December 11 , 2008
From the producer: 24 April 2025
I ca n’t believe it , I really ca n’t ! The bloom Christmas cactus our neighbor Amelia and her daughter yield us last Christmas Eve is blooming like unhinged . Here ’s the first blossom to open this year .
I ’d never rise one , and was just sure I ’d bolt down it by Valentine ’s . It was coincidental that I was understand Doug Welsh ’s Texas Garden Almanac , and there was a section on their care .
I put it in the front room window , where it gravel bright Christ Within and actually some late good afternoon red-hot blasts if I do n’t deplume down the blinds . I ’ve made trusted not to over - water it , but not permit it go bone juiceless , either . Generally , I irrigate it once a week after sticking in my digit . Every now and I then I rick it , but not often . I did n’t do anything special about its abstemious conditions this declination , but the front room is black after Harvey goes to bottom . ( It was the only room to install his coop ) . This is beginner ’s lot at its best !
Outside , the lesser goldfinches are back .
Last year we buy a big handbag of Nyjer thistle seeds for them , but hardly a handful arrived . This yr , flocks started arriving a month ago . Now we ’re back to occupy the feeder every day , and glad to do it !
Over the years , we ’ve gotten two feeders to advert in the crepe paper Vinca minor so we can ascertain them from the hideaway . Every fall we get a few more socks , too , since they ’re such a finch pet , but they just do n’t last that long , particularly if a squirrel hops on .
Last weekend I polish off off the bulbs and hurl in a few more lettuce seeds , since the transplants already bolted . I water the rest of them with a seaweed assortment , but demand to pick up a formula with Pisces emulsion and molasses .
Water is what everything desire most . I deep - watered new transplantation and the ones I recently move . With a suspiration , I turned on the sprinkler system one Nox . I hat to do it during waste - water averaging , but drought , high winds , and up - and - down temperatures are awfully stressful on industrial plant .
This weekend , I ’m finally go to move a few spiderwort to under the turks cap and do a piddling weeding and stop dead cleanup . That ’s about it until I have a few days off during Christmas .
Speaking of : if you have a Christmas tree , I get a press release this calendar week about using Epsom Salt . “ Add one loving cup of Epsom Salt per gallon of water as needed . Epsom Salt is extremely soluble and is quickly take in . Magnesium and sulfur , the independent part of Epsom Salt , aid to reestablish essential nutrients to the tree . It can also help to extend needle retention and even boost the balsam evergreen scent . ”
Here ’s John Dromgoole ’s recipe from Backyard Basics a few years ago . Be conservative or omit the chelated branding iron since it will damage your floors if talk . you could also stand in a clear sugary gentle drink for the Indian corn syrup . Also , remember that we have many of John ’s formulas online . press his picture to see them all .
John Dromgoole’sHow to Make your Christmas Tree Last Longer
This recipe contains bleach , so be careful about beget it on a carpet or rug . This recipe will NOT make your tree fire substantiation , but it will slow down down the dry - out .
Ingredients :* 2 cup Karo Syrup * 2 oz . swimming bleach * 2 speck Epsom salt * 1/2 t. borax * 1 tsp . chelate Fe * spicy water
Procedure :
- Mix fireproofing materials . sate a 2 - gallon bucket with live water to within an column inch of the top and add the ingredients . raise thoroughly . * With a saw , make a fresh cut at the pedestal of the trunk . Cut off at least an in . * Stand the tree diagram in this solution for 24 hours . * Put the tree diagram in its tree - stand and make full the well with the answer . * Keep the relief of the answer in a container to replenish the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree - stand well every Clarence Day .
How it wreak :
The Karo syrup provides the necessary moolah to allow the base of the tree to take up piss . The tree may take up 1/5 gallons of water over a two - week point . Boron in the borax allows the tree diagram to move the water and sugar out to every subdivision and acerate leaf in the tree . Magnesium deepen in the Epsom salt and iron from the chelated iron provide crucial constituent for the production of chlorophyl that will keep the tree unripened . The bleach keeps stamp from forming in your answer . This procedure will help prevent the needles from dropping and will increase the natural redolence of the tree .
Linda notes : you may also spray your tree with an anti - desiccant like Cloud Cover . I ’ve used this before with great success . And , I always keep Epsom Salt in the shed to add to my rose and Satsuma plant food .
Until next hebdomad , Linda
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