end of summer garden.

I've finally done it.  I took a picture of the pepper that grew and ripened.  It's ready to pick and eat.  And when I did I saw that two more have grown.  And these two are big.

Also after having teeny tiny strawberries all summer, we have four that are big.  Big being relative.  But they are still candy delicious.

I have a few more tomatoes coming in.  The herbs are doing well.  We pick and throw something in almost every meal.  I think I won't do thyme or mint again.  The basil, oregano, and rosemary are great.  The parsley didn't grow so well, not sure why.  Oh, yeah, it's because once I had the baby I completely neglected my plants.  I'm glad I got a good start with them.  It's the only reason they are still alive.

Oh, how I love my little garden.

First Harvest

The first five tomatoes were ripe last week.  I have four more almost ready today.  We picked them and along with some basil and oregano made homemade pizza.  Yum!

We also tasted the first of the tiny strawberries.  I don't know a lot about berry growing, but I'm pretty sure the pots are restricting their growth.  And because this is the first year they've produced, I think they might be bigger next year.  We'll see.  But we ate them.  And it was like eating a strawberry candy.  a super sweet concentrated taste of strawberry explosion.

Also this year, the wildflower seeds I planted look like they are about to bloom in another of the pots. And the marigold is still alive.  This is the best luck I've ever had with flowering things.  Our little container garden along with our CSA share makes me almost feel like I have a real garden.

Ten Things about Summer

 

Rob has a green thumb.  The strawberry plants are actually producing tiny strawberries.  I didn't think it would happen.  But now I'm thinking another transplant is needed.  In March we moved the six plants into two bigger pots.  But now they are looking crowded.  Two plants per pot, or one?  And will the budding berries survive a transplant.  For sure it will happen in the fall.

 

I have a green thumb too.  My two Cherry Tomato plants have about 15 maters growing.  I am a bit worried about the yellow leaves.  One of the plants is almost half covered in yellow leaves.  At first i thought maybe over or under watering- but it's just one of the plants and they are in pots right next to each other.  However the yellow one seems to dry out faster than the other.  Any advice?

 

Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Parsley, and Mint are doing great.  One parsley plant is here, and the rest in the hanging box.  The lettuce from last year started coming up again and rather than dig it up I put one of the parsley plants here.  The Basil in the other hanging box is doing well also.  The two small pots on the far left have flowers!  Mostly I plant things we can eat.

We've been using the herbs a lot this spring and now into the summer we go.  It's fun to go out and pick and chop fresh herbs for cooking.  And because we have it we are finding more ways to incorporate herbs into cooking.  Rob is really good at putting things together to use up our CSA vegetables. It usually involves a lot of onion, garlic, and whatever herb goes best.

The Mint is nice in water or tea.  Just drop in a leaf and go.  Mint is also like rabbit-nip.  If you put your fingers by his nose after handling the leaves he will lick your fingers.  And we give him the occasional leaf.

Summer has also brought the first day that I've swollen enough to lose an ankle.  Just the right one is gone today.  I am sitting with my feet up as much as possible.  And really I can't complain.  My sandals are a little tight, but until yesterday I have been able to wear sneakers as long as Rob was around to tie them for me.

I spent two hours outside on the balcony this morning with my coffee reading.  It was delightful.  I love our outdoor space.  Over the weekend Rob said he really wanted to go to a cafe and sit outside and drink coffee, but that he didn't want to spend money.  I reminded him that we have a balcony and cafe table, he can do that for free here.  We are lucky.

Simon will be a summer baby.  I am only a pretend summer baby since today is technically the first day of summer.  Happy Solstice!

It's been pretty nice, weather-wise.  On days it isn't too hot I take a long walk and try to do one neighborhood errand each day.   The round trip is about a mile.  Almost every evening when it cools off, Rob and I take another long walk.  This is putting me at walking around 2.5 miles each day.  Exercise!  That isn't too taxing.  And it's nice to get out of the apartment.

Iced tea is one of the world's greatest inventions.  We are drinking lots and lots of it.

May Day

May 1 came and went - and that means summer gardening time!  It is still a work in progress.  I still have a few more herbs to buy and plant in the large flat container (the bottom of the rabbit's old cage) and the pots won't be sitting on top of one another or all in the corner. 

Cherry Tomatoes, Peppers, Rosemary, Thyme, Parsley (to be planted) Strawberries

But we are having some work done on the building facade, so this way the plants are out of the way.  I'm excited about all the herbs, and we also added some peppers to the mix along with tomatoes.  And of course, there are Rob's strawberry plants, which have done amazingly well.

Parsley, still missing two plants on the right

I also read somewhere that Marigolds keep the pests away - not that we get so many on the sixth floor balcony, but if I see some nice ones, it could add some color to all the green.  I love to look at flowers, but I am so much better at keeping the food-plants alive.

lots of Sweet Basil this year

PS - this is my 300 post on the blog.  I kind of wish it were more exciting.

I am 31 weeks pregnant.  Simon weighs just over 3 pounds (according to the books) and besides some crazy third trimester symptoms (leg cramps, loose/sore hips, OMG I'm actually having a baby hormones) I think this is my favorite trimester yet.  I mostly feel good physically, I have more energy than have had thus far, and I can feel him moving All. The. Time.

How does your garden grow?

Very well thank you despite the crazy heat.  Parsley and basil were again a big hit.

 

The lettuce do ok... and the mint (in the hanging planter was a bust).  I think next year I will do a whole container of basil because it's easy, it smells nice, we USE it, and if I grow enough I can make pesto.  I'm currently undecided if I will grow from seeds or plants.  The seeds ended up doing pretty well, so we'll see.  I may do lettuce again, or try mint with the parsley.  The bigger problem there was that the wind (on the 6th floor) destroys anything in the hanging planter.  That one need to say good-bye.

The tomatoes, which I thought were a failure are making a comeback.  There are two tiny ones and a second big one growing (this is a total of 5 small and two large for the year).  I'm wondering if it was maybe just too hot and I didn't water them enough...  Either way I am definitely switching back to the grape tomatoes next year.  They were awesome and I want to go with what I know works, until then, I will enjoy these new little guys that are growing and hope they ripen before it gets too cold.

Rob's strawberry experiment seems to have worked at least a little.  The plants are thriving.  But they really need to be thinned out and I don't know if we should bring this one in for the winter.  I am of the opinion you don't grow berries in a container garden, so this one is all Rob, but if anyone has advice we'll take it.  There is also something random growing in here.  Should definitely pull that one up.

My flowers were nice for about two weeks, then one shriveled up and the violet is still leafy, but never flowered again.  I don't have the motivation to switch them for fall flowers.  I need to find a good potted flower that isn't high maintenance and lasts the entire summer.  If I can't, then I need to stick with green things.  I have much better luck with the edibles.

Happy October!  Can you believe it is October!

One Perfect Tomato

I have one perfect cherry tomato. The green one behind is actually twice the size of the red one. That pot is called a patio tomato. I think those are going to be big. And I might not get too many of them. Last year I grew grape tomatoes with great success. Home Depot was out of grape tomato plants when I was there, so I tried something new. I don't think I am going to have as many this year. But I'm learning.

Other notes on my garden. The parsley and lettuce are doing pretty well from seed. The lettuce could use some more room, but i work with what I've got. Next year I am going to wait on the basil though. It's not going to get very big from seed, and I will do better to just be patient and wait for the plants. My mint kind of died in a wind storm. It's perked back up some, but not great. My flowers are doing ok. I have one pot of random seeds, I still don't know what is growing there. Rob planted strawberries. They are nice and green, but tiny.

One of the problems with seeds is you have to pull up 90% of them from the pot if you want the few remaining ones to thrive, and I just hate to do that. I don't know why. But I do. I enjoy my little garden. And like to watch it grow.

May Day

Spring has sprung. The seeds are growing. The plants are thriving. It's time to eat outside.

Tomatoes

We've actually had ripe tomatoes for a couple of weeks now. We chopped up the first plateful for tacos last week. Neither Rob or I is a huge tomato eater, but we grew 'em so we'll eat 'em. We've decided that our gardening ability has been maxed out - due to space more than actual ability. But our balcony is full of planters and pots that will be refilled each year. And we can eat the tomatoes.

Our tiny garden

The tomatoes are starting to grow!

And I've learned that Dill is a weed, which has taken over the Cilantro. The parsley is doing well.

Garden in the City

I am trying my hand at gardening again, and expanding some this year. In one box I'm sticking with flowers, the other is devoted to herbs. I have Sweet Basil, Dill, Cilantro, Curly Parsley, and one TBD, because I have room for more than I thought. I bought two new pots for the floor, one for flowers, then we have two tomato plants and one squash plant. We'll see how these veggies do. And now that the balcony is all clean, I swept and washed the table we are beginning the season where we eat all meals outside. Ah, the fresh air. I like this city gardening thing. Not so sure I ever want the responsibility of a garden like my Dad's, but baby steps, and this works for me.

Gardening

So flowers really do grow from seeds. Somehow I didn't really believe that. So I poured the WHOLE bag of seeds into the pot. Well here they are growing... and growing... I am slowly pulling out the smallest plants as they continue to grow.

Garden...Ahem

This weekend my dad came to visit. We spent some time installing flower boxes on the balcony. Petunias, Impatience, Geraniums, and a couple of Basil plants. It's really not a garden, but it's the best I can do. And it makes the balcony so pretty.