#PlantLife

So it's a very strange plant year. Both glad and sad!

Sad:
First, absolutely none of my seeds sprouted. Granted, I was using some old seeds, but usually SOME sprout, even then (and some were not old but harvested from a neighbor!) But no, no flowers for me or the bees this year. I have never had that happen. So far, the acorns and hawthorn berry I planted haven't sprouted, either.

Glad:
Earlier in the year TWO of my snake plants bloomed, which I have never seen before, and now my spider plant is blooming!!

My spider plant is pretty young, I got three babies from a different neighbor around the turn of the calendar year or so? All three were planted in a triangle formation in the pot, and right now two are very tall and blooming.

Sad:
EMMY THE ELM TREE HAS SPIDER MITES. I've never had spider mites before, and I've been growing plants since I was a teenager! Perhaps it's just as well that the seeds haven't sprouted, as at least they won't get infested.

This is some of the damage they have wrought!

The only plants on the balcony that are actively growing are Emmy, the ivies, and cat grass (and one volunteer stalk of some sort of grass with pretty seeds).

Emmy was a volunteer, too. I usually let them be since I don't get many up here.

So I gave her a good watering with some food to help keep her strength up yesterday, and wiped off some with my last paper towel, wetted. This morning I gave her a good spritz of water with my spray bottle, which seemed to be hard enough since I don't have a hose, as it knocked off pretty much everything I could see (including five of the damaged leaves). I'm going to treat her with some soapy (castille) water in a spray after dark, and am going to pick up some neem oil from a neighbor later today.

The ivies got moved to the ledge and wiped off and sprayed, too.

I can't figure out where they came from. The ivies? But they are growing like gangbusters and showing no damage. The tomatoes I moved outside? But none of the houseplants they were near inside are infested. The air conditioner maintenance installed?? The dead carnation heads I put in her pot as mulch??

Ugh, all that work is so exhausting!

Glad:
The compost. But I've already written about that. ;D

Gorgeous!

Side note: the new compost smacks me in the face with onion smell every time I open the bucket. XD There's a whole bag of onions-worth of skins in there since I buy several pounds, chop them all up, and freeze, so I don't have to cry every time I want onions in a dish. I can't wait for those to break down. X3

Sad:
The tomatoes. They have not taken well to being moved back outside. They are almost entirely dead (though, now I realize there might also be spider mites... ). So that means out of my GIANT, LEAFY TOMATO PLANTS, I got one Roma-sized tomato, and one grape-sized tomato ...in a year and a half. And they didn't even start blooming until they were around seven months old.

Weirdest. Tomato harvest. Ever.

I mean, I've had plenty of food gardening flops, and plenty of mishaps (the tomato plant that fell two stories. The cucumber plant that got eaten by a squirrel before it even bore fruit), but this misadventure might take the cake. XD

So yeah, man, #plantlife. It's a crazy time. Much drama. So wild. XD

Have a good day, Steem fam!

And send healing thoughts to Emmy, please!

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