OMG pumpkins!

Seriously, these things grew SO FAST! They are so huge! I think they need to go in the ground, but I'm not quite sure where to put them. . .



One tiny strawberry plant! I need to try starting a few more seeds. . .



This is one of the green peppers! They are the last of my seeds to begin to come up. I was so excited to see them looking like this when I checked on them this morning!



My little tray of baby vegetable plants. Four slicing tomatoes, ten (TEN!) cherry tomatoes, four lettuce, and four hot peppers.

I'm hesitantly hopeful that I might have a halfway decent garden this year after all! Of course, it all depends on whether or not they survive, and if it stays warm enough for them to actually get to the point of generating vegetables. . .

Best. Husband. Ever.

Glenn came home from work last night, and look what he had stopped and got for me!!!



So cool!!!

I had just today been looking in my "Gardener's Supply Company" catalog, looking for some sort of thing I could use to store my plants as they get started - preferably something that could go inside or out - and that would keep the cats out - but everything seemed so expensive, and I got discouraged. . . Well, I must have been sending Glenn messages with my brain or something, because I never mentioned it to him, and he just picked this up on a whim. And it's perfect! It's big, so fits lots of plants, but collapsible, so once my plants are outside, I can collapse it down and store it until it's needed again. The plastic covering keeps the cats out, but lets me in, so hooray for that! And, I can wheel it around to whatever window is sunniest at the moment. I just love it!

Also, he got more of the pots that can go straight into the ground with the plant, and more seed-starting soil. And at lunch I went and got some trays to put under these pots so I can water them indoors. So, I'll be starting some more peppers and pumpkins tonight, to replace those seeds I messed up! Yay!

And, I was just looking at my plants and noticed that one of the slicing tomato seeds finally popped up. Hooray!

Seeds are sprouting!

My seeds are starting to come up!

Plant tally so far:

- 3 lettuce
- 6 cherry tomato
- 2 blades of cat grass

I don't know how long it takes the other seeds to pop up, but just in case they're not planning to pop up because I did something wrong, or because of those peppers/pumpkins that I jumbled up immediately after planting, I'm going to start another flat of each. I tried to pick up another of the "greenhouse" style kits that I got at Wal-Mart, but they were sold out. I'm off to Home Depot after work to see if they have something I could use.

I'm feeling pretty happy that I'm going to get something out of this gardening adventure after all, because I spent quite a bit of money on the seeds for this year! My only concern now is where I'm going to plant these once they are big enough to go outside. I might have to give up the garden from last year, and start over on the other side of the house, where there is no devil's grass, because all that grass I ripped out the other day had significantly re-grown by the very next day! My only concern with the other side of the house is that it's very exposed, which might be good as far as sunlight goes, but not so good as far as people meddling goes. But seriously, not having to deal with the devil's grass might be enough to sway me! Maybe I could set up some sort of make-shift fence to guard it. Must think on this. . .

The start of my second and probably final garden. . .

So I started my garden today. First of all, I am too late to be starting seeds. . . And second of all, I think this is likely my last gardening adventure. I'm just not a get filthy and kill things kind of a girl. Also, I'm completely frustrated because I have no idea what I'm doing, don't know anyone local who can help me, and have spent money on several books that might be useful someday when I've been gardening for half a life time. (And that day is unlikely to come!) It seems nobody makes a gardening book for someone who is new to gardening. And by new, I don't mean, has gardened a bit and wants a fresh perspective, but new, as in, doesn't know how deep to put a seed, or how to weed, or how much to water, or ANYTHING. Just totally lost. And aggravated.

How this started was that I finally dragged myself out to the task of becoming filthy and starting my seeds. This went relatively well, although, none of the Johnny's packets seemed to tell how deep to plant the seeds, so I have no idea if I did it right because I was too lazy to spend a couple of hours at my laptop googling each plant and reading multiple articles to determine the most frequently-given answer, etc.



I can't leave the packets as labels because they'll get wet, so I'm going to have to memorize what I put wear and be careful not to turn things the wrong direction so I don't confuse myself, because I don't have anything in the house that I can use to label these in a waterproof manner, and I'm sick of spending money on this gardening thing when I know from last year's experience that I may get next to no results.

At any rate, having got that all done, I picked up the first two items to move inside. I forgot how floppy these things are when they are filled with dirt, so they tipped, and my dirt and seeds mixed together. I now have no idea how many seeds - if any - are in each slot, or what they are. FAIL.

Then, I went to weed my garden. Last year, it was pretty exciting, because I was starting new, with fresh dirt out of the bag. I put down a weed barrier underneath to try to stop anything from coming up. This was a waste of effort and money because we have this plant in our yard that looks like grass, and while I don't know the technical name for it, I just call it Satan's grass. Glenn calls it Lego grass. I think that sounds too pleasant when this grass is EVIL.

It starts like this:



Just a lump of thick grass in your lawn. Maybe you pull it up, maybe not - it doesn't matter, because no matter what you do, within a year, your lawn will look like this:



And unfortunately, my vegetable garden is already over-run with them. They don't pull up easy, either. And then, the WORST thing happened. I was using a spade to try to dig down to the roots of these things, and I severed an earth worm. The poor thing was writhing in pain, and I thought I was going to be sick. I know most people will think I'm ridiculous, and honestly, I don't care what other people think; I just don't feel that humans are superior to other life form, and I don't feel I have the right to decide what life form is worthless - even if it is as small as a worm - and I felt SO BAD that I hurt the poor little guy! And then I realized, there are literally DOZENS of worms in the garden, because they all started coming up. So clearly, I can't use the spade, so I just tried to pull it out as low as I could without tools. This is what it looks like now:




Obviously, this won't do, so I think what I'm going to have to do is pull the damn grass up one single blade at a time, every single day for the next half a year. I can't think of anything I would less rather be doing. I know from experience that I can't win the battle vs. this grass, even if I did pull it up from the roots, because it spreads like wildfire - seemingly over night. And it's all over my entire yard, and my neighbors' yards - it just isn't going to go away, so I feel like the garden is just going to be a daily annoyance for me. And, if I only get a handful of peas like last year, then this gardening thing is a complete waste of both my time and money.

For the record, after I came inside cursing left and right because of spilling my freshly-planted seeds and dealing with Satan's grass, Glenn went and dug one of those grass things to the bottom, and here's what it looks like:



So apparently it's some kind of bulb thing. I have no idea. I hate it.

And now, I need to go cut off all the nails that I broke doing all this, and try to dig the filth out from under what's left, and then probably take a shower because I just feel like I'm itching all over - probably a reaction to seeing bugs crawling around - although it's possible I am allergic to the activity of gardening.

Hooray for the 2012 garden. Not. *sigh*

2012 Seeds!

I ordered seeds for my 2012 garden this morning! Hooray! I ordered from Johnny's Seeds because I hear great things about them, they have a great variety, and their catalog is super helpful for beginners like me. I spent a few weeks studying and making notes (and learning things, such as the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes, which is a very important thing to know!) and coming up with the list of things I'd like to try and grow this year. I tried to think of things I find myself frequently buying at the supermarket, since it's a good bet I'll actually eat these! Even more exciting is the prospect of having things that aren't going to go bad the second I bring them in the house, like they do when purchased from the supermarket!

For the basic salad ingredients, I chose "Corinto" cucumbers, "Black Seeded Simpson" lettuce, and "Sun Gold" cherry tomatoes. I'm particularly excited about the lettuce because I did not know you could grow lettuce where you didn't need to pick the whole head, but could instead just take a few leaves. This is going to be great because there are just two of us, and when I eat lettuce, it's usually because I'm putting it on a sandwich, or shredding it for tacos. One doesn't need a giant head of lettuce for this!

I figured a slicing tomato was also a good choice, for use in sandwiches and such. Since I had such bad luck with tomatoes last year (mostly because I started them too late in the season, but I also think they're the slowest growing plant I've ever seen!) I made sure this year to try to pick one that was both early producing, as well as tolerant of the cold. (In fact, I aimed for this with all of my plants, because I'm in Massachusetts, after all!) I went with "Moskvich," which matures in 60 days and is indeed cold tolerant. I hope I have better luck with these!

And speaking of luck. . . Since the peas were the only thing that grew for me last year, I decided to give them a try again this year. I chose "Penelope" because it clearly stated "shelling" and so there was not the confusion I had last year, when I wasn't sure if I was supposed to shell the peas I grew, or eat them in their pod. (Seriously, I am that new to not only gardening, but also vegetable consumption in general!)

Another thing I buy a lot are green peppers, because I like them in quesadillas, or stuffed and baked. I chose the "King Arthur" variety. (Side note: I really enjoy the names of these varieties. . . Although, it can be hard to make myself look at the data and not pick on the name alone, LOL!)

My husband has recently become completely obsessed with super hot foods, so I thought I'd try to grow some hot peppers for him. I picked "Red Rocket" and "Hot Paper Lantern," which are a "medium" and a "very hot" pepper, respectively. I always think of the super hot southwest when I think of peppers, and so it feels like something that shouldn't be able to grown here in Massachusetts, but I'm giving it a shot anyhow!

Next up, I thought I'd try to grow pumpkins. I may be lost in the kitchen when it comes to making meals, but what I'm not bad at (and really enjoy!) is baking. One of my favorite recipes is this super tasty pumpkin spice cake, and I got this crazy idea in my head that it would be so fun to make my own pumpkin puree from pumpkins grown in my own garden for it (instead of using the pumpkin from a can). So I picked a small pumpkin that is good for pies, "Baby Bear." In chatting with family at Christmas time, I learned that pumpkins require bees to grow, or else I have to somehow pollinate them myself. As we have almost no bees in our yard, this could prove to be a bit of a challenge for me! (And explains why that year when we put our Halloween pumpkins out back in the yard waste pile, it grew a beautiful vine, complete with giant yellow star-shaped flowers - but never yielded any pumpkins!)

And finally, I thought I might like to have some strawberries. I have one of those little strawberry planters, so these will probably go on my back porch, as opposed to in the garden. Strawberries are one of those things I adore, but never buy in the supermarket because half the time, they're already moldy in the middle of the container, from before I even get them home! Plus, the strawberries in the supermarket are so huge that they kind of freak me out! How can that be natural at all? I'm longing for some normal, healthy-looking strawberries, preferably not coated in mold!

So, that's my 2012 line-up! Hopefully!

2011 Garden Wrap-Up

My total harvest for 2011:



Yes, that’s right, just nine little pea pods. And not too healthy-looking, in my opinion! But they tasted all right, so, I guess they were still okay!

So this year was a bit of an experiment, and I know I started the garden way too late, and without having any knowledge at all of how to grow anything. Now, I’ve done some more reading, and chatting with folks who have done extensive vegetable gardens, and I’m starting to learn some tips and get an idea of how to have a better haul next year! I’m currently picking out seeds for my 2012 garden. . . Because despite all the experienced folks telling me to buy a flat of plants and not bother with seeds, I just have to go and make life more difficult and insist on starting from seeds. . . It just seems more magical to know that I grew something from just a tiny seed in the palm of my hand!

I grew something!!!!!

Look what I found in my garden the other day!



And only a couple of days later, I have a whole bunch of them! I am so lucky that this year we've had a really good September/October. Usually, I am FREEZING by this time of year, but it's been very mild, and I think there's a chance I just might get a tiny bit of edible goodness out of this garden this year after all!