A Gardener's Journal

Oh my goodness Gracious, the updates I have to tell you all about my garden!!! The bees and butterflies are loving me right now. Where to start!? Well, I brought home some pencil cactus from my Mother's greenhouse and started the two cuttings I have in my backyard. The pencil cactus are very cool, inside them there's a white sticky glue which is actually a milky white stem latex that is a local irritant and can cause rather strong discomfort, so take care when handling. To start propagate a new cactus from a cutting, you cut it just below the node on the plant. With this particular type of plant, after cutting it, you just set it down on a clean surface until the glue on the cut end has dried, and once it does, you plant it into fresh soil. I really hope my cuttings take and they develop into 6ft. tall plants!!
When I came home, I was very happy to see many of my plants flowering, my giant african marigold had the biggest blooms I have ever seen on a marigold. My dark pink and red Crysanthemums were in bloom and oh so gorgeous! And my butterfly weed!!! I have never had so many flowers and such healthy, leafy plants! They are starting to seed and I see many, many pods forming. It's rare for my butterfly weeds to flower or seed because my monarch caterpillars usually eat them all up before they get a chance to. My new puppy loves eating caterpillars when I'm not looking though (LOL!!!) so because of him, my plants have actually had a chance to grow.
I also have some big, beautiful Nasturtiums which have lily pad like leaves, they have yet to flower though. My herbs are all doing fantastic as well!!!
That's just covering a few of the many flowers, fruits and veggies I have growing in my south Florida backyard. I will try to update more often as the beginning of Spring is here and my plants are LOVING IT! So am I! XOXOXO Happy Gardening!











OH!!!! And my ALOE flowered!!!! This is very rare! I planted the seeds today, I hope I get a few sprouts!!! :)

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated my garden blog, this post is a little on the personal side but I would love to share it with whoever may come across my blog.
Many people tell me I have a green thumb. My green thumb & love of gardening was given to me by my wonderful Mother, and she got her green thumb from her wonderful Mother. My Grandmother just passed away on February 11th, 2011. She was a beautiful, loving woman and she will be dearly missed. Now, when I garden, I will always think of her. I am visiting my family in the Detroit area and it is very cold compared to my home in Miami, but thankfully my Mother has a greenhouse so even though it's snowing outside, she has tons of gorgeous plants growing year round. She has so many different types of awesome cacti and flowering plants, I will definitely be taking some cuttings from her and starting new plants once I return home. I will be planting them all in my Grandmother's memory. I will have many updates on my garden and all of my new different types of plants once I get settled back home. I hope you all check back soon because spring time is coming and my garden is starting to look lovely. Peace, love and Blessings. Rachel
R.I.P. Geraldine Helene Umerlik (Best Grandma ever!)

Well, it's official, my Crimson Sweet Watermelons have taken over my yard and they're starting to make their way into the grass. I really hope that I get some delicious watermelons soon. More updates later. :)

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! It was nothing but rain here in Miami and it's supposed to continue throughout the week. It's no fun because it keeps you in the house but my garden is really loving the humidity, heat and inches and inches of rain it's getting.

A few weeks ago I found 2 beautiful rain lilies in my front yard, growing randomly in the grass. They were so pretty that I dug them up and transplanted them into a small ceramic pot. The blooms went away but after all of this rain, they opened back up. They tend to stay open for about 2 days. They have such beautiful light pink and white petals, they're very delicate looking, beautiful flowers. Yesterday, I found 11 more growing along the side of my house where it usually gets weed whacked which must be why they were just discovered. I am going to replant them all in a better suited place. They look best in bunches as it is.
Hopefully the weather will clear up enough and dry up enough so I can get out there and do some much needed maintainence on my flowers. :)

Well, I have my jungle back under control! Over a period of a few days I got many of my plants repotted, trimmed and I've collected seeds, not to mention planting some new veggies and flowers in my pot garden.

Currently in my garden plot I have two Crimson Watermelon plants taking over. I also have a huge and gorgeous rose bush that is more than 5 feet tall with pretty dark pink roses. I have one large and tall yellow marigold plant that insists on toppling over, as soon as I collect some more seeds from it, I will be pulling that up allowing the watermelon more room to grow. I also have some morning glories in the middle of it all climbing up a tomato cage, they seem to be doing very good despite the watermelons taking over. Last but not least, I have yellow and green peppers growing near the edge, they're doing well, I can't wait to try my first pepper! A few more weeks and the peppers should be ready for picking! I plan on removing and transplanting most of the plants in my garden plot and keeping it for the watermelons, roses and morning glories. Everything else is going to be grown in pots, it's so much easier, cleaner and more organized when you grow a garden in pots.
As for my pot garden, oh boy do I have ALOT going on. Many of my seeds that were planted within this past week have yet to sprout. I have many different seeds planted from veggies to herbs to flowers. I have a very large pot that I plan on planting different types of flowers in, it should be beautiful when everything is in bloom. I have so much going on with my pots, I can't even think to name everything I have growing. I will take photos later and give you all updates on how everything is doing, until then, happy gardening.

Visit my absolute favorite gardening forums in the meantime: http://www.helpfulgardener.com/phpBB2/

Look at the beautiful orchids my neighbor gave me as a birthday present. :)