July 24, 2005


  • I have a new addition to my kitchen.  Well actually my African Violet has new additions.  I've never had good luck with getting them to bloom.  I always buy one with blooms and then when those blooms are gone they never bloom again.  I bought some African Violet plant food and when it didn't bloom with me putting in two drops every week, I stepped up the regimen.  For the last three weeks I've been giving it 7 or 8 good drops each time I water it . . . I guess I've found the right formula.  I'm so glad I've FINALLY been able to coax an African Violet to bloom on my watch.  It currently has 4 blooms with 8 more waiting to open up.  It sits in my kitchen window.

Comments (12)

  • Very good, Chris. You got the magic formula down.  :goodjob:

  • Congratulations!  When my mom passed away she had several African violets in various colors.  I swear I took care of them the same way she did but no more blooms & now they're all dead!  I am good with begonia's though .( they must be indestructible)

  • I have never been good with AV's. maybe  because I don't  feed them.  :goodjob: :heartbeat: :heartbeat:Mom

  • Congratulations! My wife is a genius with African Violets. Glad you're getting there. Mike

  • I have my first violet that I rescued off a luncheon table. (everyone else took the healthy ones). I set it on a saucer of stones after repotting because I remember Grandma did that. It has bloomed and bloomed and bloomed and I don't know when and if it needs re-potted. I fed mine just plain old plant food recently.

  • I do believe that the plant food is the secret.  They don't just like water. . . they like FOOD.   Hmmmm. Who doesn't?

  • Christine I loved your site. I got it off of Alice's and wanted to answer the question you   posted on Alice's site. Yes you can do a little bit of your flower bed at a time. That is what I've done to my soil in Amarillo. I've mixed in compost and topsoil to the clay soil. One bed was dug out and topsoil was brought  in but the rest I just added topsoil and compost and turned it under. Now everytime I put in a new plant or take out one I add compost and/or topsoil. Slowly but surely I'm getting my beds to produce like I want them to. The raised beds in the alley are all from a mix of potting soil I got from dumping my pots from the previous year into it and then mixing in the clay soil I had dug from one of the beds. Every year I add some more compost and top soil when I'm adding my over flow plants.  I'm new to Xanga and I'm loving all the gardeners I've discovered on here. Your granddaughter is adorable. Aren't they special!!!

  • So cheerful

  • Mine bloom constantly and I've had one for almost 20 years now. It is almost 18" across and blooms profusely and frequently. I think the only reason they do bloom is because I keep them in a constant state of stress. They are in indirect sunlight and I water only when the soil is dry. The leaves even look a little pale. My grandmother used to say "African violets don't like wet feet." I also give them a little tea now and then since they like acidic soil. Not too much though as caffiene can act as an herbicide. I guess they bloom because they think 'omigosh, we better make some seeds before she kills us all!'
     
    As to the horse question. Unfortunatly it is very easy to ruin a good horse. Horses are like children; they need consistent and firm handling, with clear demands. Most beginner riders can not make those clear demands consistently, and therefore confuse the horse. Horses will un-learn their lessons very quickly. For example: If an unbalanced rider constantly accidently pulls on the reins repeatdly, the horse will quickly learn that pulls on the reins are meaningless. Unfortunatly, he first has just unlearned that a pull on the reins means to 'stop'. You now have a horse with no brakes. A dangerous situation. Additionally, those repeated pulls might yank on the bit and actually cause pain. Now we have a horse who won't stop when you pull on the reins, and throws his head up each time he feels pressure on the bit because he is anticipating pain. A horse that is tossing its head up is not watching where it is going and is feeling panicky because it wants to escape the pain. And it won't stop when you pull on the reins. I've actually had my nose smashed by a horse that had a very sore sensitive mouth. It took some gentle handling on my part to bring its head back down and understand what I was asking.
     
    There are so many nuances to riding, so many people think it is just sitting and steering. It's really more like ballroom dancing. The grace of it comes when the horse knows that it has a competent partner leading, and it understands how to do all the dance steps it's being asked to do.

  • omigosh what happened to all my paragraphs? :eek:

  • Hello Christine just to let you know I have a picture up of the friendship garden between my friend Rutha and I. Eve

  • I have the rare talent of being able to kill an African Violet within hours of getting it home. They are beautiful and I love them, but I can't grow them.

    We saw some old friends today at a house tour in town. I thought of you, as these friends just moved back here after living in Eureka Springs for a year (they have a house on the lake up for sale there). I would love to go visit Eureka Springs some time and feel that I have had a wonderful tour of the town thanks to your wonderful photos.

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