My little "garden" is coming along ok so far. I am sad that I haven't harvested one thing yet.......not ONE thing! But I am hopeful! I have the blackest thumb known to mankind, so it is a surprise that there is anything still living.
Remember this year is a sort of test year to see if I am able to actually do the whole big garden thing next year. It was all last minute and I decided to grow everything from seeds (organically), so things have been moving along quote slowly. I have to admit I was never able to get my tomato seeds to do anything. They would grow to be a couple inches and then just STOP, I read a little about this and decided that it was just too late for me to continue trying this year. So my dad gave me a few plants that grew in a random flower bed at his house after throwing out a tomato last year that had a bad spot on it. You see he can grow things without even trying! Anyways so my tomatoes will not be technically organic, but they will be chemical free after being in my care. The tomato that he threw out was probably sprayed with chemicals as well as the seed before it was planted, but I am trying not to think about that, and hoping that most of the residue from those chemicals are gone. My pepper seeds did the same thing as the tomato seeds and they just stopped growing, I am still hoping though that they will somehow keep growing, its probably a lost cause. So my dad gave me a couple extra pepper plants, he bought too many for his garden, so those will not be organic either.
here are a few pics of what I have going on in the backyard.......
Zucchini
grown from seeds 100% organic, I am excited about these, I have been craving squash and zucchini lately. These were the first seeds to sprout and were the fastest growing until the cucumbers I planted weeks after these took off and are going like crazy.
Cucumbers
they are doing wonderful, and since the girls could eat a cucumber a day EACH, I am hoping these plants are able to produce some serious cukes. These are 100% organic and grown by ME from a seed. (can you tell I'm proud?)
the pretty little flowers on the cucumber plant
Not-so-Organic Peppers
i thought these little babies would be doing better by now, but for some reason they aren't, hopefully they will produce something worth mentioning soon
Not-so-Organic Tomatoes
I was totally surprised these made it through the transfer. I don't think my dad dug far enough down when he got them out of the ground for me, so there wasn't much of a root system. I will be even more surprised if they actually produce anything
Basil
Again these were grown from a seed 100% organic, and doing good, just slow! I should probably go ahead and harvest a few leaves to stimulate the growth a bit, maybe I will do that for our dinner tonight.**
I have been watering non-stop! It is so HOT out there, and being upside down, they need more water more frequently than tradition gardening, which is why I want to install the drip irrigation in my more permanent garden next year. I have added a little organic liquid fertilizer to each of the plants a couple times, and probably in another month or so I will have some usable compost that I will attempt to work into the soil a bit, for some added nutrients. All of the plants you can see are still fighting to grown up towards the sun, and you can tell when they need water, because they give in to the weight of the plant and start drooping down more. As they get bigger and heavier they will be unable to hold themselves up and gravity will take over.
**dinner tonight is gluten free veggie lasagna, made with polenta substituted for noodles. I just hope that it turns out edible, and considering I haven't cooked a proper meal in like 2 weeks, hopefully the fam will appreciate my effort even if it isn't good!
