fall gardening
my garden is flourishing. ive got peppers, tomatoes, garlic, lettuces, basil, eggplant, beans, peas, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts all growing happily right now.
I may skip spring/summer gardening next year. i should at least stick to the most heat tolerant plants and nothing else. fall gardening in texas reminds me that gardening really doesn't have to be much of a hassle!
my tomato and pepper plants have been in since early March, but are happier now than they ever have been.
first melon
My first successful melon, and it was picked and chewed by someone other than me. (I'm guessing a racoon.) I don't have the balls to eat it, but I had to at least cut it open and admire it. I tasted a little bit of it too. It was definitely ready. I should've picked it yesterday, dammit!
Moment of silence for the beautiful, sweet melon. It had so much potential.
My other babies.
On this mother's day, here's an update on my other babies! Just counted about 100 tomatoes and a third as many peppers (but double the plants, many of them recently planted). Basil is going nuts, eggplants and cucumbers are finally starting to flower, melons are thriving too! Counted at least 5 squash. Grocery bill for the next 2 or 3 months should be much lower than usual!
#gardening
I tried making my own compost tea and fed it to the leaves and roots of all my plants today. Should see some improvement soon if it worked! If so, I will do that all the time because it's cheap and easy! The compost tea I bought at the farmers market worked wonderfully, but I like to learn how to do things myself, and spend less money of course.
Also hung xmas bulbs on the tomato plants today. (To deter birds.)
I pulled my still growing kale plant because I found tons of worm larvae underneath the leaves. I also kept some lettuce in too long, because it turned disgustingly bitter. Pulled that too.
Other than try two for okra (which I decided to start/transplant this time) I am done planting things for a while! I really hope all my hard work pays off in a month or so. Everything looks great so far!
List of Spring plants!
My battle with caterpillars is not through, but I feel that they are under control now. The compost tea I fed the plants on 3/17 and 4/1 has given all of them a noticeable boost in growth: they don't seem as susceptible to injury and possible death anymore.
The eggplants look especially happier after the compost tea (or perhaps the warmer weather?). I was worried the most about them. The tomatoes and peppers have begun to flower! Things are definitely looking up in my garden!
This needs to be a quick blog post, so I will hold off on photos for now. I have been taking them weekly to track growth. It should be fun to do a comparison post soon. :)
Here's a list of what's currently growing, to the best of my knowledge. I would also provide the number of plants for each, but sadly I am unsure of about 40% of them. I got lazy about labeling and now I am regretting it. I am sure they will make themselves known at some point! Aside from the thymes, oreganos, onions, lavender, and giant bell peppers, all of this was grown from seed:
Wow, I didn't realize it was that many! And to think that I have probably 3-4x as many seed varieties as I do plants in the garden right now.
The eggplants look especially happier after the compost tea (or perhaps the warmer weather?). I was worried the most about them. The tomatoes and peppers have begun to flower! Things are definitely looking up in my garden!
This needs to be a quick blog post, so I will hold off on photos for now. I have been taking them weekly to track growth. It should be fun to do a comparison post soon. :)
Here's a list of what's currently growing, to the best of my knowledge. I would also provide the number of plants for each, but sadly I am unsure of about 40% of them. I got lazy about labeling and now I am regretting it. I am sure they will make themselves known at some point! Aside from the thymes, oreganos, onions, lavender, and giant bell peppers, all of this was grown from seed:
- black prince tomato
- black cherry tomato
- chadwick cherry tomato
- break o day tomato
- emerald giant bell pepper
- jimmy nardello italian pepper
- corno di torro giallo pepper
- chile pepper
- anaheim pepper
- cambodian green giant eggplant
- listada de gandia eggplant
- arumugam's eggplant
- red onions
- garlic
- genovese basil
- lemon thyme
- regular thyme
- greek oregano
- italian oregano
- parsley
- marjoram
- lavender
- zucchini
- yellow crookneck squash
- sugar baby watermelon
- bowling red okra
- okra (another variety i can't remember atm)
- hale's best melon
- kentucky wonder bean
- russian kale (one plant grown from seed that has been producing since winter!)
- malabar spinach
- black seeded simpson lettuce
- vates (collards)
- red romaine lettuce
- rocky top lettuce mix
- brune d'hiver lettuce
- jericho lettuce
- space saver cucumber
- marketmore cucumber
- another cucumber variety
Wow, I didn't realize it was that many! And to think that I have probably 3-4x as many seed varieties as I do plants in the garden right now.
night time predators
While reading up on pest control last night, I came across a suggestion to "check your plants at night, that's when most of the critters are out."
So around 1am I was out checking. Turns out that was a great suggestion, because I saw all kinds of things. Disheartening. I have:
- black...fleas?
- caterpillars
- cutworms
- some other clear/white looking flea thing
So there I was in my garden gloves, spraying and squishing, at 1:30 in the morning.
Something tells me I am fighting an uphill battle. And I have a lot more reading to do.
So around 1am I was out checking. Turns out that was a great suggestion, because I saw all kinds of things. Disheartening. I have:
- black...fleas?
- caterpillars
- cutworms
- some other clear/white looking flea thing
So there I was in my garden gloves, spraying and squishing, at 1:30 in the morning.
Something tells me I am fighting an uphill battle. And I have a lot more reading to do.
What's eating my eggplants?
Times-Georgian - Ask a Master Gardener What s eating my eggplants
I think this may be what's going on with my baby eggplants. :( Though a few other plants (mainly peppers) have been disturbed as well, and I also found some caterpillars in the lettuce last week. ARGH!
I think this may be what's going on with my baby eggplants. :( Though a few other plants (mainly peppers) have been disturbed as well, and I also found some caterpillars in the lettuce last week. ARGH!
fork you!
Someone mentioned this pest deterrent to me today and I thought it was brilliant! I had a box of plastic forks just sitting there for years. The kiddo really enjoyed helping me do it. :)
It occurs to me now that this idea may not be suitable for the long term (chemicals could leech into the soil, perhaps?) but I'll bet it does the trick for now! I have caught many a cat napping inside my herb planters!
It occurs to me now that this idea may not be suitable for the long term (chemicals could leech into the soil, perhaps?) but I'll bet it does the trick for now! I have caught many a cat napping inside my herb planters!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)