In the Garden: Propagating Christmas Cactus

Continuing with some garden talk from earlier this week

A few weeks ago, I relocated my mother-in-law’s plants to my house.  She has some low maintenance plants, so with her traveling, you’d think they’d be okay. They still need care, and it only makes sense that the plants live with us since I look after them anyway. I know, I look wary…

Cacti and succulents

A rare pic of myself. (The car is parked.) Good thing I have a station wagon.

And, I gotta say, I’ve never dealt with cacti before, but don’t they look sad? Poor plants…

Propagating Cacti

These guys need some care

After some reading and searches for cactus care, I thought I’d start with the Christmas Cactus (far left in pic above) and Jade (not pictured) since they were already shedding leaf segments. (Probably stunned from the move.) By the way, Christmas Cacti don’t live in the desert… they come from the rainforest. Who knew?

First I learned that the leaflets have to callous over, and they end up shooting out roots looking for water. I left them on a paper towel in some indirect light. With the Jade, an empty stem stuck in the soil started to bud.

Caring for succulents

Jade (above) and Christmas Cactus (below)


Keep reading to see how they turned out!

Mugshot Monday: In the Garden

Mugshot Monday: 5/19/2014

Nicer weather means more daydreaming about the garden – the stuff that’s growing, not growing, the stuff I wish I planted last fall, the stuff that was planted and I’m hoping survived. And, since we had one heck of a winter, all this green is so enticing and welcoming that I’ve slowed down on projects and taken to the outside… even if that means some paperwork on the patio table! My outdoor goal this year is to do the least amount work possible – throw all the (carefully selected) seeds I have in the ground, plant perennials from my dad’s garden and leave it to the universe, no veggies, maybe herbs that are self-sustaining. Why? Partially because I’m lazy, and I won’t be able to really take care of a garden this year since we are taking a big trip when school lets out.

Mugshot Monday: 5/26/2014

Mugshot Monday and journaling, daisies blooming, new plantings, and kitchen garden

However, this doesn’t stop a girl from dreaming and doing something. (You know I have a hard time saying no to projects!) So for the last few weeks, I’ve moved almost all the houseplants outside, brought over my mother-in-law’s plants, thrown an abundance of seeds in the ground and plopped in some greenery from my parents’ yard (since they have plenty to share). When I remember, I jot down details in my garden journal (like this morning).

I tease my husband that this will be the year – the garden will be amazing because I’m not going to over-think things and we’ll come back from our trip to lush flower beds. HA!

Let’s find out.

12 Earth Day projects to make

Since it’s Earth Day, I’m rounding up some past projects that highlight recycling or reusing. The projects range from very easy to more involved. I hope you try some out!

An Accordion Spine Journal with reused envelopes for pages

Completed journal

Tutorial: Accordion Spine Journal

Reusing a Gift Bag

Gift bag redecorated

Reusing a gift bag by embellishing over a logo

Recycled Cereal Box Notebooks

Recycled Cereal and Product Cardboard Boxes

Any cardboard box can become a fun notebook cover.

Newspaper Seedling Pots and a Cardboard Tray

recycled cardboard garden tray - handle placement

Make a tray to hold all your seedlings.

DIY Barrel Composter

Rotating Barrel Composter

Food grade plastic barrel becomes a composter.

Mini-Envelopes from magazines

Mini envelopes from magazines free printable template

Use pages from a favorite catalog to make mini envelopes

Upcycled Paper Bag envelopes

Paper Bag Envelopes

Make envelopes from a paper bag

Magnetic Pin Holder from a mint container

Magnetic Pin Holder from candy tin

Mint tins can be handy containers

Bottle Cap Art

Bottle Cap Art: Finished pieces

Bottle caps can be fun little frames

Upcycled Sweatshirt Throw Pillow

Upcycled Sweatshirt Pillow

Upcycled Sweatshirt Pillow

Reusing Wine Bottles as water carafes

Glass Etching Wine Bottle

Reuse wine bottles as water carafes

and, I reused a grocery bag as gift wrap in this gift wrapping post.

Grocery Bag reused for gift wrapping

A simple brown paper bag can be a nice gift wrap.

Enjoy your time creating and making!

Mugshot Monday: Not so Lazy Days of Summer

Monday Mugshot: in the car

Last week’s shot: Travel mug in my car. Kids and I were up earlier in the morning than usual heading to Vacation Bible School.

It was all of the following: Exhausting (120 kids), enlightening (both in terms of faith and kid management), lots of fun (games, singing and dancing).

I learned that you could get 120 children to focus by saying, “1, 2, 3, eyes on me,” and they answer back, “1, 2, eyes on you.” Elementary teachers are brilliant.

20130729_141543

This week: chillin’ outside with my lemon balm tea.

Can I tell you, after VBS, this small break in the backyard was totally welcome. If I could just spend a whole morning in the garden, then an afternoon in front of my sewing machine, and an evening of drawing or journaling, THAT would be awesome.

Sewing and planting and pain, oh my.

Hello, friends. What’s been going on with you? It’s finally Spring!! Tell me I’m not the only one running around with soccer games, t-ball games and trying to do stuff outside the house.

Soccer game 2013

T-Ball game Catcher 2013

In some few spare moments, I made progress on sewing projects until my iron blew up on me. Oops. But, thankfully, before that happened I taught my big kid how to use the sewing machine for a class project. (She can sew!) We didn’t get snippy with each other – I’m grateful for that. Because you know, it’s so easy to get frustrated teaching your own kid.

North Star quilt square

Bowtie quilt square

Hourglass quilt square

Took a break from sewing and worked in the garden beds and in the wasteland of our very clayey backyard. (Clayey, it’s a legit soils engineering word.)

Garden prep in the front

Garden prep in the backyard

Then – ouch. Not in my back, but my hands. It took a few weeks to shake off. (I’m sad about that. Means I’m getting old.)

Working the soil on your own was pretty satisfying, and I thought I did pretty well all things considered.  But basically, I was using muscles in my hands that haven’t been stressed for a while, and it didn’t occur to me that they would hurt so much. It was pretty unpleasant for someone with a high threshold for discomfort.  So I started to wonder if this was it… arthritis. It’s prevalent in my family. Are my genes catching up to me? (Did I ever write about being tested for rheumatoid arthritis? I’m good. No signs.)

I even made sure I wore my wrist braces to sleep (yes, both wrists) to make sure I didn’t wake up with numb hands. (Yeah, carpal tunnel too.) So when I woke up the next morning with awfully sore hands, I thought, okay, let’s take some Advil and all will be well. Right hand, good. Left hand, not so good. So, there’s been a slowdown of sewing/work around the house. But, I’m glad to say, my hands have returned to mostly-normal.

We were gone for a few days… visited friends, worked on bicycles. So. Much. Fun.

Bicycle Weekend at Goldberry Woods

Monday Morning: chilly

A chilly welcome for autumn around here. Last Saturday night I was going to bed early since I was doing an early morning bike ride… then I thought I should check the morning weather one last time. Uh, good thing I did – frost warning! Holy cow… all the houseplants that were living outdoors all summer long. I didn’t think they would make it. So in my fluffy slippers, nightshirt and husband’s fleece, I scurried around the house pulling them indoors. Haven’t set them back out yet, but glad to report there is a warm up this week. This is what I imagine the plants were saying this morning. You know, if they could talk. Am I supposed to keep them indoors now? Maybe for one more week. We’ll see.

Enjoy the week!

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