Seedy Saturday - And the Planting Continues

There is a huge bag of container soil and two bundles of 6-foot tall stakes in the back of my car which will be pulled out today. And a big bag of bird food.

I need more bird food because of these...

I had hung up one of the birdhouses Lady K made over the years at the Migratory Bird Days in Montana. This is the first time we have been able to hang one and had a visitor. Lady K is thrilled.

But I have a long list of chores outside today and it should be pleasant outside, in the mid-70's today. Lady K will be able to play outside while I put in stakes to string twine to tie up the tomatoes. I am not putting stakes at every tomato. It would look like a forest if I did. But I am setting up stakes down the row and then string up twine, tying the tomatoes to the twine as they grow. Hopefully, it will work out well.

The 'main' chore is to get the seedlings out of the trays and into the ground or other pots. Then I will plant my pole beans in a large tub. 

Things already planted are moving right along. The tomatillos are starting to bloom and hopefully set fruit. The potatoes are starting to flower, which makes me want to empty out a bucket and check out what is going on so far. But I'm going to resist.

I will pick some lettuce today for a salad for dinner. My herbs, mainly mint, thyme and oregano could use some trimming. I need to study up a bit on the best way to dry them for later use. 

Then my neighbor, Miss J, and I will get together for some crazy fun!

I received a huge envelope filled with smaller envelopes packed with seeds! All kinds of seeds! Plus I have received anise and hyssop in another envelope and I bought some Passion Flower seeds. Despite my resolve not to start any more seeds, I can't help myself. "Must plant seeds!"

But there are so many seeds in each little envelope I am sharing it with Miss J, as she is as crazy about plants as I am. We just aren't telling her husband what she's coming over to my house to do!

And I have a box of spray bottles to wash out to reuse as misters for my plants. This way I won't have to try and remember what room I left the mister in. I'll have enough for every room. Plus some to share with Miss J. I'll probably let Lady K play in the water on the driveway and let her wash them out. They had window cleaner in them and need to be rinsed out a bit before using with water for plants.

I do have a puzzle going on. Something which will be watched closely.

The vanilla cuttings I bought a couple of months ago are producing something 'interesting'. 

Vanilla orchids have aerial roots which are much, much thinner and don't emerge (or at least I haven't seen them there) from between the leaf and stem. 

If this was any other orchid, I would probably assume it was the start of a flower spike. But vanilla orchids are supposed to be several feet long before they produce a flower spike and mine are only about 6-8 inches long. So I'm wondering if it thinks it's still a long vine and pushing out a flower spike. For which I would do a very long and exuberant happy dance. Or is it 'branching' and producing another stem. I'm confused. I will watch its progress carefully.

Which reminds me, I need to take my orchids outside and set them on the porch for the summer. I also need 3 larger pots to repot my 2 fiddle leaf figs and my dumb cane. But the repotting will probably have to wait a bit as I don't have any big enough pots at home and I don't want to go out 'shopping' today.

Hopefully, I will get through my list for today and can concentrate on the inside of the house tomorrow. Working 40 hours takes up most of my 'fun' time. I had forgotten what it was like to work full-time hours and I have another week of full time before I go back to part-time. 

And I would like to sit on the porch with a glass of tea and admire my plants a bit. A bit of mint in that tea!