State of the Garden 2013: First Harvest

Today's post is going to be short and sweet:  BEEEAAAANNNNS!

Make sure to check back 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.

         

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.

         

State of the Garden 2013: "Will it just get warm already?!"

Welcome to the growing season!  I WOULD say welcome to Spring, but since mother nature has been a cruel, cruel lady this season, I am not.  I live in Chicago, and so far this spring has been a vacillation between acceptable temperatures and NOT-EVEN-CLOSE TO ACCEPTABLE temperatures.  For example, yesterday, June 2, the temperature hovered somewhere in the 40's.  That being said, so far I've been dealing with this in terms of my garden in the best ways that I can.

If you remember I commented a few months ago about Winter Gardening.  I have a few perennials that I keep indoors at all winter, and set outdoors in the summer.  However, the pride and joy of my green thumb is growing veggies during the summertime.  So around March, I start itching to get some seeds planted.  This year I managed to wait until the beginning of April.  I got a couple of pots together and planted two types of tomatoes:

Unfortunately, I mixed up the packages, and now I don't know which is which!!  I know they are completely different varieties, because there is a visible difference in their sizes, although they are the same gestation.

I also planted a couple small pots of cilantro for fun, but I never do well with cilantro, so it was basically on a whim, rather than for actual consumption!  Granted, I can eat the leaves, but I usually just get a small plant with a few weak leaves before the entire thing naturally dies.

I planted these seeds in early April, and these seedlings were about ready to be transplanted at the end of April.  However, we were having some major weather issues at this point.  Warm-Cold-Warm-Cold-Torrential Downpours-Snow-Hail, etc.  The weather was all like "Heeeey, it's beeeeautiful outside, sunny, warm, and GORGEOUS!" And I was like, "Oh hey!  Maybe I'll plant my tomatoes outside, let's look at the forecast!"  And lo and behold, the next two weeks would be only 40 degrees during the day and 30 degrees at night.  Basically, you need to wait until the threat of freezing temperatures is gone.  Finally, early May, I gave in and finally planted my little cuties outside.

So the fact that I live in the top floor of an apartment, and have nowhere to plant makes me sad.  I used to live in a house in Michigan where I had a huge garden to plant as many things as I wanted.  Since moving to Chicago, I have just used large pots to plant things.  This means that I have to make strategic decisions on what I want to grow.  Tomatoes usually win out!  I will typically plant a bunch of tomato plants in one pot them transfer them to other places so they have a little more room to grow.  But not much more.  I wholeheartedly do not give them enough space that the package recommends.  BUT WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?  I live in a major city with no plots of land to grow, so the plants are just going to have to deal, alright?  However, this year I was lucky enough to get an actual box planter to set on my fire escape! See?

Now you can see with how much space I'm dealing with.  Not much.

Now it was time to fill this bad boy up with dirt.  Now, when planting things, it's not necessarily necessary (haha English) to buy the really expensive miracle grow planting soil.  I needed a LOT of dirt, and that crap is way overpriced.  After talking to a few sources, I settled with a combination of different materials to mix together for my plants.  Best thing about the materials I bought, is that they were cheap.  I probably paid something like 8 bucks for all of this dirt.  (PS: These can be found at any garden shop.  I got these at  Home Depot)

I started with two bags of this generic, Earthgro Potting Soil.  This is just plain dark dirt for potting plants:

This is probably the same exact thing, but I also added two bags of Scotts Topsoil.  This was marked to have peat moss mixed in (which I was looking for, but was more expensive), which I guess may help retain moisture?  Guys, I'm just a gardener flying by the seat of her pants.  I think peat moss is helpful anyway.

I rounded out my trio of dirt with two bags of manure!  Wait, wait, come back!  It's not what you think!  This is not just a bag of poo, I swear.  It doesn't smell, it looks just like dirt, and it's full of nutrients for the plants.  I don't know how they turn manure into this product, but I'm serious, it just looks like dirt!  (Your plants will love you for it!)

I mixed that ALL around in my planter, and I'm ready for planting!

I carefully transplanted a few tomatoes from each variety into the planter, as well as a strawberry plant I bought and am trying out this year.

It was tenuous there for a while, as the seedlings always HAAAAAAATE to be transplanted.  But as long as you try not to disturb the roots as much as possible, it usually works out for the best.  In the above picture, on this day I also planted some bean seeds and basil seeds in the pots on the right.  The little pink pot in the middle has chives, and the other three pots on the left are more tomato plants.

Since I planted these, I've had to bring the pots in a few times (due to frost) and cover the planter with a sheet a couple times.  Some cold air has even made some of the leaves of my tomatoes die off a bit.  Otherwise, it's doing great!  The tomatoes are going gangbusters.  Especially the day or two after the first major thunderstorm, they EXPLODED with growth.  The green beans have sprouted and are getting big, and the chives are flowering.

Tomatoes going crazy!

Beans

Basil.  I need to spread these out a bit!

Chives

More tomatoes.  You can see I've staked up the tomatoes temporarily, until I get my tomato cages up.

Even the tomatoes in the pots are doing well!

I'll be updating regularly with my "State of the Garden".  Let's hope this year is not a big disaster like last year! 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.

Winter Gardening

There's nothing like greenery around you in the dead of winter.  Just because it's cold outside, doesn't mean the plants stop growing!  

During the summer I attempt to grow a few things outside in pots, such as tomatoes, basil, peppers, and other herbs.  Back when I lived in Michigan I had a GLORIOUS garden with zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, peas, pumpkins and green peppers.  My basil used to grow insanely well and get about waist high.  I unfortunately do not have "land" to grow things in here in Chicago, because I live in an apartment, so I try to make due with pots.  It's definitely not ideal, but it's better than nothing.  Usually I am successful with this stuff, aside from this past season when my tomatoes were infested and devoured by tomato worms.  I discovered this too late to do anything for my poor tomatoes.  There's always next summer...

HOWEVER, I started two pots of basil last summer that officially do not want to die.  Usually the basil will  start to look shabby and lose all it's leaves by the end of fall and beginning of winter, and then you start fresh next year.  But, when I brought my plants in at the end of last summer, I procrastinated cleaning out the pots and left the basil be.  Lo and behold!  THE BASIL REFUSES TO DIE:

It keeps growing new leaves and getting bigger again!  Granted, this second coming of basil is definitely not the strong, healthy basil that grows in the summer.  The leaves are a little droopy and it looks kind of sad.  However, I've decided to let it keep going and see what it does.  I really haven't even eaten much of it this winter.

Another thing I've been growing is some Sweet Oats (cat grass) for Oliver.  Have you ever noticed that your house cat likes to eat your plants?  Or that they will gorge on grass when you take them outside?  Well, cats have this urge because there may be a nutritional component they are craving/or need.  By supplying this with grass MEANT for cats, your cat will be less inclined to ruin your houseplants.

This type of grass is different from regular grass that grows outside.  These are sweet oats, and it's meant for cats!  Which means:  No throw up!  Well at least in my experience.  I'll let Oliver graze on the grass, and I make sure he doesn't have too much.  To this point, we haven't had any issues with throwing up, as a cat might have from eating regular grass.

And can I tell you?  He LOVES IT.  He's so spoiled.  I keep the grass up in the window by the kitchen sink and Oliver KNOWS it's there.  Whenever I am simply standing by the sink, whether it's washing dishes or doing something else, he'll come up to me and start "MRRROWING" for some cat grass.  I feel good giving it to him, because it's not like cat treats that might make him fat(ter) or something, it's an all natural treat!  See for yourself:




In addition to these plants, Andy and I own a multitude of Jade plants that are scattered throughout the apartment.  These are really easy to keep alive, especially in the winter months.  Jades do not need as much water in the winter, so they only really need to be watered every 2-3 weeks.

I also have some chives that I've been attempting to keep alive.  It's the middle plant above.  I stole this little chive plant from my mom's garden (HI MOM!) and so far it hasn't died.  Even though I really almost killed it numerous times.  (dropped it, repotted it late, forgot to water it, didn't change the soil)  Incidentally the soil at my mom's house is really weird, like clay.  When I water this thing the water runs right through it and hardly stays in the dirt.  It doesn't really work well for a plant in a pot.  I'll have to change the soil in the spring, I don't dare do it now, because then it might REALLY die!

I also have been growing this Thyme plant for about a year from a seed and it's really starting to fill out and  look great!  It really enjoys being in this window, even though it doesn't get much sunlight this time of year:

If you liked this or you have some of your own winter gardening stories, let me know in the comments!  And don't forget to follow me on Facebook and Twitter!

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Christmas revelries and microbes who hate me

Hey there.  You may have been wondering, "Hey, what happened to Laurie?", or most likely you have not.  In any case, I've had a whirlwind holiday season, and got home a couple days ago.  Andy and I traveled back to our home state of Michigan to celebrate the holidays with our families.  We had a great time with everyone, and consumed WAY too much food.  Considering both Andy and I have been trying to eat healthier lately, this was a hard blow to our diets.  Here's a "sampler" of what we ate (hahaha, get it?  SAMPLER?!):

Chipotle - Ok, this isn't THAT bad is it?
Pizza - YUM
Mozzerella Sticks - Fried cheese is not a meal  ...or is it?!
Andy's mom's huge spread of Christmas Eve munchies - I ate more massive amounts of cheese and M&M's
Christmas Morning Donuts - Need I say more?
Christmas Dinner Homemade Italian Extravaganza of  ravioli & meatballs & Garlic bread - Which I had seconds and thirds of later that week, Thanks Mom!
Christmas Supper Venison sloppy joes & another huge spread - Thanks Dad!
Christmas Cookies, OH THE CHRISTMAS COOKIES - Many MANY Sugar cookies, courtesy of my sister
Birthday Banana Cream Pie - My mom made me my birthday pie already! :)
More Pizza, etc, etc, etc

Should probably get on those New Year's Resolutions, now, eh?  I'm definitely going to be trying out some new recipes soon!  I have this Paleo Diet cookbook on my Kindle that I downloaded for free from Amazon a few months ago.  I've been meaning to try out some of the recipes in there, and I think I'll start doing that!  Of course I will take you on this journey with me.  Someone warn Andy that there may be Eggplant ahead.  The eggplant is coming, THE EGGPLANT IS COMING!!

In other news, I have been struck down with my most despicable sickness I've had in a very long time.  It started on the 26th with a slightly sore throat, and here we are today, four days later, still feeling like death warmed over.  Also, as a bonus, I have this cough that sounds like I've been a smoker since I was five years old.  Hacking, they call it?  Nothing is lovelier than a young woman hacking her brains out and using 500 tissues in a day.  I've also got this ambient noise going in my ears that sounds something like "WHUMMP, WHUUUMP, WHUUUMP".  Awesome.

At least I'm not alone with my sickness.  According to my Facebook wall, approximately 75% of my friends and/or their children are sick as well.  What is it about Christmas and sickness?  Probably the fact that all these people are getting together at once and talking in each other's faces and hugging hello/goodbye?  Or maybe being in shopping malls with 10,000 other people, touching the same door handles...  Ew.  WHERE IS THIS POST GOING?!  Ok, anyway, because of this I had to cancel some get-together's and head back home a couple days early.  What a bummer.  Sorry everybody!

In any case, I am looking forward to New Years, my Birthday (in 5 days), finishing out this next semester at school, getting my Master's degree, and the rest of what 2013 will bring.  Oh yeah, I'm turning 30 this year too.  YAY!

Here's a sneek peak at what is ahead:

Cat Grass or "Oliver's Obsession"

Winter Gardening or "This basil refuses to die"

Venison Chili or "No one knooooows!"

What did you eat too much of this past week?  Let me know in the comments!  And don't forget to follow me on Facebook and Twitter!

Follow @QuinnStitch