The Sometimes Stinky, Sometimes Sweet Scented Geranium

Once a week I volunteer at the 577 Foundation and help out with all things botanical. This is the same place I have my community garden (garden planning has begun as well!!!). Anyhoo, today's volunteer duties consisted of taking care of the scented geraniums.
I pruned leaves, removed the plants from their pots, teased their roots, stuck them back in the pots, refreshed them with new soil and then showered them with a diluted epsom salt bath (apparently, their muscles get sore and achy too). I had to quarantine four of the geraniums because it seemed that they had become deluxe condominiums for white flies. Poor little geraniums had to go to sick bay.

Now, it might not seem exciting to hang out with geraniums (especially the stinky ones) and dirt, but I LOVE IT! There's something about flowers and plants and trees that simply makes me happy, inspires my imagination and just plain relaxes me (Except for when a big hairy spider surprises me while I'm pruning. At that point I am neither happy or relaxed and am focused solely on getting far away from the clutches of Shelob). So, other than the scary, bloodsucking, fiend-like bugs there are smiles all around.

Repotted geraniums all lined up and ready to return to the dome.

Besides hanging out in the potting shed today, I've also started planning for this year's garden. My garden's theme will be based on the foods of Mexico.
These are the contenders so far:
1. Pinto Beans
2. Cilantro
3. Sweet White Corn
4. Epazote
5. Onions
6. Scallions
7. Tomatillos
8. Tomatoes
9. An assortment of chili peppers
10. Pumpkin (I want to try making pumpkin seed mole from scratch)

There will also be sunflowers, marigolds, cosmos, zinnias and nasturtium.

I haven't worked everything out, yet. So, some more vegetables might be added and some might be taken away. I wish I could grow citrus (lemon and lime) trees and avocado trees!!!

I'm super excited! w00t!


Here's a little splash of color to help you survive this cold rainy day...