Everything but housemaid's knee

The illnesses of winter broke into my plans a few days ago. I've planned my lemon balm plantation for quite a while now, to have leaves enough for tea for cold and other viral diseases. Then vomiting disease struck our little family, and we put ourselves in voluntary quarantine. I'm ever so grateful that our friends Cicci and Monika did some shopping for us during that time. They called us from ICA (swedish equivalent of Walmart)
"Hallo, did we write the note wrong? Do you really want five lemon balm plants?"

Yes, that's what I wanted. I showered the plants brutally to rinse off most of the thrips, and planted them in my aging herb garden. Some day I'll have to empty the entire container and replant everything with fresh soil, but not untill I've got rid of this cold. My nose feels as thick as an elephant's trunk, and the container do look good on the windowsill.

Reading "Håll krukväxterna friska!" (transl: Keep your potted plants healthy!) by Maj-Lis Pettersson doesn't make this any better. There is an horrible amount of diseases and deficiences for a little plant to contract, and all of them results either in yellow leaves or dry leaf edges. Did you know that mealybugs can hide among roots? And I was so proud that my calamondin at least was free from them. The calamondin and my lemonbalm are currently suffering from all maladies in the book, except for, possibly, fungus as a result of a humid climate.

The cure Maj-Lis Pettersson recommends is simple and full of work; keep the soil humid and shower the plants once a week. My mother used to shower her plants twice a year, and I - well, let's just say that I do it even less often. Mrs Pettersson's methods involving ec-meters and luxmeters seems more fun, since I'm a gadgeteer on a grand scale. I don't care if these contraptions are expensive, I want one of each!

Well, it's time to nurse the cold and my fataly ill calamondin. I'll be back.

Planning continues..

"The Indoor Kitchen Garden" by Joy O.I. Spoczynska has given me some ideas, although it isn't easy planning plant successions for indoor gardening (full review on the book will be given soon). I've realised I need to plant a lot more lemon balm during cold season. Partly because they are have an impact on virus growth, and mostly because they grow very slowly during winter. I simply need more plants to pick leaves from. Another idea is to make an overview over different crops, their needs and the time from sowing to harvest. Another thing I've understood is that I need to focus on tropical plants that can stand me spraying them with water every day.

Oh, and flouroscent lights, oodles of flouroscent lights.

Garlic and sciriadae

I spread cut up garlic leaves in my containers today. The smell of a tasty spagetti bolognese spread through the house and I got a headache. I hope the sciriadae ahces too. Usually they get upset when I do this, and apparently loose their apetite for sex, since they disappear for a short while after my attacs. Earlier times I haven't had enough garlic to follow up, but now I've planted cloves from half a bulb in my gardens. It's war...

Closer to Paradise on Earth

Here's a gardeningblogger who've come closer to Paradise on Earth

"A Gardening Section of One's Own"

Shop, books and gardening at the same time! Add one of the most beatiful bookshop interiours I've ever seen. Congratulations to both of you! I'll come and visit as soon as I figured out* where the shop is.

*Geography is not my forte.

If books are medecine...

...then they've started to work. I'm planning my new and bigger cultivation areas right now.

So, what did I borrow?

One book about growing vegetables indoors ("The Indoor Kitchen Garden" Joy O.I. Spoczynska) that I didn't own myself! One book about growing herbs indoors ("Fönster med basilika" Marguerite Walfridsson, title translated "Window with basil", probably only available in swedish) where the use in food for the herbs are thoroughly discussed. I still have a problem with bountiful harvests where I know nothing about what to do with the stuff.

The third book was called (translated from swedish) "Keep your container plants healthy!" ("Håll krukväxterna friska! Maj-Lis Pewttersson). I took the title as an order and borrowed it, eventhough I had only returned two other books. My second excuse was that the books I was borrowing was awfully thin...

How to cure gardening blues on an empty pocket.

Go to the library and borrow a lot of colourful and funny gardening books. That's what I'm doing. See ya! :-)

Gardening blues...

...that's what I think it is. Jodi (Bloomingwriter) calls it winter-itis, which is another good name for it. Nothing is fun, nothing works out well and I don't feel like anything.

There is a cure, though.

Shopping.

If I only had money I could buy some new seeds (the ones I already have are JUST the wrong kind) and every kind of scented geranium Wibrants Trädgård (link in swedish only - sorry)* are selling - their catalogue arrived today. Plus a small intricate gadget just to cheer me up...

...but I don't have any money. Meh.

(Don't worry. I'll pick myself up tomorrow.)

*Wibrants Trädgård are specialising in geraniums and fuchsias. Not that they have the biggest assortment, but scented geraniums and fuchsias of all kinds hits a soft spot in my gardening heart.