UberlootsGardening with a Gaming Perspective

Now is still an okay time for transplanting houseplants. Though technically you can transplant at any time the general belief is that it is very best to do so before a growth period. Here in the last week I transplanted two house plants and I will be transplanting the African violet tomorrow night. A bit later than I wanted to but other things just took priority. Two of the plants I have not yet identified, they came with the house as housewarming presents.

Unidentified vining plant

To start with you will want to cover your work area with newspaper if it is available, this makes clean-up much easier. Also you definitely want to do this somewhere that there is not carpet, it is much easier to sweep up any spilt soil than trying to vacuum it up. You may want to gather a couple of tools together at this point: the pot into which you plan to place your plant(this should have a drainage hole and something like a saucer to catch excess water), the plant being transplanted, decent quality potting soil, gloves, and a water source.
Now that you have everything gathered together let’s put on our gloves and get to work. First lay down a layer of soil into the pot, some people like to put a layer of rocks or marbles to prevent soil from escaping out of the drainage holes, recently though I read that this does more harm than good, which way is better I do not know. Then over the pot you are transplanting into tip the contained plant upside down supporting the stem with your hand spread out and inspect the root ball. If it looks very tightly bound now is a good time to gently work the roots outward with your fingers being careful not to tear any of the roots. Now set your plant level into your new pot. Make sure the pot is not too big or small for its new occupant, one assuring the proper size and that it is level by adjusting the soil below the plant to make it so, fill in around the sides with your potting soil gently, if you want you can add in a small amount of granulated slow-release organic fertilizer such as MicroLife. When the soil is about an inch or less from the top of the pot, gently firm the soil down around the plant making sure not to place any pressure on the stem. If there seems to be too much room around the top add some more soil or you can add a layer of decorative stones over the dirt, this can help deter house pets from digging in the soil. Now water your plant deeply and do not water again until the soil feel dry even when you stick your finger an inch deep into the soil.
There you go, that’s all there is to it. I am sure your houseplant will be quite happy in its new home. Don’t forget to rotate your pot about a quarter inch weekly to keep light distribution even and dust the leaves on occasion with a damp paper towel to remove any dust or mite build-up. Also it is good to remember that it is better to water plants less often and deeply to help prevent salt build-up. In general house plants do not require a great amount of care and they are beautiful as well as purify the air in our houses which often times contains even more pollutants than the air outside.

This baby is about 4.5 feet tall

It is by no means a new idea to use toilet paper rolls to start seedlings in, but it is definitely an idea worth sharing. The toilet paper rolls are a byproduct of household life and if folded flat store quite neatly in a quart sized storage baggie pinned up inside the bathroom cabinet. Then when you are ready to plant your seedlings you get those toilet paper rolls out and follow the simple steps below. This first picture follows steps one through four, left to right.

Steps 1-4 starting at the left

1. Start with a empty toilet paper roll, having a few bits of toilet paper clinging to the roll won’t hurt it in the slightest, the only reason to remove those bits is if they annoy you.
2. Fold the toilet paper roll flat; just squash it with your hand onto the counter. Then center the newly made crease and fold it flat again. Doing this will make the roll into a square form.
3. Now open your roll up, it should be nice and square at this point. At the bottom of one side cut a half inch slit at each corner. Then fold those slits outward and crease them.
4. Now starting with whichever flap you chose fold each flap in going clockwise, when you get to the last flap tuck the end under the first flap. Just like when you close up a cardboard box.
5. Now, I find it is easier to put them all into a tray packed tightly and fill them with dirt all at once. Now that they are filled with dirt and ready to go just plant your seeds in and water like normal.
6. When it is time to transfer to a bigger pot or outside into the ground your pot can be planted with the plant. I would just advise opening the bottom up with a gentle tug an inch or so above the plants new resting place so roots can get through even easier. (Though some roots may have already grown through the sides of the pot by now) Also make sure that the top of the cardboard is completely covered with dirt. Just to make sure the cardboard cannot wick away any moisture.

Filled and ready to go

The cardboard will finish degrading in the soil. Well done on recycling! Every little bit done by each of us to reuse and recycle helps. Don’t let anyone tell you one person’s contribution or lack thereof makes no difference because it does make a difference. I also wanted to note that the idea to cut the bottoms and make flaps to fold in for a solid base came from a member: Joeysplanting of Myfolia. These can be made without this step and shoving them together tightly into a tray certainly helps with this but I have made mine with the bottoms ever since I saw the idea and I just love it so my thanks go out to them.

Another tip, to keep track of what is planted in each pot use non-toxic markers to mark right on the rolls what you planted in them. I also like to add the date to keep track of also.

Hard to believe it is May already, it just sort of snuck up on me. We gardeners have a busy month ahead of us depending on our personal flavor of Gardening.

Now is a great time to trim back spring flowering bushes. The Houston area has some wonderful resources for learning how to prune things. It can be a little tricky to get a hand on but once you get the hang of it, it takes only a few minutes for most plants.

Also now is the time to fertilize any trees you have not fertilized as of yet. I know I have mentioned it before but I highly recommend using MicroLife fertilizer. It is an organic fertilizer available locally from many locations. Feel free to send me an e-mail with your general area and I will let you know of a nearby supplier if I know of one.

1Up Basil

The various planting charts I have been researching for my vegetables suggest planting: asparagus bean, basil, buckwheat, chives, collards, cucumber, eggplant, Malabar spinach, peppers, luffa squash, okra, peanuts, pumpkin, rosemary, sesame, southern peas (like limas), squash, sunflower, sweet potato slips, cantaloupe, and watermelon.

That is a lot of food to get into the ground. For many of the above listed the first half of May is the best time of all to plant them. I am planning on starting a lot of the above from seed in the next couple of days. I know now more than ever a lot of us are trying to learn more about gardening. Especially not knowing what the future may hold for the economy. Victory gardens are becoming more and more popular. CNN even mentioned the victory garden as more Americans are starting gardens, for the first time in many cases.

I actually see this as a good sign, as we grow more of our own food we will be saving ourselves money. I have put a lot more money into this than I really needed to. Some of it because of not knowing better and some of it for convenience sake, like the irrigation system, which will in time pay for itself. Watering without it is certainly easy enough, just finding the time or if you plan on being gone for an extended time you need to make sure you have a back-up plan of some sort, a neighbor or an irrigation system, or pay a gardener to water your plants because a vacation could be devastating to your plants without planning their care into your trip. I still travel back to Missouri a lot and so my irrigation system means I do not have to worry about being gone.

With time moving so fast it is easy also to get behind. Projects we plan to do can keep getting put off, sometimes indefinitely. Now is a good time to start writing your plans and thoughts down. Even an online journal like this can help you remember events that happened in your garden. It doesn’t have to be pretty, or even full sentences. Simply the plant type, date planted, location planted, and productivity or healthiness of the plant. Then next year you will know which ones should become annuals and which ones not to try again without changing at least one of the variables.