Vince Samios - Internet Marketing Expert » Gardening

May 2012 - Garden Update

Vince Samios — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:00:25 +0000

I over-wintered a tomato plant which gave ripe tomatoes on january 13th, and I started most seeds on January 2nd. This is a slideshow of progress from that day, to today (May 1st) - My garden is waaay ahead, most people haven’t event started theirs yet, so I’m hoping to have a very productive year in 2012. This garden update features some more interesting plants like the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T chillies, and Chocolate Naga chillies. I’ve also got two heirloom tomato varieties - the black truffle, and the purple cherokee. I also have a Daikon Radish (chinese radish) which is growing fantastically in a pot, along side some florence fennel (bulb fennel) - other plants include aubergine, cucumber plant, courgette, and some other interesting plants (white habanero etc).

The plants were started under grow lights, the neighbours think I’m growing drugs. The lights are 125w compact fluorescent (CFL) in the daylight 5500k spectrum (fantastic results btw) - I also used a heated propagator.

I’m growing most things in pots, with only some more daikon, florence fennel and carrots (5 varieties) planted in soil. We’ve also got loads and loads of strawberries in pots too.

2012’s Garden - From Seed

Vince Samios — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:17:36 +0000

My seeds are on order for my 2012 Garden - the common theme is unusual varieties of common vegetables with intense flavours.

Some of the star choices are the penis chili (aka Peter Pepper) which literally looks like a little johnson, chinese raddish (Daikon) for my chinese business partner since they are apparently hard to get in the UK, and then the variety of chili’s and peppers is also on the more interesting (and hot) side.

I was quite careful about most of the variants I chose, such as the jolant leeks, based on the number of days until harvest and climate tolerances. Things like the Chili’s may need some extra warmth and humidity.

Only the root vegetables, onion family (leeks and shallots included) and fennel will be wrong in garden beds, everything else will be grown in large pots on the patio. I’ve got slow release plant fertilizer on the go, and will supplement with seaweed extract. All in all I hope it will be a nice year for it.

Sweet Banana Pepper

White Habanero Chili

Peter Pepper Chili - Penis chili

Burpless Cucumber

Ambassador Courgette

Trafalgar Brussels Sprouts

Matador Shallots

Jolant Leeks

Cylindra Beetroot

Mixed Variety Carrots

Florence Bulb Fennel

Black Truffle Tomatoes

Purple Cherokee Tomatoes

Di Savona Onions

Scotch Bonnet Chilis

Mangetout Snow Peas

Polestar Runner Beans

Daikon Chinese Raddish

Black Beauty Aubergine (Egg Plant)

Chocolate Beauty Capsicum / Sweet Pepper

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How to Pollinate Orchids - Phalaenopsis Orchid

Vince Samios — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:48:25 +0000

This is how you hand pollinate a Phalaenopsis Orchid

At the front of the flower there is something called the Anther Cap which sits on the top of the column and which contains the pollinia. We can pop it off with a wooden skewer, and it sticks nicely so you won’t lose it.

Then we can gently separate the Anther Cap from the pollinia, which stays nicely stuck on the wooden skewer.

The pollinia needs to be inserted right up into the stigma, it’s a little bit sticky, but sometimes it can be difficult to get the pollinia to release from the skewer.

Once insert the Phalaenopsis Orchid is fertilised and the stem of the flower will begin to swell.

It’s best to pollinate one flower with an-others pollinia, and even better to do so between two different plants. This way you can also grow your own hybrids.