Category: Progress

Anything related to progress–shocking, I know.

All five itty bitty baby monarch eggs hatched!

Four yogurt tubs, each with a milkweed leaf inside. They are too tiny to see, but there are five first instar monarch larvae that have just hatched within the last day scattered between the containers.
Five! Five first instar monarch larvae! Ah ah ahhhhh.

Today all the eggs have hatched. I was a bit surprised since they came from different plants, but maybe that single Monarch I saw that appeared to be laying eggs did so all over the back yard.

Sadly, I do not have a good camera to show them off–this shot was the best I could do (and one of them is on the underside of the leaf anyhoo.)

Continue reading “All five itty bitty baby monarch eggs hatched!” →

Status• Posted on by Lily

Seeds Started 20230529

An old vinyl window being used as a cold frame.
Sooooo many saved yogurt cups.

mid sized cold frame
saved rain barrel water

  1. 9 beans, scarlet runner pole (Heirloom, 2018)
  2. 15 beans, black turtle dry (Heirloom, 2018)
  3. 15 corn, Dakota black (Botanical Interests, 2020)
  4. 15 corn, sweet Golden Bantam  (Territorial, 2021)
  5. 15 corn, sweet Hopi blue (Territorial, 2021)
  6. 15 corn, pencil cob (Heirloom, 2018)
  7. 15 melon, Lilly (Territorial, 2021)
  8. 15 melon, honeydew (saved from grocery, 2018)
  9. 15 squash, acorn (saved from grocery, 2018)
  10. 15 squash, butternut (saved from grocery, 2018)
  11. 15 squash, butternut (saved from grown above, 2019)
  12. 17 sunflower, evening colors (High Mowing, 2021)
  13. 29 sunflower, enchanted garden mix (Heirloom, 2019)

Continue reading “Seeds Started 20230529” →

Status• Posted on by Lily

Seed Progress 20230527

Forgot to post this! My apologies.

Old window lying on some scrap lumber to act as a cheap and dirty cold frame for gardening. The window is half open, and that half is screened. Planting plugs can be seen behind the screen.
Kludgey, but works!

I took the small sized cold frame out of the garage so I could move the plugs into it. I also hauled out some rain barrel water from our stash in the cellar, and made sure nothing was “resting” in the watering can that was closest to the door. (One year, I had left water in a can over winter and a small rodent tried to get a drink and drowned in it. Not the most fun thing to find months later.) I’ve mentioned it before, but when we empty our rain barrel to take it in at the end of season, I always fill up old vinegar jugs we have so I can use them over winter on house plants, and in spring for inside started seedlings and later outside as well. Given how little rain we’ve had the last week, I am so glad I have some left over. As of writing this, there is no rain forecast any time soon.
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Status• Posted on by Lily

Seeds Started 20230526

Reused plastic cookie trays filled with cut up pieces of TP rolls filled with germinated seeds and potting soil.
I try to reuse whatever I can. Here I used washed plastic trays from store bought cookies. Inside are “plugs” I made from cut up pieces of TP rolls filled with potting soil.

kitchen windowsill
city water

  1. 9 beets, Merlin (Territorial Seeds, 2021)
  2. 9 pumpkin, unknown type (Saved from 2020 Halloween store bought pumpkin)
  3. 1 pumpkin, jack-o-lantern (Heirloom Seeds-last of free 2018 batch)
  4. 9 pumpkin, small sugar pie (Hart’s Seeds, 2020
  5. 9 pumpkin, small sugar pie (Territorial Seeds, 2021)

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Status• Posted on by Lily

Seeds Started 20230524

Four small glass bowls with pea seeds in water in a window for germination tests.
After the germination tests I’d done prior, I am using the city water. Sadly, the fact that the water seems to help break down the seeds faster isn’t the greatest thing…but it is what it is.

kitchen windowsill
city water

  1. 9 peas, alderman (Territorial Seeds)
  2. 9 peas, little marvel (Heirloom Seeds)
  3. 9 snow peas, little purple–plasma treated (Territorial Seeds)
  4. 9 snow peas, little purple–non treated (Territorial Seeds)

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Status• Posted on by Lily

Starting the ToDoList for 2023

Another year, another set of plans that may or may not go as planned.  A lot has happened since my last post.  I’m not going to get into all that today–in fact, I’m not even going to get into that a little bit today, honestly.  Instead, I want to look towards the future.  Even if my ToDoList (which remains awesome to behold) is still so…awe inspiring in its own scary but foolishly still somehow catering towards my oft present optimistic side that is stubborn and forever hopeful.  (Oh, Past Me….the things you have not done to help Present Me, let alone Future Me.) Continue reading “Starting the ToDoList for 2023” →

Status• Posted on by Lily