Gardening Really IS Therapy...

It's finished.

Well... not finished, finished. But other than watering and harvesting - there is nothing else to do but watch it grow.

Yup.

I will admit - I am a bit emotional tonight. So I don't get too corny - I'll just show you!

Kena's Garden 2012

 This is it - in it's entirety. It was hard work - took WAY longer than normal. I get that. BUT I can't work as fast as other people. At least not THIS year. Next year, watch out though! I'm gonna be a growing queen!

 Evan's growum's boxes. Not as great as we thought - they are SLOW growing and really - three tries just to get things sprouting - BUT next year, we will get him some growbox nutrient patches and he can grow what he likes without failure!

 
 The HERB portion of the tour. Spearmint, peppermint, chocolate mint, Greek oregano, Italian flat parsley, lemon thyme, thyme, sage, basil, rosemary!! Oh! and a TON of green onions, though technically NOT an herb but tops everything I cook anyway! hahaha

 My Meyer Lemon tree and the Lavender - which has gone a little nuts to be sure!

There are at least 20 lemons on the tree - I can't wait til the first one is ripe and I can make myself a glass of lemonade!!






Those are 4 cucumber plants on the other side of the lavender. They have plenty of room to grow - but I'm toying with the idea of having them grow UP. We shall see!

Peppers! Peppers! Who's got some peppers? We have three Jalapeno plants, one sweet bell pepper and one cayenne plant. All very healthy and blossoming/fruiting better than ever!

 This is Section "B" - as in Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts & Beets! Muahahaha - Oh there are two cabbage plants hidden in there too - but Shhh! don't tell them! They think they are named Babbages! I just never thought to correct them and now don't want them getting a complex :-P

CORN! the corn finally decided it wanted to grow...and now I have three growboxes AND a planter full!! 34 plants total!! Holy Moly! Gonna be LOTS!







The tub-o-carrots ended up having this weird thing happen where all the carrots moved themselves over little by little to one side - not sure HOW that happened tbh - but it left half the tub without plantage. I decided it was the perfect place to put the 4 undersized corn plants - to see if they would grow anymore.

 Lettuce... my BANE this year! I finally get some growing and we get a little devil in the greenhouse that EATS the tops off of them! The spinach only had ONE entire seed out of 24 that sprouted (insert a WTF here!) so I took the opportunity today to re-sow a mix of greens. I swear I'm going to put a car alarm on that planter this time!! We'll see if it helps!









The tomato plants are growing well - I THINK. The Early Girl keeps growing taller - and I swear, in just a few days, she has gone up another foot! well over 6 feet, maybe even 7 by now! The Roma plant is doing well and has some tomatoes on it. I'm hoping that now that they are outside and not locked up in the greenhouse, we will have more tomatoes on them soon. Disappointingly - all are still small and very green and I have maybe enough for one pot of spaghetti sauce. Let's hope they just shoot up!



That newly planted growbox to the right of the tomatoes are beans and peas. We shall see how they do!

And now...

 The greenhouses are empty. Nothing but empty pots and a half filled bag of potting soil. I'll be boxing all that up and storing the seeds in a couple of days. The wonderful greenhouses have done their job for the year and will be taken down and boxed up for next year.

We are about at the end of the tour. I'm now toying with the idea of actually buying a patio set to replace my camp chairs and broken down umbrella. But even without 'official' garden furniture - I swear - I have never been more at peace than this afternoon when I sat down in that old chair, took a drink of water and looked over at all my hard work and the beauty (and food) that nature and nurture is providing us.


So....

NOW - we water and we wait - to harvest and to eat.

Blessings to you all!! It ain't easy being green!

Today's Work

Before I get into what I did today - I want to take a minute to boast a bit *huge grin* I love walking into GH1 and looking over at my dwarf lemon tree! There are SOOO many lemons on it right now - I am just amazed and delighted!! Take a look! Isn't it glorious?!?!

The largest of the lemon babies is about an inch long - about the size of a grape. MAN I can't wait til the first harvest. I realize it wont be for another 7 months or so - and by that time the tree will be back inside - but WoW I'll have lemons forever!! hahahaha

Okay, okay - hehe back to work *snicker* 

Decided to make a second growbox of corn and started those today. I went into GH1 to take a pic of it for the blog but stood back and looked at how much everything else is growing and just decided to take a complete shot - WoW - right?? LOL The Early Girl tomato plant is about taller than me making it 5'6" or more!! The Roma plant next to it is nice-sized as well! I just LOVE walking into this GH and being surrounded by such beautiful growth LOL Makes me HAPPY!

GreenHouse 1

Spinach & Lettuce

I also (because of advice from the best 'hoes' I know from our FB group, The Garden Hoes) decided to try again on the spinach and lettuce. I had a wild beastie come into the GH over night and eat all my poor spinach seedlings! And the NIGHT before they were to be transplanted into a growbox - the nerve of that evil mouse or whatever it was! Anyway - I'm hoping seeding directly to a growbox will help and speed up growth a bit *crosses fingers*

That little lone lettuce in the back is the ONLY survivor of the Lettuce Plague of 2012 wherein aphids and a poorly executed organic "solution" murdered them all.

And finally - (I got too tired to help him do the second one today but will tomorrow) The first of my son's TWO Growums Boxes!! This one is the Salad tray - we added beets to it though since we already have a ton of Roma tomatoes growing LOL We will transplant the pizza tray tomorrow. We are still waiting on the peppers to sprout - but we had a bum bag of seeds. The company is SO awesome though - they sent him 4 new bags of them - which I think will be enough to last years!! hahaha I'm glad he likes them!

Tomorrow will bring the transplanting of Evan's "Pizza" Growum's tray as well as transplanting of some herbs and veggies into growboxes. I also need to get some peas and beans started - I've had such a horrible time getting these bigger seeds to sprout in the smaller trays so I'm giving up completely and just planting them directly into growboxes. Crossing fingers and praying to the Garden Goddess for success!!

So - Keep a smile on your face - even the worst days are better when you look in the greenhouse :-D Until tomorrow!!

Getting Ready!!!!

Okay this first picture is actually to show off my first tomato baby :-P I had to!!

Okay now for the big news: My babies are all almost ready to transplant into the GrowBoxes!!! YES! I said it! THIS weekend will be filled with DIRT and Transplanting!!

I started a bunch of seeds in my Aerogarden back on May 8th. Well they've all been growing so well that I ended up moving the four Grand Rapids Leaf Lettuce and twoof the larger Black Seeded Simpson Lettuces over to the smaller AeroGarden because they were shadowing everything else! hehe Growing SOOO big so fast!

Here is the 6 pods out on the porch "hardening" to the weather so they can be transplanted into the soil! You have to harden the roots on hydroponically grown plants before transplanting so they are strong enough to live in the dirt. MAJOR change in bedroom decor!! :-P














I've also got one of the Tomatillo plants (seeds courtesy of Joseph) that totally outgrew the Aerogarden in three days! I kid you not!! haha I had to transplant it after only 2 weeks! It's already almost 8 inches tall!








Here is the bog Aerogarden filled with all sorts of babies!! Let's see... beets, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, green onions, spinach, tomatillos, romaine lettuce, black simpson lettuce, buttercrunch lettuce, german chamomile and some dark opal purple basil!

Some seeds didn't sprout and some things didn't grow well - but that is why we plant MORE than what we need!!

I'll post more pics this weekend as we transplant all these babies!

Keep it green!!!

I Feel SO Spoiled!!!

Sooo... I had written a post to the The Garden Patch's facebook wall just raving about the new covers they made. They are SOOO much better than the ones that came with the GBs I got in March for my birthday (♥ Thank You, Joseph ♥)!! They changed the fabric and just WoW!!! no more curling, no more fraying, etc.

Well in that comment, I sent a link to this blog so they could SEE the difference between them - because I wanted them to know that someone noticed and was SUPER happy about the change they made! ♥

WELL!!! I just woke from a nap (I'm sick today with fever) to see an email from them - an order processing email!!!! They are sending me THREE new FREE Nutrient patches!!! I seriously cannot tell you how much I love this product OR these wonderful people! Their customer service is so awesome to begin with - they talk to you like family when you call.

I mean, I KNOW you've seen the difference in growth of the plants I have in the grow boxes, so you KNOW how awesome they are - and I know I go on and on and on about them :-P But there IS a reason!! hahaha

Here is a link to their Facebook page: GrowBox by The Garden Patch

Here is a link to their wonderful site:  www.aGardenPatch.com

Seriously, Their product is the same price, if not cheaper than buying a regular contain or the same size, even from Walmart. But when you get The Grown Box, you get the nutrient patch top and the greatest customer service ever. It's worth the money.

Okay - Enough ranting and drooling about my favorite product for now!!

Update on the Garden

I woke this morning and was looking at older pictures (from only 10 days ago!!) and noticed the HUGE growth that has happened in the last ten days!!! WoW!! HAD to share!!! So this is just a picture post :-P Enjoy the greenage!!!

Corn!!!

Herbage!!

Sweet Bell Peppers and baby Jalapenos

 

Tomatoes!!!! Twice their size in only 10 days! WoW!!!!!!

Enjoy!!!

Another Transplant Day

Cilantro (6) - Planted 5//////16/2012

 

 

 

I've been doing so many little things that I've neglected this blog - I do apologize. It's just that other than sowing seeds and waiting for things to pop up, I've not had much to do. Until today, that is.

Beans (3ea) - P5/8 Tr5/18

I've been transplanting today. Lots of things from flat trays into deeper trays. Seems silly, I know, but until they are big enough for the grow boxes, I want to give them special attention.

Watermelon (2) - P5/8 Tr5/18

CORN!! Yup Here is where I start bouncing up and down in my seat! My corn sprouted. And now it's time to put GB#3 into USE! Woo Hoo!!

Corn Sprouts (10)

Grow Box #3 - Sweet Corn

Hello Baby!!!!

And THEN, as I was stacking up the empty GBs - I found THIS little guy. I put him into the pepper GB#2 Not sure where he is now though - but I think HE is the one keeping my greenhouses free of bugs :-D

It's the little things...

... here and there that keep it going.

Other than watering and checking on growth, I've not had to do much.

Until today: I transplanted the 'Tiny Tim' cherry tomatoes s on May 14th. I got these tubs at the dollar tree and drilled some holes in the bottom of them. They are about 12 inches across. Pretty cool for smaller plants. I plan on putting herbs them them once these tomatoes go into their normal pots.

Shelves and More Grow Boxes

Okay - I decided it was time to get everything together. I've gotten the ten GrowBoxes (plus the three Joby bought for me) for thirteen total. I bough lumber and have a total of 16 cinder blocks. I had to do some cutting with my circular saw, but after that, we did THIS:

So for now, since everything is still in seedling stage, I've got only GH1 set up with plants. Once the seedlings are big enough to be transplanted, the greenhouses will look a bit like this:

GH #2 will have 7 grow boxes in it as well as the tub of carrots. I can't wait til transplant time!!!

What a Lovely Surprise!!

Went out to check on the plants today and found the most wonderful surprise waiting for me

Early Girl - First 3 Buds

Roma - First 2 Buds

Grow Box #1 has an Early Girl and a Roma tomato plants in it. They were transplanted when they were only about 3" tall. They are now, after only 2 weeks, about 10 inches tall and blooming!!! Okay... budding!!! But really in a few more days those will be blooms and after that, tomatoes!! Yay!! haha

Planted & Transplanted

Planted a "Bucket O'Carrots" today. It's a pretty big bucket, about 2-1/2 feet across and about 1-1/2 feet deep, so we should get some awesome carrots! I was inspired by a picture I saw of some container carrots being harvested by the fistful! While dreaming of handfuls of yummy carrots, I remembered this bucket at the side of my house and was thrilled to find some gorgeous soil underneath about 3 inches of leaves!



 We also started some cherry tomatoes in a smaller 8" pot. Those seeds are really old so I'm not sure if they will even sprout - but I figure not a waste of anything to try.




I had some fun looking closer at my dwarf Meyer lemon tree and found a couple of teeny tiny baby lemons! The hardest part of it all though is knowing that I won't have lemons to harvest for 6-9 months!! BUT I found out that dwarf trees when brought in and out will actually bud, flower and grow all year long for constant harvests. I kind of LOVE that idea!!




Also finally transplanted the poor Sunflowers - they were getting a bit sad! I was almost too late I think - But ALAS! They are in a big pot now and drinking some nice yummy organic fertilizer, water and getting plenty of sun! I took a couple of pictures of the flowers and noticed how different they look in the center at the different stages! Beautiful!

 Okay, so that's it for today!! Enjoy!! And always remember: Orange is NOT a good color for pink elephants! Muahaha!!

Busy Weekend

My best friend visited this weekend and we got the gardening bug in our britches. I had been considering getting another greenhouse before the sale ended as well as looking into getting a composter. Joseph pulled me through my doubt and by the end of the weekend... Ta Da!!! Two Greenhouses now and a composter. Yay! Now all the work starts... maybe. Or have we already done all we could?? Muahahaha!

The plants are all growing so well. The greenhouses are filling up - #1 is filled with plants and #2 is the working greenhouse with the starters and babies. I LOVE it. And once the other GrowBoxes get here, they will both be filled with veggies growing healthy and organic! I can't wait!!

My beautiful Lemon tree has so many blossoms on it that I just KNOW she will give us some great fruit this season! I've been brushing each blossom, hand pollinating it as they bloom open. I can already see the little green bulbs that will grow into lemons! Keep your fingers crossed!











The Herbs are all growing VERY well in their pots. The mints have already doubled in size since their transplant. Basil still not doing well but there is new growth - so I have hope. But just in case - I have 12 pods with two different basil starters growing. So either way, Evan will have his basil this year.





The Strawberry plant is even more bountiful than I'd hoped! There are so many new baby berries on it, that we might just be able to make some jam! I'm also thinking that I'll need to transplant them into a GrowBox soon as well. I think they are a bit snug and need some more space.

We got some beautiful sun flowers that are opening. It's time to transplant them, but the plot isn't ready yet. We'll do that this weekend.











We also found a chocolate mint plant as well (Yay!!) and will be transplanting that this weekend.

There is Chive in the striped pot. Not seen anything from them yet, but the seeds were very old. We got new ones over the weekend so if these don't rise, I will try again.





The grow boxes are also doing well. Even though it's only been less than a week since they were transplanted, I can already see a bit of growth. I can't wait to see how they will look this time next month, or even two weeks from now.

Well... This is what I've been up to. Talk to you again soon, and always remember - if I can do it - YOU can do it! LOL Keep being Green!