Happy Summer Solstice

I hope you had a great Summer Solstice (northern hemisphere) this past Saturday.  I know this isn't book or mystery related, but hear me out. 

Everybody has heard the term "Beach read". This time of year we are all looking for a great beach read, something we can take on vacation and isn't too heavy or requires much analysis. We want lighter reading because vacations are for relaxing...and when we are home we are out enjoying the warmer weather, activities and events everywhere.

I have noticed this summer and last that I have a harder time sticking to my schedule and reading. Part of my time is going into container gardening since I live in a town-home. 

This year the weather did not really warm up until the very last week of May, so my Kale is just getting going. The Basil, Catnip, Chives, and Peppermint are all doing well. But I decided today to pick up some flower seeds (Lavender and Zinnias). I was worried that this was too late to hope for much. Then I remembered third grade science class. Yes, I am weird like that. We were experimenting with seeds and what chemicals in fertilizer achieve what result. What I remembered was how we quickly got the seeds to sprout. 

In a plastic cup you fold a paper towel and line the inside of the cup with it.  Sprinkle the seeds between the paper towel and the plastic cup.  Then add a tablespoon or two of water.  The paper towel will absorb the water to keep the seeds wet.  

Some seeds like sunlight, but I am giving a little shade from the sun by loosely wrapping a bit of aluminum foil around the cups.  Although they can be around light. 

I will add just a small amount of liquid fertilizer (why I use plastic because you shouldn't ever drink out of it after this.)  I am hoping to shorten the germination time and get them jump-started.  I can use some florescent lighting as a grow light as well as sunlight, once they sprout, to get them to a size that can be transplanted.  I will let you know how it goes. 

Since I don't have the room for full-blown seedling kits, this is an inexpensive experiment.  Any tips folks?  I know there are many things that can go wrong with this process, including too much water and the seeds rot or don't germinate.

Enjoy the sunshine and share your favorite beach reads so far with us!  

Here is a short video showing essentially the same method only using large seeds.  I discovered this after initially posting.  I found another video that places the wet paper towel with seeds into a sealed plastic sandwich bag and places them in warm spots, which helps speed up germination too.

Winners of Giveaway and Question

Winners of the last book giveaway for Photo Snap Shot by Joanna Campbell are Mystica and Stella.  Congratulations guys.  They were the only ones who entered, so we won't be having any book giveaways for awhile since that doesn't seem to be of interest.  Perhaps everybody is out playing in the summer sun!

Question for everybody - Do you read more or less in the summer?  We hear about "Beach Reads"  but how much do you really read during the summer heat?  I don't think I vary too much by season really. 

Does your taste in books change from summer to winter?  This is not a scientific survey :-) but I am curious.  Please chime in.

On a completely different topic, some of you may have noticed how I have a siamese cat as the mascot of the blog.  That is in honor of my best furry-friend who died about 4 years ago.  This weekend I went to a local pet rescue and adopted an adult siamese who has had a rough time of it.  She was in a family but the toddler apparently was not cat-friendly and she has been living from cage to cage since then.  Just as this sweet cat was starting to bond to the rescue person she is being carted around to pet fairs.  I had found her online in my search - even got to email the family who had to give her up.  She came home with us Saturday and she is having a rough adjustment period.  I have been bit a few times that have drawn blood (OUCH!) but overall I think she is beginning to settle in a bit - I hope.  This gal's name is Paris (originally Sky, but we will be working on changing that.)  She is apparently camera shy as well - she would turn away from the camera no matter what I did.  So please welcome the newest addition to our little family. 

Please consider adopting from a shelter if you are looking for a pet.  I used http://www.petfinder.com/ and found they gather information from multiple shelters.