Here we are! I think it is officially summer!

Let’s talk about the garden.

Some things are working and somethings are NOT.

Here is what IS working!

My yellow cherry tomato plant IS happy!

LOOK! Flowers AND fruit!

The close ups (above) are from the plant on the far left (below). The tomato plants I started from seed are slow going, but they’re going. I think that there may be a concrete slab under the dirt that is keeping their roots from growing as well as they should. I’m probably going to dig them up and replant them in big pots to try to make them happier, and more mobile.

Zucchini!

You can see that the top plant already has blooms AND tiny zucchini(s) growing!

I think the one plant has gotten so big because it gets extra afternoon sun. I realized this when I was home one day around 3pm and there was a GIANT ray of sun spotlighting the plant. It really is double the size of the other two plants. I put humus around the base of everything in the garden–I hope that helps boost growing times!

I’m also going to experiment with moving the tomato plants (in pots) to the sunny spot to see if that helps speed them along, too. I am so ready for tomato sandwiches! I’m drooling just thinking about it!

Squash Blossom!

Mint Patch!

I know that the mint is like the easiest thing in the world to grow, but it makes me SO HAPPY! I love how it looks and smells! I love going outside and picking a big handful and putting it in a glass of ice water! I also love putting it in my mint juleps 🙂 The fact that it seems to happy and healthy also gives me hope that I can actually grow a happy plant!

Here is what is NOT working:

Radishes and lettuce.

The second pot of radishes was also a bust. You’ll recall here that I had no luck with my first batch of radishes. The second round didn’t do any better, even though I thinned out the plants. All the energy went in to the leaves. So radishes are off the list for now.

The lettuce did well until I had an aphid outbreak. I got the bugs under control by spraying soapy water on the leaves, but the plants were really far gone by then. I think I may go ahead and try to plant some more lettuce using the bag of dirt method (also referenced here). The pots I used were really too small–the leaves grew okay but there was hardly enough to eat when it was time to harvest. Lessons learned!

NOT SHOWN: the pathetic pile of leaf and root matter after I pulled all the dead lettuce and radish plants out of their pots! It was too sad to share 😦

The Carrot!

Just look at this hilarious baby carrot! I was going to go ahead and pull up the carrot plants from their pot after the last radish fail; but instead of nothing, I pulled this teeny tiny carrot out of the pot! I ate it and it was a little on the bitter side, but I went ahead and left the rest of the plants in the pot–maybe they’ll grow a bit more. I can at least say I ate ONE carrot that I grew!

I’m actually REALLY enjoying the garden despite the learning curve.  I know I’m doing pretty well considering I haven’t had a garden at all in at least seven years and it feels so good to work on survival skills, no matter how elementary.

Feel free to reply with funny anecdotes OR praise for me trying OR shaming memes about how I kill plants. Also tell me how YOUR garden is growing!

Happy Saturday, y’all!