Tuesday, January 19, 2016

NEW BLOG!

Hi there folks!

I finally did it! I moved the blood to or OWN domain! You can find our continued journeys here!

www.thehomesteadgardeners.com

All of my posts will remain here for a limited time until I get them all transferred over to the new platform. Thank you all for reading the last year its been one to remember! And I'm so glad I began to write this journey down, at one point I thought no one would even read my meager words. Thank you to everyone who has, you mean the world to us. 

Hope to see you all there..

Peace and Love

The Gardner Family

Monday, January 4, 2016

CLONING HOUSE PLANTS: getting my gardening fix in January!

You see folks, if I don't get enough dirt in my daily life, I go insane. Like seriously, I need that dirt under my nails to thrive, to be in my happy place, to be at peace. 

Yes I can be at peace sitting snacking snuggling on the couch with my girls all day, but after a month or so of winters indoor crafts and the same toddler show over.... and over again.... Mama gets a little stir crazy. 

We try to stay as unplugged as possible through the winter.... When the whole family is down with one bug after another all Decemeber, the TV time gets a tad out of hand. 
 
So, in an effort to boost my gardening spirits and reconnect with nature... somehow... I decided to clone some of my favorite house plants! Just for fun really, but you can never have enough house plants, never. And I wanted to get one started as a gift to a best friend as she settles into her new homestead! Which I will go into more detail about later...

So here I was with a dying Christmas cactus, an overwhelming spider plant, and my two favs creeping Charlie and Pothos! Wanna know why they're my favs?

Ok I'll tell you!

I love creeping Charlie, it's a sign of friendship and of recovery. At least it is for me. It reaches for the light, and when it gets thirsty it will tell you by the dullness of its leaves. It's honest, never hiding what's really going on. And really anything the vines and takes over is just my spirit animal... spirit plant.... spirit .... you get the point.. Which brings me to my next vining love plant. 

Pothos. I received my first Pothos as a house warming gift almost 5 years ago. And it's now over 6 feet in length, and I didn't kill it! Need I say more? That's why I love it so; hardy and humble. Pothos also referred to as the devil's vine, apparently since its near impossible to kill.

By the way, upon hearing that I seriously questioned my gardening skills, I literally thought up until 2 days ago I had some innate talent with that plant.... Nope, it will do that for anybody.... 

But! Nonetheless a reason to love it even more. I don't have to stress about my Pothos, ever. That is a relief in this crazy life. 

Here I go to expand my jungle!

A great attribute of most house plants is that they are very easy to clone. All you need do is find the base of a leaf or cluster of leaves and snap it off as close to the base as possible. That way you have a better chance of fast rooting. Just pop that sucker into, say, a recycled baby food jar, or similar container, shot glasses work great as well, and fill with water until the stem is submerged. Now just find a bright location out of direct sun light and vuala! Sometimes it takes a few weeks before the first bus comes on, so be patient, and try to remember to replace the water once a week. 



When you get a good root ball going feel free to transplant that into some soil. Or wait even longer. In the case of Pothos and Spider grass, keeping them in water can be beneficial if you planned to use them as water plants for an aquarium or fish tank. They work great as a filter in this circumstance and provide nutrition to the fish. 

There you have it! If you have young or homeschooling children this can be a fun long term experiment or great science project. Personally I still get giddy when I see the first root bud popping out, maybe its just me or maybe it's just a plant lover thing ;) 

Peace and love to all,
Q

Below: creeping Charlie vine