People, the other day I drizzled some tiny cherry tomato seeds over a few pots. It has begun. I used 7 pots. 10 seeds made it.
I'm spending the Summer in Norway, to my huge disappointment, but hoping for a warm one. Like the summer of '18. Almost 69, but no. It was a beautiful one. Warm, shorts-wearing weather. Me renting a 30sqm apartment with a beautiful garden. But also, the warmest summer in over forty years, according to an old neighbour. The grass was yellow, cattle were starving and their food even had to be imported, also - the Government imposed restrictions regarding watering plants, lawns, etc. Thus, many people complained. I smiled tho. The positive one.
Trusting the scientists regarding global warming, this season will do just fine. Last summer was a complete disappointment on my part, but what can you do. I did get a tan tho. And - a tip regarding that; I used a lotion from dr. Organic with vitamin E-oil. That vitamin is full of antioxidants, which prevent oxidation of those bad a** cells that cause cancer and whatnot.
Wish them good luck!
Tip number 1.
I have several other plants. As well as those baby plants you make that I don't know that proper name for in English. I call 'em 'cutlings', because it's cute and I don't wanna learn the correct word. There. I said it. I'm stubborn. Anyway, I used to have two different kinds. Pothos and monstera deliciousa. I read somewhere that if you cut it by the stem (not really, but at the crossroads right before) and place the cutling in water, it will grow, divide, blossom. Greenly. So I did this.
The first one out is the pothos. No pictures though from the first steps in the process, but - now, just recently, after having adjusted to the Sun's cycle, I think, if you get what I mean, I noticed that the petals I planted, have apparently settled root-wise and turned against the window. Beautiful.
The two leaves to the right, are the ones I re-planted after roots had showed up
Next one out, monstera deliciousa. For me, that plant is of great value. I wanted it for so long. I could afford it, but I waited for some reason. Until one day. I went. By foot. And bought the plant. The 50cm-long size. And then, I walked home. Also, it was on sale. I placed it by the window in a previous apartment, and it thrived. Then I moved. Then it died. Then I bought another one.
[ Here I would've posted a picture of my previous monstera, but no. I cannot. As I don't have it anymore. Not only did I lose my phone, which was already beyond repair, but I have no pictures of it. ]
Anyway, the new one I bought, thrived. Oh, how it did. Until it didn't. I then took a knife. And scissors. No gloves. And a lot of potting soil and new fancy pots. Expensive plastic, people, ex-pen-sive. Then came the cutlings. I made three. 3.
As you see, one of them did better than the others. By far. Like, damn, would you just look at that. And again, no photos of the process. But. I wasn't careful with watering my plant, because it turned yellow, then withered to dust. I do believe, from what I've read, that I've over-watered the plant.
Goodbye, my lovah
All three entered the water. Only one flourished. All three were in water for an equal amount of time, where the water was changed and whatnot, but only one of them reached these heights. I planted all three of them. Equal pots. Equal soil. Both this kind and the pothos. And then, after a long time, with no success in soil either, and both of the stalks just racing to the floor - even though I had bamboo shishkebab sticks in each pot, with each stalk tied to it. Not roughly. Not 50 Shades-style. Pity, really.
And now. The motherload.
As clear as dawn, on an un-polluted morning in an area far away from factories and greasy places, this monstera has suffered a lot. The cutlings I made, those three mentioned above, they weren't the rest of the plant. I had to throw so much away. And just recently found out that throwing flowers, plants, even tiny branches into nature, is illegal. It is against some or other paragraph in the Constitution. Maybe not resulting in a prison sentence, but still illegal. And I could write essays, a book maybe, about my thoughts on the legal system when in regards to the police, the bureaucracy, and others with the late Uncle Phil's occupation. But no. Not today, nor tomorrow.
Tip number 2.
And then. I went online. I can't remember where, but I either read or heard that chopped-up cardboard in the potting soil, releases carbon dioxide, which is good. Really good for plants. So, the air you breathe out, feeds them. Nasty image, am I right? Biology, people. Never seizes to amaze me. And yes, the cardboard too.
Tip number 3.
Aside from cardboard, I read, and heard, that egg shells, which are packed with nutrients, can be used in a home-made fertilizer. I have tried this. But, I think it would have worked better for me if I'd used a mortar or whatnot instead of the back end of a tiny knife. Savage style.
Tip number 4.
Also, chilled egg-boiling water is presumably healthy as well as a substitute for regular tap water. I've just tried it, and only when watering my tiny cherry tomatoes-to-be. Yet to wait for the results. Or however that sentence is supposed to be spelled. This remark, because I've decided to care less about grammar errors. I used to be picky. Very picky. Like, to the point of annoying myself real bad. Yes, you read that right.
Tip number 5.
Another tip I have within the food department, is bananas. The peel, that is. Chop it up into inch-sized pieces, soak 1-2 chopped-up banana peel soaked in 1 litre of water. (Miss International). Leave for a week, or so, and water your plants with it in smaller doses than usual. That's what I did. Could work in regular-sized amount of watering as well. Not sure.
/ No pictures here either
But it has helped a few of my plants. All of them actually. All of those I watered with banana peel water. So, there you go. The plants rose, in a way. Rose towards the sky.
This one suffered severe sunburns last Summer. And don't get me wrong, it wasn't THAT sunny here in Norway, but I did place it in direct sunlight, outside, for the first time ever. Little one got the slap of its life, poor thing
This one, the spider plant, died last Summer. Only this little string in the middle of some dried-up leaf-thing was left. But I was patient. I had hope. And it's never been greener
Just beautiful. Pure beauty. Speaking of which, I recently saw this reel with an interview of Jessica Alba. She said her niece had had two plants, spoken kindly to one, horrible to the other, and the former blossomed. Which reminds me of the rice experiment by dr. Masaru Emoto. He did the same, but added one, which he ignored, but with rice. I remember one didn't change much, the other two, I think, got all nasty-looking mould on it. Been wanting to try it out for a few years now, but never gotten to it. Maybe one day.
Tip number 6.
Another one. Tea. Specifically, peppermint tea. I used the tray from underneath the tiny cherrys, filled it with potting soil-excess from another plant on rehab. The motherplant monstera mentioned above, to be specific. And, tea-sipping after tea-sipping, I threw each tea bag on the pile of soil. Anyway, I used the tea mix on the monstera, poured spoon by spoon of fertilizer around the roots. More like, on top of the roots. So close as I could get it. Made a huge pile around the roots.
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Beautiful. And so, in conclusion, the chopped-up cardboard and tea fertilizer help my monstera enormously. After placing the sticks of cardboard into the soil, just around the roots beneath, as I knew where I could push down hard with causing any damage due to earlier re-potting, and then switching sides after a week or so, flipping the sticks 180 degrees, it took only two weeks or so for these four new babies to resurface and grow. I've been watching them every day. One of them has blossomed tremendously these last couple of days. But one has sadly passed away.
So, there it is. My 6 tips for growth.
- Soaked in water.
- Cardboard soil as fertiliser.
- Egg shells soil as fertiliser.
- Egg-boiling water as water.
- Banana peel water as water.
- And finally, drizzling those delicious-smelling peppermint tea bags (along with potting soil).
If any reader has any other tips, do share. Comment.
Hope it helps. If need be.
Take care.