying little flies.
  
• Keep them cool.  They like the temperature in the 60s.
• Reverse hardening off — like when you put seedlings outside in the spring, your herbs need to get used to your indoor conditions gradually.  Start by bringing them inside at night, and leaving them out in the sun during the day.
• Wash them — I just threw mine in the shower for a few minutes. This'll get off any stray potting soil, loose leaves, and bugs. If you've had bug problems, you might want to wash them with soap.
  
• Prune them — Experts advise that you cut off 1/2 to 1/3 of the plant.  I did that to the mints (they weren't looking too good).  But everything else is super lush so they just got a trim.  BUT don't harvest any more until you see new growth.  And be warned, that may not happen until early spring.
  
• Fertilize in early spring when new growth starts.

If you want herbs to harvest during the winter:

• You'll need to fertilize them monthly
• You'll need to give them extra light
• Don't expect them to survive until next year.  It's tough work producing all year long, and they might just wear out! You may have to start over with fresh plants in the spring.
  

Farewell pineapple sage

I didn't have enough pots to save all my herbs over the winter.  The orange mint and pineapple sage had to be left outside.  I'm curious to see if the mint survives, since I heard that mints are pretty tough.  (And honestly I didn't want to deal with the damn thing.  It ended up looking very wild and had sent all sorts of runners everywhere.) The pineapple sage I hacked off the branches and stuck them in a cup of water until I figured out what I wanted to do with them. 

 

Before I had a chance to use them one of the stalks bloomed.

I can't decide if I want to use it in some sort of recipe...what would it go with?  Or if I should make tea again?

After the frost

Looking pretty bad after the frost Friday night.

And even worse the next day.

I'll leave the chives out until they die back.  Then I'll bring them inside and they'll start to grow tasty new shoots.

But I saved the herbs.  They'll live inside for the winter.

I'll cut back the stevia soon.  It'll have to be a nice sunny day so it can dry out quickly.

The other pots are lemon verbena and pansies.  I cut back the old growth on the pansies, they'll come back soon.

And the rest of the herbs are in the bedroom. 

• spearmint + peppermint
  
• oregano + variegated oregano + greek oregano
• marjoram
• sage
• thyme + lemon thyme
• lavender
  
• rosemary

No basil though — I harvested it, but that's a post for another day!

I was surprised I didn't bring in very many bugs with all those plants.  Just a couple mosquitoes, a ladybug and half a dozen boxelder bugs.  I was preparing to wage a war on little flies and stuff.  But haven't seen any for the last 3 days.