Monday, April 27, 2009

Computer withdrawals and a seed update

"Flowers changed the face of the planet. Without them,the world we know. . . would never have existed."
- Loren Eiseley, US anthropologist

I have been computerless at home for nearly a week. Some awful virus attacked my computer (no thanks to a file-sharing software that one of my wonderful children installed). Well, after a week's wait and $140 later, here I am finally able to post again. I have learned some valuable lessons this week: Don't download any file-sharing program, make sure all of your photos and music are backed up (which I thought I did but then later found out I didn't) and have a good anti-spyware program. Sigh ...

Anyway, on my last post I told you I was going to start some seeds indoors and in one week's time - I have healthy sprouts. The last to appear was the cleome. Like the seed packets suggested, I put the California poppy and the nigella straight in the ground. Apparently they like a cooler start and I live in the perfect climate for that. This is the kind of weird weather North Dakota has: Last Thursday it was 83 degrees and then the next day - in the 40s! Only here!

It didn't deter me much, I still worked out in the garden beds and even moved a few perennials around. I also sowed the blue larkspur too (thanks Kerri!).

Now it's just wait and see ... if only I was a patient gardener!

8 comments:

Susie said...

Ouch to the computer repair. That's never fun.

It looks like your seedlings are coming along great. I love it when I see the soil broken just a little as the seed sprouts.

I have planted some Kentucky Wonder pole beans on my arbor and they are breaking ground. Love it! I just hope they do okay. My sweet peas didn't make it due to my miscalculation of the sun. The problem was not enough. But now as the earth rotates more and more sun is beginning to shine there.

Connie said...

So glad to see you went for it! As many years as I have been gardening, I never get tired of seeing those cute little green sprouts. You'll enjoy the color and beauty of the flowers even more, knowing that you grew them yourself!

garden girl said...

Glad your computer's back up and running Beth!

Your seedlings are looking good.

I lost a few of mine to damping off, but I always plant a few spares. This year I'm focusing on veggie plants. Last year I started some perennial seeds, and I'm happy to see those plants coming back!

deedee said...

Wow - in one week! By the way, I voted for Kris :)

Lynn said...

Thanks for stopping by today, how funny that I just posted to someone else with envy about her having warmer weather. She was in Fl.Our last frost won't be until about May 15th. Have a great day!!!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

hi Beth,
Glad your seeds are coming along great! You did right by direct sowing the CA Poppy and Nigella seeds. They will know the right time to come up, so just be patient! We still have to get our Cerinthe and Convolvulus seeds started inside... maybe this weekend, especially if rains yet again!

Sorry to hear about your computer problems ... definitely get a suite of security programs and stay away from those file sharing networks! They're rampant with viruses from what I've read. I use McAfee and though it's not cheap, it's kept me protected for over 5 years successfully. (It's firewall, antivirus and anti-spyware and more.)

As for backing up, you might consider one of the USB external hard drives (I have all my photos and music on it), because they're getting so cheap now. I got 750 GB for $100 a year ago and they're even cheaper and bigger now! I now just keep only my essential applications on the internal hard drive, just in case...

Good luck! And give the kids a stern lecture on computer safety. :-)

PS: I'm the one person in the entire US who has never seen American Idol, so I couldn't vote in your poll, lol!

Beth said...

Susie - Kentucky Wonder pole beans - never heard of those! I'm going to have to Google that one.

Connie - I'm trying nigella because of you! I remember one of your posts from last year or the year before and you raved about them and the pictures of them look so pretty. Wish me luck!

GG - I'm planting a few spares too. I'll spring more seeds around the transplants just in case.

DeeDee - I know! It must be my green thumb, huh? (wink, wink). They apparently like their light conditions. (Kris?!?!?!?) :O)

Lynn - May 15 sounds about like us too although it's been as late as Memorial Day too.

IVG - OK, first of all, you've NEVER watched American Idol?!?!? :O)
The Convolvulus seeds have done extremely well indoors. They look great. I'm hoping for some rain this week to give those seeds I just planted a good start.
I did buy a Passport external hard drive and the computer guys were able to retrieve all my photos and the 3,000 songs I had on my itunes.
McAfee is good (we use it at the office) and the computer guys recommended Viper too. Regardless, we're getting something better than what we had. Thanks for the advice!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Beth,
Yep, I swear I have never seen AI, unless you count the times that Keith Olbermann used to have the "Idol Princess" Maria Milito (NYC DJ) on discussing Sanjaya (I at least know who he was). The only thing I've watched on network TV in years was Pushing Daisies and then those creeps at ABC went and canceled it.

I'd be glad to send you some rain for your seeds... we've kind of got an overload of it going right now, which is keeping us out of the garden!

Must. Plant. Convolvulus. This. Weekend!