First Meeting

Benu and Kon meet each other face to face outside their cages yesterday. I set up a plastic container as a temporary play gym. It took a while before I got both of them to stop flying off it. They had some spray millet and finally calmed down. It was a nice chance to see personalities. Benu was quick to feel relaxed and started walking around. Kon was still frozen in place and was slower to warm up. Kon gives Benu the right of way. A few times they were touch beaks with Benu then preening Kon. I have yet to see Kon preening Benu. The day ended after about an hour of outside time. I am so thrilled that they both get along right from the start.

Quarentine is Over

On Tuesday the quarantine was finally over and Kon was put in the living room where Benu is. For now I have the cages stacked on top of each other. Kon has the bottom one and Benu has the top. I am also changing some of the interior of the cage adding more foraging and toys for amusement. I will wait some time for Kon to settle into the new arrangement before giving both of them some time outside the cage to socialize. I plan to keep them caged separately.

Dutch White Clover: Day 42

It has been 6 weeks now since I planted my white clover seeds. There was one plant indoors and one outdoors. Below is a picture showing you the development difference taken September 1st.

The large leaves are from the plant being grown indoors under a full spectrum lamp. The smaller leaves comes from a plant grown on my shaded patio. Same soil and watering. The quarter gives you an idea of the size the indoor leaves are growing. They are MUCH larger than the leaves of a wild growing plant. I am sure it has to do with lighting, but I think temperature also has an effect.

Here is today's picture showing that there is finally flower development. I will be watching to see how fast a flower fully develops and I hope there will be more to come.

I have been chopping clovers off as they are reaching too high towards the lamp bulb. Some are also provided to my budgies as a form of entertainment. Next week we will see how things go.

Dutch White Clover: Day 29

Plantings Update

It has been 2 weeks since I planted a bunch of vegetables and other things. So here is the update on the progress.

Above is a pot of white and red millets from my budgies seed mix. They are growing quite nicely.

This is a pot of canary seed grass which is also from my budgies seed mix.

This pot has radish and small carrots. I read that if you grow them both together, the radish will be ready before the carrots. We will see. The larger leaves are obviously the radish and the tiny slender leaves are the small carrots.

This pot was mainly for the Jack Be Little Pumpkin plant. It is probably too late in the year to grow it, but I figured it was worth a shot. Also, it seemed some of the corner space is going to waste so I put in some Spinach (upper left), Mustard (bottom left), and Chard (bottom right).

This pot has a ceramic little frog watching over them. It has Spinach, Mustard, Chard, and Broccoli (upper middle and upper right).

Well this pot was not planted 2 weeks ago but long ago. I can't recall when. It is my dandelion plant. You would have thought it should be growing crazy, but it is going slowly. I wonder what I am doing wrong growing this weed.

So it is time to try growing a few more things for the benefit of my little budgies. I just got my dwarf sunspot sunflower seeds today so here are the 3 pots.

Check back later to see how my patio garden grows. Also, soon Benu and Kon will be seeing each other for the first time. Kon will finally have his cage in the living room and be done with quarantine next week.

Dutch White Clover: Day 29

Ops, 1 day late doing an update. I am trying to update this progress every Sunday.

So far the indoor clover plant is growing awesome with huge clovers, but still no flowers. I wonder at what point flowers start since it has been about a month now. Oddly enough, the plant outside has very small clovers and low growth. I guess it doesn't like too much shade and needs light. More light, bigger the clovers I assume.

Dutch White Clover: Day 21

New Plantings

Today I planted a bunch of plants that I hope will benefit me and my budgies. I bought lots of organic potting soils and a few more pots. I found some seeds, but will likely still buy some online.

So far, I have planted Ruby Swiss Chard, Broccoli, Cherry Belle Radish, Spinach, Mustard, Jack Be Little Pumpkin, Short n' Sweet Carrot, Nasturtium, Calendula, White/Red Millet (from seed mix), and Canary Seed (from seed mix). Some were sown directly into pots outside while others are in a mini indoor greenhouse. I will later plant spray millet, Sunspot Sunflower, Wheat (and other grass grains).

We will see how well they all fare. It is worth a shot to see if I can grow some of the vegetables on my patio. The only problem is lack of prolonged direct sunlight so I probably will have to move some pots out of the patio into the sunlight when I am home. I just want to be careful other dogs walking by don't get to it nor the pesticide people spray my plants outside.

I will post some pictures when there is something interesting to show. I doubt people like seeing just a pot of soil.

Dutch White Clover: Day 21

My plant has been growing well. Oddly enough, the indoor pot looks further along than the one outside on my patio. I wonder if that has to do with the face the outdoor pot is in the shade most of the time and the indoor one gets 12+ hours of light each day from a full spectrum lamp. So far, no flowers. We do have clover leaves now though.

Dutch White Clover: Day 14