The Inconstant Gardener

So - I'm off to Uganda for over a week. I can't believe I won't see my garden for that long (and I can't believe I'm actually melancholy about that).

A few weeks ago, someone recommended I take a picture of the whole garden so I can see the change over time. So here are two shots, front and side:





On a less macro scale, here's the new eggplant flower:



I spent several minutes today, as I often do, trying to figure out if any of the tons of morning-glories I planted had sprouted. A few minutes later, I heard Cynthia, a long-term gardener, walk past me muttering, "I can't believe how much morning-glory I had to pull out of the front area." Turns out it usually grows so much that people consider it a weed. I don't know if that's humbling (I can't even grow a weed!) or a benefit in disguise (I didn't accidentally grow a weed!).

Will miss you all almost as much as my plants.

Blog Envy and Cute Chicks

In the course of some internet research on zinnias, I came across a blog title much better than mine: "I Wet my Plants." Sigh. I just checked it out, and I do think mine is more succinct, for whatever that's worth. But such a good title!

But as consolation, in our absence this weekend, it seems lots of things grew.

Most excitingly, a whole bunch of strawberries ripened!





The beans are getting big and leafy, and the soybeans are taller.






And the cantaloupes, though still small, are growing.



The hen-and-chick succulents have mostly been sitting around being succulents. I'm not even sure what that means, except that I can't eat them. Which seems unfair, given that they're called succulents. But today I saw that a bunch of them are sprouting new little "chicks"! Very cute, albeit inedible.



Since none of the flowers we planted ever germinated, we planted a bunch more. The tithonia (Mexican sunflower) and mallows. and some poppies. Which, by the way, grow from poppy seeds. That shouldn't be too surprising, but it's funny because it feels like you're scattering what's left at the bottom of the bagel bag. Also, we tried some zinnias. We'll see if any are successful. I think that the earlier ones may have been sown too early - there hasn't been a frost since then, but there were definitely some very cold nights.


We headed home with 7 strawberries. I was a very proud mom (who ate several of her young).

The Embiggening

Everything's getting bigger!



The basil's like 8 inches tall.



There's tons of cilantro.



And look at all the beans.



And soybeans! (I am beans).




But here's the coolest thing: the beginning of an eggplant flower! Which means the beginning of an eggplant!

Non-cleverly-titled update

The berries are slowly turning berry-colored! I think that's an ant on the strawberry, which drives me crazy. I'll have to figure out how to stop them, since apparently that's one of few the garden things they do eat. Apparently some new species of ant is taking over Houston now. Ugh.




I remain jealous of my neighbor's poppies. Oops, I just wrote "I remain jealous of my neighbor's poopies." That is not an accurate statement.



And here are some action shots, just to put on the record that I do some things in the garden other than taking ooh-look-at-the-plants-grow-I'm-so-in-touch-with-nature photos:

Darkness falls

The other day I was walking out of the garden and a woman stopped me and told me evening is the best time for photographs. She claimed to be a photographer (and I claim to be a farmer...). So today I headed over there around 7:30, near sunset. Unfortunately, the main effect of dusk was to make me think that every tiny sound I heard was a rat about to run over my feet. So my visit was brief.

On the bright side, some things are looking good. The beans are just bursting out of the ground - there are little bean-shaped holes next to each one from when the sprout pulled out of the husk (is that the right word?).














And the cantaloupes have little leaves peeking out in the middles.















There's even an endearingly weirdly-shaped strawberry among the tiny perfect ones.












But sadly - so many ants! And - I saw some poop. I was going to include the photo but it's not very aethetically pleasing. Suffice it to say I'm hoping it's squirrel-based!

The beet doesn't go on.

Well, this morning I finally forced myself to thin the carrots and beets. The carrots weren't too hard, but to give the beets 2-3" of space each, I had to pull about 2/3 of them. I tried replanting, but when I came back after work, the replanted ones were clearly dead. On the bright side, they're edible, so I guess this was my first harvest!



They taste.... healthy. But they do bleed a pleasing, bright-pink beety color!

Aubergine

Just one new addition: We replaced a fallen cucumber seedling with a new eggplant seedling from the farmer's market. The guy who sold it to us said it would grow 10-20 eggplants in a season. Sounds optimistic to me! It's pouring rain again and I'm trying not to worry about my little babies in the garden. I need a life.

Coming Along

Well, first of all, today I saw these flowers on my neighbor's plot, and realized I had plants of this sort in my garden before I tore them all out. They're beautiful! Oh well.



I realized I can get a better shot of how big and flowery my blackberry bramble is from the other side:



And the cool thing is you can see the flowers starting to turn into blackberries:



Ditto the strawberries:



Some more soy beans are busting out - there's one in the foreground here, but if you look almost directly back (and a little to the left) you can see another.

The Waiting's the Hardest Part

Went to the garden this morning. I made myself stay away for two days because I thought I might be overwatering, and because it's more fun to see change after a couple days. Something's coming up which I think may be the cantaloupes.



And the replanted beans are doing ok, I think.



Also the cilantro now looks like cilantro, and the carrot tops look like carrot tops and not just stubble.





But I dug up a couple carrots and beets - and there was nothing at the end! I don't know if there's supposed to be anything there this early. Are they too close together? Do they not form until later anyway? Have I over/underwatered? Is this what kids who don't get comprehensive sex ed feel like when they hit puberty? I don't know if anything's growing right!

No More Hill of Beans....

I was fretting about the beans and soybeans and why they weren't flourishing. So I decided to flatten out the areas they're in, which were sloped. I took out the seedlings first, and also, where I could find them, the seeds I planted last week that were starting to germinate. And I replanted them once I'd landscaped the areas to be flat. I feel better about them now, though I'm not sure I should. No pictures! Boring post!

May 1: Lots of things growing!

Beets and carrots,

Basil,


Cilantro,

More carrots and beets,

And cucumbers.

All kinds of things growing. NB, the visible cucumber seedlings were purchased as seedlings. But we did plant some seeds there too...

Also, tiny strawberries, and blackberry blossoms!




Ironically, the beans and soybeans, which are supposed to be easy, don't look so great:

The first 5 weeks, part II

On April 10, I found the succulents area overtaken by a giant, multi-holed, gross ant colony.

Undaunted, on April 12, I took the crazy advice of a fellow gardener and spent hours hand-sawing old wooden trellises to make pathways that wouldn't get muddy:

The first 5 weeks, part I

On March 25, I found out I'd gotten a plot in the Community Garden behind the Masonic Temple on 16th Street. I'd been on the waiting list since the fall of 2005.

On March 26, I picked my plot. Full sun, blackberry bramble, lots of weeds.

Dan helped me weed (a bit) when he visited on the weekend of March 29-30:










A few days later, the 3-year-old son of someone at an organization we work with, who happens to have a plot in the garden, came to visit. He's the best thing about the garden!









The plot started off with a little patch of succulents called "hen and chicks." Also, early on, I planted little strawberry seedlings someone gave me:






We tilled a lot, adding peat moss and compost, then I carved out paths: