Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts

Let's Spread out and Grow!


We were able to aquire a second garden plot for the summer. Thus, I transplanted the gourds so they have lots of room to spread out and grow. I gave the peppers more room too, and they're already blowing up.

I also picked some of our lettuce and had some delicious salad. I added some fresh cilantro and parsley, delicious.
On another note, hurray for healthy living. A friend of mine got me started on weight watchers in March and yesterday I am officially down 20 pounds. *dance*

Juicy Mini-Harvest


Right now, you defiantly wish that computers were scratch-n-sniff, because these smell amazing. The sweetest strawberries, juicy and ripe with summer. You can almost smell the sun radiating off them!



Happy Memorial Day!

Gardening in Small Spaces

I've decided that tomatoes are fickle bitches and I hate them. The tomatoes in our garden plot have withered and died with the last few weeks of heavy rain on and off and I ended up just tearing them out of the ground and tossing them. I have heard mixed things from people when I have lamented how they've died. Some have said "I thought they were easy to grow," while others have re-assured me "they're a pain to keep alive." Either way, it's frustrating and I'm waiting until I am able to go out and pick up some of the 2' tall plants I see at the grocery store and hope those fair better.

A week or so ago I moved the blackberry bush be bought out of the garden plot and onto the deck in the large pot I have. While the raspberry bush and the blueberry bush are actually growing the blackberry bush is still a prickly stick jutting out of the earth with roots attached. Plants that don't do anything after three weeks don't get to continue to take up precious garden space. I'm proud of the raspberry bush though,it has gone from a single stick with a few leaves to a tiny bush.

In place of the blackberry I planted potatoes. I've never grown potatoes before so we will see how well they fare. The strawberries are doing excellent in the garden plot. I tied them up with some steaks to get them off the ground since they're already giving me a few little berries a week.

Our herbs on the deck are exploding. Apparently cilantro and parsley LOVE rain, because in a few days they doubled in size. I'm not exaggerating. DOUBLED. I'm keeping a close eye on them because I don't want them to crowd out or overshadow the rosemary or oregano they neighbor.

The experiment continues! SO far this is defiantly my most successful small space garden I have had in an apartment to date! It's only taken me five years but I finally have plants that aren't dead in a week. Huzzah!

Apartment Gardening

For years I have tried to grow things in an apartment and failed. Usually small herb gardens in little pots that die halfway through the summer because they're not getting enough light or I forget to water them...or earwigs eat them in the night (yuck).

This year we are very lucky to live somewhere with a community garden. We got our plot rented and weeded and last weekend spent the afternoon planting the many fruits and vegetables that we acquired the day before. I even splurged for the frost protecting fabric because, as we are in Michigan, a frost or two in late April is bound to happen.

We ran into a snag though. In the excitement to be growing our own food and hungry bellies anticipating future fresh veggies and berries, we had far too many plants for a plot that became full fast. And we had bought seeds too, so there was no room for the seedlings. Alas! What shall we do?