I had been keeping the left over moss I purchased for my mossarium in the plastic container it shipped in, but I noticed some mold growing in there, so introduced the moss to an empty glass jar. I put some orchid substrate on the bottom, formed a loose ball with the moss, and tucked it i to the jar. Because it is a patterned jar, it doesn’t show the moss clearly, so looks… questionable.
Moss is happy though. We’ll see how it goes.
The natural moss that I gathered from the back yard for my mossarium all died in a dramatic going-brown-and-crumbling way, except for one small patch. I bought some cultivated moss to replace it (it came in a multi-pack, ooo).
I tucked the moss in crevices that I formed in my clay terrarium base, and used the sheet moss on the vertical slopes. To keep the sheet moss in place, I used short sections of a broken toothpick as tiny stakes.
I left some open areas of dirt, but not many. I quite enjoyed the placing of the moss, although I’m hoping that this round survives.
I do have extra sphagnum moss and another similar looking moss. I put them back in the container and will keep them moist until I figure out something better.
My orchid count has doubled. I purchased a jewel orchid for my terrarium, and now I have a full size orchid from family. I’m rather fascinated with mounted orchids, despite the daily misting requirements, so I took a piece of lake drift wood that I collected years ago, placed the orchid, and wrapped the roots lightly with sphagnum moss. I secured the whole thing, until the orchid can establish contact, with fishing line wrapped gently around. To catch overspray, I put the mounted orchid in a leaf dish filled with orchid mix.
The center leaf has continued to grow, so I’m hoping the orchid continues to enjoy its new habitat.
My friend let my kids and I come pick peaches from her yard again this year. So many peaches. We sorted and washed, and laid them out to dry on the counter and covered them with mesh to keep the bugs off.
I peeled the peaches with a peeler (blanching is frustrating and hot), and sliced them off the stone by cutting wedges and popping them off as I cut. The sliced peaches went into freezer bags for future use. I boiled the skins and obtained a beautifully colored liquid.
We shared some peaches with the chickens, who loved them so much that I needed to put out one for each chicken so there weren’t squabbles.
I absolutely love our Gregg’s Mist flower in the front flower bed. We walk out the front door and there are almost always butterflies flitting about, but the plants were starting to encroach onto the sidewalk.
I didn’t want to trim the plants back because the healthiest growth was near the sidewalk, so I found some green wire push-in fence and installed it along the sidewalk. What a difference!
I like that the fence is inconspicuous. I really like that as the plants continue to grow, I can just tuck them back inside the fence and not have to cut them.
Critters and Craft 