It has arrived!

Guess what finally arrived?

 

Heeding Potted Farm's advice, I ended up purchasing this grow light from Amazon! I also ended up getting this heating pad! 

 

I set everything up yesterday... and I swear the peas have already grown (overnight)!

I am so excited... :)

Indoor Kumquats!

Do you have fruit trees/plants growing in your house? A lot of people enjoy having house plants, but... why not enjoy ones that give something back?

I recently read fun book, Growing Tasty Tropical Plants. It talks about growing all kinds of tropical plants in any home... including bananas and pineapples! Did you know there is such thing as a "Peanut Butter Plant?!"

Anyways, we've been enjoying plenty of kumquats over the past few weeks. :) The plant/tree is just about 2.5' tall and 1/5' wide... but there were 45 kumquats total!

What types of "houseplants" do you have? :)

The (Ever-Blooming) Amaryllis!

True Story:
Last year we had an Amaryllis... you know, the kind that are marketed as Christmas gifts?

Anyways, it seemed to take forever to bloom, and once it did, it was finished almost as soon as it started!

This year, however, the "Christmas" Amaryllis bloomed in about a month! And, guess what? It's already had 6 blossoms, and is about to have 2 more!

I am amazed!

I am curious to hear your experiences with Amaryllis plants... is it normal to just have one bloom? Or multiple?

Also, is anyone familiar with saving bulbs? :)

Seed Starting!

Happy Thursday fellow garden lovers! ♥

I love seeing so much excitement in the garden blog world this week about seed starting! It is making me want it to be spring even more! :)

I am planning on growing most of my plants from seed this year, verses last year when I purchased a lot of seedlings from gardening stores.

Reasons:
*Saving $$
*Unique varieties
*Classic heirlooms
*Avoiding Monsanto
*Gratification! :)

Currently planted are:
*Purple Basil
*Peas
*Calendula
*Orange Pepper
*'Summer Feast' Tomatoes
*'Garden Candy' Tomatoes
*Italian Eggplants

Even though they are sunbathing near bright windows and windowsills, I have a slight uneasy feeling that they really need is some kind of grow light system. There are 2 things holding me back from this:

1. Cost
2. Where to put it?

Discovering that I truly enjoy gardening, I guess I would not mind investing in something that would last me for years. So the biggest barrier is really where I would put it... I am somewhat of a 'neat freak' and don't want to necessarily look at it all the time. I would love to hear your thoughts/ideas on this...

Are you starting seeds indoors? If so, what are you growing? And, do you use any sort of lighting system?

Purple Pansies!

What's blooming? Purple Pansies!

Luckily, they don't mind freezing temperatures!

That's a daffodil in the background! ♥

Narcissus ♥

Good morning! I hope you are having an amazing week!

Confession: I used to scent my house with fragrance and candles. However, after becoming familiar with the not-so-amazing effects of synthetic fragrances, things have changed.

Pure essential oils now replace the synthetic fragrances. :)

However, at the moment... my room is beautifully scented with these elegant Narcissus!

They were planted as bulbs... and less than a month later, beautiful indoor flowers blossomed!

 Buds about to blossom...

Do you use natural scents in your home? And, what are your favorite flowers to grow indoors?

I hope you have a beautiful & amazing day! :)