the first seeds planted of 2008

Voila! The fruits of my labour. Or they will be fruits. Or vegetables and flowers, I suppose. There are asclepias (butterfly flower), the Roma VF tomatoes, and the Long Red Cayenne peppers. Ten of each. Not sure how the asclepias are going to do, but I have to say, finding them at the OSC was a bonus. I hadn't really considered planting them from seed, but why not? If it doesn't work out, I can just buy some plants. I like to try, though.

I will be planting the strawberries and the shallots next time I'm home. We found a good hanging basket for the strawberries, so that should be excellent. I wanted two, but maybe I'll just go with one for this year and see what happens.

Next post: the saga of the front yard...

she's alive!

Really, I am. Surprise surprise. It is March, and the result is that I am suddenly ready to spring into gardening again. I have been hankering to plant things since early February, but there are a number of problems with this, the primary problem being that I'm not actually living at home right now.

But today I am home, and we're going to go purchase some seeds so I can get some of the vegetables started. I'm going to aim to purchase everything I am planting as far as veggies today, but with the understanding that most I will not be planting until May. Which is coming faster than I sometimes think.

So, the veggie list for this year:

• bush beans: 'Royal Burgundy'
• beets: 'Detroit Dark Red'
• carrots: 'Sweetness III'
• radish: 'Early Scarlet Globe'
• butterhead lettuce: 'Bibb'
• peppers: 'Long Red Cayenne'
• tomatoes: 'Roma VF'
• brussels sprouts: 'Long Island Improved'
• shallots: 'Ambition'

I am also planting strawberries in hanging baskets; the seed arrived from Veseys a couple of weeks ago. This is an experiment I've wanted to try since watching Jamie at Home. I love that man's garden. Also, I would like to cook like him. Heh. I should probably stick to attempting the garden.

Also on the way from Veseys is a black currant shrub ('Black Wellington') which I intend to stick in the back corner of the yard near the veggie plots.

I'll post shortly on the plans for the front yard, which have been gestating through a very snowy Ottawa winter...

it's bloody cold here, she whined

It's fall. I love fall. I've always loved fall. So fall is good. I have been collecting leaves, mostly leaves which blow in from the neighbour's trees, and stuffing them in black garbage bags in an effort to turn them into mulch.

I pulled the tomatoes out and planted fall garlic. The rest of the stuff I purchased from Vesey's got here yesterday, so I have a dozen Dutch iris to plant, and some ferns, and some salvia.

This is all excellent, except I have no time...

the shrimpii have landed

I did get shrimp. Three. Three little Amano shrimp. They were originally kind of a stopgap measure, as the oto cats at the lfs were not for sale today (they're for sale tomorrow). So, instead, I got shrimp.

ADORABLE.

Seriously, and very pretty. Photos don't do them justice (which is fine because the camera is still out of commission) but they have this lovely dusting of gold and blue on the surface of their shells that isn't immediately visible, but under the right light it flickers a little bit and it's very pretty. Pleasantly surprised.

Once I'd got them temperature and water acclimatized, they were netted and tucked into the tank, and they have just taken off. They're eating like crazy. You can see their stomachs, and currently it has this green glow. I think I am in love. I hope I don't kill them.

On the other hand, I had to remove one of the Anubias barteri var. azfelli plants, as the rhizome had rotted. I'm not sure what happened there, whether I bruised it or what. But along with the Shrimpii I got a wad of java moss, and hopefully that can fill in some gaps. I'm told it will likely take over the tank, but at this point a little bit of taking over would likely be okay.

life in the fish bowl

Something else I've managed this year is to get myself happier with my fish tank. I've found it stressful in the past, mostly because I had a pleco who needed a larger tank. And he desperately did. The thing was, I didn't have a larger tank.

So I got one this year, and holy cow has it made a difference. I'm much happier.

I finally, this summer, emptied the small tank and added plant-friendly substrate (Eco-Complete) and planted it heavily with all sorts of plants. Mostly plants advertised as nutrient sponges. Finally, last week I added two pearl gouramis. They're still very small, the two of them, but they are beautiful. Once there are batteries in the camera I'll photograph them. Currently there's a wee bit of an algae problem starting thanks to the fact that the lights are a bit powerful and I don't have enough vegetation in there yet. But that will be solved this week with a small group of oto cats and possibly a few Amano shrimp. Shrimp? Shrimps? Shrimpii?

Heh. I think, if I do get shrimp, I'll just call them the Shrimpii. Like succubi, but less sexy.