GROWING THE JUNGLE POT BY POT AND LEAF BY LEAF

Now as the sun has returned to our hemisphere it's time to show the plants some love, re-pot and take care of them after the winter darkness. This year I -finally- got a couple of plant lamps to help my green inhabitants survive the dark months better. I somewhere read a comparison of the amount of light, and it is ridiculously low here in winter (from some 100 000 lux on a summer's day to just 500 during the darkest period), which is of course pretty obvious if you live here, but to see the actual numbers on paper is pretty describing as well.

So now it's time for bigger pots for some, new soil and other care taking.

I have always liked to decorate with plants, especially to make a room nicer when it is still waiting for a touch up or renovation, as is the case with our living room downstairs. We finally got the most important parts renovated, like upstairs ( or: most of it, still some left...), and then the two-year-box-labyrinth-hell that was our former city flat cleaned up just in time for Christmas meaning we actually have a downstairs again, so any paint jobs will now have to wait. In the meantime I keep on growing our little jungle!

 We have a row of big plants working as a screen separating one part of the room from the other.

The cats take their roles as this jungle's mini panthers, chasing shadow pray.

More plants to come still!

THE PERSISTENT ORCHID

I have an orchid in my soon-to-be-former home, that keeps in growing and making new branches and new flowers. As soon as the flowers fall off new ones appear. And I don't know how this little fella does it, considering most orchids just come to wither and die under my tl-and-c, as I've pondered upon before.

Not sure what I've done differently this time, perhaps watered it with a more constant routine, or then it's the fact that I only sleep in the apartment a couple of night per week and it grows better that way because it's just not fond of humans.

Either way, I hope this one will survive the move out to the countryside and can keep making me happy with it's amazing prettiness!

FOUR THINGS RIGT NOW: SUNSHINE, WARM WINDS, HAPPY CATS AND MOTHERSDAY

It's finally warm and sunny  -yes I know I said that already but it really has such a big impact on everything around here!

Dag and I had our first outdor lunch on the back porch.

 And I opened my mother's day card and gift - the bracelet on my wrist- he'd made me in playschool today already as I will be away tomorrow on the actual day.

And look! My tomato plants planted from tomato slices a month ago are growing! They seemed to do so earlier but then disappeared back into the soil and I though they'd died but here they are making their way up towards the sunshine!

SEPTEMBER

And so one day it is September and you open the door in the morning and wonder how it can be, that on the first official day of autumn it really feels like a change of season in the air; it is cold and the morning mist is heavy and grey, just like nature would have a calendar and switch mode as soon as the date change. Strange.

I have as usual been busy with work but also just spent a lot of time reading the newspapers and articles feeling even more bad than it usually makes me and thus not really feeling like blogging after that.

This morning I however had some time off.

Gave my orchids a bath; haven't been properly at home in either place to take care of my plants.

Did something of a pimp-my-hipster-porridge for breakfast - oat porridge, a nectarine, peanut butter and red wineberries plus hazelnut milk.


Opened the door and smelled autumn,  just before it started raining (and it rained all day).
And here are Dag's gathering of coloured tractors on the back yard table.


It will be chili time soon! (Btw it is always good when you water your outdoor plants just before it starts raining for some 12 hours straight. It makes you feel like you really just did something useful.)


And my coriander, in the growing box that survived the vicious lamb attack, is overgrown huuuuuge.


Then I went back inside and thought about wearing this little mint green vintage fabric piece that arrived from Etsy some time ago. (But I just ended up wearing a kitty romper instead).

GREEN GRANDCHILDREN

I have a plant at home that has been with me since my first ever own flat. If you think about it, it's kind of funny that plants can get so old. But of course they can. I know of some geraniums that somebody's grandmother planted back in the days.

This one is obviously a green plants that is easy to take care of, as I have managed to kill of quite many plants over the years too. It has produced many new plants that are spread out in the house and at the farm and at friens' houses. And those new plants in return have produced new baby-plants as well.


That kind of makes them like plant-grandchildren.


This one is waiting for a new home at my sister's.


And this is the newest offspring;  two actually (two branches cut off and re-planted) - their parent had grown huge. I didn't have a suitable pot for this one but no problem, one can always use a tin jar instead. (The plant itself is in a smaller planting-pot for now, standing on some gravel in the jar.)

POTS AND PLANTS

As you may recall me saying before; I am a huge plant consumer and I start feeling all green-thumb at the change of seasons and usually spend a small fortune on plants and flowers for both the house and garden and balcony. (And now in spring time on seeds to. But I seldom get as far as to actually plant them to be honest...).

Some plants I've managed to keep alive and even grow for years*, but the ones I try to treat like they should be treaten over winter (like my geraniums) always die. So I've just stop doing that, and the ones that are by the window all-year round instead of being put in winter-mode make it.

This week I had a couple of days kind-of-off, so I took the time to change the soil for my indoor flowers, took come cuttings, bought a lot of new plants.

I haven't really liked it at home in quite a while as I have been so busy and everything has been so messy but new plants and flowers really do magic!

I always thought this part of the dining room was too pale and lacked something (while waiting for new wallpaper or some paint on the furniture or what we decide to do when the time is right); I have been seeking a large colourful painting for the wall to give it what's missing but for now, plants shall do the trick - they can really save a lot of things.

Ah, orchids, I love them, but have never managed to get any to bloom again after loosing their blossoms, even thought I've cut the stem like adviced. This time I'm going to try and be more consistent with fertilising etc. I think I'm going to name Monday my plant day so I'd remember to do all those other things that plants need to thrive other than just water them.

I clearly have it in me to become not only crazy cat lady but also crazy plant lady one day.

(*btw, someone was worried that the large plants in the living room would not make it as they were not by the window but I can let you know that they are doing just fine ;)

TIDIED UP AT LAST (PLUS THAT HIDEOUS MONKEY I ONCE GOT)

Our flat in the city has looked like a dump for the past year. It's been messed up by unpacked gig-bags of mine, filled with my paperwork and crumbled over with Dag's toys. As we've mainly been concentrating on fixing up and renovating the farm house, and all free time is spent there,  our apartment has been rather sad and forgotten.

But now I  finally got around cleaning it up -to the extent my sister doubtfully asked Eddi why was it so neat there, what's going on? when she came over- and it feels great. I haven't gotten everything I want organised yet, but I'm getting there. And as my nausea from the lost pregnancy is now over I apparently got an energy boos; I even washed all walls and every door in the house. And we might even get around finishing Dag's room now that I'm on fire!


I got some new plants and moved around the placements of the old ones. I always thought that plants are a great, quick and affordable way to freshen up and make a mini-renewal of the interior.

The Helsinki poster we have framed on the wall is one of my favourites by one of my favourites, Erik Bruun.

 If you know your Helsinki you'll love the simplicity of how landmarks and parts of town are portrayed.

Here's my anti-Bojesen monkey btw (and this is a total btw-mention).
It's horrible and not really supposed to be there, but I once hanged it ironically and then it has stayed. You know,  the classic wood design monkey-toy-thing by Bojesen that costs a lot and has no actual function, that people have on, or hanging from shelves (preferably a string one like this). Well, my sister and I have a thing of sending sad stories or links and such to one another. Sometimes it leads to things, like when I once saw a super sad listing for an old teddybear no one wanted and she ended up buying because she just had to. Another time a friend of mine linked me a weird ebay listing for a "hideous monkey" on my wall joking it was Plytis' evil cousin. My sister then sneakily got me the hideous monkey for my birthday the same year. Yes I did scream out in horror a little when I opened the package, before laughing like crazy.


Hideous, ain't it? I have no idea why it looks like this or why anyone would make it so, and sell it, but well, I know why someone bought it.

I can't leave you with the image of the scary monkey so here is a cuter picture of Dag, happily unaware of said monkey, playing in his play kitchen.

AND ONE DAY IT WILL BE A -RATHER TINY - JUNGLE IN HERE

If I like it a green and lush and a little wild in my garden I also prefer so indoors. You know I like to keep lots of plants indoors and have now started gathering bigger greens to slowly fill up the living room.

Not only because I like it how big plants can blend in the interior or even be used to divide a room and how they maintain good air, but also as it was common back in the days with huge plants and so goes with the style of the room and it's old furniture.


The latest plant I recently rescued from my parents' garage where it had been set away to die as it had turn a bit floppy and had no place of it's own. I replanted it and am keeping my fingers crossed that it will recover and grow huge and green and healthy soon.

ALOE

I like plants and have a lot of them at home. The most useful plant of those being the aloe plant that now resides in the bathroom in the countryside house.


Most people know aloe is great for skin care as it is found in many products, blend in or by itself. But you can use it directly from the plant, cutting off the lowest leaf close to the root. There is a lot of stuff in one leaf so it will last long. The cut-off leaf can be stored in the fridge.

I use the fresh aloe for irritated skin or burns. I sometimes, in winter especially,  get a very dry scalp and the aloe helps for that. Sometimes I just smack some on my face like a mixture-boost mask. But in our house it's mostly used when minor accidents occur -


the other day I managed to get a nasty burn on my hand from the oven. I cut off a aloe leaf and applied the (rather gooey) gel straight on and the relief really is instant. The burn does not look that bad now either.

I've also chopped some aloe and mixed it in my smoothies.

THE ORCHID

I don't think I've even managed to keep an orchid alive and in bloom for this long, but the one in the countryside bathroom is still hanging in there and looking all nice. Sometimes when you look at flowers, like really look at them, it makes you rather quiet, thinking of how they are engineered and designed, so complex and so functional. Oh wow. (Once when I had a hangover I, for some reason, read about carrots and photosynthesis and it made me cry. I always try to avoid nature documentaries on lazy Sundays too because of the same reason.)

Have to confess that this is the second one in this room though, the first one got attacked by these small silvery evil white mini thingies and when I treated the orchid with pesticides all the flowers fell off. So this little baby gets sprayed with water and then I pat the flowers dry afterwards. Yes, I totally have the material to not only develop into crazy cat lady when older, but also become weird flower person. (There's a little way to go until Harold Smith though -for those of you who know your Twin Peaks. But really. I've never had an orchid drop it's flowers and then get new ones, what should one do in order for one to bloom again?)

And the light in the picture, which mostly is due to long exposure, reminds me that as from today we are going towards longer lighter times again! Something one never notices at this time of year since it is d-a-r-k (which is ok around Christmas I think, as there are lights and lanterns and glow everywhere anyway), but it is happening. The day today was calculated to last 5 hours and 49 minutes and tomorrow it will be 5:50 already. Part-ey.

GREENS

At this point of the year I always get the urge to plant around - also before I had a garden - put seeds here and there and fix up the lucky plants that have made it trough the winter with me. For a while forget that my nails are more red than my thumbs are green. Not that I am totally impossible with plants (I guess I have learned something along the way) but mainly I don't really know what I'm doing, not that much more than what a google search can give me after briefly remembering something inspiring read in a magazine, sort of.

I've mad a few day trips to the countryside managing the greens there.

 And some things are growing and doing rather well in my mini greenhouse I have in the kitchen. Wooh!

Pelargoniums, replanted. They will go on the porch once I get it cleaned up (hahaha "I". Eddi will so be the one to do it, the rough part at least) from renovatoion stuff, and to the balcony in the city. I'm thinking of painting some of the clay pots with milk paint, as I am curious to try it.

 Meanwhile Dag was chilling in his leder hoser trompe l'oeil outfit. It deserved a photo before he outgrows it.

 I almost got some stuff done outside too (here's the part where I just go on and do something dum-dee-dum

But most of the time I was running after this one here, digging dirt and rocks and what nots out of his mouth.