Cat grass sprouts seven days after planting

They appeared yesterday – the first shoots out of the dirt.

"Black Eyed Susan" is a perennial plant described on the packet as: rugged, easy to grow, providing masses of strong-stemmed flowers...

An area near my home will soon be ablaze with these lovely Rudbeckia flowers a.k.a. “Black Eyed Susan” – now that my indoor planting is done.

I planted 25 tiny Rudbeckia seeds in peat pellets I will transfer to the ground on the May long weekend, when I will scatter the dozens of seeds still in the packet, pictured here at the top of this post.

Below – in a somewhat funkily laid out way – is the other stuff I’ve planted.

Worth noting is that I planted some beans in eggs shells, based on advice from old new school by damsel in dis dress: Planting seeds in eggshells

Part of the instructions were to poke holes in the egg shells.

I poked at the outside with a pin – but it was impossible.

Then I tried from the inside out – and it worked right away – of course it can’t be too iron-clad or the chicks would never be able to get out. Made sense.

These wonder beans are planted in eggs shells with soil in them	Let me know if you would like a zucchini seedling in the Metro Vancouver area. I've started many more than I can use - and might guerilla plant them somewhere in my neighbourhood
Yellow ground cherry tomato plants "produce an abundance of fruit inside husks" says the package. We shall see.	Cats who nibble this get calcium, chlorophyll, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and other vitamins - oh my!

Container gardening experiment, in progress, from scrap wood

This is a partially completed container garden for lettuce and herbs.

I made it today out of scrap materials that I need to “throw away” – inspired by this much cooler (and more structurally sound) container garden made from scrounged lumber in Tacoma Washington.

A work in progress

Much more decoration is in store for this item – so I’ll post a pic when it’s done. I’ll be working on it during the next couple of weeks, while my seedlings grow in the house in their peat pots in a covered tray.

I’m trying something new – suggested by a friend – starting the seeds in eggs shells.

What next?

“Decide what to plant, get seeds and peat pellets, plant them” is on my to-do list – along with many other things.

Do you have any tips? Any links to urban gardening in small spaces? Suggestions for pre-emptive pest management?

Anything else you think I should know?

This is the clove oil we used to kill our suffering fish

“Here’s more than you’ve ever had at once!”

Toby poured a pile of food pellets into the tiny fish tank we transferred George the betta into.

The dropsy continued its progress and each day his swollen little body looked closer to bursting. No longer lively, he rested motionless on the bottom of the tank or floated and bubbled at the top of the water.

It looked so painful, and I couldn’t bear to watch him suffer, so I researched the “when” and “how” of ending his pain. Several aquarium sites listed conditions – like severe dropsy – that warranted euthanasia.

And apparently clove oil is the most painless option for an a aquarium fish. It acts as “an overdose of anesthetic” that puts the fish to sleep gently and kills it within a few minutes, according to Humanely Euthanize Fish, an article at Oscarfishlover.com.

So I went to my nearest health food store and bought some. Back at home, I called Toby and we put some water from the big tank into the tiny one he came home in. Toby used the net to scoop George into the smaller tank, give him the mother lode of pellets, and watch the poor guy gobble at the food with a last blast of energy.

Then we got a pint of water, and added a few drops of clove oil. Toby poured the clove mixture into the little tank and we watched as George writhed for a few seconds and then went still. This makes me think we might have used too much clove oil, but I’m hoping it was better than the long, slow demise he seemed to be experiencing.

So there you go. The end. He was a really cool fish.

Katie, pictured here, helped me today at J&L Aquatics in Burnaby

We left the store with a 24-pack of Maracyn for poor George, the bloated blue betta. It took two 0.6-gram packets for his 20-gallon tank and he’s also back on a pea-only diet, thanks to Katie’s advice. Now we wait.

Within 10 minutes of dosing the fish’s tank, my son proclaimed: “Hey Mom! He looks better already!”

Personally I don’t see it, but hopefully the fish medicine does the trick. It’s a “specially compounded broad-spectrum antibiotic (erythromycin) which has been shown to be efffective against a number of pathenogenic bacteria,” reads the package insert on fish care (good to have, since I’m a serious fish newb, if you haven’t already noticed).

The plan

Antibiotic powder packs for fish

I have other work to do now. I’ve done all I can for the moment.

Later, I’ll put George in his original small tank, then I’ll change, condition, re-heat, and re-dose his water with antibiotics. I will pour two packs into his tank every day for five days and stick with the pea-only diet. Then that’s it. Nature takes over from there. I’ve done my due diligence.

I must admit, It’s tempting to clean the tank right now, but work comes first. (Good news for potential clients who might be reading this!) A sick fish doesn’t come between me and my deadline – oh no!

George the fish appears to have dropsy and will be taking a medicine for fish that I'm getting tomorrow

Dropsy. It’s something that affects betta fish like George – and I’m pretty sure that’s what he has. So tomorrow I’m going to an aquarium store in Burnaby to get him two types of medicine: Maracyn and/or Maracyn-Two – or whatever the guy at the fish store advises.

I found this information on nippyfish.com: “Dropsy describes the severe organ failure leading to the swelling and pineconing of the scales we sometimes see in our bettas. Part of the reason it is so difficult to treat is because several things including internal bacterial infections, viruses, and parasitic infestations, all of which have different methods for treatment, can cause it,” reads the website.

“Even if the source is determined it is not uncommon for the fish to later die from the irreversible effects of kidney failure or damage to the other organs. Once the disease has progressed to the point of abdominal swelling it is rarely treatable.”

The website also recommends adding aquarium salt (whatever that is) to make sure he is more comfortable. It may turn out to be palliative care for George the fish, but I may as well try. It would be very exciting if it worked!

Please leave your best wishes for George – and any advice you might have.

George the betta spars with his reflection in better days, before he got constipated and started The Pea Trick I found via Google

This is George the fish and right now he’s (hopefully) recovering from a bout of constipation.

He’s a betta, also known as a fighting fish, and his kind are often on display in tiny containers, in unfiltered water, at room temperature. Compared to most of his peers, George has an amazing life – or so I imagine – living in his version of a mansion, i.e. a 20-gallon tank with a filter and a heater.

Two days ago I noticed a problem. George looked bloated and lighter in colour, where his fishy skin had grown taut – and the poor thing had a big, long piece of poo billowing from his fins.

A Google search confirmed my suspicion: constipation.

The Pea Trick

According to Constipation Information and Symptoms, an article at petfish-dot-net, a tiny piece of pea is the solution for helping a fish poo. (There’s a reason I’m referencing the link as I am – spare you the details.)

"The Pea Trick" brings relief to constipated betta fish. Pictured here are pea pieces that were chopped further into quarters, shown beside a teaspoon for scale

“Take a frozen or fresh pea (you can used canned peas if you don’t have access to fresh or frozen, but they do contain a lot of salt and the others are really preferable), and cook it until it’s squishy,” read the article. “Peel the skin away, and break the ‘meat’ into small, Betta-bite-size pieces.”

In the spirit of “fact-checking,” I checked to see if other websites recommended this practice. Sure enough, several did, and I decided to give it a try. He gobbled it instantly.

Got a whole lotta poo

Since then he seems to be crapping constantly – and I can tell it’s not the same turd because the protrusion varies in length at different times I observe him. I can’t really identify anything “crapped out” floating around, but it’s really small poo and might just get sucked into the filter right away.

This prolific pooing is good news, according to petfish.net. They advise: “If he ate some of it just sit back and watch for a bowel movement in the next day or so. You can repeat ‘the Pea Trick’ as often as he’ll consume them (just don’t go overboard with it).”

He seems to be in decent spirits – as far as I can tell. In any case, now it’s time to wait and watch – but not too much because that would be a bit weird if I spent too much time tank-side, wringing my hands. Stay tuned for an update – and let me know if you have any advice.

The Garden of Eatin is a community garden in East Vancouver BC Canada

It used to be a dried-out lawn, but now this Garden of Eatin’ yields a harvest of flowers and food.

People from a neighbouring church built raised beds, a shed, composts, and a simple irrigation system. In the spring and summer, they come every night to weed and water. The harvest from this garden feeds people at weekly community kitchens – such a good use of the land compared to a lawn.

Having the greenest, best-groomed lawn may be a point of pride for some people – but essentially a lawn is little more than a mass of small plants that get chopped down (often by loud, gas-powered mowers) and thrown away.

You’ve probably known people who get weird about their lawns – like Mr. Wilson, the guy next door to Dennis the Menace, and people who put up “Keep off the grass” signs.

What’s up with that?

I Googled “history of lawns” and found this article – History of the American Lawn – that describes the idea of pride in one’s lawn as something that comes from a “neighborly desire to conform and acquire status… not just an aesthetic issue but a moral imperative.”

Chafer beetle damage. Photo: urbanwild on Flickr

Morally speaking, I’d rather see land used to feed people – rather than seeing it used (along with lots of maintenance and water) for a lawn – a boring-looking ground cover only useful for playing sports or having picnics on.

Aesthetically, a garden offers much more – with all that colour and vibrance – compared to a lawn, especially one infested with the European chafer beetle whose larvae attract animals that dig up lawns like this one pictured, at right.

Say goodbye to lawns?

What do you think? Is it time to dig up lawns and plant gardens in their place? Or am I missing something about what lawns have to offer?

See more on this topic at the Food Not Lawns website and you can Google more in-depth info by people who know way more about this topic than I do.

Last night I watched Craigslist Cantata: Do You Want What I Have Got?, written by Bill Richardson and Veda Hille, directed by Amiel Gladstone, performed at Granville Island Revue Stage.

I was expecting it to be more of a play than a musical but it turned out to be super-fun. On Craigslist people get all personal in their ads, and this play shows random pieces of their lives – funny and sad.

“I will pay you pay you pay you one dollar to sit naked in a bath of noodles… do not bring sauce.”

“Looking for a guy who wants to have coffee. I’m not gay or anything like that, just looking for a guy to enjoy a cup of java in our underwear.”

It also has a factor of sadness. “Has anybody seen me today?” is a song that shows it’s a pretty shitty situation to be so lonely.

There was a piano, a drum set, and four other people performing – including an awesome saw performance by Selena Martin. The lighting was made up of lots of lamps that may have been bought on Craigslist.

It was extremely fun. I had so much fun that I would do it again. It runs til Feb. 18.