State of the Garden 2013: "Things like to LIIIIIIIVE!"

So around the homestead (of my apartment) this past week I've seen an explosion of LIFE.  First, let me talk about the bugs.  THE BUGS.  BUUUUUUUGS!

I remember when I was a kid, I would have to go through a desensitizing process every spring to becoming comfortable with the presence of bugs.  During the long winter, there may be the occasional centipede or something you find in your bathtub that's been attempting to not freeze, but not that many.  As a kid who loved to play outdoors, I was able to get used to this pretty quick.  As an adult, this desensitization process is not necessarily needed, as I expect the arrival of the bugs, and also, I'm an adult.  But just yesterday, I exclaimed out loud (and this is a literal quote from my mouth), "I AM SO SICK OF BUGS CRAWLING ON ME!"

So, my building has an ant problem.  Living on the top floor of this building has greatly decreased the incidence of centipedes (which are my mortal enemy), which is nice.  However, the ants are rising in this hierarchy of hate of disgusting crawly creatures.  The ants literally live in the brick and in the outdoor walls of the buildings.  I know this because 1) I've seen it up close in one of the other buildings, and 2) how else would I get ants on the top floor?  In the past couple years, we've been able to control them by setting ant traps near the back where they like to appear, but this year...  (hold on I'm trying to not dry heave) they've been popping up all over.  Almost every day over the past week an ant has crawled over my body at some point.  I'm like sitting on the couch and an ant goes crawling across my chest like, "hey, don't mind me large person, I'm just trying to get over there, and I thought this was the best way to go, right across your boobs".    And just yesterday, I also had interaction (all out battles) with flies, a spider, little green bugs, and weird tiny gray things making a home in my indoor thyme plant.  (OK DRY HEAVING NOW)

Moral of the story:  I need to ramp up my defense against the attack of the ants.  I need to get desensitized again!  Good thing though, I am not squeamish to crush these tiny ants between my two fingers.  Always with an exclamation of, "SEE YA, SUCKER!"

OK, now on to the things I WANT to be growing and thriving in my apartment.  This week the plants in my garden have decided that they really do enjoy living and started growing at an exponential rate.  Like, I didn't go back there for a couple days, and then I saw my tomatoes and went OH MY GLOB, what happened?!  They're like mutant tomatoes!!  The stalks of the tomatoes have grown so fast, I've had to make sure the little stakes I put up for them were loose enough to accommodate the increased girth.  (mmmmeehh heh heh...  I know the teenage boy in you wants to make an inappropriate joke here, but c'mon!)  They've been falling over by the weight of their own stalks & leaves (not even any tomatoes yet!)

This growth has been helped by a number of thunderstorms rolling through here in the past couple weeks.  The plants are loving the extra water and nitrogen-rich lighting (though this may be a myth?)  Also, we've FINALLY been experiencing consistently warm temperatures, which also is helping.

Now a comment on the battle between the tomato plants.  The ones in pots are noticeably smaller and not as thriving as the tomato plants in the planter.  BUT the tomatoes in pots have succeeded in producing the first tomato bud!  The clear winner remains to be seen.

Strawberries were removed from the planter because they were being choked out by the GIGANTIC tomatoes.  Haven't seen many strawberries yet, but it looks healthy.

The chives are LOVING LIFE.  

The tomatoes in pots.  Kinda scraggly, no?  But still growing.

The tomatoes in the pots are boasting the first sign of a tomato, and were sprouting flowers before the tomatoes in the planter.

Beans growing like crazy!

Lil' bean flowers mean lil' beans to come!

Here's the gargantuan planter tomatoes themselves.  I put up the tomato cages and had to improvise with a little twine.

Planter Tomatoes finally boasting some flowers.

Make sure to come back next Monday for the next "State of the Garden" installation. Thanks so much for visiting. I really appreciate everyone who reads and comments. If you like what you've seen here, please follow me on Facebook and Pinterest to receive updates.