#bare root

I bought a set of their acrylic paint pens, which are pricey, so I hope they are awesome as my journal-loving friend, who turnede on to this brand, says they are.

Last year I used a classic waterproof 'Rite in the Rain' softcover notebook, it was fairly small and very convenient for recording anything when I was actually outside. Works with pencils, or their special pens.

I have some new seeds from Victory Seeds, which focuses on preserving heirloom varieties, including this Cherokee Purple Heart Tomato

Getting excited to start doing some research and start some seeds indoors as soon as I can.

I am also experimenting indoors with some cuttings from a quince tree owned by a friend. She's given me a boxful of quince every year, which I mostly turn into liquor. Two are in water, one is in a loose propogating soil mix, and I used a root hormone gel on all of them. The two in water have budding leaves! I dont have a photo, because I fail as a blogger.

Also got a bunch of bare roots trees from the Arbor Day Foundation, and I have some that I am experimenting making bonsai with. We'll see how that goes.

My houseplants are doing well, especially since I added more grow lights. I am learning that the plants will tell me when they need water, by dramatically flopping over and looking like death is upon them.

How to Plant a Food Forest This Winter

We got some bare root strawberries in last week, so I spent a day potting them up into 4-inchers and a few hanging baskets. The plants come in little bundles of 10 that you have to carefully pull apart.

For those who aren’t familiar with bare root, lots of plants can be purchased in this form. While the plants are dormant, they are removed from the soil (usually from an in-ground bed, so they’re never root bound) and the roots are washed clean. They get packed in material that retains moisture like sphagnum or wood shavings. Then, they are kept in refrigerated storage (to maintain their dormancy) until they ship out. Bare root plants are all-around cheaper, so they’re a fairly popular option.

I have ordered materials for my Spring Project, a new planting tower of strawberry plants.

Untangled, straighten, watered

Getting ready to pot a few for giving away and the rest to a new the patch