J+M+J
Today I take up my garden tools and join the fight for my plants! I have waged war on the cabbage worms who have tresspassed into my vegetable garden! Beware, garden pests, this offence will not be tolerated!
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J+M+J
Saturday Mom found some strawflowers (Oh! I l0ve those!) that were just her colors (red and yellow-orange) from the farmers market. She was currently looking for new flowers to make our front yard pretty. So she bought them. She let me pick out a white daisy-like thing, and a orange daisy-like thing, as well as a couple of dill plants (I am hoping for catterpillars.) We saw a Black Swallowtail, the same type of butterfly whose caterpillars eat dill.
Sunday after Mass, Mom, Maria, Joseph and I went to the nusery. We bought some orange coneflower and someIndian blanket
After an unsuccsesful attempt to grow carnivorous plants, I spent my birthday money from Mom and Dad on a venus fly trap and two pitcher plants. I will keep you updated on how they do.
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Purple prince and little red riding hood have made way for the Queen. Her Majesty is a tulip, and her court of Elegant Lady tulips are near at hand.
These tulips are actually almost as near black as any flower can be. Though not as black as in the picture in the magazine, I am impressed with them.
Last year we recieved a magazine with a coupon for 25$ off, an if your order was under 25$ you would have your order free. I ordered Queen of the Night and her Elegant Ladies, and purposely my order was under 25$.
J+M+J
I have finished planting the last of the vegetables I am going to plant.Here is a list of all I have planted:
(plants)
Tomatoes
Red, Orange, Yellow, and Purple Sweet Bell Peppers (Mmm)
Banana Peppers (a slightly spicy DELICIOUS peppers, wonderful on sandwiches.)
Onions
Cabbage (Mmm. Cole Slaw)
(seeds)
Romaine Lettuce (a friend had very good results with lettuce from seeds)
Carrots
When I was digging the garden, I found an early June Bug (Maria, who was helping me plant cabbage, freaked out. I saved it from her shoe.) I also found a cut worm. (a gardeners enemy.) I drowned it.
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J+M+J
Mom and I have always wanted one…
And now we have one! A garden devoted to produce! Hurray! Information on what I will plant coming out soon.
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I have read the praises of coffee grounds for plants. I read that it is good for hydrangeas to make the flowers blue an effect of vinegar, an acid. This lead me to wonder if coffee grounds were acidic.
In this WONDERFUL, INTRUIGING book, The Mystery of the Periodic Table, (a must read,) I had read how to tell acids from bases (the opposite of acids.) So I proceeded to do the test.
First, I boiled four purple cabbage leaves in four cups of water for fifteen minutes.
This is what the leaves looked like when the where done
This is the water’s original color
Before I started my experiment, I first added things I knew whether or not they were acidic or basic. I put in acidic vinegar with a low Ph of 2 and the blackish-purple water turned red. I put in the slightly basic backing soda (with a Ph of 8) and the water turned slightly green.
These are the results of my experiment: When I put the cabbage water in the coffee grounds, expecting it to turn red, nothing happened! I tried it again with the same results! THE COFFEE GROUNDS WERE NEUTRAL! To confirm my results, I went on to the internet to find the Ph of coffee grounds. They have a Ph of 6.7, 7 being purely nuetral.
I read that coffee grounds making hydrangeas blue-er was a myth.
Left to right: Vinegar, Coffe Grounds, Baking Soda.
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J+M+J
The snow has melted. The robins and redwinged blackbirds have come. The grass is greening. The trees are budding. And yet, something is missing to make it really spring.
But now spring is definitely, positively, certainly, undeniably, unquestionably, beyond a doubt, categorically here!
The final touch was added when the first of my flowers bloomed (this is one of the members of the royal family. I believe it is the Purple Prince. Other members are Red Emperor and Queen of the Night.) The time of the gardener has arrived.
With last day of frost only 10 days away, I am adding the finishing touches on my plan for where I am going to put the annuals in my garden. I am looking forward to playing in the dirt.
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J+M+J
I won’t expect any daffodils this year. They were about to bloom when the snow came, destroying the buds. However, many other tulips are sending up buds, I am very, very, excited for them to open.
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J+M+J
Drip, Drop, Drip, Drop; Trickle, Trickle; Splish, Splash Splosh.
These musical noises are everywhere today; for the 3-4 inches of snow we got Tuesday and Wednedsay are melting!
My tulips are not too badly damaged, a little wilty, but I think they will be all right.
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J+M+J
The saying ‘April showers bring May flowers’ was put into effect today and yesterday (although I am not sure some of my flowers will wait until May). It rained and hailed yesteday, and was still raining today. The Sioux river is mildly flooding many areas along its banks.
Today is Palm Sunday, and I am very excited for Lent to be over and Easter to arrive.
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J+M+J
What a day! What a lovely day! The robins are singing, flowers are on their way up, and it is just lovely! These words from the Magnificat somewhat describe my feelings, I have been thinking of them a lot today: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.’
Landon bought me a little present for no reason at all! Wasn’t that nice? He let me choose two boxes of flowers from Sunshine to plant. I chose lillies of the valley (what a pretty name) and more mixed colors of columbine (my favorite flower.) Here I am planting them.
Here is Landon planting one.
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J+M+J
I have tulips, irises, daffodils, columbine, bleeding heart, and delphinium popping their little heads up through the soil, invited by the sun and 60F degree weather. I am also noticing swelling buds on the lilac bush we have.
Spring is on its way!
This is a columbine plant. I have been very pleased with it and I highly recommend it to anyone with a garden. It blooms a very long time for a spring blooming flower (from mid-April to early June.) These flowers are my favorites alongside roses.
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J+M+J
I am studying botany this year in science. Today I learned about monocots and dicots.
A monocot is a seed with only one Cotyledon. They have long leaves with veins running vertically. There is no midrib in leaves of this catagory. Often their roots are fiberous. Another interesting thing about monocots is the number of petals the flowers have are usually multiples of three!
A dicot is a seed with two Cotyledons. Their leaves have a midrib and veins branching out on both sides. Often their root system is a tap root systemhe number of petals in a dicot flower is usually a multiple of four or five.
These pictures are a mix of moncots and dicots. If you want to break the code of the previous post, Figure out the pattern of monocots and dicots. A monocot would have a #1, and a dicot would have a #2. For example: if the pictures went monocot dicot monocot monocot the code would be: 1211. Have fun!
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