Gardening
I'm not very good at keeping track of log books, and it looks like I'll need a reliable log for my garden this year. Hence, this journal.
It's at a new house, and as far as I know the soil has never been gardened before. I'm sending the soil in for testing tomorrow, but I've already planted a few things. Though, I think I should start the story of my garden at the beginning, on the first weekend of May.
To start, here is the land:
Not much, but I'm making the most of it. I'm also adding a lot of containers. The first of which is the herbs, which are growing on the front porch:
(That's basil, parsely, oregano, and cilantro.)
The next being the potatoes:
The one on the left is a seed potato, the one on the right is an old potato that started growing so I just threw it in some dirt. From what I've been told, they make nice leaves but not many potatoes.
I also tried to grow strawberries from a small box of roots that I bought at Home Depot. It didn't work. I didn't really expect it to, it just that since they are more of an early spring crop, I didn't think the nursery would have any. Turns out they do. Dirt cheap, a dollar for two plants.
The following weekend, May 10, our landlord showed up to check the lock. When I mentioned the garden, he went back to his house and brought over 10 tomato seedlings and about as many swiss chard. The tomatoes are Rutgers, Big Boys, Ox Hearts, and something he called Grape Strawberry. They're suppose to be grape tomatoes that taste like strawberries. It should make for an interesting jam.
After two weeks of heavy rain, the tomatoes are looking a little week, and some of the chard is dying. Part of that is my fault for planting them so close together. In that time though, I also managed to get another window box just for peppermint and a container for two onion sets. I have no clue how onions grow, and since I thought the price of one set was $1.25, I figured they must grow off of them like potatoes. As I watch them grow, I'm beginning to see the error of my ways. It was probably 5 for $1.25, and it looks like I'm only going to have two onions.
A few days ago (20th) I was home sick and decided to walk to the nursery to pick up some more plants. I'm paranoid that if I don't get everything in by the end of may it won't grow, and it doesn't help any that the nursery is, litterally, two blocks from my house. I came back with some strawberries, eggplant and zucchini.
Today I planted some sugar snap peas that I had grown from seed. I was very proud of myself for making a trellis out of an old piece of Dougie's cage. The english peas haven't grown tall enough, but when they do, they will join their sweeter cousins. This weekend should be the end of it, with me getting a container ready for those strawberries, planting a few cucumbers, and setting up a container of hot peppers for David.
Updated pictures coming soon!
It's at a new house, and as far as I know the soil has never been gardened before. I'm sending the soil in for testing tomorrow, but I've already planted a few things. Though, I think I should start the story of my garden at the beginning, on the first weekend of May.
To start, here is the land:
Not much, but I'm making the most of it. I'm also adding a lot of containers. The first of which is the herbs, which are growing on the front porch:
(That's basil, parsely, oregano, and cilantro.)
The next being the potatoes:
The one on the left is a seed potato, the one on the right is an old potato that started growing so I just threw it in some dirt. From what I've been told, they make nice leaves but not many potatoes.
I also tried to grow strawberries from a small box of roots that I bought at Home Depot. It didn't work. I didn't really expect it to, it just that since they are more of an early spring crop, I didn't think the nursery would have any. Turns out they do. Dirt cheap, a dollar for two plants.
The following weekend, May 10, our landlord showed up to check the lock. When I mentioned the garden, he went back to his house and brought over 10 tomato seedlings and about as many swiss chard. The tomatoes are Rutgers, Big Boys, Ox Hearts, and something he called Grape Strawberry. They're suppose to be grape tomatoes that taste like strawberries. It should make for an interesting jam.
After two weeks of heavy rain, the tomatoes are looking a little week, and some of the chard is dying. Part of that is my fault for planting them so close together. In that time though, I also managed to get another window box just for peppermint and a container for two onion sets. I have no clue how onions grow, and since I thought the price of one set was $1.25, I figured they must grow off of them like potatoes. As I watch them grow, I'm beginning to see the error of my ways. It was probably 5 for $1.25, and it looks like I'm only going to have two onions.
A few days ago (20th) I was home sick and decided to walk to the nursery to pick up some more plants. I'm paranoid that if I don't get everything in by the end of may it won't grow, and it doesn't help any that the nursery is, litterally, two blocks from my house. I came back with some strawberries, eggplant and zucchini.
Today I planted some sugar snap peas that I had grown from seed. I was very proud of myself for making a trellis out of an old piece of Dougie's cage. The english peas haven't grown tall enough, but when they do, they will join their sweeter cousins. This weekend should be the end of it, with me getting a container ready for those strawberries, planting a few cucumbers, and setting up a container of hot peppers for David.
Updated pictures coming soon!