This is a great article and very economical.

https://garden.org/ideas/view/...

So simple and yet ingenious!

I'll admit to being slow to take compostables outside occasionally and have never made compost in the kitchen but have started fruit fly colonies.

I'm good with putting stuff in the compost. Just not as good with actually using the compost. Making an effort this year, though!

I like growing things in boxes because I hate weeding and because it makes it easier to mow the lawn around the flowers. When I planted bulbs in the fall for the spring flowers that are just starting to sprout now, I filled the bottoms of the boxes with some of the bigger stuff I had raked up, like birch twigs, then leaves, then soil, bulbs and more leaves on top to protect from the cold. So basically just growing stuff straight in the garden compost.

Gardening in pallet collars is all the rage here, and I went and got 6 of them this week. As soon as the snow is gone, the rake is coming out and the leaf piles will make the bottom layer of the pallet collars.

Only problem is that it's snowing again. Eugh. Fortunately, the scilla is a hardy little plant.

Ylis said: I'm good with putting stuff in the compost. Just not as good with actually using the compost. Making an effort this year, though!

I like growing things in boxes because I hate weeding and because it makes it easier to mow the lawn around the flowers. When I planted bulbs in the fall for the spring flowers that are just starting to sprout now, I filled the bottoms of the boxes with some of the bigger stuff I had raked up, like birch twigs, then leaves, then soil, bulbs and more leaves on top to protect from the cold. So basically just growing stuff straight in the garden compost.

Gardening in pallet collars is all the rage here, and I went and got 6 of them this week. As soon as the snow is gone, the rake is coming out and the leaf piles will make the bottom layer of the pallet collars.

Only problem is that it's snowing again. Eugh. Fortunately, the scilla is a hardy little plant.

• Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica)
• Uploaded by Ylis

Ylis, you and Nancy impressed me a lot for being able to grow and make desert roses blooms and you are in a cold 🥶 climate.

For my potted plants, I cheated and got earthworm castings. But maybe a small plastic cup with cover and be buried in the big planters and do the same trick?

I'm combining earthworm castings and AgroThrive on my plants.

I swear by earthworm castings now, and they're not expensive here, which is a nice change. I started adding it to my outdoor planters a few years when I first plant them mixed in the soil, and then another dose mid-summer just dumped on top of the soil, and I found flowers that usually start to fizzle out by early August can last well into September now without any additional fuss or pruning. I don't think you can burn plants with it, so I felt pretty safe adding it to the adeniums including the seedlings.

This is the first time I am going to try them on my seedlings. I found a video that you can mix it with any organic fertilizer (including liquid) and yes it is not supposed to burn the plants. So I have roses 🥀 that struggle when it is summertime so i want to dump a few spoonfuls on top (since I have no time to repot) and then also use AgroThrive. They are beautiful roses that have been neglected because of my obsession with desert roses .

Here it is!


I don't think I need to make a tea for my plants since I have the liquid fertilizer.

My cactus:

That's so pretty, Gigi

antsinmypants said: That's so pretty, Gigi

first time it bloomed forming a halo 😇 of blooms.

@Ylis I just realized your photo was featured in the newsletter in December

https://garden.org/newsletter/...

GigiAdeniumPlumeria said: @Ylis I just realized your photo was featured in the newsletter in December

https://garden.org/newsletter/...

Oh wow, so it is! Thank you for pointing it out to me. ^^

That photo was taken in a dear friend's garden in Salisbury, England. I planted some in my own garden last year and hope to see the result this summer. I can only hope that they survived our unusually harsh winter (-37C is not the norm). Hopefully the snow protected them.