Garden Complete....for now

This morning I finished planting. My porch is rather full, with pots lining nearly all the corners in search of the prime sun spots. Even though every plant I bought was designated 'full sun', I know some will fare better than others in the heat of the texas sun. So, placement of the plants is a bit fluid for now while I figure out who can handle the most direct light.

Here are a few photos...the aloe is up high because otherwise it takes up too much space. It's grown enormous in the past year! 

This year's crop

I am determined to start the growing season optimistically. At this moment, I will assume all of my plants will thrive. I will temporarily forget the difficulties of keep everybody happily watered in the depth of the Texas summer. I will pretend that I know what I'm doing.

To pump up my fragile gardening ego, my first purchases for this year's garden were the plants that actually succeed last year:

• bell peppers
• jalapeno pepers
• strawberries - I didn't have to purchase them, they're actually still alive from last year. * shock*

And to push my burgeoning green thumb, I've added:

• roma tomatoes
• cucumbers

And finally....in a moment of BLIND optimism, I purchased some seeds. I realize I will probably have to chalk them up to a "learning experience"....so, if I even get a couple of sprouts, I'll be very happy.

• snow peas
• mesclun

Next step: I'm going to do some research into the right type of pruning for each type of plant.

  

Destination Big Lots!

I just returned from the ghetto Big Lots near my apartment. And I mean GHET-TO.  Was it worth it? YES!  

For what I could easily spend on two nice looking, good sized pottery pots, I got a TON of stuff. The true steal was a large blue pottery pot for only $10. Then I went over to the plastic/foam section. Got a TON more for super cheap, as well as a trowel, gloves, shears, and a  tomato-wire-thingy (I really don't know what they're called).  I also picked up a solar light (also just $10!) that has a slight asian style to it. I'm looking forward to see how well it illuminates the garden. I'm hoping for a nice soft glow.

Now I have the fun chore of unloading the car and dragging everything to my 2nd floor apartment. 

Spring has sprung, and I've returned!

Well, last year was my first stab at gardening. I had some good results and some disappointing. My red bell peppers never turned red, but they were mighty tasty green. My jalapenos sprouted like mad, and I was so excited to cook with them that I made multiple dishes so hot that I had to throw them away. My strawberries grew, but never had the healthy large plump berries I was hoping for.

So...some lessons learned. And now, I'm back for more. Hopefully, I'll be a bit more regular about posting this growing season. 

I am still living in an apartment and all my plants are in pots on the patio. I just went to the garden store today (along with the rest of suburbia) and picked a wide selection of flowers and herbs and veggie plants. Some of my goals for this season include:

• trying some new veggies - tomatoes and cucumbers are currently waiting to get potted
• trying to create pots with multiple layers of plants
• trying to grow a few items by seed - i've heard lettuce is relatively easy, so that's what I'm trying.
• learning to prune and pinch back properly - this is by far my largest challenge

That's about it. I hope to connect with some other aspiring gardeners this spring. Now, go get your hands dirty...

Gardeners are superheroes!

I regularly visit a progressive news site called Common Dreams. It's a totally cheesy name, so I don't mention it to many people. Consider yourself the lucky few!

Anyway, they collect and publish articles that align with their political views, and I enjoy being able to find a wide variety of more liberal-minded articles all in one place.   I don't always agree with what I read, but I appreciate the perspective. Especially being down here in Texas...land o'republicans!

Today an article was posted about the movie WALL-E, which I haven't actually seen yet, and how it stresses the importance of....gardening!! (I really had no desire to see this movie before I read the article, but now I'm rather curious. 

Here's the first line of the article. If you'd like to read more, I've included a link.

Published on Saturday, July 12, 2008 by CommonDreams.org Gardens Save the Day in ‘WALL-E’ and America’s Cities by Olga Bonfiglio The feature film, “WALL-E,” is a must-see for urban pioneers, environmentalists, teachers and community organizers because it reflects what can happen when citizens take control of their own lives — and plant gardens. Full article here

Basil follow up

About 2.5 weeks ago, I put some basil clippings in water to root, and here's the amount of grown I'm seeing after this short amount of time. Not bad. 

The roots are showing the slightest bit of brown color, and I'm worried that some mold/fungus may be forming. So, I'm going to attempt to plant it in soil tonight. I have no idea if this will take or just die shortly after. Wish me luck.

Happy Blooms

Having flowers intermingled among my veggies and basil provides so much satisfaction. Not knowing how long it will take for the oranges to ripen, my next pepper to grow, my herbs to fill out....it's nice to have the instant satisfaction of constantly blooming flowers. 

These are a butter colored variety of petunias. I had never seen ones like it before, and I find the delicate sunburst of yellow to be so cheery.  The plant has gotten rather leggy. I need to get better at pruning it back, but I always feel guilty pinching back a perfectly good bud.  

Patience

I gotta get me some.

Lots of baby oranges

My whole orange tree is covered with baby oranges like the ones in the photo above. I'm absolutely thrilled. I'm crossing my fingers and knocking on wood that I don't do anything to jeopardize their growing to full potential. As it's a dwarf orange tree, I'm not sure to what size the fruit will grow. Regular size? Dwarf size?

The orange tree is in the same pot it came in. I never re-potted it, even though I'm sure it probably needs it. I read somewhere (online, of course!) that once the tree is more than 2 times the height of the pot, then its time to repot. In which case, I'm overdue. However, I'll have to wait until these finish ripening. 

Gardening at night?

Watering in the heat of the day in Texas is not a good idea. The water evaporates faster than the poor plants can drink it up. That leave the choice of watering in the morning or watering at night. Since I started the garden, I have been regularly been watering every morning. Then, out of curiosity, I switched and started watering at night.

I honestly expected no difference in the health of my plants. Yet...they seem to be able to stand the heat of day better when I water at night. There is less wilting by the end of the day, especially in the broader leafed plants.

That said, if I learned nothing else with my master's degree, it is that correlation does not imply causation! So, I will keep my eye on this.