Gardening...Inside

I pretty much have had a "brown thumb" my entire life.  I keep trying though!  Last year I had a "mini garden" in containers on our back deck though that went pretty well for not having a clue what I was doing!  But, more ion that later.

After last summer's mild success, I started at looking at things I could grow inside over the long winter.  In June of last year, I had an Avocado seed (from within an Avocado that had become Guacamole for my hot dog...sounds gross, but tastes awesome).  So, I did a little "googling" and calling my mother (who has a great green thumb) and ended up popping toothpicks in the sides to suspend the large seed over a juice glass.  After keeping it with the large end soaking for months, it finally sprouted and was big enough to get moved to a planter with dirt in it by mid- to late-October!

It pretty much looked like a stick until around December, when it finally sprouted its first set of glossy leaves.  Our middle nephew (or rather my sister's middle son...we have 4 nephews between both sides of our family) was visiting in September and helped me pick out the pot.  I love this style and the blue color goes perfect in my kitchen, which is where this little tree has been living for the last 10 months!  Right on my window sill, lol.

I can tell the plant life in my house knows that Spring is near...everything is growing by leaps and bounds right now!  This little tree has just sprouted its third set of those gorgeous leaves and is already working on a fourth set!  It is also too big for the window sill anymore...the leaf span now reaches almost the entire width of the window!  The same nephew that picked out this pot will be here next month for a visit.  When he's here, I'm going to let him help pick out a larger planter for this tree and then it gets moved to its future home in the living room (where it has the head room to grow to about 20 feet)!  These trees are just wonderful when they get big, I have seen them as tall as 30' inside a home with large vaulted ceilings.  The added oxygen is a bonus too. ;)

 These two pictures were taken about a week apart!  On the left, I had just brought home a little Pothos and it was soaking up some much needed water (the dirt was totally dry when I picked it up at the store).  That "roommate" has since been moved to a hanging planter above my TV downstairs.  On the right, you can see the new "roommate", another Avocado seed!  I have a second seed (still in the fruit) ready to go in a few days...after I eat the Avocado, lol.  These should be ready for planting in about July or August!  Which is when our oldest nephew will be visiting. :)  Super simple to grow...I do tend to give the water a pinch of coffee grounds every once in a while...it seemed to not hurt it, though I'm not sure it helper it either!

The Pothos trying out a new spot...the chain on the pot I got on clearance at Fred Meyer...I thought I was buying 36" chain extenders (I grabbed 4 packages, ended up with two extenders and two of these chain hangers)!  The planter itself came from the Dollar Tree...yup, I'm cheap!  The water globe came from the Dollar Tree too...it's a "mini" globe, but about 1/3 the size of the official "minis" which I bought 6 of last summer, lol.  I have two of the tiny ones in this planter and only need to water it about once a week or so.

We got a packet of Cat Grass for the cats at Christmas...that was fun to grow, but only one of our two cats liked it...I have left over seeds (only planted 1/3 the packet), but I think I'll save them for the chickens.  I ended up throwing most of this growth away. :(

I also got an Aloe Vera Terrarium from Think Geek right before Christmas!  Out of what I planted, only 5 sprouted...and 3 of those died off.  But, I currently have two tiny Aloe plants growing in my kitchen window!  This stuff grows painfully slow, but will be well worth it in about 5 years, lol!  Three months of growth and I have two tiny plants that are about 1" tall and are maybe 1/8" wide!  But, they both have a second leaf popping out!