Outdoor stuff

2nd pepper I started in the Aerogarden

1st pepper I started in the Aerogarden

Bf's onion patch - doing great

Today I got to turn the tomato plant upside down!

It is so cool!

Daylily starting to bloom.  I planted 2 daylilies in the back.  I think I'll add 1 more.

Morning glories.  Doing great.  Now climb the wall already!

More morning glories in a different bed.  Next to these sprouts I planted more morning glory seeds along the wall.  1 seed has popped its head out.  Hopefully the others grow, but it seems like starting the glories in the Aerogarden is the way to go.  I have read that morning glories do well in poor soil, though.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy birthday from the cactus

Dad's Aerogarden!  Look at all those tomatoes!

seed projects

I have some seed projects going on.  I started all these about a week ago.

I started cilantro in a hanging coco basket, dill in a pot, and I used peat starter pots for daisies, bachelor's buttons and rosemary.  All of these are outside in part sun on the patio.

Dill - Mammoth variety.  Something dug a hole in it throughout the week.

Bachelor's buttons are most active right now.  In front is what I believe to be a tomato sprout.  It had sprouted out of the upside-down tomato planter alongside the bigger plant.  I did have several seeds in there when I started out.

 The bachelor's buttons sprouted in less than a week - I would say 4-5 days.  Awesome!

Tiny daisy sprout - green spot near the middle of the pot.  You can also see a sprout near the plant marker in the left pot.

Seed starting is hit and miss, typically, when things are started outside.  Well, at least in my experience it is.  I do use seed starting soil and keep everything nice and moist.  I have had luck with Miracle Grow Moisture Control Potting Mix also.  I start seeds in part sun so they don't scorch, then I gradually move them to sunlight as they get stronger.

I hope the other stuff sprouts soon!  Then maybe I won't have to buy plants for the driveway bed.

Thought I saw a whitefly last night on the Aero.  Or did I imagine it?  I thought I saw it fly away, out of the garden.  Either I imagined it because I am now whitefly paranoid or he saw me coming and hauled ass!

No more whiteflies?

After the big cleanup and the 2nd standalone spritzing of Ivory solution, I have yet to see any whiteflies.  Success!

Today I planted 2 daylilies in the front bed.  I bought them yesterday after work and didn't plant them until this morning.  Before I even started, I noticed that one flower had opened up already.  Lovely!

I still think I need just 1 more to fill a gap. 

The morning glories are doing great.  One even has a flower bud.  I did try direct sowing some of the seeds, and I am trying to keep the soil moist for germination.  Hope they grow directly sown - alot of stuff doesn't, well, not down here in FL, at least.  But I have heard that morning glories are popular because they like all types of soil including poor soil.  I made sure to amend the soil before planting, of course.

Aerogarden week 12 update

Here we go.  There are two noticeable tomatoes and many flowers with the start of tomatoes, which look like little BBs.  

As you can see from the big tomato in the front, the tomato plants kind of got turned around during the hose misting process.

Unfortunately I found one single whitefly the day after I hosed down/sprayed (many dead ones though - yay!) so I took the base off of the Aerogarden and misted thoroughly with the Ivory dish soap.  That whitefly was being cocky, hanging out ON the largest tomato.

I will soon be able to turn the outside tomato upside-down.  Cool!

Another silly little song

Considering the last post about whiteflies, please enjoy this silly little song called "Bugs in Cahoots".

Click link, push play button!

http://willmusic.bandcamp.com/track/bugs-in-cahoots

The battle of the whiteflies

I finished the palm tree bed this morning, adding in 2 more liriope aztec grass.  It looks pretty spiff.  Next task - mulch the beds!

I have not mentioned this up to this point, but I have been seeing little whiteflies on my tomato leaves.  It does not seem like they are harming the tomatoes, but I suppose they eventually will if left alone.  I have been seeing them for about a week or two.  I only notice them when I shake the tomatoes to pollinate them, which is pretty much daily.  Then they fly around.  Otherwise, I can't really see them because they are so small.  They look like teeny tiny little moths, about the size of fruit flies.

A picture from the web - whiteflies

Tonight I decided it was time to take action.  Following Aerogrow's instructions, I unplugged the Aerogarden and removed the base.  It came right off, no wires to mess with or anything.  I took it outside and I used the "mist" setting on the hose to thoroughly spray the tomato plants, including the undersides of the leaves.  I also made sure to really get in there, into the center of the plant (my plants are quite bushy).  The tomatoes were wanting to topple over as they have grown quite tall, so I had to be careful they didn't break off at the bottom of the stem!!  I did have them on the "trellis system" which came with the Aerogarden.

Next step was to make a homemade pesticide - recipe also found through a link on Aerogrow's site.  All it was was 4 cups water and 1 tsp. dish soap.  I used Ivory dish soap, which was what I had on hand and it was also recommended to me by a friend for the pesticide purpose.

By this point I didn't see any whiteflies at all, as I am sure they all got knocked off by the misting hose.  Anyway, I sprayed every plant with the Ivory solution, taking care to get the undersides of the plants too.

I then dried it off really good, especially the electrical contact.  Aerogrow recommended disinfection the grow surface.  I used chlorox wipes to do this, but I didn't wipe under the trailing herbs because I doubt chlorox wipe liquid is good for the plant.  I just kind of worked around any plants that lay on the surface.  It looks nice & clean now - no water spots - so that's a bonus!

I'm going to let it dry out some more before plugging the Aerogarden back in - one, I don't want to singe my tomatoes with heat while they are wet, and two, I want to make sure the electrical contact is dry for sure.  I mean, I did take great care to make sure it was, but hey, just in case.

So now I hope to see no more whiteflies.  I have also read that sprinkling cinnamon on plants will keep whiteflies away.  But to me, that just sounds kind of messy for an indoor plant.  Plus I'll need to shake the plants daily to pollinate.

If I need to, I'll spray with Ivory stuff again, but Aerogrow was pretty specific about NOT spraying while the base is in the Aerogarden.  Get a little spray on your hot grow bulbs and they can explode.  Definitely don't want to deal with that!

There is a whitefly trap you can buy.  It look like a business card or something that you just hang next to your plant, or you can put it on top of a stake in the soil if it is a potted plant.  I guess it is sweet or something and the flies like it, so they stick to it.  Once the card is full of flies, replace the card.  Sounds easy enough, but I won't go that route unless the Ivory stuff is really not working.  I like the free method for now!