Little product review

We have a very nice electric dehydrator but it sure does take the electricity. It’s great for drying all kinds of things and raising bread at just the right temperature etc. but I couldn’t resist this little thing. I like to dry mint leaves for tea and this seemed pretty nice for those quick things that I want to try but want to keep the dust and bugs off. It hangs rather than sits on things so it’s perfect for hanging inside my garden house.

I just got a GlowPanel

picture of panelI can’t wait to put this thing up over my little light starved seedlings. This thing looks a little more like a disco party light than something innocent little plants would enjoy let alone thrive from. Non-the-less I really like the idea that this LED panel put out virtually no heat and uses 80% less electricity. Now if it actually makes my plants grow it will be just too good to be true! Click the image to the right to learn more about this panel.

*UPDATE*

I’ve used this for several weeks now and I have to say it’s hard to evaluate. It doesn’t produce enough light to cover the whole seed tray and I have to get the light really close to the seeds. Even though it doesn’t put out that much heat when you are practically touching the seed with the light it will dry it out in a spot. So it’s not even. Perhaps if I spent more money I would have a better product. As it is it may be OK to add to light coming through the window but it needs to be more powerful to work on it’s own.

Little trees

Little trees
Little trees

Just took this photo with my new iphone. I love its selective focus and macro capabilities. Makes it so much easier to share a quick picture.

In addition to just taking this snapshot with the iPhone I played around with the image with a few of the iPhone apps. Most notably one called color splash. I thought of it because I was having trouble getting focus on the little green plants with all the busy green plants in the background. I like the glass sun of my garden stand and I wanted to frame it with the trees but it wasn’t working. With color splash it makes the whole image B&W and then you just use your finger to “paint” back in the color of the original image. You can zoom in to do fine detail or zoom out to do big brush strokes.

The other apps I used on this image was photogene to adjust the levels, color saturation and temperature. I also added the soft dark edge in this program as well as a slight crop. Then I opened it in Picoli to sharpen it. Between these apps I practically have photoshop on my iPhone!

These little trees/bushes are so cute that I saw at Raley’s that I couldnt’ resist. They were bone dry so I hope they make it. When my new office at work is finished I will have a window so I may take them there since they are so little but for the time being they are in my fern garden.

The names are from left to right: ‘wilma’ lemon cypress (cupressus macrocarpa), european olive (olea europaea), lavender, ‘microphyllus’ dwarf euonymus (euonymus japonica).


Pond cleaning

pump I bought

Just discovered my pump has quit and from the looks of it it’s because I haven’t maintained it. The whole pondneeds severe cleaning. Wow this looks like a lot of work! Hopefully I can get by with a little maintenance before I have to do the whole thing like this.

Just came back from lowes and bought this. I cleaned out the filters and put this in the casing. It cost $60. I also bought a really cool spitter for the same amount but it’s all plugged up so I can’t use it 🙁

clawfoot bathtub pond

This pump is kinda cool in that it also has a light so two for the price of one I guess!

This is a picture of my pond as it looked before it got a little out of hand. At least the punp is back to working but the papayrus and bullrush are looking a little weathered. The lizard tail in the foreground next to the fish spitter is in bloom now and taller. Will take a picture of that after I get the tub a little more cleaned. This is an old clawfoot bathtub that my family had while I was growing up.

Plants I bought today

Got them transplanted today 🙂

My reason for the bottle bush is that it seems to grow in most soils and tolerates our salty water. Also the peacoks seem to leave it alone. From what I read it’s not poisonous. Must just not be a very pleasant plant to eat.

The loropetalum I bought at a local nursery because I was specifically looking for a plant that would grow well in the shade for a vacent spot in my fern house. This will take part or full sun so we’ll see how it goes. I think the leaf coloring is interesting and compliments that lime green of the feather river grass and the asparagus fern that is growing next to it.

The bluebell is just pretty so I had to get that. Not sure if it’s too hot here for it or not but we will see!