Mini Harvest from the Container Garden

Brian and I both had about three cherry tomatoes from the garden yesterday. They were delicious! I also got the blackberry. We've decided that I get the first sample of each since I put in the work. I can't wait for the full size tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers.

Speaking of cucumbers....I think I damaged the roots of my two best cucumber plants during the recent transplant. That's why there aren't pictures, yet. I'm waiting to see if they miraculously rebound before rearranging the garden. I hope to rearrange this week and post pictures soon.

Perked Up Plants & Strangely Growing Blackberry Bush

The plants (even the squash and cucumbers) did perk up after getting some water and some relief from the heat. I transplanted some cucumbers and the blackberry bush tonight. Speaking of the blackberry bush.....It's growing strangely. See for yourself:


It seems like only one branch has grown at all - straight out the side. Should I prune it? I'm not sure. I'll have to research it in my "spare time." I hear that's when people do things like research gardening, so if I ever find some spare time, I'll try it. I did transplant the bush into a bigger container tonight.

Those are my keys in the bottom for scale.

And, finally, there is some COLOR in my garden! Beautiful tomatoes!!


Lots of green ones, too.

These are the cherry tomatoes, but my regular tomatoes are getting nice and big. They're still green, though.

Hopefully tomorrow, I will set up the garden and have new pictures of the changes. I'm very excited about re-creating the space!

Poor Drained Plants

This is what my precious plants looked like when I returned home from work this evening:

Squash


Cucumbers


And even my hardy tomato plants!


I'm hoping water will perk these vegetable plants back up to their normal selves. The heat really seems to be the culprit. Perhaps the coming changes (including a lot of transplanting) will help.....But probably not if it's the heat.

My Office Sunflower

So, here's my office sunflower. I think it's reached it's maximum height. Now, it's working on producing a beautiful flower to greet me each day. I've thought about transplanting it to a bigger pot, but I've heard that sunflowers don't transplant well. I wonder if my hybrid-designed-for-containers sunflower would tolerate the move. Any thoughts?

Changes in the Garden....Coming Soon to a Blog Near You!

So, Chuck at Lowe's thinks I'm crazy for growing squash, cucumbers, and blackberries in a container garden. I'm thinking about transplanting the blackberry bush in the apartment's yard (which means it would not move with us when we move). I'm not quite sure where I would plant it, yet. And, it would free up a planter for squash or cucumbers.

I'm also planning to transplant most of the squash and cucumbers so they aren't overcrowded. I haven't quite decided about the transplanting, yet, but hopefully, I'll have it figured out before I start tonight!

Why so Wilty, Squash? Cucumbers?

So, my squash and cucumbers seem to be wilty each afternoon. they perk up in the evening. Is it just because of the heat? I've moved them to the shade, but they seem *less* happy there. They perk up whether or not I give them water, so, it's not that.....Suggestions?

My "Contained" Garden!

From left to right: (back row) Cucumber Plant, Squash Plant, and Tomato Plant; (front row) Strawberry Plant and Cherry Tomato Plant

The blackberry bush has been moved away from the other containers due to its sunlight requires being slightly different than the other plants.

I'm planning to go to Lowe's today to ask their friendly staff what's up with the cucumbers and squash.....I have a feeling I will need to transfer several plants, but at least I will have several plants to feed me!!

Unidentified Plant and Red Veined Prayer Plant (Plus Blog Changes)

This grass-like plant is currently unknown. It was a gift planted with the red veined prayer plant. It doesn't seem to flower. I'm hoping that someone will have an idea of the plant's name. The poor red veined prayer plant was nibbled on by some naughty kittens. Luckily, the plant isn't posionous.

You may have noticed that there are now PHOTOS on this blog! Yes, I finally figured out how to get some photos uploaded here. Although, it wasn't easy. I even had to tweak the html code. I'm not a computer nerd or hipster so this was a challenge. But as I've mentioned before, I enjoy a good challenge - especially when I conquer them!

There is a slideshow of everything that is currently growing (By "currently growing" I mean, my goal is to keep the slide show up-to-date with what's currently growing.). I can't figure out how to tweak the html code to make the slide show center in the right pane, but hopefully, I'll figure it out. Until then, scroll to the right!

Garden Update

I've decided that I may in fact have a green thumb. I have several cherry tomatoes growing, a few tomatoes, and 1 lonely blackberry. My squash has flowers which I'm hopeful will grow into actual squash. The cucumbers are growing, but I haven't seen any flowers, yet.

My green thumb, however, does not seem to extend to herbs. NONE of my planted herbs are growing. I'm not sure what I have done wrong, but apparently, it's something. They tend to grow tiny, delicate little stems and then just keel over. Any suggestions?

Oh, and my "dead" strawberry plant seems to be rallying. That's good news. I was about to toss it. Good thing I am an optimist and hoped against hope that the strawberry plant would pull through.


Overcrowded Cucumbers?


Another issue that I am facing is with the squash and cucumbers. I planted them from seeds in a 7 gallon bucket. I think I may have too many plants in each bucket. Any suggestions about how close stems should be or how many stems I should have in a 7 gallon bucket? My google searches haven't been very helpful as most of the sites are about "real" gardens and not container gardens. Brian also thinks my squash and possibly cucumbers may have some type of infection (bacteria or fungus). Some of the leaves are spotty. I'm not sure what that means.


Medic NEEDED!


It's times like this when I wish I had readers who might be able to offer some advice......(Shout out to Amy for being my only follower. I guess it falls to you. I hope you are an avid gardener! j/k)

Perhaps My Thumb Isn't So Green

I'm not sure this is going to be a positive experience. Perhaps blogging about such a test was not the best idea. Oh, well.

Peace Lily


I do have the following growing: tomato plants, spinach, squash, a blackberry bush, a prayer plant, our 1-year anniversary bamboo, an unidentified grass-like plant, philendrom, and a peace lilly. And there are some herbs growing in the kitchen. I've lost track of which herbs and only some of them are growing. I'll have to post some pictures tonight perhaps.

Philendrom

Overcoming Tragedy

After starting this blog and all of my excitment about the growing baby plants and flowers, someone pulled up my baby cosmos and baby sunflowers.
Baby Cosmos Alive & Dead:

I've decided to believe that it was a wayward child walking home from school whose curiousity got the best of them. It was a very sad discovery which left me feeling dejected. After a few suggestions from friends and family to plant poision ivy, I withdrew from my planting expedition.
Sunflowers Alive & Dead:


But, now I'm back! I planted a new sunflower for my office and continued to water my precious plants. The new sunflower poking through the dirt on Friday, 4/30, was enough to renew my excitment.


Now the spinach is barely peeking up through the dirt. The cucumbers sprouted up and today the squash popped up! I'm so happy to see the sweet little sprouts barely above the dirt. I might just grow up to be a farmer!

Plantin' in the Rain, Just Plantin' in the Rain!

Oh, what a wonderous feeling! I'm happy again! Today was an amazing day. I planted some geranium, cucumber, squash, and spinach seeds. I also transplanted tomato, cherry tomato, blackberry, and strawberry plants. All in the rain. The rain really added to my planting experience today and made the rainy day even better.


I bought plants in these "easy transport" pots. No plastic waste and easier on the plants. Sounded like an amazing idea to me.

Organic soil to grow organic veggies!

Rocks in the bottom of the planters to help drain water. I read that was helpful somewhere.

I can't wait for delicious fruits and vegetables sans the farmer's market! I might need some better gardening shoes, though......especially for the rain. These little tennies left my feet frozen!

The Beginning - Every Story Has One

I love a good challenge, especially when it is a particularly difficult challenge with reasons that I may not succeed. Several months ago when I began a new cooking quest, I had to overcome some seriously daunting family genes. My mom is known in my family for "burning water." She really only allowed it to evaporate and burned the pan, but it's more fun to say she burnt water. Despite, my horrible cooking genes, I have been baking amazing cupcakes (including Christmas cupcakes shaped like penguins) made "from scratch" pumpkin pie, and several of Aunt Lynda's good 'ol fashion Southern Cooking dishes.

So, I'm not going to let the fact that my wonderful mom never kept a plant alive during my childhood keep me from trying! Luckily, I have some family genes on my side. Grahma had tomato plants throughout the summer. I remember eating them right off the vine (Just don't tell Grahma!).

The other challenge I am facing is that my husband and I live in a rental place, and we have no idea when we move. I want to be able to follow these new plants and not have to worry about moving. So, everything has to be planted in containers on our south-facing deck. Also, I'm on a tight budget.

Here are the solutions so far. Luckily the last challenge has already taken care of itself. Home Depot had a buy-one-get-one-free sale on seeds yesterday. And, Lowe's had a sale on organic potting soil. Walmart had seven gallon buckets for five dollars and some fun summer bowls for one dollar. I also got some three-and-a-half gallon buckets for two dollars. I also got some seeds and flower pots with some gift cards to Target that I got for my birthday. Now the only challenge to overcome is the genes from my mom. I think I'll be fine. After all, I have the Internet and the friendly people at Lowe's and Home Depot. What else could a girl need to plan a container garden slightly late in the planting season?

Well, here goes nothing! Let's see if my thumb is indeed green.