mary abdoney, mls

It doesn't take much to excite me, so imagine my surprise when I came home today to a tiny, yellow bud on my Roma tomato plant.  Yay!  It even looks like the ones on Google Image Search, so it's official!

Of course, it's been a while since I've posted pictures, so here we go:

The bell pepper situation still has me a little worried, but I've got a couple more in a pot that just may do better.  Look at that zucchini, too!  I'm thinking we might see a bud or two on those soon. 

It's been downright hot since Friday, and we had a good rain last night, so I think it's finally time for the plants to start really growing.  I hope they enjoy the warm nights, because I sure don't. 

I beat the rain today, so I fed the plants.  I used Garden-Tone, which is supposed to be organic.  All I did was sprinkle some around each plant and then water it in.  Hopefully the rain later will incorporate it into the soil even more. 

Fingers crossed . . .

The baby zucchinis were perky and happy this morning, unlike myself.  Mom said I probably didn't need to cover them if the temperature was only getting down to 40 degrees, but that it probably wouldn't hurt.  I opted not to, because of my expert gardening mojo.  (Not.  I "opted" not to because I had already changed into pajamas and had zit cream on my face and didn't want to go outside again.)

I still haven't put the plant food down yet, and it's supposed to rain today.  If the rain holds off until later tonight, I might do it when I get home from work.  If not, it will have to wait.

This weekend while I was out of town, I bought two tomato plants.  My mom had told me that they're easier to grow from transplants, and I found some nice ones, so I bought a Roma and another hybrid.  I put them in the ground today, using the sideways method.  I like Aunt Debbi's method, where she lets them sit in the pot sideways for a day or two until the top starts to shoot up.  I'll try that next time!  Meanwhile, I cut a stem off the Roma plant and have it rooting in some water.  Maybe it will be good enough to plant at some point.

On Friday, my zucchini had sprouted, and when I got back in town last night they'd shot up considerably and were ready to set out today.  I'm a little worried that it will be too cold tonight (around 40 degrees) so I might put some clear plastic containers over them.  I'll ask my mom later. 

I've got a little more hope for things.  Here are some pics:

My plants aren't growing.  Simple as that.  I put the plants in the raised bed 11 days ago, and they haven't grown much at all.  I've been keeping them nicely watered, they get plenty of sun, but nothing is happening.  I've even had my habanero pepper plant dug up and dragged away by some sort of critter.  (I'm looking at you, squirrel!)

It makes me really sad.  At the suggestion of my mother, I'm going to get some compost or other kind of plant food this weekend and see what happens.  I have a feeling the soil I used was not as good as its price tag suggested.  I have two bags left, which just might be going back to the garden center. 

In the meantime, I hope the plants at least live until I can get them some nourishment, and then at least have a short season of veggies.  Sigh.

Today I sowed some zucchini seeds in the greenhouse.  Unfortunately, one section of tomatoes has croaked, but I'm putting the new zucchini in their place when they finally come up.  Yay!

I'll take some pictures later when the sun is lower in the sky.  The peppers look great, as well as everything else. 

Sadly, the cucumbers couldn't handle living on their own.  I don't know if it was the heat (90+ degrees for the past 3 days) or something in the soil, but they were wilted and the stems were shriveled when I got home from work this afternoon. 

But fear not!  I had a few seedlings left over in my starter tray that has been sitting out on the back stoop that looked pretty healthy.  I pulled up the sad little cucumber carcasses and replaced them with what I hope are sturdier specimens.  They've even started getting their real leaves!

Otherwise, the peppers all look good, if a little small.  They look like they're starting to get their real leaves, which is good.  The tomatoes aren't looking terrific, and I might start some more seeds tomorrow just in case.  This weather sure is making things more complicated.

Today, I built my raised bed box and planted it.  It was super easy to do, but I sure did spend a lot of money on soil.  I wanted a good organic garden soil mixed with a nice peat moss, so I sucked it up.  Here is the box empty, with some biodegradable organic weed-blocking "paper" lining the bottom:

Next, it was time to mix in the soil.  I did about 2/3 garden soil and 1/3 peat moss.  I used a trowel to mix it all up.  Then, I planted the tomatoes, cucumbers, and all four peppers according to the plot I planned a few days ago.

Things look a little sad now, but I'm hoping they're just pouting because they've been moved. 

Assuming all goes well this weekend and I get the little buggers planted, soon I'll have some veggies.  While I will surely be eating many of these fresh, I'm thinking about trying my hand at canning, especially the tomatoes.  I've picked out a couple of books that I'm thinking about buying:

Of course, I won't be able to do any of the canning in my tiny kitchen, and will have to use another one.  Just brainstorming at this point.  Another thing I'd like to do with the peppers is to dry them.  Hot dried peppers are so delicious and would give me some homegrown spice year round.

I decided to do the gardenerly thing and thin out the cucumbers and tomatoes to one seedling per unit.  It was hard, but I did it anyway.  What struck me was that the cucumbers have really started to smell like cucumbers!  Yum!

The cucumbers are around 4 inches tall, and the tomatoes around 3 inches.  The peppers are coming along nicely, and about 1-1.5 inches.  Soon, I'll have to thin them out,too.  I just hope all the little guys make it to the weekend.