Goji Plant update - 2 weeks old

I finally got around to planting the goji berries in starter pots in mid-March.  They have made some very good progress since that day. 

I'm not surprised that the one in the black pot hasn't done much.  When I pulled them from their shipping bag, the one in the foreground had more initial growth, anyway.  In fact, the one in the foreground had a similar amount of growth as the one in the black pot initially.  Perhaps the one in the rear is just 2 weeks behind?

Reflecting on the failed restarted celery experiment

As I mentioned recently, The Transplanted Celery met its untimely demise last week.

Setting up the restarted carrot experiment, I thought a bit about things I may have done wrong when I tried restarting celery.  Not saying that it should have worked, but I may have not set it up for the best chance at success.

• I should have suspended the celery in the water. 
  
  • I didn't do this.  In letting the celery rest on the bottom of the glass, roots only had a chance to grow from the sides of the lettuce heel. 
• I should have let the roots rest before planting in soil.
•  The gentleman next to us at the garden plot commonly restarts scallions in his plot.  He lays them out to rest for a few hours before transplanting them.  I don't know exactly why that is, but perhaps he's been keeping them going in water prior to transplanting and by letting them rest, they're toughening up for going in soil.
• I should have kept it away from cat-friendly areas.
• The cats got to the celery twice before I moved it back into the kitchen.  I don't know that that's what killed it off, but it surely didn't help it survive.
• I should have researched optimal temperatures.
• When I moved it outside under the raised box cover, I thought that celery is a good spring crop.  I don't know that for certain, but I recalled it may be the case.
• I was wrong.  After doing research for this blog post, celery is both tough to grow and also prefers temps between 55 and 70.  The plant was on its way out before I took it outside, but the temps were between 25 and 50 outside.  All I did was hasten its death by putting it outside.

I will try restarting celery again soon.  No idea if I'll have success with it, but at least I've learned a few lessons to give it a better shot at survival.

Restarting Carrots

Wifey came home from the store with two nice bunches of carrots that still had their greenery.  I recalled reading somewhere online that people had had some success restarting carrots.  After doing a little more research, I decided to give it a try.

I cut the tops of two carrots off approx 1.5" from the top of the carrot and then removed all but 2" of greenery.  A few toothpicks inserted into each have them suspended in some tap water.  We'll see what happens.

Remembering The Transplanted Celery - An Obituary

Maryland (WSFF) - Tasty food and delightful experiment, The Transplanted Celery, a former heel of purchased organic produce, was pronounced "most definitely toast" on Tuesday.  It was 7 weeks old.

A spokesman for the gardener's blog, Will Seed For Food, confirmed the death.  It's presumed the failure began shortly after transplant when a resident cat accosted The Transplanted Celery on two sequential days.  While investigation into the true culprit continues, the number of suspects has been reduced to three, all with prior convictions.

An attempt to regrow celery from compost, The Transplanted Celery initially rose to prominence as the first hydroponic gardening experiment to be transplanted into dirt.  It's successors, The Transplanted Scallions, have heaped accolades on their forefather for its trailblazing ways.  Shortly before its untimely demise, when approached for a quote, The Transplanted Celery, always quiet and reserved, declined comment.

 organic celery, died Dealmaker and political powerbroker Robert S. Strauss, a former Democratic Party chairman whose counsel also was prized by Republicans, died Wednesday. He was 95.

A spokesman for Strauss' law firm, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, confirmed the death but released no other information.

Strauss, a quick-witted and gregarious Washington insider with a soft Texas drawl, moved easily in the city's political, business and social circles. Mixing outlandish boasts with a self-deprecating humor, he regularly told listeners: "It ain't braggin' if you've done it." - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n=robert-strauss&pid=170258720#sthash.T2k9EaKK.dpuf

Dealmaker and political powerbroker Robert S. Strauss, a former Democratic Party chairman whose counsel also was prized by Republicans, died Wednesday. He was 95.

A spokesman for Strauss' law firm, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, confirmed the death but released no other information.

Strauss, a quick-witted and gregarious Washington insider with a soft Texas drawl, moved easily in the city's political, business and social circles. Mixing outlandish boasts with a self-deprecating humor, he regularly told listeners: "It ain't braggin' if you've done it." - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n=robert-strauss&pid=170258720#sthash.T2k9EaKK.dp

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawrence E. Walsh, the special prosecutor who spent six years investigating misconduct by President Ronald Reagan administration officials in the Iran-Contra affair, has died. He was 102.

He died Wednesday at his home in Oklahoma City following a brief illness, according to his family.

In a distinguished legal career, Walsh was a highly successful Wall Street lawyer who served as a federal judge, president of the American Bar Association a - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n=lawrence-walsh&pid=170268554#sthash.bR0R32u3.dpuf

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawrence E. Walsh, the special prosecutor who spent six years investigating misconduct by President Ronald Reagan administration officials in the Iran-Contra affair, has died. He was 102.

He died Wednesday at his home in Oklahoma City following a brief illness, according to his family.

In a distinguished legal career, Walsh was a highly successful Wall Street lawyer who served as a federal judge, president of the American Bar Association a - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n=lawrence-walsh&pid=170268554#sthash.bR0R32u3.dpuf

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawrence E. Walsh, the special prosecutor who spent six years investigating misconduct by President Ronald Reagan administration officials in the Iran-Contra affair, has died. He was 102.

He died Wednesday at his home in Oklahoma City following a brief illness, according to his family.

In a distinguished legal career, Walsh was a highly successful Wall Street lawyer who served as a federal judge, president of the American Bar Association a - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n=lawrence-walsh&pid=170268554#sthash.bR0R32u3.dpuf

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawrence E. Walsh, the special prosecutor who spent six years investigating misconduct by President Ronald Reagan administration officials in the Iran-Contra affair, has died. He was 102.

He died Wednesday at his home in Oklahoma City following a brief illness, according to his family.

In a distinguished legal career, Walsh was a highly successful Wall Street lawyer who served as a federal judge, president of the American Bar Association a - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n=lawrence-walsh&pid=170268554#sthash.bR0R32u3.dpuf

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawrence E. Walsh, the special prosecutor who spent six years investigating misconduct by President Ronald Reagan administration officials in the Iran-Contra affair, has died. He was 102.

He died Wednesday at his home in Oklahoma City following a brief illness, according to his family.

In a distinguished legal career, Walsh was a highly successful Wall Street lawyer who served as a federal judge, president of the American Bar Association a - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n=lawrence-walsh&pid=170268554#sthash.bR0R32u3.dpuf

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawrence E. Walsh, the special prosecutor who spent six years investigating misconduct by President Ronald Reagan administration officials in the Iran-Contra affair, has died. He was 102.

He died Wednesday at his home in Oklahoma City following a brief illness, according to his family.

In a distinguished legal career, Walsh was a highly successful Wall Street lawyer who served as a federal judge, president of the American Bar Association a - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n=lawrence-walsh&pid=170268554#sthash.bR0R32u3.dpuf

Transplanting Restarted Scallions

A week or so ago I restarted some more scallions purchased at the grocery store.  I decided to try transplanting them into some potting soil to see if I can get them to reproduce beyond the ~2 weeks I've had them last previously.  It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Transplanted Goji Berries

Continuing the theme of plant transplantation, I planted two goji berries starters that Wifey got me for my birthday.  They're little more than sticks with root bits on them, but they're supposed to work for getting goji berry plants started.  It is nice to see that each of them has the beginnings of some greenery on them.  I'll be interesting to see if they last.  I hope so!

Restarting a Meyer Lemon

My grandmother is notoriously impossible to shop for.  With her birthday coming up and her being stuck inside a lot these days, we decided to get her an interesting plant.  She likes that kind of thing, too.  A trip to a local plant nursery netted us a Meyer Lemon plant.  Unfortunately, the plant had a branch that was partially broken at the store.  We decided we didn't care and bought it, anyway.

We're wondering if we can restart a new plant from what amounts to a cutting.  We trimmed the break to remove the dried end and put it into a bud vase along with some organic miracle grow.

It'll be interesting to see if it lives.

Transplanting starters

The starters are finally large enough to be transplanted.  I have a lot to do, however, to avoid getting bogged down in this time sink, I just got some knocked out.

So far, the kale has been transplanted from approx 4 starter plugs and I transferred all but a single Marigold (poor thing never stood a chance vs The Girl) from their dixie cups.  The kale is transferred into dixie cups (since I'll be transplanting them within a month) and the marigolds into 3" peat pots.

I also sprinkled cinnamon on the surface because that supposedly helps prevent mold from starting on the soil.  We'll see if that's true.

I'll probably do some more transplanting this evening.

More seeds started

I didn't see any point in taking a picture of it, however, for the purposes of record keeping, I started another small (10 cells) flat of seeds this evening.  6 cells are devoted to more Marigolds and the other 4 to the dinosaur Kale.

I still have more seeds in need of starting, but I think I'll hold off until I transplant some of the original batch.  The Boy's dresser top is starting to look a bit unruly with all the seed starting flats on there.

Transplanting the Restarted Celery

As I mentioned previously, the restarted celery appears to have slowed down its growth.  We took a trip to a local plant nursery in our meanderings yesterday and picked up a few plastic pots for some future plant experimentation.

The celery has now been transplanted.  I was happy to see that there were around 8 roots that had been sent out by the celery base.  It'll be interesting to see how it does now that it has soil and some better light.

Yes, the pot does seem quite large compared to the starter.  I deliberately picked larger pots (7" dia) so I could use them for a wider variety of applications and also to prepare for if the celery actually grows much larger.

Wifey's Spaghetti Sauce

This is a recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce that my wife found somewhere and has made a few times for us.  We enjoy it quite a lot.

 

Ingredients

1 medium chopped onion
5 cloves of minced garlic
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 quarts of canned tomatoes
2 tsp of salt
1 1/2 tsp of white sugar
1 bay leaf
1 small can of tomato paste
3/4 tsp of dried (or 2 1/4 tsp of fresh) basil
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onion is softened. 
2. Stir in the tomatoes, salt, sugar and bay leaf. 
3. Cover, lower the heat to low, and simmer for 90 minutes. 
4. Stir in the tomato paste, basil, and pepper and simmer for another 90 minutes.  Serve.

 Notes

1. The tomatoes Wifey's canned from our garden tend to be more acidic than store-bought tomatoes.  She increased the sugar amount from the original recipe to help reduce some of the acid.
2. The sauce can be simmered for less than the 90 minutes mentioned in the final step.  The first time she made the sauce, she followed the recipe exactly.  We like the texture for the sauce and flavor profile (wow, that makes me sound like a foodie) better with a longer simmer.  The flavors blend better that way.

Restarting Celery - 4 weeks

I checked the restarted celery today to see if there's much change.  It still look well, however, the new growth appears to have tailed off other than getting a tiny bit taller.

Here's a comparison of a picture today (left) and the one from my last post (right).

I need to go re-pot a peace lilly today, anyway, so perhaps I'll see how transplanting in soil helps.

Status of starters

It's been a busy few weeks.  Sorry for there being so few posts.

The starters are doing nicely despite The Girl accidentally pulling my experimental Marigold starters off the tray.  Thankfully, Wifey salvaged them.  The only seeds still covered are the cayenne peppers.  I always seem to forget from year to year that the peppers take another ~4 days to come up after the other seeds. 

Regardless, they look well.  I need to start more.  Probably this weekend.

Our starters above (left to right):

• Petunias in the 10 slot starter
• Marigolds (in the two cups)
• Bell peppers (entire row)
• Cayenne peppers (covered)
• Sunflowers (experiment, remainder of the 2nd row)
• Basil
• Slicing tomatoes
• Roma tomatoes (last two rows)