Gardening update

The cherry tomato plant and my giant trees.

The gardening seems to be going pretty well so far. Still too soon for any harvest, except for some herbs, but the plants are growing and nothing has died yet . 

The challenge with the garden is the yard gets a lot of shade. As you can somewhat see in the picture to the left, I have two enormous maples trees in the back, which are great because it keeps the yard cooler, but makes the prospect of a successful garden a little iffy.

The plant that doesn't seem to care is the cherry tomatoes. That plant is growing like a weed and is probably already more than four-foot tall and flowering. The other four tomato plants are growing but not that big. One of them was flowering last week but then a storm came through and ripped a couple of limbs off. I also have green and yellow pepper plants that seem healthy but aren't getting that big. I don't know if I'm going to get anything out of them when it's all said and done.

The herbs are thriving on the deck though, everything is very healthy and I should have a nice big pot of basil soon. If the herbs keep up nice I may buy a grow light to keep fresh herbs year-round in the basement.  

If you look real close you can see a  tiny green pepper.

 

 

Cucumber seedlings continue to grow.

Gardening update

Well, the basil has germinated and is starting to peak through the soil. Sadly, I haven't had the same luck with the chives and oregano, nothing peaking through and I feel it might be a lost cause.

On the tomato front my first one is ready for harvest. I'm hoping to get enough for a batch of marinara, they're plum tomatoes, so we'll see how it goes.

Herb Garden Part Deux

Basil, chives and oregano (from left to right)

Because I truly am a glutton for punishment I am making another attempt at an herb garden. It's been more than two years since my last debacle and I am bound and determined to grow some fresh herbs.

Rory gave me this very nice herb garden for Christmas and I just planted everything. I haven't grown anything from seed since I was in grade school so that has me a little concerned, but I'm going to give these a week or so before I go out and buy some plants.

Next year I hope to plant something of a real garden with a couple of tomato plants and other things, we just got into the place a little late this year. Though I do have a topsy turvy going right now, which my parents started, and it's got a few little tomatoes coming in.

I'm a glutton for punishment

Not to be deterred, on my way home from the gym yesterday I stopped at the Grand Street Gardens and bought some more herbs. I bought some silver thyme and Mexican oregano, they didn't have any rosemary and the oregano plant actually has a couple of nice little flowers.

After looking at the picture I posted yesterday my mom said I most likely over watered the plants. My mom is quite the gardener so I'll take her word for it and wait until the soil is quite dry before watering. I'm just hoping my sole surviving sage plant lives.

My herbs are dead

And I don't know what happened. Technically, they're not all dead, one of the sage plants is still alive and only looking a little worse for wear. The other one started turning black last week and shriveled up and died. The rosemary, which I thought was pretty hearty, died at least a week before and the thyme went even before that.

When I first planted them the thyme was taking off like a weed. I don't know if I over watered it or didn't give it enough sun or what. I've never had a tremendous green thumb, but also haven't had anything like this happen before. Anybody have any suggestions?

Herbs

Last summer I had a small herb garden on my windowsill in our kitchen. The pot was a little clunky and as it became fall the rosemary, parsley and basil all died, partially due to my neglect.

But I wanted to do it again, so I went to the Green City Market after Kickball last week and bought some thyme, rosemary and sage. I went to the garden store on rand, picked up some soil, another sage planet and a pot and replanted everything yesterday. I'm hoping they fair better in the front of the house near the window. I do enjoy cooking with fresh herbs, it really does make a different. I'm actually considering buying another pot and planting some chives and oregano too. I'll try to most more picture and the plants grow.