Hi, friends.  Little tomatoes are coming along!  Look, they're even beginning to look like actual tomato plants: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Lil' Copias"][/caption] But the best thing this past week has been my greens.  Check out my one surviving chard! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="beauty"][/caption] This one little (not so little anymore) chard survived the too-wet soil and winter and now is looking good!  I absolutely love those bright red stems.  I'll definitely be planting more of these and some more kale either in the late summer (for fall harvesting) or fall (for spring harvesting.)  And... [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="baby baby spinach"][/caption] My first little spinaches!  And they taste good!  I feel like I could eat them now and call them "microgreens" (which I do when I'm thinning out the arugula and want to feel fancy, ie all the time) but I'm going to let them get a little bigger. I have a few new plants to introduce to you but they are still settling in so we'll see them next week.  Patience!

Hi, friends.  Little tomatoes are coming along!  Look, they're even beginning to look like actual tomato plants:

But the best thing this past week has been my greens.  Check out my one surviving chard!

This one little (not so little anymore) chard survived the too-wet soil and winter and now is looking good!  I absolutely love those bright red stems.  I'll definitely be planting more of these and some more kale either in the late summer (for fall harvesting) or fall (for spring harvesting.)  And...

My first little spinaches!  And they taste good!  I feel like I could eat them now and call them "microgreens" (which I do when I'm thinning out the arugula and want to feel fancy, ie all the time) but I'm going to let them get a little bigger.

I have a few new plants to introduce to you but they are still settling in so we'll see them next week.  Patience!

Hello, little arugula! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="bright green babies"][/caption] It's been almost two weeks since I planted my seeds and everything is starting to sprout.  The arugula is coming along the fastest which is pretty amazing considering it's outside.  Last year I started all my seeds in our front window because it's nice and warm and gets lots of afternoon sun.  And I did that this year, too, except...I ran out of room on the windowsill.  Oops!  But then I realized that it's been so warm that I could probably just put the hardiest of my seeds (arugula, spinach and lettuce) outside in the sun as a sort of experiment.  Well, luckily these past two weeks have been very warm so they all made it!  Of course the threat of frost isn't totally over yet and I did bring all three pots in one night last week when it dipped down into the 40s overnight.  But that's it!  Here's the spinach: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="hello, spinach"][/caption] Little green ones!  The lettuce has also sprouted, too, but it is the smallest.  Here's a blurry picture of the little lettuce: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="just starting!"][/caption] The tricky part about starting these outdoors is that I've got to be very careful of the temperature getting too low and either bring them inside or cover them.  I don't cover plants very much, though, since I'm afraid of forgetting to take the cover off during the day and steaming my plants to death (it can get really hot under there with just a little bit of sun.)  But the payoff is that they've got to be pretty cold-hardy by now, so unless it does actually freeze they should be fine. The more delicate plants are all in the front window.  That's four kinds of tomatoes (Copia, Dr. Walter, Rutgers and Jersey Giant), Rosita eggplant, a sweet yellow pepper, basil, chives, and thyme.  Here's the Copia tomato which, judging by my experience last year, will be the biggest of the four: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="Someone remembered to label her plants this time!"][/caption] I say that they're going to be the biggest because last year, from the very start, the beefsteaks were always the biggest and fastest-growing.  I guess if they're going to grow 6' tall they need to start growing early... The Copia is actually a hybridization of a beefsteak, so they have lots in common.  The Copia tends to be not quite as big (so I've read) and has yellow stripes.  The Rutgers (developed at Rutgers University for Campbell's when they wanted a good canning tomato) is smaller than the Copia but is still fairly large.  I decided to try Rutgers because of the local connection and also because I'm thinking of trying to can some vegetables this summer.  And on that front, the Jersey Giant is also good for canning because it is long and narrow.  And Dr. Walter?  Well, could you resist a tomato called Dr. Walter?  I certainly couldn't.  Here are the little Dr. Walters growing: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="hi, doctors"][/caption] Honestly, at this stage all the little seedlings look so much alike that I fear I would bore you all with pictures of each pot.  Instead, let's go back outside where... [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="I don't know why this photo is at this angle"][/caption] the mint is coming back!  Always a welcome sight, especially this early on when it looks all innocent.  You're only a few plants now, mint, but I know in a few months you'll be threatening to take over the whole garden. Lastly we have this little cutie: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="strawbs"][/caption] This is my Bartram's Garden strawberry!  The man from Bartram's assured me that this strawberry had been growing outside all year long at Bartram's Garden so it would definitely survive the winter in my little backyard.  Of course, it came in a very little pot so I transplanted it into the built-in raised bed kind of under some ivy which I hoped might protect it.  And now it's got all those new little leaves growing!  Good job, strawberry.  I'm sorry I doubted you.  Let's be friends?

Hello, little arugula!

It's been almost two weeks since I planted my seeds and everything is starting to sprout.  The arugula is coming along the fastest which is pretty amazing considering it's outside.  Last year I started all my seeds in our front window because it's nice and warm and gets lots of afternoon sun.  And I did that this year, too, except...I ran out of room on the windowsill.  Oops!  But then I realized that it's been so warm that I could probably just put the hardiest of my seeds (arugula, spinach and lettuce) outside in the sun as a sort of experiment.  Well, luckily these past two weeks have been very warm so they all made it!  Of course the threat of frost isn't totally over yet and I did bring all three pots in one night last week when it dipped down into the 40s overnight.  But that's it!  Here's the spinach:

Little green ones!  The lettuce has also sprouted, too, but it is the smallest.  Here's a blurry picture of the little lettuce:

The tricky part about starting these outdoors is that I've got to be very careful of the temperature getting too low and either bring them inside or cover them.  I don't cover plants very much, though, since I'm afraid of forgetting to take the cover off during the day and steaming my plants to death (it can get really hot under there with just a little bit of sun.)  But the payoff is that they've got to be pretty cold-hardy by now, so unless it does actually freeze they should be fine.

The more delicate plants are all in the front window.  That's four kinds of tomatoes (Copia, Dr. Walter, Rutgers and Jersey Giant), Rosita eggplant, a sweet yellow pepper, basil, chives, and thyme.  Here's the Copia tomato which, judging by my experience last year, will be the biggest of the four:

I say that they're going to be the biggest because last year, from the very start, the beefsteaks were always the biggest and fastest-growing.  I guess if they're going to grow 6' tall they need to start growing early...

The Copia is actually a hybridization of a beefsteak, so they have lots in common.  The Copia tends to be not quite as big (so I've read) and has yellow stripes.  The Rutgers (developed at Rutgers University for Campbell's when they wanted a good canning tomato) is smaller than the Copia but is still fairly large.  I decided to try Rutgers because of the local connection and also because I'm thinking of trying to can some vegetables this summer.  And on that front, the Jersey Giant is also good for canning because it is long and narrow.  And Dr. Walter?  Well, could you resist a tomato called Dr. Walter?  I certainly couldn't.  Here are the little Dr. Walters growing:

Honestly, at this stage all the little seedlings look so much alike that I fear I would bore you all with pictures of each pot.  Instead, let's go back outside where...

the mint is coming back!  Always a welcome sight, especially this early on when it looks all innocent.  You're only a few plants now, mint, but I know in a few months you'll be threatening to take over the whole garden.

Lastly we have this little cutie:

This is my Bartram's Garden strawberry!  The man from Bartram's assured me that this strawberry had been growing outside all year long at Bartram's Garden so it would definitely survive the winter in my little backyard.  Of course, it came in a very little pot so I transplanted it into the built-in raised bed kind of under some ivy which I hoped might protect it.  And now it's got all those new little leaves growing!  Good job, strawberry.  I'm sorry I doubted you.  Let's be friends?

This weekend is seed planting time!  Here's what I'm going to start with: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="clockwise from top left: Copia, Rutgers, Dr. Walter and Jersey Giant"][/caption] First off:  tomatoes!  I'm branching out a little this year and trying some different varieties.  My beefsteaks last year were very tasty but I definitely think they needed more space.  So these are all slightly smaller since I read quite a few things saying that smaller tomatoes need less growing space.  I never seem to eat cherry or grape tomatoes so we'll see how these work.  The Copia is orangey with stripes and the rest are red; I tried to pick ones from New Jersey or around this area because I figure if this is the climate they're used to then maybe they'll grow better?  Not that my tomatoes last year had any trouble growing... [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="peppers and eggplants"][/caption] Some other nightshades:  sweet yellow peppers and eggplant.  I don't actually like peppers but apparently they grow very well with tomatoes and I'm curious to see how they do.  And the eggplant, well, I didn't get even one eggplant from my Black Beauty eggplants last year so I decided to switch it up and try a different variety.  I'm not ready to give up on eggplant yet! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="thyme, basil"][/caption] My two favorite herbs are thyme and basil and I already have mint and rosemary outside so together these make a pretty good herb garden.  I've never grown thyme before and it might be a little silly to grow from seed but I'm giving it a try.  And the basil is actually the same variety I grew last year.  It was so easy and I liked the taste of it so much that I'm growing it again!  I'm looking forward to more pesto so I can make my favorite sandwich in the world:  tomato, mozzarella and pesto. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="arugula, spinach and lettuce"][/caption] And greens!  It's not really the right time to plant these - they don't like really hot weather so they do best in spring and fall - but they all grow fairly quickly (about a month and half or two months to harvest.)  And the thing with these greens is that it never hurts to pick them early to eat because baby spinach and baby arugula and baby lettuce are not only more adorable but often tastier.  These three are all from last year and I don't think that should be a problem but who knows.  Clearly if my seeds don't sprout I will blame it on that fact. And that's enough to start!  I doubt I'll have much to show for a few weeks but we will see.  I remember being quite surprised at how quickly my seedlings appeared last year.

This weekend is seed planting time!  Here's what I'm going to start with:

First off:  tomatoes!  I'm branching out a little this year and trying some different varieties.  My beefsteaks last year were very tasty but I definitely think they needed more space.  So these are all slightly smaller since I read quite a few things saying that smaller tomatoes need less growing space.  I never seem to eat cherry or grape tomatoes so we'll see how these work.  The Copia is orangey with stripes and the rest are red; I tried to pick ones from New Jersey or around this area because I figure if this is the climate they're used to then maybe they'll grow better?  Not that my tomatoes last year had any trouble growing...

Some other nightshades:  sweet yellow peppers and eggplant.  I don't actually like peppers but apparently they grow very well with tomatoes and I'm curious to see how they do.  And the eggplant, well, I didn't get even one eggplant from my Black Beauty eggplants last year so I decided to switch it up and try a different variety.  I'm not ready to give up on eggplant yet!

My two favorite herbs are thyme and basil and I already have mint and rosemary outside so together these make a pretty good herb garden.  I've never grown thyme before and it might be a little silly to grow from seed but I'm giving it a try.  And the basil is actually the same variety I grew last year.  It was so easy and I liked the taste of it so much that I'm growing it again!  I'm looking forward to more pesto so I can make my favorite sandwich in the world:  tomato, mozzarella and pesto.

And greens!  It's not really the right time to plant these - they don't like really hot weather so they do best in spring and fall - but they all grow fairly quickly (about a month and half or two months to harvest.)  And the thing with these greens is that it never hurts to pick them early to eat because baby spinach and baby arugula and baby lettuce are not only more adorable but often tastier.  These three are all from last year and I don't think that should be a problem but who knows.  Clearly if my seeds don't sprout I will blame it on that fact.

And that's enough to start!  I doubt I'll have much to show for a few weeks but we will see.  I remember being quite surprised at how quickly my seedlings appeared last year.

Back when I was growing up in cold, cold New England, March didn't mean much more than snow or possibly slush, if we were lucky and it warmed up to above freezing.  The old saying that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb never made any sense to me:  it came in and out like a lion in my experience, and the first month that you could just about guarantee that there'd be no snow was May (I'm only slightly joking.)  But here!  In the glorious and warm Mid-Atlantic, March is a wonderful month.  Here, March means that spring is coming.  You can feel the sun getting stronger and once in a while you can even smell spring, as long as you are outside the 1/2 mile Pat's and Geno's cheesesteak smell radius. I kid, Philadelphia.  But it's true that March is a wonderful month, if only for the fact the the few months after it (April, May, June) are some of the nicest temperature-wise.  The other day I went out into the garden, dormant except for that crazy ivy, to get some containers and figure out where things should go.  And lo!  (Sorry.)  There was something still growing: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="swisssssss chard"][/caption] Chard!  I didn't take any of my failed chard or kale out last fall since I was hoping that some of it might come back in the spring.  Well, it sort of did.  This little guy is very small, but he's growing.  I picked one of the leaves to try and I can tell you that it was crunchy and tasted...fresh...but that's about all I can say since I had just finished eating a Cadbury Creme Egg about a second before I put the leaf into my mouth.  Oops! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="pretty"][/caption] Unfortunately, that's really the only one that made it.  You see, I planted the chard and kale seeds in a self-watering planter.  Good idea, right?  We've already covered that I'm bad at watering.  The self-watering planter came with a plastic cover and one day I got all cocky and decided that I didn't need that ugly plastic cover.  Ha!  Unfortunately, I think I really did need that ugly plastic cover because after I took it off the soil was always really wet.  And something appears to be eating the kale? [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="sad"][/caption] Oh well.  I'll continue to tend to my one little chard. Soon it will be time to plant seeds!  More on that next week.  For now, here are some little snowdrops brightening my walk to work in the morning: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="lovelies"][/caption]  

Back when I was growing up in cold, cold New England, March didn't mean much more than snow or possibly slush, if we were lucky and it warmed up to above freezing.  The old saying that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb never made any sense to me:  it came in and out like a lion in my experience, and the first month that you could just about guarantee that there'd be no snow was May (I'm only slightly joking.)  But here!  In the glorious and warm Mid-Atlantic, March is a wonderful month.  Here, March means that spring is coming.  You can feel the sun getting stronger and once in a while you can even smell spring, as long as you are outside the 1/2 mile Pat's and Geno's cheesesteak smell radius.

I kid, Philadelphia.  But it's true that March is a wonderful month, if only for the fact the the few months after it (April, May, June) are some of the nicest temperature-wise.  The other day I went out into the garden, dormant except for that crazy ivy, to get some containers and figure out where things should go.  And lo!  (Sorry.)  There was something still growing:

Chard!  I didn't take any of my failed chard or kale out last fall since I was hoping that some of it might come back in the spring.  Well, it sort of did.  This little guy is very small, but he's growing.  I picked one of the leaves to try and I can tell you that it was crunchy and tasted...fresh...but that's about all I can say since I had just finished eating a Cadbury Creme Egg about a second before I put the leaf into my mouth.  Oops!

Unfortunately, that's really the only one that made it.  You see, I planted the chard and kale seeds in a self-watering planter.  Good idea, right?  We've already covered that I'm bad at watering.  The self-watering planter came with a plastic cover and one day I got all cocky and decided that I didn't need that ugly plastic cover.  Ha!  Unfortunately, I think I really did need that ugly plastic cover because after I took it off the soil was always really wet.  And something appears to be eating the kale?

Oh well.  I'll continue to tend to my one little chard.

Soon it will be time to plant seeds!  More on that next week.  For now, here are some little snowdrops brightening my walk to work in the morning:

 

It's time for some realtalk about houseplants.  I have a strange relationship with them:  I've always had at least one (usually more) for the past, oh, ten years, but it hasn't always been by choice.  You know, your parents come visit you at college and bring you...plants.  "Oh, we were just at Ikea and these palms were on sale..." they'll say, or "These are from your grandmother's greenhouse and she grew them especially for you..." or "This old man who grows figs on some farm in the middle of nowhere New England cultivated this special black fig and here's his 20 pages of instructions for how to take care of it..."  Okay so not quite, but you get the idea.  And when your parents have driven 550 miles with their seats pulled all the way forward and themselves squished in to a small car just to accommodate the plants they're bringing you, you're not going to refuse them.  Thus, houseplants have never seemed to me a choice but rather a fact of life. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="my little rittenhouse fig"][/caption] I can't even tell you how many houseplants I've killed.  Seriously, I've lost count.  And we're not just talking delicate plants here:  people, I've killed cacti.  CACTI.  You know, those things that grow in the desert?  With hardly any water?  Well, turns out if you forget to water anything for long enough, it will die.  Luckily most cacti don't look too different whether they're dead or alive so I may be guilty of gluing a small fabric flower to a dead cactus to alleviate the pain.  I don't recommend it, though, because the relief is short-lived. In this past year I've learned that I can indeed grow things.  But growing a garden (even a garden of containers) outside is entirely different from growing things inside.  Because outdoor plants are super easy.  Outdoor plants always get what they need - sun and water.  It may be cloudy one day but they still get sun, and it may not rain for a while but it will again.  You know where it doesn't rain?  Inside.  And somehow I just forget to water plants that are inside.  It's like I see them as some sort of furniture and just completely overlook the fact that they need watering.  And then a week's gone by and oh!  why is that plant turning brown? I'm trying to get better about not forgetting about my houseplants and I think it's working a bit but I've already killed one palm this year and another is getting preeeeetty close.  One trick I've found is to put the plants in places that you look at often.  This lovely little aloe is in the kitchen window, for instance: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="prickly little thing"][/caption] The window this guy is in is conveniently next to the sink and dish drying rack (and right above where the cats are fed) so I'm sure to look at it at least once a day.  Being near the sink also means it's super easy to water - just turn the faucet on to just over a drip and dribble the water in until it comes out the holes in the bottom.  Fantastic!  The only thing with plants in windows is that you need to remember to turn them once in a while unless you want them to grow towards the window, where the most sun is.  You can see that this guy has lots of little new growth on the front left-hand side there; clearly that was the part closest to the window. After some trial and error with houseplants (don't worry guys, it only takes, like, 10 years) you'll start to find which plants work best for you.  I seem to do well with succulents like aloe because they can get very dry without dying, and they're also used to large amounts of water at once, like in a desert.  Other things, like palms (cough cough) are tough because the soil needs to be kept sufficiently damp and that means watering less each time but more frequently.  Let me tell you:  that is not how I roll.  I find it very hard to water just a little - when I water I assume I won't be watering the next day so I tend to soak the plants a little more than I should, probably.  This works out great in the garden in the summer because those plants need all the water they can get.  But inside, plants don't need as much water and I've always found it hard to know when I was under- or overwatering until the plant starts to actually show signs of either, when it's usually too late. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="my other fig, with cats (for scale)"][/caption] These figs that I've shown you pictures of are strange things, indeed.  Allow me to tell you a story:  Last winter, I had a fig.  It was a special black fig and I may have referenced it above.  It came with pages of directions, and to overwinter you were supposed to put it in a cool, dark place, let all the leaves fall off, and water only occasionally.  This lets it do the plant equivalent of hibernating and then will begin to bud again in the spring, when you resume watering it and putting it in the sun like a regular plant.  Like I said, watering is a problem of mine.  And since the fig needed to be watered less than any other plant, I kind of forgot about it.  But then spring came and there was a little green bud and I got excited!  That is, until the bud dried up and fell off a few days later.  That was the end of that fig.  Then I got two new figs.  The tall, skinny one is from that same fig-growing man in Massachusetts.  The shorter, bushier one is from the farmer's market in Rittenhouse Square.  I actually forgot about the whole hibernating for the winter thing, but the leaves started falling off both of them.  I kept watering and kept them in the sun and soon new leaves started appearing!  Now both figs have leaves and buds so I'm hoping I did this right.  It's certainly more encouraging than the stick I was watering last year. The next thing about houseplants that I've learned is to have a good, big watering can.  I used to water my plants with whatever was handy and clean - various pitchers work well for this.  But they're all too small for the amount of plants I have now so I end up making multiple trips to the faucet, which in turn makes the act of watering that much longer.  I will make any excuse I can not to water (the usual being that it takes too long even though it doesn't take that long) so having a big watering can that I can fill up once and water everything with is key. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="captain walker inspects"][/caption] Another important thing about houseplants is that some are poisonous to humans and animals.  And something that is safe for humans might be poisonous to animals and vice versa.  So if you have small kids or pets that tend to eat things they shouldn't, you should make sure that all your houseplants are safe in case some do get eaten.  We have two cats, one of whom, Mr. Hooper, will eat literally anything you put in front of her.  When other cats sniff things to inspect them, she just eats them and then throws up later, if needed.  The cat in the picture above, Walker, is very picky and will usually not eat random things.  But the other night, Walker was in my room and I heard the sound of crunching on what sounded like a dry leaf...I look down and Walker is happily chewing a dead leaf from my rex begonia that is in my room for the winter.  Of course I immediately freaked out and googled "are rex begonias poisonous to cats" (gotta love Google) and found, to my relief, that rex begonias are non-toxic to cats.  Something that is toxic to cats is aloe, so my picture above should be used as a caution!  But knowing Walker I knew that she just wanted to sniff, which is what she did.  Also this particular aloe is very prickly so I don't think even Hooper, The Cat Who Eats Everything, would risk it.  But just in case, it's on the kitchen windowsill where they can't get to.  This is the only plant that I would risk doing that with because of the spikes and because Hooper can't jump that high; cats (and little kids) are really tricky and if they see a plant they want to eat they're going to get it one way or another. I guess the moral of this story (post) is that if you're always killing houseplants, don't immediately assume you can't grow anything cause houseplants are really hard.  And if you can grow houseplants then good for you!  Could you please share some tips?

It's time for some realtalk about houseplants.  I have a strange relationship with them:  I've always had at least one (usually more) for the past, oh, ten years, but it hasn't always been by choice.  You know, your parents come visit you at college and bring you...plants.  "Oh, we were just at Ikea and these palms were on sale..." they'll say, or "These are from your grandmother's greenhouse and she grew them especially for you..." or "This old man who grows figs on some farm in the middle of nowhere New England cultivated this special black fig and here's his 20 pages of instructions for how to take care of it..."  Okay so not quite, but you get the idea.  And when your parents have driven 550 miles with their seats pulled all the way forward and themselves squished in to a small car just to accommodate the plants they're bringing you, you're not going to refuse them.  Thus, houseplants have never seemed to me a choice but rather a fact of life.

I can't even tell you how many houseplants I've killed.  Seriously, I've lost count.  And we're not just talking delicate plants here:  people, I've killed cacti.  CACTI.  You know, those things that grow in the desert?  With hardly any water?  Well, turns out if you forget to water anything for long enough, it will die.  Luckily most cacti don't look too different whether they're dead or alive so I may be guilty of gluing a small fabric flower to a dead cactus to alleviate the pain.  I don't recommend it, though, because the relief is short-lived.

In this past year I've learned that I can indeed grow things.  But growing a garden (even a garden of containers) outside is entirely different from growing things inside.  Because outdoor plants are super easy.  Outdoor plants always get what they need - sun and water.  It may be cloudy one day but they still get sun, and it may not rain for a while but it will again.  You know where it doesn't rain?  Inside.  And somehow I just forget to water plants that are inside.  It's like I see them as some sort of furniture and just completely overlook the fact that they need watering.  And then a week's gone by and oh!  why is that plant turning brown?

I'm trying to get better about not forgetting about my houseplants and I think it's working a bit but I've already killed one palm this year and another is getting preeeeetty close.  One trick I've found is to put the plants in places that you look at often.  This lovely little aloe is in the kitchen window, for instance:

The window this guy is in is conveniently next to the sink and dish drying rack (and right above where the cats are fed) so I'm sure to look at it at least once a day.  Being near the sink also means it's super easy to water - just turn the faucet on to just over a drip and dribble the water in until it comes out the holes in the bottom.  Fantastic!  The only thing with plants in windows is that you need to remember to turn them once in a while unless you want them to grow towards the window, where the most sun is.  You can see that this guy has lots of little new growth on the front left-hand side there; clearly that was the part closest to the window.

After some trial and error with houseplants (don't worry guys, it only takes, like, 10 years) you'll start to find which plants work best for you.  I seem to do well with succulents like aloe because they can get very dry without dying, and they're also used to large amounts of water at once, like in a desert.  Other things, like palms (cough cough) are tough because the soil needs to be kept sufficiently damp and that means watering less each time but more frequently.  Let me tell you:  that is not how I roll.  I find it very hard to water just a little - when I water I assume I won't be watering the next day so I tend to soak the plants a little more than I should, probably.  This works out great in the garden in the summer because those plants need all the water they can get.  But inside, plants don't need as much water and I've always found it hard to know when I was under- or overwatering until the plant starts to actually show signs of either, when it's usually too late.

These figs that I've shown you pictures of are strange things, indeed.  Allow me to tell you a story:  Last winter, I had a fig.  It was a special black fig and I may have referenced it above.  It came with pages of directions, and to overwinter you were supposed to put it in a cool, dark place, let all the leaves fall off, and water only occasionally.  This lets it do the plant equivalent of hibernating and then will begin to bud again in the spring, when you resume watering it and putting it in the sun like a regular plant.  Like I said, watering is a problem of mine.  And since the fig needed to be watered less than any other plant, I kind of forgot about it.  But then spring came and there was a little green bud and I got excited!  That is, until the bud dried up and fell off a few days later.  That was the end of that fig.  Then I got two new figs.  The tall, skinny one is from that same fig-growing man in Massachusetts.  The shorter, bushier one is from the farmer's market in Rittenhouse Square.  I actually forgot about the whole hibernating for the winter thing, but the leaves started falling off both of them.  I kept watering and kept them in the sun and soon new leaves started appearing!  Now both figs have leaves and buds so I'm hoping I did this right.  It's certainly more encouraging than the stick I was watering last year.

The next thing about houseplants that I've learned is to have a good, big watering can.  I used to water my plants with whatever was handy and clean - various pitchers work well for this.  But they're all too small for the amount of plants I have now so I end up making multiple trips to the faucet, which in turn makes the act of watering that much longer.  I will make any excuse I can not to water (the usual being that it takes too long even though it doesn't take that long) so having a big watering can that I can fill up once and water everything with is key.

Another important thing about houseplants is that some are poisonous to humans and animals.  And something that is safe for humans might be poisonous to animals and vice versa.  So if you have small kids or pets that tend to eat things they shouldn't, you should make sure that all your houseplants are safe in case some do get eaten.  We have two cats, one of whom, Mr. Hooper, will eat literally anything you put in front of her.  When other cats sniff things to inspect them, she just eats them and then throws up later, if needed.  The cat in the picture above, Walker, is very picky and will usually not eat random things.  But the other night, Walker was in my room and I heard the sound of crunching on what sounded like a dry leaf...I look down and Walker is happily chewing a dead leaf from my rex begonia that is in my room for the winter.  Of course I immediately freaked out and googled "are rex begonias poisonous to cats" (gotta love Google) and found, to my relief, that rex begonias are non-toxic to cats.  Something that is toxic to cats is aloe, so my picture above should be used as a caution!  But knowing Walker I knew that she just wanted to sniff, which is what she did.  Also this particular aloe is very prickly so I don't think even Hooper, The Cat Who Eats Everything, would risk it.  But just in case, it's on the kitchen windowsill where they can't get to.  This is the only plant that I would risk doing that with because of the spikes and because Hooper can't jump that high; cats (and little kids) are really tricky and if they see a plant they want to eat they're going to get it one way or another.

I guess the moral of this story (post) is that if you're always killing houseplants, don't immediately assume you can't grow anything cause houseplants are really hard.  And if you can grow houseplants then good for you!  Could you please share some tips?