Gardening 101: Orchids

Orchids are some of the most beautiful flowers. They make great indoor plants and they are easy to maintain if you know the basics. Many people are unsure of how to properly care for these plants and therefore stay away from growing them. With a few key growing instructions, orchids can look amazing in your home too.

All orchids featured in this post are from Martha's Greenhouse in Windsor. You can also find Martha's Greenhouse on Facebook!

Watering

The number one problem with orchids is overwatering. If the soil is constantly moist, it can result in root rot. Root rot destroys the orchid's roots and there is no way for the plant to take in nourishment. This will eventually kill the orchid.

Many people fear they will kill the plant if they don't water. It is actually very unlikely that an orchid will suffer from underwatering.

Experts recommend using a wooden toothpick and skewer to check moisture levels. The wood will darken if the soil is wet. If you are still unsure, wait one more day to water. At Martha's, we typically water our orchids once a week. So pick a day you'll remember.

Water your orchid in the morning to make sure any excess water on the plant evaporates by evening. Watering also depends on the heat and humidity levels in your home. These factors could result in more frequent waterings.

If watering in the sink, use lukewarm water. Water for 10-15 seconds. Allow the plant to drain out into the sink for a few minutes. If using a plastic saucer to catch excess water, be sure not to allow the container to sit in water.

Feeding

Orchids should be fed regularly with a balanced fertilizer combination of 20/20/20. This combination should be sufficient for your plant. Fertilize plant every two weeks in the Spring/Summer and once a month in the Fall/Winter.

Light

Orchids need plenty of light. Windows facing East and South are best for orchids. West light is often too hot in the afternoon while North windows are too shady. Too much direct light can cause the leaves to burn. Insufficient light is the main reason an orchid doesn't rebloom. So move around the plant if necessary.

Repotting

There are a couple reasons to repot an orchid. The main reason is if the plant out grows the pot. This shouldn't be determined by the size of the plant, but by their roots. If the roots are compacted then it is time to repot. Roots will begin to grow out of the drainage holes leaving the plant stunted in its growth. During this process, plants can be split if necessary, but be careful. Typically, most orchids don't need to be repotted during their first year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Featured on AmericaJR.com: Succulent Pumpkin Planters

My post from October on DIY Succulent Pumpkin Planters is being featured on AmericaJR.com. Click below to check it out!

http://americajr.com/news/pumpkinplanters1028.html

Halloween Dessert: Caramel Apples

Love buying Caramel Apples in the Fall. I always found that Candy Apples made such a sticky mess and stained everything red. But Caramel Apples... Caramel Apples are perfect. When made with peanuts they are a great combination of sweet and salty. After my mom was craving one the other night, I decided to find a simple recipe online and got to work.

Recipe:

6-8 apples
6-8 wooden sticks
2 bags of caramel chews
2 tbsp. milk
peanuts and/or sprinkles

Recipe adapted from All Recipes

Instructions:

1. Unwrap the caramels (probably the most time consuming part).

2. Melt the caramels with the milk in a pot. Mix continuously on low to keep it from burning. The mixture should be thick. Add more caramels if needed.

3. Wash apples and pierce with the wooden sticks.

4. Have your peanuts and/or sprinkles ready in bowls for dipping.

5. When the caramel is completely melted smooth, dip apples and allow the extra caramel to drip off.

6. Immediately dip into peanuts or sprinkles.

7. Allow the caramel harden and enjoy :)

Painted Pumpkin Project: Don't Settle for Orange Pumpkins!

So the Succulent Pumpkins I made at the beginning of the month made it through Thanksgiving. They were a great centrepiece for the dinner, however they went to mush shortly after. Everywhere I looked, I couldn`t find anymore white pumpkins. People were either sold out or their white pumpkins weren`t the right size. I began to give up since I really didn`t like how the plants looked in the traditional orange pumpkins. And then while waiting in line at the grocery store, I saw it...the Chatelaine cover and decided: why settle for orange pumpkins? Pick a colour to match whatever room or setting you want.

I painted one black and spray painted the other brown. I wouldn't recommend spray painting pumpkins. It looks great, but takes almost 24 hours to dry. It was extremely sticky. The paint dries a lot faster. I loved the Chatelaine pumpkins. They were painted with pale pinks and shimmery golds. So you can really get creative with the colours.

All the plants used were succulents that I purchased from Martha's Greenhouse in Windsor.

 

 Black Succulent Pumpkin with Orange Bow


 

A little Halloween with the candles.

 Brown Succulent Pumpkin with Orange Bow

My two boring orange pumpkins.

 

Onyx stole my pumpkin top and ate it. Made a big mess on the grass.

Carve out the pumpkin top to fit the planter's size. Scoop out the seeds and insides. Paint pumpkins starting from the bottom. The paint will drip down and the bottoms only need one coat of paint since they won't really be seen.

Pumpkins need at least 2-3 coats.

Love the orange bows :)

 

Buddy checking out the situation - Also put a paper towel down in case there are any wet spots on the bottom!



I really love how the succulents look.

 

Add Spanish Moss to fill in the gaps and hide the soil.

Plants: Inspiration on a Fall Day

Can't believe flowers are still blooming in late October. Today has been sunny and warm, but the past few weeks have been chilly here. Not much is left, but there are still some stunning blooms around the yard.

A Mikasa tea cup my mom found at a vintage store on the weekend - apparently it is a fancy brand in the tea cup world.

 

Garden Rose

 



Blue Salvia

 

Stunning and has an amazing smell.

 

Red Begonias

 

Just Bloomed Garden Rose

 

I don't care what anyone says about Dusty Millers - I think they are beautiful.

 

Book: Gemma

Syren Book Company - 2006

Author: Meg Tilly
Publisher: Syren Book Company
Year: 2006

 

Locked in the trunk of a moving vehicle, 12-year-old Gemma Sullivan makes her way cross-country and reflects on her life up until that point.

Her mother is an alcoholic who loves and hates Gemma depending on her mood. Her mother’s molesting boyfriend, Buddy is the one who got her into this mess. Her sick turtle, Boxcar Julie is hiding in the front seat. But most of all Hazen Wood. Her captor. Her abuser. Her molester. Her fear…

As Hazen Wood drives along the road, he begins to dwell on the old Hazen. The Hazen who had a job. A simple life in California. The Hazen who didn’t capture and fall in love with a 12 year old girl…

This chilling tale, Gemma by author Meg Tilly, takes you into the minds of two characters. One is an innocent girl fighting to survive child abuse and an abduction. The other, the mind of a twisted man who has fallen for a girl and believes his intentions are pure.

Tilly spins these two views together to create a novel you will never forget. Not for children under 15, the novel depicts some very raw and graphic scenes as the reader falls into the mind of a sex predator.

After waking up violently ill for days, Gemma is finally taken to the doctor’s by Hazen. It is here where she receives the help she needs to escape and where the story of Gemma truly begins.

 

As mentioned before, this book has strong sexual content that you may find disturbing. Though it was extremely well-written and like nothing I have ever encountered before, I do recommend it with caution.

 

It should also be noted that a large portion of Tilly's royalties from this book are donated to organizations that help girls who have been through similar situations as Gemma. A good book with a good cause.

 

http://www.officialmegtilly.com/book/gemma/

 

 

Plays: Ibsen, Shaw, Wilde, and Beckett

This semester I have nine plays to read between two classes. It sounds like a lot of reading, but thankfully they are quick reads as they are required to be performed on stage within a certain time frame. These are the first four plays we have covered in my classes. The first three are realist plays and the final play by Beckett is an example of Theatre of the Absurd.

Play: The Wild Duck
Writer: Henrik Ibsen
Year: 1884
Main Characters: Gregers Werle, Hialmar Ekdal, and Hedvig Ekdal

This is a realist drama that plays with the themes of "claim of the ideals" versus "life-illusions." Hialmar is a man going through the motions of life with his work as a photographer who manages to spend more than he makes. His wife takes care of the day-to-day operations while Hialmar focuses on his "invention." His simple life is suddenly turned upside down with the reappearance of his old friend Gregers. Gregers' father has been helping Hialmar's family financially for years which unknown to him. Gregers decides to take it upon himself to show Hialmar the "claim of the ideals" in regards to his family. This is the theory that truth is better in relationships though sometimes the truth requires forgiveness. Gregers believes Hialmar has been living a "life-illusion." This means he is only seeing the good in his wife, daughter, and life. As a result, Hialmar is forced to recognize his family's flaws and the real reason why Gregers' father has been so generous over the years.


Play: Mrs. Warren's Profession
Writer: George Bernard Shaw
Year: 1893, 1902
Main Characters: Mrs. Kitty Warren, Vivie Warren, and Sir George Crofts

Mrs. Warren's Profession was considered to be an extremely controversial play for the period. Written in 1893, it was kept off the stage until 1902. Shaw was a member of the Fabian Society that believed in socialist ideas. Mrs. Warren's Profession was Shaw's response to a capitalist society. Born into poverty, Mrs. Warren was able to escape her station in society by becoming a madam of a brothel. As the play progresses, we discover she has become very successful and owns multiple brothels throughout Europe with her financial partner, Crofts. The story of Mrs. Warren's Profession mainly revolves around her grown daughter who has been unaware of her mother's income. If you are thinking there are prostitutes on stage or the setting is a brothel, you are completely mistaken. It is only said through dialogue that she owns brothels yet for the period it was still considered inappropriate for stage. It didn't help that Shaw created Mrs. Warren to be likable and the victim of society. Shaw's main point in the play is that it is society's fault that women are driven into these types of occupations to survive and this is not an ideal choice for these women.


Play: The Importance of Being Earnest
Writer: Oscar Wilde
Year: 1895
Main Characters: John Worthing, Algernon Moncrieff, and Cecily Cardew

Compared to the previous two plays reviewed, The Importance of Being Earnest is far more light-hearted and trivial. It isn't meant to be serious, but Wilde still focuses on social aspects. However, he hides them between his humour and wit. Ernest is a person created by a man named John Worthing. He tells his ward, Cecily that he goes to London to meet up with his brother Ernest. While in the city, John lives a double life as Ernest. In the city, he is Ernest. In the country, he is John. His close friend, Algernon (in the city) finds out about the game and decides to go to the country to meet the beautiful Cecily as Ernest. Meanwhile, John has fallen in love with a woman named Gwendolen who believes his real name is Ernest. Confused yet? Probably. Anyways as you can probably guess, both women and both fake Ernests (John and Algernon) end up in the same place with the women arguing over who is the true love of Ernest.


Play: The Endgame
Writer: Samuel Beckett
Year: 1957
Main Characters: Hamm, Clov, Nagg, and Nell

I never ever recommend this play to you. Beckett claimed one of his biggest influences was James Joyce though this couldn't be further from any Joyce I have ever read. There are four characters: Hamm, Clov, Nagg, and Nell. I began reading it thinking that I was missing something. It seem to just to be pointless, nonsensical dialogue. So I googled it and decided to get a brief plot summary off Wikipedia to help me out. It isn't a good sign when Wikipedia can only list the characters and the critical response from the audience. There is NO meaning to this play. It is completely up to interpretation. Scholars have stated that the meaning of the play is that there is no meaning. It is about using/not using language. When discussing it in class, I picture Beckett laughing from his grave about a play he created about absolute nonsense that people have been trying to interpret for over 50 years.

Book: Surfacing

McClellard and Stewart 1st Edition

Author: Margaret Atwood
Publisher: McClellard and Stewart
Year: 1972


Margaret Atwood's Surfacing is a novel about a woman rediscovering her roots in the wooded Quebec landscape. Forced to return to her parents' cottage after her father disappears, the unnamed narrator finds herself flooded with memories. She brings along her boyfriend and another couple to help in her search. As the week progresses, the narrator becomes less connected with reality.

Atwood is Canada's most well-known author. Born in Ottawa in 1939, she resides in Toronto. She began her career as poet and slowly moved onto novels. Surfacing was her second novel, but her best known work would probably be A Handmaid's Tale (1985).

Surfacing was said to be inspired by her childhood trips to Northern Canada. A major focus in Atwood's writing is Canadian identity. She wanted to identify a national literature for Canada that separates itself from American literature. Characters in Surfacing hate Americans and their infiltration on Canadian culture.

Some other themes in Atwood's writing are femininity, environmental concerns, and the importance of storytelling. Much of Canadian literature is about survival particularly in the wilderness.

Her female protagonist is very distant. Her voice is unnatural and unemotional. She seems to be void of love, comfort, and happiness. The narrator also has difficulties deciphering between reality and her imagination. She tells her boyfriend, Joe that she was once married and had a child. It is later revealed that she had an affair with a married man and an abortion. She also dwells on her brother 's drowning at the cottage, but again the reader learns he is actually still alive.

New Canadian Library Edition 1994

Surfacing is a quick read, but lacks any real connection with the audience. With a lot of narration, when character dialogue does occur it isn't enjoyable. Of the four main characters, none are very likable. This book leaves you wanting to avoid a couples cottage week.

Thanksgiving Candy Corn Cupcakes

Happy Thanksgiving to all! This year, I made Thanksgiving for my family. I did it once with my dad about 9 years ago. This year the parents were gone for the day so it was up to me. With the help of my brother, we turned out an amazing meal of epic proportions...

Apps:
hot spinach dip ,
mozzarella sticks,
deep fried pickles,

Dinner:
stuffing,
turkey,
mashed potatoes,
salad,
broccoli and cheese,
gravy,
chicken parm,

Desserts:
cookies,
fruit,
chocolate acorns,
AND
Candy Corn Cupcakes!

(click on the links to go to the recipes I used!)

Cake Recipe:

white cake mix
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/3 vegetable oil

1. Beat ingredients together and separate batter into two bowls. Use yellow and orange food colouring to dye batter.

2. Spoon yellow batter into empty cupcake papers. Top with the orange batter.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

4. Top with white buttercream icing.

5. Garnish with orange and yellow sprinkles and a candy corn.

Recipe adapted from: The Girl Who Ate Everything Blog

*Note: These don't actually taste like candy corn...they just look like candy corn!