#patiosteading

[artinthegarden]

A lot of people are planting Victory Gardens to help boost morale and I support it 100%

While I don't have room to set one up separately I do still have my other containers and for me that's good enough. I encourage everyone to plant some sort of garden or plant through this time even if it's just an herb, succulent, or replanted root base from some kitchen scraps in a solo cup or old chipped mug, or even an old mushroom container from the store. Get creative and be as frugal as you need, caring for plants will help ease your mind and keep you attentive to your surroundings.

Life continues, stay simple and clean.

#patiosteading #urban growers #patio garden #patio gardening #urban homesteading #garden #permaculture #urban gardening #victory garden #covid19

[artinthegarden]

The herbs have been coming up and don't seem to mind the cold.

Pictured are catnip, chamomile, a combo of lovage and summer savory with sage in the middle, and a wild mix of seeds to repot for some hopeful plant starts later.

I also have a bunch of beans just growing in a pot and some carrot plants from fall in another. It isn't a lot but it's something so far. I haven't seen any of my Tulsi come up yet but it's been pretty cold, if I don't see any I'll resew by the end of the month since I want some to cover the snake I buried and bring beauty to a grave.

The oak leaves all fall from the trees around the garden so it's been pretty easy to grab some handfuls and lay them as needed for mulch.

#apartment gardening #urban gardening #container gardening #gardening #garden #patiostead #patiosteading #patio gardening #patiogarden #patio garden #seed starting #seedlings #permacultura #permaculture

[artinthegarden]

I've been pretty quiet on here through the fall and winter but my gardening endeavors have been slowly continuing on. I've started recultivating a moss collection from foraged moss around my garden and house (only take small pieces, moss is fantastic for moisture retention and prevents soil erosion, and much more) for a few months and starting small with it. I want to be as mindful as possible with foraging.

I've been steadily feeding my worm bin and native isopods that got in there as well, and using the castings as a light amendment topping to my soil, and so far started planting seeds! In my zone we only have a few cold snaps in a season, I'll be honest that I'm nervous to plant after last year's season dragged out for so long and was so irregular... but I decided to take a chance and let the strongest and most adaptive survive.

So far I have sage, summer savory, lovage, chamomile, and catnip planted for my herbs. I have holy basil as well to plant in a pot where I buried a corn snake found near the property a couple weeks ago. I'd like to honor it that way. I also planted a few chia seeds but I think I'll restart some of those in a proper pot, I don't think it's worth it to grow them in a starter pot for transplanting and not sure what I was thinking otherwise, but I spilled a few hundred seeds accidentally and grew them up for some delicious microgreens through the winter. All I did was spread them out onto a paper towel in an old plastic tray and kept them wet. They sprouted within 30 hours and grew pretty tall. You can eat them whole or snip them, it doesn't matter. I look forward to growing my chia for tea and seeds, so I do technically consider this part of my tea garden.

The sweet potato starts mostly died from pests but one survived, and I let the frost come through and kill what was left of my tomato plants since they were all too sick to produce. All of them died except for a branch of one, oddly enough, and it's woven onto a trellis with my beans so I guess I'll leave it for now and see what happens. I planted more beans too, black, red, and pink kidney, and they're all doing great so far. I didn't get a harvest off my kidney beans last year but the squirrels sure did. I'll try to be more vigilant this year and see if I can get them more protection.

All of the fruit trees are still good and I just gave my avocado girls their haircuts this morning to keep them in check 💕 my 11 yr old pineapple bush is also doing great, and so are her babies.

The hibiscus starts took a beating from the squirrels and other pests but they have new growth and good roots, I'm sure they will recover in no time.

I have 2 more mango pits sprouting wrapped in damp paper towels and sealed in an old shredded cheese bag, I didn't think to take a picture today but I set them up a few days ago and they already have little nubs. I also have many papaya seeds to try out today, so we'll see how that all goes, haha.

Otherwise I'm just waiting to plant my melons, peppers, and ground cherries until it's nice and hot out.

It's winter but you can always find something to do in preparation! Use your waiting period as a time to research, learn, and plan.

#patio gardening #planting trees #permaculture #permacultura #patio garden #urban gardening #container gardening #gardening #garden #patiostead #patiosteading #urban homesteading #homestead #vermicompost #vermicomposting #isopods #my garden update

[artinthegarden]

Well I have had a little outdoor worm tower for a few months now and am the worm lord (landlord). My red wrigglers have survived heavy heats, cold nights covered with a blanket, and plenty of rain. Some ants moved in on their scraps and I'm still working to balance that problem out, but keeping it moist doesn't seem to be making the ants leave as I've read. The worms don't seem too unhappy though and have had plenty of babies, but I still want to get the ants out.

Otherwise I've had a colony of isopods start living in the bin, and I love that because I also really love isopods and would love to have some for terrariums and other upkeep. They make great pets also.

Other than the bin, which I want to update already and try to sneak inside, there's only one surviving bean plant, and the tomatoes still have portions fighting off the cold snaps we had. It's been pretty interesting, even some of the sweet potatoes survived. The radish sprouts and cabbage sprouts all got eaten by the squirrels, but the carrot sprouts seem to be okay under some deep leaf mulch.

It's been a bit hit and miss but every garden has these shortcomings and victories 😅 it's definitely been a good learning experience in many ways for me, and while I didn't get much food this year that's okay because I still got experience.

Oh, and my cacti/ succulents are all okay. The succulent pieces I got months ago all had pups and so now I have 12 pups 🐶 and 8 baby cacti (5 pitaya, 3 prickly pear)

... and I already want even more cacti 😂

Happy Friday the 13th, and please remember to be kind 🖤

#nature #garden #gardening #container gardening #apartment gardening #urban gardening #patio gardening #permaculture #permacultura #urban growers #urban homesteading #patiosteading #patiogarden #patiostead

[artinthegarden]

Pardon the quality but I'd like to focus on the good of my plants currently. The dragonfruit is finally reaching past 1inch, one catnip survived, the prickly pears sprouted and started budding out (and another one has recently sprouted!), and the duckweed is still very prolific! I've had more than I need for years so please if anyone would like any just message me.

Have a Happy Halloween 🎃

☕ kofi ☕

#apartment gardening #patio garden #urban gardening #container gardening #gardening #urban growers #permaculture #permacultura #patiosteading