Got to have green!!

-
House Plants.....
Are simply a joy to most people who enter a home or mall where they bloom, sprawl or climb. Especially in the winter; in Minnesota. I know no one wants to think of the "W" word for a while but it is on my mind. Most of us flood the malls just to get a little view of greenery during shopping excursions or enjoying a nice hot chocolate while listening to our screaming children run from ride to ride at a venue like Mall of America. 
I didn't really have this on my mind today when I took a trip to the Minneapolis Farmers Market to find discounted outdoor plants or shrubs. However, low and behold there before me in a stall next to piles of edamame were beautiful Peace Lillies, Aloe, and Pothos plants. Most people think my thumbs are stained green with how well I tend plants on the outside. I have had no real luck with house plants since..... Well, since we moved to this house. The direction of the sun is not conducive to what plants need in our family room and the only place I have tried to refrain from putting plants is my sons room which gets most of the light no matter the time of day. So I pretty much just kept walking past this stall until I remembered an article I read on the benefits of houseplants for asthmatics and people with allergies. Apparently the right houseplant{s} can purify the air... Uh Doy!!!! This makes a lot of sense to a science geek like me but to have it confirmed in an article was only half the battle. Inspiration hit and I thought I'd ask some questions about lighting. Since I want these plants to thrive in an area that gets some sun but that are not dependent on full sun and in a basement that gets very little sun I had lots of questions. After a lengthy discussion on watering and potting soil and varieties great for those with semi black thumbs we decided the Peace Lily and the variegated Pothos pictured would be a good start. I mean nothing fails but a try and it can't be worse than the money plant and bamboo I killed last year. I'll be posting updates on my efforts to grow indoors this winter. I hope by then the plants will have doubled in size so they can go in my big pots. Besides these two I will be adding my daughters elephant ear to the mix which I am praying does better than the one our dog peed on, dug out several times, and ultimately killed 3 years ago. **smacks forehead**

 With luck and a whole lot of prayer I am hoping to have a house of green inside and out!

 Happy planting :)
Tina

 P.S. I would love to win the free houseplant giveaway at Get Busy Gardening. If you would like to try your hand at adding green to your home for FREE like I do; make sure you get over there and do what you got to do. Here is the link to the giveaway

Comments

  1. Amy AndrychowiczSeptember 12, 2012 at 6:21 PM

    Hi Tina,
    Isn't it great to have some green in the house during our long winters? I love that I can still dig in the dirt inside, even when the ground is frozen outside. Thanks for mentioning my giveaway in your post!

    Amy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Quantina Beck-JonesSeptember 13, 2012 at 4:54 PM

    Amy you are so welcome. I am going to try my best to keep these two plants alive. Also I will try my hand at making a cold frame to keep me busy in the frigid months. This will get me outside with the dog to keep him company log enough for him to do his thing. He chickens out sometimes when there is a bunch of snow but will go on walks...((smh)) Haven't quite figured this out yet lol.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Community Garden Day with Fresh Food on 4th

-
Image
Then it was September As a blogger there can be a little bit of guilt for not posting as regular as one would like... Speaking for myself that is. If there was a way to upload directly from my mind to this page you would experience all of the beautiful images and stories from past events I've attended starting with Community Garden day, to Open Streets Minneapolis, Food Truck Tuesdays & Movie in the Parks, the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, and then to the Minnesota State Fair. Besides these events children around the country have gone back to school including my own which has given me more or less " the time " to grab a few moments to recap and catch you all up on my urban Ag Adventures. So I'll give it a go and start where I left off with my Community Garden Day 2013 experience and in between my food preservation efforts you will get a glimpse into some of the ways Minneapolis grows together.... COMMUNITY GARDEN DAY 2013 John Ghizoni, Ajan
Read more

Eat your backyard

-
Image
Backyard Foraged Salad Foraging was a topic my elderly neighbor who was also a retired science teacher and botanist spoke about constantly. Friends thought my brother and I were crazy when we stopped mid game (football) to pick and eat a juicy looking patch of wood sorrel we spotted on the other side of the fence. I can't remember all of the lessons she taught but I remember her passion for eating local and not overlooking the simplest of plants. It's because of her that I jumped at an opportunity to learn some foraging here in the city. I've participated in some monthly classes that have helped me and by proxy my family, become more of an adventurous eaters. Below is a  picture of a salad foraged from our backyard. We paired it with our baked chicken [no pictured] and this meal was more than a hit!  The greens included lambs quarters, Orach (purple mountain spinach), Plantain, Egyptian walking onions, Wood Sorrel, Flat leaf Parsley, Raspberries, and Purslane. All b
Read more

Mini Green House (1)

-
Image
This is the BIG ~ Mini project we had been putting off due to weather and just pure plain busyness. In our exuberance and excitement over 70 degree weather we transplanted some seedlings too early and didn't heed the cool evening/morning temps nor our strict watering regimen. MY BAD!! **blush ~ blush** I thought it would work out better for me and my two cohorts (hubby and daughter) if we devised a system that could take full advantage of the not so unusual bipolar Minnesota warm then freezing weather without killing all our precious transplants in the process. So since we have ample garden and yard space we took on the task of a greenhouse. I always hear rave revues about this system and truthfully it has been working on a micro level wth the milk jugs so I figured why not? Take a look at the pictures and see for yourself the end result. DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN COMING SOON.
Read more