The garden has become a community/house project!
I came home from work at 5 p.m. today, slightly worried because I'd forgotten to water this morning before I left, and the day was quite warm. I could feel the slightly stifling gust of heated air as I got out of my nicely air-conditioned car, and was really half-expecting to see wilted tomato and pepper plants in the backyard, not to mention the already-struggling peas (more on the peas later).
Pleasantly surprised to hear my roommate report he'd watered around 1 p.m., right when things were starting to get really warm! We'll have tomatoes yet, I swear.
In my pride and excitement of reporting on the garden's successes (the kale is taking over the world!) I realize I haven't really gotten around to mentioning the failed experiments that have shriveled up before their time. So here's a little back story:
The day after I first planted Phase 1 of the garden back in February, two awful and maddening things happened. One, a handful of my freshly established transplants met their quick ends between the teeth of The Poodle, who I discovered (the hard way) has a fondness for pulling garden plants out of the soil in order to fling them around the yard in joyous play. The second maddening thing was an untimely and unusual cold front that hovered over the valley for a good week; with daily temperatures in the low 50s and being forced to cover the plants as best I could at night, a few of them just didn't make it.
A (not entirely) comprehensive list of failures:
A few thoroughly-welcomed new successes!
The okra has sprouted! Okra is a warm-weather crop here, and I've developed a love of okra, so I'm super excited. Pictures soon, nerds.
So have the beets! Cute little beety sprouts poking through the soil. I will admit these were more of an experiment; I may have sown them too late, and it might get too warm too fast for them, but we'll see.
The lavender is hanging in there! I hope I can get it to flower, it might help to cut down on some of the pesty bug action I've seen.
Newly transplanted additions: a yellow crook neck squash, an ancho chile pepper plant, a serrano chile pepper plant, and a yellow pear tomato vine survived the transplanting. I've got the squash surrounded by marigolds and the lavender to keep it squash bug-free. Here's to summer garden success!
Potatoes! I planted a handful of seed potatoes. Weird. I've never grown potatoes, and that process is just so weird. If I gave them enough room to actually produce something, this experiment might result in teeny tiny Yukon golds.
"Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew..."
Fun garden fashion:
Here is the part where I tell you about how I recently found this delightful gardening apron on Etsy, from a lady out of Lake Oswego, Oregon. It is my new favorite thing. Please order yourself one, and go dig in some dirt!
I came home from work at 5 p.m. today, slightly worried because I'd forgotten to water this morning before I left, and the day was quite warm. I could feel the slightly stifling gust of heated air as I got out of my nicely air-conditioned car, and was really half-expecting to see wilted tomato and pepper plants in the backyard, not to mention the already-struggling peas (more on the peas later).
Pleasantly surprised to hear my roommate report he'd watered around 1 p.m., right when things were starting to get really warm! We'll have tomatoes yet, I swear.
In my pride and excitement of reporting on the garden's successes (the kale is taking over the world!) I realize I haven't really gotten around to mentioning the failed experiments that have shriveled up before their time. So here's a little back story:
A (not entirely) comprehensive list of failures:
- Yellow banana pepper plants. They were the sad, sad victims of The Poodle's destruction. I found them torn to pieces next to the garden bed the next day, and found The Poodle cowering guiltily in the corner. I guess he'd had too much fun that day.
- Beefsteak tomato plant. February is dicey for tomatoes, especially non-vining varieties. It really can go either way, and I may have overestimated Arizona weather on this one. Because you never know when a renegade FROST is going to hit.
- Cilantro (batch 1). I had initially planted these with the basil in a shallow window planter box. The seeds germinated beautifully, but my guess is most of the nutrients in the compost leached out too quickly. I really need to get a fertilizer that will keep things healthy and happy.
- Basil (batch 1 and 2). See above. I have a lingering suspicion fertilizer (or lack of it) is also to blame for my peas predicament. This second time around, the sprout was doing so well for so long, and then promptly folded up and died in the span of one day. Getting a bit annoyed, because everything I've read says basil should grow like a weed in this climate. But everything I'm experiencing is telling me basil is just a needy, sensitive little jerk.
- Lavender (this one is a half save. The Poodle ate the tops off the plant the day I potted it, and it was pretty tired and sick for awhile, but I checked it this afternoon and saw a ton of new growth! There's hope.)
- Lacinato kale. Another close call. For some reason, this was the only plant in the garden I found consistent chew marks in. Stupid pesty bugs. Haven't figured out exactly which kind of pest was feasting on my kale, but I planted marigolds all around it, and now it seems to be doing all right. They left the winterbor kale alone, and that stuff is huge now.
- Peas. Oh, the peas. I just can't seem to keep a pea vine alive after it reaches 4 inches. My
plants are turning yellow and the leaves around the bottom are drying up. I've read this could be fusarium wilt, which, along with stunted growth, describes the current sad state of my pea plants pretty well. I removed the ones that looked to be beyond saving, and I'm going to try some nitrogen-rich compost fertilizer or fish emulsion and see if I can't salvage the remaining plants. I was really looking forward to peas, and they way the shoots just popped up out of the soil, I was feeling pretty optimistic. If you have some good advice, I could use it!
Sad peas.
A few thoroughly-welcomed new successes!
The okra has sprouted! Okra is a warm-weather crop here, and I've developed a love of okra, so I'm super excited. Pictures soon, nerds.
So have the beets! Cute little beety sprouts poking through the soil. I will admit these were more of an experiment; I may have sown them too late, and it might get too warm too fast for them, but we'll see.
The lavender is hanging in there! I hope I can get it to flower, it might help to cut down on some of the pesty bug action I've seen.
Newly transplanted additions: a yellow crook neck squash, an ancho chile pepper plant, a serrano chile pepper plant, and a yellow pear tomato vine survived the transplanting. I've got the squash surrounded by marigolds and the lavender to keep it squash bug-free. Here's to summer garden success!
Potatoes! I planted a handful of seed potatoes. Weird. I've never grown potatoes, and that process is just so weird. If I gave them enough room to actually produce something, this experiment might result in teeny tiny Yukon golds.
"Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew..."
Fun garden fashion:
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| This is mine now! The link above is to one with a similar fabric pattern. |
Here is the part where I tell you about how I recently found this delightful gardening apron on Etsy, from a lady out of Lake Oswego, Oregon. It is my new favorite thing. Please order yourself one, and go dig in some dirt!
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