My Gardening Hobby
Project Date
February 15th, 2025
Technologies Used
My gardening story is sort of a hard one to explain. I always liked the idea of having a garden, but never got it to take off. Eventually I started working with plants indoors, and it became much easier to hear what they needed, and tend them better.
As Covid hit, it became something I could do routinely, at steady intervals. Over time, I’ve grown to appreciate the time I spend with my plants, and how they keep me honest with my time commitments in the different spaces I occupy. For me, they’re a symbol of mental health – if I don’t take care of my plants when they need me to, they’ll wither; I can’t simply do it “when I have time”.
First Garden
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- The garden started as one plot, but we added a second one over the years.
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- Herbs spilled over onto the patio, as well.
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- Observing the nearby flowers
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- Helping the local bees.
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- Squash Blossoms
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- Zucchini and Summer Squash
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- The harvest kept getting bigger and bigger!
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- Poblanos galore!
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- We uncovered old flowerbeds in the yard
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- We even learned about some local garden predators!a
Indoor
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- A small seedling, planted indoors. It was sitting on the windowsill for a while, so it was hard to forget about. Eventually, it became pretty easy, and off things grew!
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- Eventually, things started filling up the window.
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- I even had enough plants to give as gifts!
Troy
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- Doesn’t look like much, but that stairwell step was great.
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- View from the ledge!
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- Over time, this started growing and growing!
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- Bottom of the stairs had a small “waterfall” of monstera leaves.
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- The patio overflow garden came inside. Everything was nice and cozy!
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- My aluminum plant “mother”.
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- Lots of new leaves, always something fun to look at!
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- Learning how to groom my plants and “steer” their aerial roots has always been a challenge.
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- I transplanted this day lily from my Ypsi house, but it never made it out of troy.
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- When the weather outside warmed back up, I filled it back up with more goodies!
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- An aloe plant I managed to keep going for quite a few years. It even had some pups of it’s own!
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- A small grow light for some indoor herb gardening.
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- Some “Wandering Dude” I couldn’t manage to kill.
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- Eventually it came inside, and kept growing and growing!
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- No garden beds here, but I did some container gardening.
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- Pots grew and grew…
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- …soon it was going bananas out there. Well, zucchini, anyways.
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- Tomatoes gallore!
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- Mint, Basil in containers.
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- Pea shoots
Astro
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- Mother plant, and tons of cuttings rooting in water.
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- Monsteras at the new place.
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- Aerial roots starting to branch out!
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- As they open, it’s fun to count the holes on each.
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- New leaves, unrolling.
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- New roots growing side-shoots! Pretty soon they’re ready for planting.
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- New cuttings, filling up the window!
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- More plants, always trying to crowd around the window as best they can.
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- New leaves here…
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- New leaves there…
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- New leaves everywhere!
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- Some of the plants started really filling out.
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- Needed more support, so they’re being stood up straight.
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- Added some moss poles as well, to keep them fed.
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- One winter it got cold, so I bought a bromeliad to make it feel a little brighter.
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- It needed a friend, so I got a few more and made a small arrangement.
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- These things make little “pups” constantly.
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- Here’s a fresh batch of them!
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- I cut a little “bed” for them all, and set them in some clay beads.
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- “Hidden” beneath the clay, but kept in place so they don’t fall over.
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- Some small cuttings of an Aluminum plant. I thought this was something else for the longest time, but finally looked it up and everything changed.
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- I always plant little Kodama (Japanese plant spirits) in a lot of my plants. They’re fun little faces to see when watering them.
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- Plenty of Kodama, ready to go!
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- Some of my plants live in a little windowsill terrarium.
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- Peeking inside the cover.
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- Always trying to keep the humidty up.
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- Mr. Spaceman, holding some plants.
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- Aluminum plant, all cut to pieces. I took a lot of cuttings, but don’t worry – this all regrew though, don’t worry.
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- I went out and harvested some moss behind my house.
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- Keeping the moss safe inside a terrarium.
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- When you have a green thumb, a flat of flowers goes a long ways.
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- These end up overtaking the whole corner in no time.
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- After a while, the patio started getting crowded, so they needed a shelf.
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- Arranging some shelves near the windows.
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- A small branchy plant that overgrew it’s pot. My mom liked it, so I set it aside. Later, it randomly bloomed with these neat yellow flowers.
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- I threw some moss into a small dome terrarium, and gave it a focus.
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- He gets sprayed down whenever I get the chance.
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- Small pothos after repotting. A year later, it’s got multiple branches that are several feet long.
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- More rearranging. So many plants, so little room.
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- New leaves keep coming, getting bigger and bigger all the time!
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- Some of the leaves have gotten so large, it’s crazy to see!
Hydroponic Garden
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- I set up a small hydroponic garden in the backyard. Water lives in the bucket to the right, and is pumped to the top of the trough.
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- Plants live in the trough, and are left alone to grow.
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- Water from the bottom of the trough feeds back into the bucket.
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- Strawberries and Squash, growing side by side.
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- Tons of basil living beside the garden. Even outside of the hydroponic system, it’s helpful to have a water supply nearby.
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- And what a harvest!
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- Found some small sprouts nearby, no idea what they were. Pulled them up, only to find that they were peanuts! I put them back into the dirt, but they didn’t get far.
