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Alas here I am again, late. \u00a0\u00a0Sigh.\u00a0 This past week was difficult for me, for all kinds of reasons, including the fact that I have always found February very hard.\u00a0 Although it may be the shortest month of the year, it always has felt like the longest month to me.\u00a0 Once March arrives the days are so much longer and it feels like spring is coming so it is not so bad, but February\u2026 its just hard.\u00a0 I am really looking forward to a short trip to Vancouver Island in early March to visit with my family there.\u00a0 That is getting me through, as is this lovely hellebore plant my husband gave me for Valentines.\u00a0 I adore Hellebores.<\/p>\n
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Seed starting update: Lisianthus<\/strong><\/p>\n I \u201cbumped up\u201d my lisianthus seedlings this past week, as the first set of true leaves were appearing and roots were starting to emerge through the bottoms of the blocks. They are now all in roomier abodes in\u00a0 2 inch soil blocks.\u00a0 So for those interested (i.e. me), that was approximately 4 weeks from seeding to bumping up. But the high point was actually the soil ecology- see the next section.<\/p>\n Soil Block Ecology Update<\/strong><\/p>\n This was the highlight of my week! While I was taking apart the little \u00be inch blocks to pop into the 2 inch blocks, I discovered tiny little worms thriving in my blocks!\u00a0 I was ecstatic, my husband is a bit worried about me \ud83d\ude0a.\u00a0 This is a huge deal because, not only are my seedlings happy, the soil fauna are too, meaning I must have got the soil block mix right, and perhaps the fresh vermicompost I used because I didn\u2019t have regular sieved compost, was not a mistake, but a benefit!\u00a0 Of course, it could also be the bit of soil from my garden that goes into my blocking mix,\u00a0 but I used it last year and did not see worms in my pots or blocks, so I am thinking it\u2019s the vermicompost.\u00a0\u00a0 It should be noted that the worms I am seeing are tiny white hair-like worms, not the big red wigglers from the vermicompost.\u00a0 This is an important observation, and forms the ground work for a future post on \u201cwhy sterilized potting media?\u201d<\/p>\n Seed Starting Update: Perennials<\/strong><\/p>\n All the seedlings potted on are doing great.\u00a0 However, tragedy has struck my Lupinus perrenis<\/em> seedlings.\u00a0 They are slowly dying off.\u00a0 I have two left now, one of which looks like it is going to give up the ghost soon, the other, looking very pale- but I still have some hope.\u00a0 I cannot imagine what has happened to these seedlings.\u00a0 I am distraught.\u00a0 I sure hope the ones planted in jugs outside germinate and thrive when April comes around, otherwise, it will be a complete loss on the perennial lupine front.<\/p>\n Other stuff<\/strong><\/p>\n February is also rough because I have now run out of BBC Gardeners’ World reruns to watch, the wait until the first new episode of 2019 is agony! Okay, okay maybe I am being a bit melodramatic, but I do have a serious addiction to this program, there is nothing to compare to it coming out of North America as far as I can tell.\u00a0 \u00a0 If you are like me, finding a movie\/show that is worth the precious relaxation minutes of your life is really hard.\u00a0 \u00a0We did take in a great Netflix documentary called \u201cSky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-qiang\u201d.\u00a0 This was worth watching for sure.\u00a0 Some amazing footage and interesting things to learn about China and this artist.<\/p>\n