Mr and Mrs RiffiX' Anywhere Garden

Hello This is going to be a journal of all the other plants we are growing. We do most of our plants in containers grown inside, but are expanding and improving the outside as well. As it stands, our front garden is filled in with stone. We have 2 small beds we have dug out for booksus plants and will be digging out more and adding different plants we have grown ourselves. Our backyard is a quite small space that is all concrete. We are getting in baskets, growbags and other items and will be growing lots of veg back there. So far on the list is leeks, butternut squash, some type of bean, potatoes, onions, garlic and carrots. I will update with lots of pics as that progresses and we hope to show that you can have a great garden even if you don't have the ground to plant it in!

Here is a bit of what we have going so far. These are all Stargazer lilies that we have grown from bulb. They will be going out in their own small bed in the front.


These are Dahlia which we have also been grown from bulb. These are having their own bed in the front as well.


These are definitely ready to go outside! We are just waiting for a nicer day to get out there. Both of these plants are in a composte, perlite and vermiculite mix and have so far only been growing near windows in our house.

Here are a few plants that we are keeping in pots around the house.

The first is a tree lily, it's a fairly new breed of lily that will grow up to 8 feet tall! It's not just like a huge stem of lily either, it grows like a proper little tree, but having gigantic lilies! We are really excited to see how this will look once it's fully grown. We will keep it in this pot, but will have it outside in the back once it's a bit bigger as well. We are growing this one and two others from bulb. (Composte, perlite and vermiculite mix)


We bought this Calamondin at about half this size. It only flowers in March, but it produces fruit all year round! The fruit grow to about golf ball size and are like a bitter orange. You eat the skin as well as the fruit, the skin is actually sweeter and balances out the bitterness of the fruit. You can use them in cooking and baking (more common in Asian recipes), eat them as they are or freeze them to use in drinks. This one is in a composte, perlite and vermiculite mix and has a drip feeder of citrus nutes. It likes lots of sun and is growing well on our window ledge


We have one Freesia we have grown from bulb and about 40 more that we bought as plugs and potted. The first is just a bulb we bought from a local garden store and the plugs we have are a special breed that are apparently double strength in size, scent and color. They are called Crown Jewel Freesia, developed by the royal warranted Freesia breeder. We are interested to see the difference to the one we grew from bulb, it is quite pretty, but has not yet been able to stand on it's own. Though that might just be the size of the pot. All of the Crown Jewel ones are currently outside in our greenhouse while the large one is inside.

Here are what we have so far for herbs, all grown from seed. I like to have them in little pots in the kitchen and dining room so I can have all my fresh herbs close at hand These are all grown in a mix of organic vegetable composte, perlite and vermiculite. They are just starting to be fed with a liquid organic fruit and veg nute mixed with water.


I also have a long pot of parsley (grown from seed) which has grown really fast! It's out in our greenhouse until we get the Dahlia planted outside, then they will be on the kitchen window ledge. I should be able to start using it really soon! Soil mix is composte, perlite and vermiculite and has not had any extra nutrients yet.


We have two types of chili growing, a few from bought seeds and 3 more sprouts that I just took the seeds out of a store bought chili. I just wanted to see if there was any noticeable difference as they are growing. I wasn't even sure they would grow if I just popped them in soil fresh out of the chili, but they did! I'll post pics later of the fresh chili, but here are the ones from bought seed. Organic soil, perlite and vermiculite fed with organic liquid fruit and veg nute. The potted ones are in our greenhouse and the fresh chili are still in the propogator and will be ready to pot soon.

Hubby is also growing some Japanese Maple (Acer Palmatum) to bonsai. We have two in pots in the greenhouse and a few more still in the propogator, one of which should also be ready to pot soon. They are quite a long germinate, around 100 days in the fridge. Looking forward to seeing these grow! Sorry the pic quality is not so great on this one.


Here is our little Venus Fly Trap We got it at about half the size and has really grown nicely since then! We are going to repot it soon in a mix of spagnaum moss and composte. They like to be quite wet so it doesn't need extra drainage and absolutely no plant nutes! It's best to use distilled water as well so there is nothing in the water, but we just give ours regular water and it does fine. All our plants get tap water that has sat out at least 24 hours and been PH adjusted to neutral. Right now it is enjoying a small feast o wasp


I will update more soon with current pics of our front garden and back to show the progression as we really get to work and start adding in the vegetables! Feel free to comment or whatever you like (Just cause I have to say that, right? lol)

Just a couple pics of our two propogators. We start almost all of our plants this way. You can usually get them really cheap with the peat pellets already inside and refill pellets for re-using.

The left 4 rows are more herbs, basil, rosemary, sage and thyme. All of the rest are butternut squash which will be planted later in a wide wicker type growbox under a trellis we are going to attach to one of our sheds in the back.


In this one, the very left side is my chilis grown fresh out of a store bought chili. The 3 rows on the very right are more Japanese Maple and the rest in the middle are all Alpine strawberries. They will later be transplanted to a large pot in our back garden.


All of these are grown from seed (obviously)

Oh my god I had a venus fly trap about 20 years ago. We use to feed it hamburger and every once in a while a house fly would find its way into the kitchen and it would have a true meal. I need to get some. My yard is swarming with insects. If they like it moist I'm guessing they prefer the shade. How are they in warmer climates? I've got some googling to do

jebus2029 said:

Oh my god I had a venus fly trap about 20 years ago. We use to feed it hamburger and every once in a while a house fly would find its way into the kitchen and it would have a true meal. I need to get some. My yard is swarming with insects. If they like it moist I'm guessing they prefer the shade. How are they in warmer climates? I've got some googling to do

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I think they would be just fine! Despite being a bog plant, it really likes it's sun. You want to make sure they get at least 4 hours of very good sunlight a day to keep them happy and green. I've heard about the hamburger thing, but I searched a few venus fly trap forums (yes, there are forums JUST for them lol) and they seem to really advise against it so we haven't done it. Luckily, they aren't too picky bug wise, just as long as it's not a beetle since the shell is too hard and sometimes caterpillers will eat their way out as well! Hopefully we aren't reduced to feeding it spiders cuz even a dead spider in there would just freak me out, I hate spiders!!

Plus you want the spiders to be there to help with the bugs too Although they freak me out too.

jebus2029 said:

Plus you want the spiders to be there to help with the bugs too Although they freak me out too.

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Yeah, well just as long as they stay outside and as far as possible away from me when I go out there

Cold and windy day today, waiting for it to be nice so we can get some plants in the ground in the front. I'm looking forward to seeing the Dahlia when it really has room to grow. It's fun to watch it grow and see how the leaves split as it matures.


A few of our butternut squash came up today, they have got big little heads once they pop! The strawberries are doing well too, soon they'll all go into one big pot


Another Japanese Maple about ready to be potted as well

Got a chance to get out front today and do a bit of work! Here is our front garden before having anything done to it other than two spots where we've put Buxus a few weeks ago.


The Dahlia and Lilies have a new home with lots of root space. The Dahlia were a bit sad when we first transplanted them, but seemed to perk up after a bit. Hopefully they will all feel better if we get some sun tomorrow!


Lots of work to do still, but it looks a bit nicer with some life All the beds will be lined by bricks we are picking up and then some de-weeding of course and general clean up. Can't wait til we start seeing some blooms!

Our kitchen feels bigger without those big Dahlia in there and now there is lots of room for all my little herb pots That made room on the dining room sill in turn so I brought the parsley in from the greenhouse which seems pretty much ready to start using!


The Venus fly trap is doing very well since coming home, lots of new little mouths popping up!

Thought i'd better subscribe to this