Update

Apparently...I don't blog enough to call myself a true blogger. And lots has happened since the vacation. I don't like to post without pictures, and Lee is in charge of downloading all our pictures...so I blame him.
On to the garden.
Overall...I give myself a C. Maybe a C+. Can I pass blame again? Its the shade's fault. Not enough sun!! I had huge, beautiful plants - lush and green, with lots and lots of blooms (those are flowers for you non-gardeners). But when it came time for the fruit to grow into something edible, there just wasn't enough sun to make anything grow.
I did learn a lot, though! Here's a sampling of garden lessons by Suz:
1. Vegetables need lots of sunlight.
2. Vegetables need lots of water. And sunlight.
3. Blooms do not necessarily mean veggies.
4. Tomatoes can have "bottom rot."
5. Bottom rot can be healed by eggshells.
6. Cucumbers can grow without as much sunlight.
7. Corn and watermelon do not grow without sunlight.
8. Neither do squash or tomatoes.

Pictures to follow. Pictures, but no veggies. So sad...

Distraction

My reason for such a break in posts (thanks to anyone who noticed!) was a much-needed vacation with my sweet hubby. We took a 5-day cruise to Cozumel and Calica. We ate a ton and got some good sun. Lots of just lying around and rest, before work gets too crazy and he starts his THIRD year of medical school. I can't believe he's in his third year. Here's are some pics from the vaca!

Lee picking his hot sauce - our single souvenier from the trip.

Cozumel - it was SOO HOT. I think we walked maybe a mile and I practically ran back to the air conditioned ship. Considered swimming, but I had that hot sauce...
All that good sun.

We had such a wonderful time! And don't worry - my sweet friend Lacy watered the garden in my absence. Don't think that this wonderful break kept me from thinking about my garden.

Blooms

This is a liiiiitle late, but I took pictures a while back and got sidetracked (see post yet to come), and never put them up. When a veggie plant bears fruit, there's a flower bloom first. Here's the flower on green beans (look closely):
And here's what cucumbers look like when they bloom:
And while we're discussing cucumbers, I wasn't prepared for this aspect. Apparently, the plants have these little vine things that grow and cling to anything they can reach - mostly other plants. They wrap around really tightly, and its a little weird. I have no idea why.

Beans

I have green beans! There are only about 7 beans, but they are there! They are long, green, and nutritious. I haven't picked yet because I'm not sure how big they should get before I pick. I also was advised that I'm not supposed to "pick" the vine, or no more beans will grow. Pics to come soon. Yay for actual edible things!

Problems

So, all this hard work DOES cause some problems. I try to use gloves, but they make my hands really hot. This happened after I spent about two hours in the garden with the hoe: It very much looked like a blister - and I was pretty proud of it. I even showed EVERYONE at work the next day. I was so excited...until Dwight asked if I was SURE it wasn't just a slinter. Look close - the white? That's a splinter. It came out. And my blister that I was so proud of healed in like, a day. Oh well.


I am having another REAL problem, though. Its called SLUGS. Ugh. I HATE a slug. They're disgusting. And I found about 6 on my plants yesterday. Pure anger came. I've already applied slug bait twice, but apparently I need it more often. Here's what I'm using: And here's one that would be what the snail sees: I'll buy the Walsmart out of this stuff if that's what it takes.

Construction Project

I have several pots of flowers, herbs, and tomatos on my deck, with not enough room to put them. We also haven't built hand rails, so some shelves sounded like a good idea. For those of you who don't know, I have an awesome job at a manufacturing plant, and there are occasionally scraps. I was allowed some scrap, and built some shelves for all our wonderful flowers and plants. It only took an afternoon!

Staking Tomatos

I got some great advice from a very dear, experienced friend (shout out to Lester Bellah!) on my tomato plants. He suggested I tie the plants to the stakes with pantyhose so they had room to grow. They're grown enough to stake now(I'm guessing they need that the plants are so tall they start bending over...). Stakes are courtesy of Sheldon Labs.

Update

Thanks for cointinuing to check the blog! The growth on my garden is amazing! Look at the corn:
And the watermelon (Watermelon plants apparently grown down and out, not so much up.): The green beans were struggling, and even though the package on the seeds said "bush plants," (as opposed to stalk), the plants looked like they needed some help. So, I went ahead and staked them as well....all three plants that actually grew. I also went ahead and replanted the rest of the rows. Because we love green beans. Here's the best-looking plant:
And here's a picture of the whole thing as of today:

The Storm

So we had a really bad storm Friday night, and it totally flattened my squash. And it broke several green bean plants.
Fortunately, the sun came out and revived everything. I looked today and my squash plants have blooms! Almost all of them have pretty, big, yellow blooms...which means actual veggies!! Pictures soon...

Growth

I have my first produce!! Here is a baby green bell pepper...no bigger than my pinky nail...
I'm so proud...but alas, I couldn't find it today. I'm thinking either it got eaten, or I just wasn't looking at the right plant.
On a seperate note, we said goodbye to my brother, Natey today. He's off to the wild land of Alaska for adventure and fun as a tour guide. He's the reason for the watermelons...so he deserves a shout out. And what's a mention without a pic (poor guy had to move stuff in the rain):
We'll miss you little brother!!

Question about Tomatoes

First: is it "tomatoes" or "tomatos?" Is there an "e" or not when its plural? Or am I confusing it with "potato?"
Second: I heard from someone that when a plant has a flower bloom, you should pinch it off or the fruit/veggie will be bitter...? My tomato plants have these:
So...I'd love any and all comments. Especially useful ones. Kthanks!

A Spiritual Analogy

I've become accustomed to a wonderful habit; on Sunday mornings, I get up, make some coffee, then enjoy my coffee and cereal on our deck (thanks Walker boys!) and read or sometimes just watch the birds...and the garden. Its fantastic. Anyway...yesterday I was keeping this wonderful habit and doing my Bible study about thoughts. I was thinking/pondering about what I was reading, while looking at my garden. The sun was coming through the tree branches, and landed on just one row of the garden: the corn.
For those who don't know, I've had really low expectations for the corn. It needs LOTS of sun and my backyard is pretty shady. But you can't be a farmer and NOT have corn...so I have some. But I don't really expect much to come of it. But here was something I didn't expect. God had the sunlight coming through just for the corn. Look!

It occured to me that God provides just what we need, just when we need it. I'm so guilty about needing to have my own plan in my own time...and not so much completely trusting God to meet my needs. I'm thinking if God cares enough about a silly row of baby corn plants, He cares about me and will meet my needs. Whoever would have thought a pile of dirt could represent so much??

Got It...Again

And here is what poison ivy looks like as a plant...
And here is what it looks like on me...

Ok, so that's not me. I don't think I'll take a picture of myself...since its EVERYWHERE on my body. Seesh. These had better be some goooood veggies.

Plants Everywhere!!!

I have plants everywhere! I now have little baby plants growing from all my seeds, and the other plants are growing strong. I'm so excited - no idea if fruit (or veggies) will come, but I can at least grow a plant from a seed. Here is the corn - a whole row of it:
Lee is my photographer, so he gets all credit for the awesome photos. Here's a picture of my squash - I'm almost as excited about the squash as I am about the green beans...
For those who are concerned about the forest of bamboo in our back yard, no worries! Bamboo apparently NEVER dies...I had this lovely surprise on the edge of the garden just yesterday: Good thing I bought Lee a machete.

The Goods

I didn't realize that I never identified everything I planted. I'll do that now for those of you who asked. (Ok...so no one asked. But I like to think there are questions out there...don't pop my bubble.)

First is a whole row of tomatos. I actually had two tomato plants left over that I put in a pot. Next, two rows of green beans - bush not vine. I love green beans. These are the ones that have baby sprouts already!! Next are the squash plants - these have already grown a little too! Next are the cucumbers. The seed packet said to plant the seeds on top of a hill. Never heard of this, but I attempted. I also hadn't originally planned on cucumbers, but a fellow-gardener suggested cucumber in case nothing else grew. Thanks, Dianne! Next I have a row of green pepper plants. I can't tell any difference in these. Next I planted corn. Because you're not a real farmer if you don't have corn. Last, I planted watermelon. For baby brother. After all, he helped dig. I'm practically Anne of Green Gables already. (FYI - that's my dream.)

Bean Sprouts!!

I have bean sprouts!!! From seeds, now one good week after planting, I have little baby plants! I'm so excited - I might actually GROW something!

Just like the Little Red Hen

I decided to have a garden. My sweet baby brother helped me dig the initial plot of earth. He's the best. But the turned over part was just that - big lumps of Clinton-clay mixed with lots of bamboo roots and worms. So I rented a tiller. Yes. I did. Since I was already getting the dirt/clay good and fine, I added about 10-11 bags of manure compost to the dirt. Tilled and mixed.
Then it was time to plant! I'm on a budget, so after spending money on the manure and tiller, I was careful about the plants/seeds. Green beans were a must, and I couldn't (easily) find plants, so beans it was. Tomato plants were plenty, and since tomatoes are equally important, I didn't want to take any chances: plants! Home Depot had good-looking squash and green pepper plants, so I bought a few of those. And at my brother's insistance, also bought some watermelon. I wanted to try corn, and was informed cucumbers would grow fairly easily...so I planted a row for my own self esteem. I don't want to be a complete failure. I followed any directions on the seed or plant packages...and my good old common sense. Plant in dirt, water.