Growing a little garden
In mid-March when the world was seemingly about to be swallowed by Covid -19, and toilet paper was more precious than diamonds, I decided the best way to survive was to have a garden.
So I planted a few tomato seeds, basil, sage, lavender, bell peppers and some zucchini. I told myself, "That should keep us alive, with or without toilet paper!" Weeks in quarantine turned into months. Toilet paper reappeared on grocery shelves, my little plants floundered in bouts of cold. I rushed them into and back out of the house in their incubating containers. Bentley sniffed and pawed at them. And finally one glorious morning the cold went away.
A friend of mine gave me a few very large plant pots and they have become the home for my little garden. Now that I know food won't run out as fast as the toilet paper did, I have enjoyed working with my mini-garden and seeing the plants grow.
Each of the plants has their own personality. Tomatoes like the sunshine, sprawling out and climbing on things. They love the water and actually remind me a lot of Bentley. They are self-pollinators having the male and female components in each flower to reproduce a tomato. They are very dramatic and slump over looking dead after getting transplanted (much like humans feel like after moving houses). However, lots of water and sunshine perk them back up.
The zucchini are easy like Sunday morning. They are super fertile and grow new flowers and new fruit each day. There are male zucchini and female zucchini. The female grows the vegetable and needs pollen from the flower of the male zucchini who doesn't grow a vegetable. I didn't know this! If the female zucchini doesn't get pollinated, the little zucchini vegetable will shrivel up. After researching "shriveled ends of zucchini" I have begun helping my squash mate. Call me Cupid. They like to be dry and not overwatered which is hard for me because I feel like they all need daily water! "You look thirsty, Mr. Zucchini..."
The green peppers have been quietly tortured as if they are patiently dealing with long-term uninvited visitors. I am actually waiting at this very moment as I type for the scorching sun to go down a little bit in order to attend to their misfortune: infestation. Little bugs have been laying their larvae on the sweet and soft leaves of my green pepper plants and eating them whole. I have lost an entire plant to this and will lay it to rest (near Fatty) and plant a new tomato plant in it's place.
The herbs are doing dandy. The sage is growing at light speed and is delicious fried in a beer batter (who would have known?!)
The basil looks a little depressed and I can't tell what is bothering it. Not enough sun? Too much water? Both? We need to figure out how to cheer it up and bring some color back to her cheeks.
The lavender likes to be left alone on sandy soil (much like me on the beach) and watered sparingly. I basically forget about her and let her be a wildflower.
Our first little harvest was tiny and very tasty. I am looking forward to learning more about plants, their likes and dislikes and hopefully working on a fall harvest as well.
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| Variety pack to save our lives. |
So I planted a few tomato seeds, basil, sage, lavender, bell peppers and some zucchini. I told myself, "That should keep us alive, with or without toilet paper!" Weeks in quarantine turned into months. Toilet paper reappeared on grocery shelves, my little plants floundered in bouts of cold. I rushed them into and back out of the house in their incubating containers. Bentley sniffed and pawed at them. And finally one glorious morning the cold went away.
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| Preparing my little plant pods |
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| Incubating baby plants |
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| Bentley doing his part to kill them. |
A friend of mine gave me a few very large plant pots and they have become the home for my little garden. Now that I know food won't run out as fast as the toilet paper did, I have enjoyed working with my mini-garden and seeing the plants grow.
Each of the plants has their own personality. Tomatoes like the sunshine, sprawling out and climbing on things. They love the water and actually remind me a lot of Bentley. They are self-pollinators having the male and female components in each flower to reproduce a tomato. They are very dramatic and slump over looking dead after getting transplanted (much like humans feel like after moving houses). However, lots of water and sunshine perk them back up.
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| Teenage Tomato |
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| Little lady |
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| Meet Myrtle, the first tomato! |
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| Myrtle plumping up |
The zucchini are easy like Sunday morning. They are super fertile and grow new flowers and new fruit each day. There are male zucchini and female zucchini. The female grows the vegetable and needs pollen from the flower of the male zucchini who doesn't grow a vegetable. I didn't know this! If the female zucchini doesn't get pollinated, the little zucchini vegetable will shrivel up. After researching "shriveled ends of zucchini" I have begun helping my squash mate. Call me Cupid. They like to be dry and not overwatered which is hard for me because I feel like they all need daily water! "You look thirsty, Mr. Zucchini..."
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| Look at that baby zucchini under the flower! Isn't she precious? |
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| Female zucchini, otherwise known as Sunshine on a Cloudy Day |
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| Male zucchini flower only has the stem. Otherwise known as Easy like Sunday Morning |
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| I totally love this plant. It is such a loud and happy plant. Look at that zucchini! That is a vegetable that grew! |
The green peppers have been quietly tortured as if they are patiently dealing with long-term uninvited visitors. I am actually waiting at this very moment as I type for the scorching sun to go down a little bit in order to attend to their misfortune: infestation. Little bugs have been laying their larvae on the sweet and soft leaves of my green pepper plants and eating them whole. I have lost an entire plant to this and will lay it to rest (near Fatty) and plant a new tomato plant in it's place.
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| Baby green peppers and baby tomatoes |
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| Silently tortured by insects |
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| The Lady of Shallot: there she weaves by night and day a magic web with colors gay, she has heard a whisper say a curse be on her is she look down on Camelot. I dare say, my Lady of Shallot probably did look down on Camelot. |
The herbs are doing dandy. The sage is growing at light speed and is delicious fried in a beer batter (who would have known?!)
The basil looks a little depressed and I can't tell what is bothering it. Not enough sun? Too much water? Both? We need to figure out how to cheer it up and bring some color back to her cheeks.
 |
| Looking a little depressed and anemic.... |
The lavender likes to be left alone on sandy soil (much like me on the beach) and watered sparingly. I basically forget about her and let her be a wildflower.
Our first little harvest was tiny and very tasty. I am looking forward to learning more about plants, their likes and dislikes and hopefully working on a fall harvest as well.
 |
| Deep fried: Sage leaves, zucchini flowers and pizza (because we are on a diet). |
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