Garden Progress: Mid July

My garden has come a long way since my beginning of June update! For some there is good news and for others not such good news. I realize for consistency I should show the same plants as my June post, but here's what's happening right now!

Towards the start of the season I got some oddly shaped cucumbers. This is due to the flowers not being completely pollinated, but luckily they taste fine and pollination seems to have picked up now that they plants are taller.

This was my only purchased cherry tomato plant. Plants I started from seed have tomatoes but aren't ripe yet. I love yellow tomatoes so much more than red varieties!

Tragically, this was my last zucchini. Squash vine borer beetle murdered both my zucchini and yellow squash plants! Next year I must find a way to stop them. 

The pepper are loving the heat are are getting all happy and leafy. Hoping to see some buds soon. We have scorpion, ghost, habenero, thai chilli, red and green bell, and two mystery peppers in pots on the deck.

Last year I planted carrots way too late and close together. I should Google when to harvest them. I hope they're carroting under there...

Thai dragon is my only purchased pepper plant. I suppose eventually they turn red but they're pretty damn hot already!

I think Kale chips are coming this weekend. XOXO!

This is my one and only ear of corn. Probably about ready to harvest. All my corn plants popped up, but less than half survived. I'll start the indoors next year.

I spotted a cantaloupe! It's about the size of a softball. So cute!

Hm, what else did I post about last time? Beans and peas are wild. I pick them everyday while dodging the Japanese beetles that have moved in this year. They don't seem to be deterring the plants though. The garlic was harvested about a week ago and is curing on my front porch! Basil of course is wild, both purple and sweet. Waiting for more tomatoes to start making caprese salads. I'm pinching flowers off my strawberry plants this year to make them stronger for next year, so they're just hanging out gathering their energy hopefully. The borage I planted as a companion plant is ginormous and not flowering so I'm mad at it. Plus is spiny. 

Anyone else have a garden?!?!

Garden Progress: Beginning of June

It's been a slow start for my garden this year. Starting seeds under my new grow lights for the first time didn't give me the boost I expected, and we had frost warnings right up until the week after Mother's Day.

Here are the good parts so far!

My Garden: Full Circle

I've been planning my garden for this summer, and I'm getting really excited! I've been reading a bunch about companion planting, and I opened a trial account at GrowVeg.com so I can lay out my beds.

Last year I just put plants I bought at the nursery in the ground and hoped that they grew. I ended up with way too much of some things (grape tomatoes), and some plants I never had a long enough growing season for anyway, so they didn't thrive (carrots, brussels sprouts).

Here's the garden last year through the seasons.

Spring

Everything just planted!

Summer

That's lettuce that has bolted and gone to seed on the right, and cabbages ravaged by cabbage worms... bastards. Also some wild grape tomatoes on the left (I didn't learn about pinching of suckers until late in the year), cucumbers got crazy, and pepper plants that produced well into the season!

Fall

Pretty much just cleaned everything out. There was some swiss chard still, and beets and carrots that didn't produce because I didn't plant them soon enough. But in the back of the bed on the left is garlic!

Winter

Well, you know, it's winter. I'm just glad no trees came down on the garden during Sandy.  It will get plenty of sun this year at least.

Wintertime Gardening

Last weekend I attended a small going away gathering for my friend Adriana who is moving out of the country. Sad but exciting! Adriana shares my love of gardening and has entrusted the care of many of her house plants to me! So on Sunday I did a little wintertime gardening making space for my new plants!

Chili peppers | Lemon verbena | Lavender

Aloe | Lemon grass | Lime tree

The lavender and lime tree have actually been with me for awhile. The lime tree is a late bloomer I think, and the lavender hasn't been strong since I got it this summer, but it has new growth lately!

My desk garden. Hm, there's two types of mint, thyme, some African violets, parsley, fennel, arugula that is flowering and a few other things. I think they're mostly happy here.

Not a plant, but a bunny. While I ran up and down the stairs a hundred times, this is where Lillie was.

Two neglected African violets. Not Adriana's, but mine that I repotted and hope to revive.

Be Somebody. Grow Garlic.

Yesterday I planted garlic in my garden. I'm excited as growing garlic sounds pretty low maintenance and easy! You plant it in the fall, and let it grow all winter and spring until almost mid-summer when you can harvest it.



I got my garlic from my local farmer's market. Apparently store-bought garlic isn't the best choice because it has likely been treated with something to make it not sprout. I'm not sure I believe this as mine always starts growing anyway, but I was happy to buy locally, plus I got three different kinds.



I planted two rows of German white, one row of Spanish roja, and one row of purple stripe. I've only actually tried the German white so far, I believe the other two are supposed to be hotter. Considering each clove is supposed to produce a new bulb, I'm going to have so much garlic!



Here's some good garlic growing links:

How to Plant Garlic in Containers from Apartment Therapy

Growing Your Own Garlic is Easy from the Daily Green

Here's a few more photos from the garden yesterday. These are my carrots going strong. It's my first time growing carrots. I planted them in August since they are a frost tolerant crop. So far, this is true. I hope they're actually "carroting" under there.



My little swiss chard plant, also a late season addition that went in when the lettuces came out. This is lovely sautéed with garlic and so good for you!



This is a really tough little pansy that appeared under my dying pepper plants in September and has been blooming ever since. This is noteworthy because I didn't have any pansies this summer anywhere on our property. We've also had at least two freezes, a hurricane, and a dusting of snow.



And here's my little indoor office garden. Before the storm I cleaned up all the pots off the deck but the spearmint, strawberry mint, fennel, and arugula weren't quite ready to go yet. So I thought I'd see if they'll grow inside.

SmartGardener.com Review

Do any of you like to garden? Have you ever heard of smartgardener.com? I was really excited to find it, but sort of found my own way to use it. It's clever because it keeps you on schedule with your gardening tasks and helps you layout your garden, though I found I disagree with it sometimes.