Showing posts with label cosmos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cosmos. Show all posts

Tuesday, 11 January 2011

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!

Internet tree

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.

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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.

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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.

The-banana-peel-fertilizer-works-well

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.

Thursday, 9 December 2010

My little garden in japan December 2010

Hello everybody!
I am sorry for my little absence this past week. I suddenly got very busy with school and other things and I had to concentrate all my effort on it. It got me in the middle of the carnival, so I did not had a chance to finish seeing all the great favorite plants you input. The good news is that I am free now and I will get to see all the great post that joined. Thank you!



I am very happy! The carnival was a complete success. I did not expected more than 20 submissions , but we got almost 50. Thank you very much to everyone that participated and also to those who came for a visit to see all the great posts. I appreciate the effort, the time and the encouragement. It was great hosting and having everybody drop by here.

I think after this it would be great to have more, but first we have to come up with a new theme and date, preferably next year to have some time for the holidays and to freshen up. Maybe a new year gardening resolutions post carnival would be nice? What do you guys think, any ideas?

Thank you again, I have been enjoying blogging and meeting everybody. It has been really a blast.


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My little garden in december


Ok, now for the status of my little garden lately.

  • The cold frame V2.0 is working, The sprouts are big and healthy, they will need to be taken outside soon.

  • There have been some really strong winds lately, so my flowers are a bit bald, but I am sure they will recover soon.

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Winter cosmos is a bit fragile, and always get very hurt by the wind but it recovers quickly and nicely


  • The strawberries seem to have caught some strength, because all of them are developing new leaves, even the one in quarantine.

  • The globe amaranth started to dry, but it was to be expected of the annual, I am surprised it lasted so long. Other flowers are also starting to get to the end of their season, but I think they will still last a bit more.

  • The geranium are still blooming, but they don't seem to have any new buttons, so I am guessing those are their last flowers for the season.

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The beautiful last geranium flowers of the season


  • The herbs are doing great too. They seem to be growing very nicely. Only the dill suffered a bit from the winds because it one of the tallest. It was swinging so hard that I thought it will get torn away, and I put it in. I think that save it and it didn't got any real damage.

  • The grapevine, the maple and the blueberries started to drop the leafs, I think winter is finally coming.

  • All the rest of the plants seem to be doing great.

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The stock still has beautiful flowers


I have been a bit stingy on water for them because I don't want to have any powdery mildew like last year, but they seem to be happy even so.

How about you? how is your garden lately?

Sunday, 14 November 2010

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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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I hope this one will continue blooming in December


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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.

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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.

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The pansies keep growing too



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


Happy blooming day!


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Here are the two flower pots together


Tuesday, 26 October 2010

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.

My garden 0110 October 24, 2010

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.

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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.

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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.

My garden 0109 October 23, 2010

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.
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