Happy blooming day!

It has been a rainy week here in my little garden in japan, but this weekend we finally got some sun and the flowers are really grateful. Almost all of the plants are flowering, the only one left is the calla lily and the dahlia, but I am sure they will have a couple blooms soon.

Happy blooming day!

The osteospermum hasn't stopped blooming at all

The anemones finally recovered completely from the drought and are showing a very nice display. The chocolate cosmos, which I had already tossed away until I noticed new growth from the roots, resurged and have kept on growing.

The dill is flowering like crazy

The kalanchoe is all out too

Even some of the herbs are flowering, the thyme, the dill and rosemary have little flowers and the lavender is starting to form flower buds.

The mini rose is blooming already and the red rose will be very soon

The geraniums look great

As the summer approaches some of the annuals are starting slow down and start to fade. I will probably have to do a renewal of some of the flower boxes next month, but for now they all get to give a last bloom.

summer will be here soon

Enjoy many other bloggers showing their blooms at blooming day from May Dreams Gardens!

Please help japan with a donation or good thoughts.

My best hope for those in Japan. You can help donate here.

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My new little garden in Japan

There have been a lot of changes in my life lately. I am starting a new stage, full of exciting challenges, amazing opportunities and a lot of possibilities. One of those changes is the new house and my new little garden in Japan. The new balcony is just great. It fits all of my plants and a little more, has an amazing sunlight and a great location surrounded by parks. I am sure the garden will thrive in here.

My new little garden in Japan

I was afraid that after all the time I was away my garden would have gone completely dry. I did ask my landlord to keep an eye on them, but I could not count on it fully. So when I arrived I went straight outside. Even tho I could not see well because there is no light on the balcony, I could tell they had not been watered at all. As I poured some water, the pots made a loud sizzling sound that only very dry soil make when it finally gets some drink.

All the flowers went into crazy bloom mode

Sometimes plants bloom stronger when they get stressed

Hopefully the blooming will last much longer

However, I was amazed to see that even though almost all of the plants were flopped and down, there were flowers everywhere. All of the plants did a rush to bloom and refused to die. It worked only because of the mild sun of spring, if it had happened on summer all the garden would have died. The cozy sun and the plants instinct to grow in this season help them survive. It seems that spring saved my garden.

The spring saved my little garden in Japan

I am very happy my garden made it. The only sad part is that because of the accelerated bloom, I did miss some events on the garden. The crocus was already spent and only one flower remained. The tulips are all out (only one bulb did not sprout) so I could not see the buttons. Also most of the vegetables, specially the komatsuna and the bekana, bloomed, so I have to re-sow anyway.

This is the only crocus left

All the others are already spent

Tulips are all open

The only casualty was the chocolate cosmos. The poor plant must have been just to weak to fight after having being broken by the wind last time. Also, the red rose and the maple tree got sick. The have something that looks like powdery mildew or some kind of white rust. I hope they recover.

Also, after my small hiatus I have decided to redouble my efforts and try to make more of this blog. I have a bunch of how to's and many other projects planed, so please keep posted.

Please help japan with a donation or good thoughts.

My best hope for those in Japan. You can help donate here.

Amazon

Google Checkout

Donation For Japan Earthquake 11th March 2011

American Red Cross

International Medical Corps

AmeriCares

Donate with Paypal

causes.com

The banana peels fertilizer works very well

If you haven't come here lately, you can probably notice I did quite some changes. Like I said back in the new year post, I have a lot of projects and ideas I want to try and share. I feel very motivated about continuing with the blog, it keeps growing more and more every day. You have given me a very nice response, so I will put more effort into continuing it. Thank you very much!

This is my new Internet tree

The first change I did was the layout. I think three columns will give me a better space for very needed internal links. I have a lot of projects on the way, and there is where they will live. I hope you don’t mind it takes a bit of space from the post, I tried to keep them the least intrusive. I also tried to keep the space to have big enough photos, because the photos always get many praises.

Other change, is the blog carnival icon on the upper left corner. That will be the entrance to the carnival introductory page, feel free to pay it a visit. All the carnivals, that were and will be, will be accessible from there.

One more change is the header. I am experimenting with a lot of tools and styles, and I plan on changing the header and the background accordingly to the season let me know which one is your favorite.

I also did a lot of little changes. Things like margin size or where some icons go. The menu bar, the search bar and others. I hope it looks better and more professional now.

The last new feature is the social media buttons Internet tree on the upper right corner. I feel specially proud of this one. I did the drawing almost from the scratch and I had to do a lot of learning to have the links and everything on the right place and working properly. Also, I end up doing a lot of little drawings that I won’t use, but I think others might find useful, so be on the lookout for a goodies page. I will put them all there.


Ok, now on to the gardening matters. Last post I got a couple questions about banana peels fertilizer. I had done a post about it back in November, but I didn't showed the results. Well, here they are. Back then, because I didn't had many peels, I had only put fertilizer on one of my flower pots, the one that needed it the most. So only one got the benefits and now I am seeing the differences.

I think is a fair comparison. Both planters have almost the same kind of flowers, they get the same amount of sun and of water and the soil where they are planted comes from the same bag. Also, I normally trim the dead buttons to keep them flowering, though lately I have not done it as much because I am waiting for seeds.

On with the comparison then. First planter A, I did not put any fertilizer on this planter. It bloomed beautifully back when it was new, but with the cold it slowly started to recede. Here is the photo of flower planter A.

These flowers need some banana fertilizer urgently

As you can see the pansies and the alyssum hardly have any flowers. The lemon marigold, even though is very hardy, is starting to get bald. And the stock is down to its lasts flowers. The only one that still seems strong is the Blue ballon scabiosa.

Now planter B, the one that got its dose of banana fertilizer. This one was starting to have less flowers back then, that’s why I decided on using the banana peels on it. Here is the photo of flower planter B.

This ones are blooming nicely because
they already got banana peels fertilizer

What a difference! The pansies are in full bloom, and with a lot of new buttons coming up. The stock has lasted much longer, and still have buttons. The cosmos, even tho is not as resistant as the mint marigold, still has a lot of its flowers. Also, the alyssum is much more grown and flowered.

That is the difference that a little of homemade banana fertilizer can make. Which teaches me that I should have putted some fertilizer in both planters back then. But in the end it is no problem, because, I recently got a new bunch of bananas and I am planning on making a lot of milkshakes out of them. I have to get them very green so they last long enough for me to finish them.

I can get a lot of banana fertilizer out of this one

Click here for my old post about making banana peel fertilizer for containers.


And remember, seven more days to the carnival!

Be ready with a post about what do you plan on doing at your garden this year, maybe about one particular plant you want to have, a renovation you will do, a special patch you will grow, a new gardening technique you will give a try, or any other project you have prepared for this new year.

More flowers for blooming day!

This weekend there was a big sale at the garden center and I could not resist at all. I end up buying a second rack and planter to have even more flowers on my little balcony garden. I also got a bunch of other things, but I will introduce those later.

I set the flowers on their planter today, I hope they continue to grow and bloom even though the weather is getting a bit cold.

When I finished setting them up,
I got a nice sunset for reward

Here is a little list of the flowers I got, and also my other flowers for blooming day.

The new flower pot

I got a bit more of the same, but also some new ones.

• Stock I found another color that I really like


• Lemon marigold There was also a chocolate marigold that really smelled like chocolate, but this one is from mexico so it won my heart

The marigold has a very nice minty lemony scent

• Pansy Some more, to have flowers all winter


• Nadeshiko(fringed Pink) The season is almost over, but i really like the color


• Alyssum Can't get enough of the scent

I really like this color of alyssum,
hope I can get some seeds from it

• Blue ballon scabiosa Very puffy, and with a very nice color too.

As for my other flowers, my geranium is still blooming nicely and I have new flowers from the red geranium

I hope this one will continue blooming in December

New flowers from the red geranium

The globe amaranth, one of my favorite flowers, is also blooming. Although they are starting to dry now, I will try to get some seeds from it for next season.

Globe amaranth is definitely one of my favorites

The other flower pot is still nice. It suffered a bit from some wind last week but still have plenty of color.

The pansies keep growing too

The winter cosmos got a bit bald from the wind but a lot of new buttons are comming

Happy blooming day!

Here are the two flower pots together

My Seeds

Part of the fun of having a garden is all the planning involved on it. Being able to decide what we would grow next and where it would go is very exciting. One of my favorite parts is choosing among the infinite varieties of plants to grow.

My seeds box

I always get carried away imagining how it would be to grow this and that, and I always want to add a new plant to my garden. The only problem is that here in my little garden in Japan, we only have the very restricted space a balcony garden can provide.

Of course, this didn't stop me when getting seeds. Adding the ones I brought from Mexico and the ones I got here, now I have ended up with way more of what I would be able to have. I really doubt I can fit even a quarter of all this in my little garden. So, I am sure there will be very tough decisions to make next year, when I would have to choose what to sow.

I like to keep my seeds in jars instead of envelopes

Here is a peek into my seeds box for this year. That way you can help me decide.

• Chives. I just got this ones, I will sow them this week, hopefully they still can catch the season.


• Thyme I cave in to my impatience and I bought the plant, so probably I won't need these after all.


• Alyssum I have the plant too, but I doubt it will stand the winter, so they are my back up plan.


• Cactus A little bit of Mexico's flavor, but I have three bags, so I will give some away.

Komatsuna, Cilantro and Chile de arbol

• Chile I have chile serrano, chile ancho, chile guajillo, chile pasilla, chile poblano, chile de arbol y chipotle. It will be impossible to pick only one.


• Zempasuchitl The Mexican marigold, with a much stronger scent, I like this flower and it is very good for the garden, so this one is a keeper.


• Epazote An annual herb, good for condiments.

Alyssum, Cactus and Lettuce

• Komatsuna The one I am growing now is doing very well. So I think it can be a keeper for next winter as well.


• Cilantro Must have for Mexican food.


• Beans The beans I had this year didn’t do well. Even when they flower they did not got fruit. I brought some from Mexico, hopefully they can do better.

Chamomile, White flower and Beans

• Lettuce Another of my winter vegetables that is going great.


• Chamomile This one might go well on a planter with the Epazote, It would be a nice addition to the herb corner.


• Unidentified white flower I picked this one up from a sidewalk in shibuya, no idea what it is.

Beside all of this, I want to grow some pumpkin, some tomato, possibly blueberries. Also, I know there will be more plants that I won't be able to resist next year.

It is definitely too much for me, anybody want some extra seeds?

New flowers in my little garden in japan

This weekend I left myself fall into an impulse again and I bought a bunch of new flowers for my little garden. This of course meant getting a new pot and a new rack to fit everything. I am very much out of space now, but as always it was worth it.

New flowers for my little garden in japan

I had gone to the garden center only to get some soil, but walking down the aisles full of flowers made me wish for much more. Also, last blooming day, I had felt my garden lacking flowers quite a bit. So, with that in mind and the temptation right there, I could not resist.

Flower festival at the garden center

Right now at the garden center, they have a promotion festival, and their main attraction are Pansies. As usual they have a beautiful display and everything is arranged accordingly. And of course they sure do have a lot of varieties to choose from.
I liked how one nursery classify their varieties colors by using fruits, flavors and colors. For example the blue was called blueberry, dark red was chocolate, orange was pineapple, etc. They also had many other kind of flowers on sale. Perfect for what I wanted.

Prune Pansy

When I choose my flowers, I was thinking mostly on what would last. They are many flowers that are still blooming now, but probably won't past this month because it's getting colder. I tried and choose some that will bloom at least until the start of winter, I hope they do well.

It got my attention that it said that pansies last until next spring. I didn’t know they could take the winter like that. Back in my country, we could only have pansies a couple months in spring and a couple in autumn. The harsh winter and summer there is too much for them.

The flowers I got

• Pansy I love their bright colors


• Stock Great purple color


• Winter Cosmos Will bloom until December hopefully


• Alyssum I didn't had patience to wait for next year to sow my alyssum seeds

The only other flower that I want to get now, is a red rose. A bit too cliché, I know, but I have always wanted a red rose on my garden so I could give it to a very special girl. I have seen some good ones at the garden center, maybe next week I will get one.

Splitting the mints again

Also, this weekend I finally set up straight all my new herbs. My mints were the most troublesome, even that I split them recently they were already overcrowding their pot. Well, that is a story for another post.

More seeds!

Ok, I just come from the store and I got a new batch of seeds, now it is definitely official, I cant sow all these. A giveaway will be a must, so keep on touch!

This is the complete collection so far!

Here is what I got this time

• Chile Ancho Thick red 15 cm chilly pepper also a must on Mexican food.


• Chile Pasilla Another chilly variety, good for sauces and stews.


• Chile Guajillo Yet another cilly, this one is for red sauce, and mole.


• Chile Serrano This chilly is used on the green sauce, along with green tomatoes.


• Alyssum I think I could get this one in japan, but I haven't seen it much. Plus seeds here are a lot cheaper. I just love the scent of this flower cloud on the morning.


• Camomila Good for teas, in Mexico we are also aware of its medicinal properties.


• Thyme Another herb for the kitchen, good for cooking with meat. This will go along the little herb patch I have.

I am worried about the seeds being only adapted for Mexican climate, but I think they will grow very good in Japan, my area has a very nice weather for growing plants. My other concern is if they will take them away at customs, but it should be ok too.

My time in Mexico is coming to an end, I don’t think I will be able to work deeply in the garden, I only pruned a little of the Bougainvillea, and took out some weeds, but that garden is really in need of a makeover. Maybe next time I come, probably in six months.

I really wish I could have had time to introduce much more of what we have here in Mexico, it is really a cornucopia of nature. Hopefully, next time I come I won't have so many things going on and I can give a relaxed tour for gardening. Also I am planning on going to south Mexico for next time, and if I have that chance, that will be quite something.

Still, I will do one post to introduce the plants we have around the garden before I leave, it's not much, but I really like them. Hope you guys will enjoy as well.