My planting adventure - Part 5 a.k.a Tomatooo!

Yeah, those pictures above are depicting my pretty little tomatoes that taste like no other tomato I've ever tasted before. I couldn't believe how sweet they are <3
So was it worth it? Oh, yeah! Do I intend to plant anything else next year? Yes yes yes! I discovered that I love taking care of plants so much that I actually wish for a little garden.

Wishing you and your plants a blessed day,
Rachel 

Do you know what you want in life?

Do you know the type of house you want? How about your dream job? Do you know how many kids you want to have or how many books you want to read? How about the type of person you want to be? If the answer to those questions is yes, consider just how lucky you are! I wish I knew that too.

You know, some say life is worthless without a goal, and the sole purpose of it is to achieve and enjoy that goal. Some say life's worth resides in living it, considering goals nothing more than obstacles in the path of genuine happiness. I like to believe that life has a purpose, but I'm still struggling to define it, or make up my mind for that matter.

Having a goal is easy (I think), because at least you know the path in which you are heading. Not having a goal leaves you wandering in the vast field of never-ending possibilities - which are equally attractive and yet I've learned that "You can do anything, but not everything" - David Allen. The challenge I am faced with constantly, is knowing what I want, like what I truly want. I know it seems dumb when you get to read this, "What the f*** Rachel? How can you not now what you want?” Well the answer for me is very simple, everything around me is fucking fascinating to me, I'm like a two-year-old still learning about stuff. The list of things I'm not interested in is so small it probably couldn't even fill a A4 piece of paper.

All too often have I found myself enthusiastic about something, giving my 100% to it, even if I knew I was bad at it and it takes time and patience to grow, only to lose interest midway and find something else that I was more passionate about. The interesting part is that I don't even give up on the past interest, I just hoard tiny bits of knowledge about everything. I know just enough to spark a conversation but Lord forbids you get into specifics with me. That's where we draw the line.

And every time I see someone talk about how they always knew they were going to be an actress/entrepreneur/insert lifelong dream here, or when I hear someone talk about the way they grew with their hobby, and developed throughout the years, it makes me cry on the inside. I notice these people always have a certain spark in their eyes when they speak about their passion, some even get goosebumps... I just wish I had that too. 

I did try many things, including hobbies, hoping that at some point something was going to stick to my heart forever and I would develop in the field...but then if that happened, I probably wouldn't have ended up writing this long post, now would I? 

Do not think for a second that I'm ashamed about the fact that I googled "How to know what you want" or "How to listen to your heart", yet for some reason, both my brain and heart decide to remain silent whenever I ask questions. 

So I turn to you, asking, how did you figure out what you wanted in life? Are you happier because you know what you want? How do you feel knowing that so many possibilities have vanished when you made this decision? Should we really want something in life? 

Yes, I know some of you might argue that the answer to my question can only be found within me - that's what I'm going for, but I cannot seem to get an answer so maybe outside inspiration can come in hand, or maybe someone else shares my "problem" and we could help each other. 

Wishing you the best,

Rachel

My planting adventure - Part 4 a.k.a Is that green bump a tomato?!

Hello again,

Guess what? It seems that you can actually take my advices on how to grow tomatoes after all because my beauties decided to do this:

I was so happy to see that they decided to produce tomatoes, and it was mostly because of the following reasons: 

- I have seen these plants grow from tiny tomato seeds, I have witnessed the phrases they went through and at this point... they're like a part of the family, a part that apparently wants the whole balcony for itself :).

- I love nature. I keep on wanting to help it anyway I can and helping it grow healthy by nurturing it with love feels right

- Due to the lack of communication between me and my tomato, I had to guess the whole time if I was doing the right thing or not. At times, it refused to give me any sort of hint as to how it was doing which did make me anxious. The tomatoes that appeared are good enough proof for me that it is doing okay. 

And even though you might be tempted to think the adventure is over, you'll now find out that apparently there is one more big thing they need to do: turn red. And of course, I want to replant this tomato next year so I'll have to learn how to stack the seed throughout winter, so stay tuned for more...

  

Wishing you the best,
Rachel

My planting adventure - Part 3 a.k.a It blooms!

Hello again ,

It looks as though I might just have a green thumb after all. After a long time during which my tomatoes did nothing else but grow bigger with each passing day, stretching in the sun as if their sole purpose was conquering my balcony, and giving me no hints at all about whether I was doing the right thing or not, eventually, one day I came home from work to this:

I honestly cannot express in words the happiness that filled my soul when I saw the pretty flowers my tomato produced. Finally, there was my yellow blooming proof that I was doing the right thing :). 

Now in order to have the accurate facts, I need to let you know that this didn't happen recently. It happened in the beginning of June but back then I was too busy dealing with my school exams and going to work while still trying to maintain a clean/organized home, so I only had time for the bare necessities :)  

During the growing time I did the following things: 

1) Providing the tomatoes a good support system

After it grew about 15 inches tall, I noticed how it started to slowly but gradually lean forward, towards the sun. That was the time when I knew it needed a good support system so I got some kindling and then I did the following things:

- Stuck the kindling deep into the ground, but about 2 inches apart from the tomato stem

- Cut a 10 inch long, 2 inch thick piece of cloth from an old cotton t-shirt I wasn't using anymore

- Gently tied the piece of cloth around the base of the tomato, without squeezing or knotting it too tight. Also, make sure not the pull the tomato strain right into the kindling, your aim is to simply straighten it as much as possible without forcing it, just like in the picture below:

 Later on, when my tomato grew bigger I had to secure it in the upper part as well.   

2) Pruning the tomato plant and getting rid of the suckers 

Really, that's how they're called :). The suckers are the little leaves that grow between the tomato stem and its branches. After reading more about them on the Internet and not being too fond of their ways of growing or their name for that matter :) I decided to rip them off so that my tomato wouldn't have to compete with them for the nutrients it needed. You get rid of them by pinching off with your nails as close to their base as possible. 

As for the pruning part, you should only start pruning once your tomato plant reached 17-20 inches. You prune the tomato plant by pinching off the lowest leaves. That will prevent the tomato from sickness and parasites and it will also make it direct more nutrients and energy to the top leaves a.k.a the place where it will bloom :).

3) Fertilizing

I personally, am not all that into fertilizing the plants unless you have organic compost, but since that isn't all too easy to make and since the tomato plant does require some more nutrients that the soil can offer, I did buy a liquid fertilizer which I then diluted into at least twice the same amount of water as the fertilizer, and only watered the tomato once a month with the mixture. Hopefully, by next year when I'll plant tomatoes once again I'll learn and make my own organic compost.  

4) Sun exposure

I have noticed something rather interesting about my tomato and it's relationship with the sun. Even though it stretches towards the sun, when exposed directly to it, it goes limp. It nearly gave me a heart attack when I first saw it hanging like that, but I took it away from the sun's direct rays and placed it in a spot where it has covered by moderate shadow. Within the next couple of ten minutes it came back to its regular state. I still do not expose it to direct sunlight more than three hours a day, but it does get around 10 hours of light daily.

5) Watering

Last but not least important, I maintained the watering habit, which means making sure that the soil is pleasantly wet, not too soaked but not too dry either. That means that on the really hot summer days I do water them even twice a day to maintain the soil's moisture level. 

Until next time I leave you with my best wishes that both you and your plants thrive,
Rachel 

My planting adventure - Part 2 a.k.a It grows! :)

Hello everybody,

I have some exciting news! 

After about a month from planting the tomato seeds and nurturing them, they are finally growing...well actually just one seedling is growing currently but I didn't allow that to break my spirit, so I planted some more seeds. Since my little seedling is not that little anymore, I figured it was time to give her more space so I moved her into the big brown pot that I got her a while ago. (Fun fact: Actually, I didn't only move my little tomato seedling, I also moved a regular weed seedling in the same pot as my tomato because I failed to identify the intruder. In my defense, I'm new at this and the weed seedling looked pretty similar to the tomato one. However, as soon as I found out that's a really healthy weed and not a tomato I pulled it out because it's damaging for the tomato.)  

So here's how I moved the tomato seedling. 

1) I filled the pot with soil, I actually had to go and buy more soil.

I didn't water it this time since I noticed the soil was already pretty damp, wouldn't want to soak my little seedling. 

2) I grabbed the seedling's strain and slowly attempted to pull the seedling out of the soil which turned out to be a bad idea so I don't recommend that. Maybe if you are more skilled than me it works though. I however instead recommend doing it the following way. Take some small scissors and carefully cut the cup around the ground to free it.

By the way, it was quite shocking to see how many roots my little seedling has. 

3) I then dug a pretty decent hole in the center of the pot (using my fingers which were covered by surgical gloves so the dirt didn't get underneath my nails), and before placing the seedling I separated the two(they were intertwined. Here's how you separate them: it's rather intuitive, you try to "break the soil" - loosen it up somehow and then gently start pulling one of the seedlings. You'll sort of feel which roots it pulls along with it. After that, gently dig your nails in the middle or as close to the roots as you can and separate them- don't worry if some of the roots break, it's inevitable, my seedling got over that pretty soon) and placed the seedling with the soil it had in the hole, then covered it with more soil making sure the seedling is standing pretty firm.

I know, at this point you must be thinking: "How the f*** are they similar Rachel?" And the answer is... I honestly don't know (well besides the fact that they are both green). One of my initial thoughts was: "What if they are different types of tomatoes? What if one of them is a cherry tomato and the other one is a regular tomato? Now I'm thinking, it could've also been my desperate desire to have some tomatoes growing and when anything grew out of there that resembled a tomato I clung to it more than I should have.  

Anyhow, here's a useful tip my auntie taught me on spotting weeds from tomatoes (or any other veggies). You rip a little bit of the plant's leaf, twist it between your fingers and they should smell according to what they are. Tomato leaves will smell slightly like tomatoes while the weed will smell like regular grass.

Also, another thing I forgot to mention was that I moved the seedlings about the time when the cup got too crowded, they must've been about 3 inches.

Can't wait to be back with more great news!:) 

Wishing you the best,

Rachel

My planting adventure - Part 1 a.k.a getting your hands dirty

Hello my dearest readers, 

I hope you have been well since last time I blogged something ( I had to look for my blog underneath the cobweb that placed itself upon it:) ). In my defense, I am NOT a lazy person... well not too much anyway, I just have a lot of stuff to do on a regular basis. 

Now I don't know how many of you know the following thing about me: I like love trying new things... I'm quite addicted to it actually so that explains why I decided to plant something all of a sudden and tend for it(yes, I do have a bad history of caring for plants... but this time is different ).

Lately I became obsessed (I always had it in me thou) with being more eco friendly, which, in my opinion also includes eating healthier and taking better care of myself (in a holistic kind of way) besides the environment. I also got inspired by the beautiful idea of having a little corner of garden on my balcony, and since I cannot really get along with flowers (I'm allergic to pollen), I decided to plant something else : cherry tomatoes.

Now only time will tell if I fail miserably or I succeed but I'm hoping it will turn out good and I'll have some pretty cherry tomatoes to tend for this summer. I also hope that I will enthuse you into planting and tending for vegetables, even if you live in an apartment building like me. 

Disclaimer ! I'm an amateur vegetables planter and tender so don't rely upon my words if you know better than me (also if you could leave me some tips on gardening, your kind gesture wouldn't go unnoticed) 

And this is how my journey beginnings:

Step 1: Buying the seeds and the essentials

Even though it was a pretty bad weather outside and I've read on the Internet that cherry tomatoes need lots of light and warmth I head out and acquire cherry tomato seeds. The tomato seeds I bought were stored in this little envelope and because I lack the knowledge as to how many seeds does an envelope contain and how many I'll require for my planting I bought 4 envelopes. I didn't even use half an envelope but that's another story).

Next stop, I bought the soil for the tomato plants and I have to say, I don't know if it was wrong of me but I actually didn't pay too much importance to it. The cute lady in the store assured me that all soils are actually the same, only the brand was different. This was the point when I also wanted to buy the fertilizers, but she started asking me so many questions about the type of fertilizer that I required and that's also when I realized I had to do some further research on the subject. 

Already feeling over enthusiastic about my tomatoes I made a next stop and bought 10 plastic cups and a very nice brown pot in which to plant my tomato seedlings when they make it out in the world.       

After I gave myself an imaginary pat on my back I headed home with a grin that left people gazing at me like I was some crazy person.


Step 2: The planting a.k.a the part where you get your hands dirty

After I got home and I changed into some suitable clothes that I hinted would get dirty, I proceeded with the actual planting. First things first thou. Initially, I turned on the stove and heated a pointed knife. Then, I used the heated knife to make holes into 5 of the 10 plastic cups that I bought, making around 9 holes into each cup. The point of the holes is that they will ensure water will get out of the ground in case you over water it. 

I then filled these cups with soil (leaving only around an inch of empty plastic cup on the top) and slightly watered them, making sure I don't put too little or too much water since I've read that the ground should be pleasantly moist. How I checked for that was easier than I've expected. I kept pouring a little bit of water into the soil, waited a couple of seconds and then checked it with my fingers. 

What I did after this was take a pen and make a small hole into the ground, pretty close to the surface. I then very gently (I don't think this is a requirement but the seeds seems so fragile to me) put around 2 or 3 seeds into each hole, after which I once again slowly covered it. Spoiler alert ! This is the part where all the soil gets underneath your nails.

I then took the plastic cups that had the seeds in them (these were the cups with the holes at the bottom) and placed them into the plastic cups that had no holes at their bottom. This will make it possible for you to get rid of the extra water in case you ever do that.

I then placed the plastic cups at my window pane, on the inside, so they get enough light and warmth from the sun.  

Step 3: The loving and caring part... so far 

For the next period of their life nothing interesting will happen... trust me, it's been a while (around a week or two) until I got a hint of life happening in those plastic cups. What I did meanwhile was to super excitedly check on them everyday and stupidly expecting to see fully grown tomatoes (or seedlings at least) every morning. 

You will need to make sure they get enough water, light and love (I like to believe love is essential for their growing:) ). So make sure that the room you are keeping them in is warm enough and the ground is always pleasantly moist. 


With these being said, the first part of my journey already ends and by the time the tomatoes will start growing a little bit I'll make sure I get enough info on fertilizers as to know how to apply them and what's the best choice. I'll keep you posted.

Wishing you the best,
Rachel

Natural brutality - Two poems on pollution

 Hello again my dearest readers,

A reader of my blog suggested I do a poem on pollution. It's not my best but I'll work on it, maybe revise it at some point. Anyway this is the raw deal xD. Also, it is an open theme so feel free to comment your poem in the post or send it over to me via email so I can post it next to my poem :). So,  here it goes (I hope you enjoy it)

The rocks are twisting in agony tonight,
The water is long dead,
The trees and flowers refuse to grow again
Where they have been banished from.
The birds and crickets remember the awful sounds of the chain saws and cars
That tore apart nature to build a chemical plant.
Within the shores of a river,
A fish sighs while laying its last eggs,
Corrupted with cancer and diseaseas
We haven't even heard of yet.
It long forgotten how fresh, clean water feels like
And grew accustomed to the dark oily water that became its home.
It barely swims closer to the shore to gaze at the human creation that cursed its existance.
"Forgive me mother nature" it utters through its lips into a bubble that reaches for the shore,
"Forgive me for I have failed to adapt as fast as they developed"
"Forgive me, for blaming my hurt and misery on their recklessness"
"For despising their creation and celebrating your destruction"
"Forgive me... for I am not as wise as you are, and not as forgiving.
"Forgive me ... and save the hope in the souls of the world"

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

A good friend of mine got also inspired by the theme and sent me his poem via email so I'll also post his ... I wish I could post it right next to mine but... I can't find a way to do that so... here it goes:

"A warm draft of dusty air slammed the gates open,
My rusty eardrums hum the song of their old hinges,
Familiar scent of mechanical oil my glove's soaked in
Flooded the chamber with echoes of pain in all stages.

Tearing a blind hole in the soul of the cyclops,
All kingdoms rise and fall but fight for a cause,
Light turns brighter watching life in a time-lapse,
The Geiger stopped counting like nothing else does.

One moment that's frozen in nuclear winter
Shows skies that were clear and trees that had leaves,
Golden age really rised and put man in the center
To industrially revolutionize how we breathe..."

 Mike Johnson

Given the opportunity, I would also like to raise awareness regarding the ways that each of us treats Mother Nature, I hope you all understand that without it we would literally be s***. So please, try to care for the environment that nourishes your existance.

Wishing you the best,
Rachel