Sweet Sunday

Oh Sunday, how I love you. Since I work all Saturday, Sunday is the start of my weekend. I wake up super early to play on the computer and run errands; I'm like a little kid who struggles to get to school at 8am but then darts out of bed at 6am Saturday to watch cartoons.
After checking the weather forecast I decided that today would be great for gardening! Hopefully I'll be able to dig out some more space and get my cucumbers and radishes in the ground today! The image at the top of the page is my attempt at drawing up a garden layout. The circles represent marigolds and the rounded squares are predicted planting spots.
What do you think? Does it need some work?

Buddy Time

My buddy Chad came to visit the other day! I haven't seen this guy in YEARS! Five years, to be exact. We parted ways in Kansas City; he moved to central Missouri and I moved to Florida. This past month, he decided to take some long over-due vacation time and bounced between Tennessee and Sarasota. From Sarasota he came south a bit to see me on Thursday! It was great seeing him, but sad that his visit was so short.
Well, fantastic news - he's coming back down again today! Can't wait to see him (again!)

I spent the morning working in my garden, trying to dig out some more space and drawing up plans for various seedling areas. It's a bit frustrating, because I'm dealing with existing crops that may or may not be companion plants with the seedlings. For instance, the dill can go next to the corn, onion, and cucumbers, but needs to stay away from the carrots and tomatoes.
Fingers crossed I get it right!

Gardening Again

So I've gotten the hang of this gardening thing. I've already taken seeds from my first harvest and started a batch for fall. They've gotten so big, I had to re-plant most of them already. I'll have to get to the rest today.

Here's some of my cherry tomatoes:

And my cherry peppers:

I also started a pineapple:

And here's my Mug O the Day!

It's an old souvenier from our local zoo here in West Palm Beach.

Well, it's been awhile since I blogged regularly. Mostly I blame Twitter, but I had a busy week. Several custom orders hit me at once (yay!) and I finally finished the watermelon zebra sandals!

And my mad gardening skills: These ones are cherry peppers. The larger one is about the size of a golf ball.Bell peppers. Two different plants.

My Cosmos have finally started to flower:Unfortunately, I'm having trouble with my lemon cukes. They form small buds like these:...and then they fall off and die. From what I've read this should be the perfect time of the year, but it's not fruiting :(
Is it not getting pollinated properly?
Also, my sugar snap peas are being the wusses of my garden. they seem to adore full sun but can't stand the rain. One of my biggest plants has started to turn yellow and brown and shriveling up, and the only thing I can attribute it to is the wet weather.
Darn it.
Ah, well, I did manage to gather enough leafy greens this morning to make myself a salad for lunch. Woo-hoo!Eating my veggies!

vegetables

So, my garden has been growing...

My bell peppers are coming in:
And what is (I thought) a banana pepper, but I just picked it and fed it to my cousin and he says it's defintily not a banana pepper, so I dunno. I planted a variety, so I'm not sure what's what.

And some artichoke:
My cherry tomatoes!
AND.... guess what?? My Mr. Stripey transplants have sprouted their own tomatoes! I have two Mr. Stripeys!!

It's gardening time again!
The weather is nice and my plants are growing. I've had to re-plant most of the peppers and all of the sugar snap peas. Today I hope to work on some cherry tomatoes.
My Basil, here at 33 days. And I found the evil-doer who has been eating the leaves and removed him!My Stripey tomato has some blossoms!

The cherry tomatoes at 21 days. Some of them are over six inches now and I want to try re-planting at least one of them into the ground.

My Sugar snap peas at 21 days. this was right before I replanted them all.
And my lemon cucumber. Man, has he grown - also 21 days.
And finally, my cilantro - at 33 days!I'm still having issues with caterpillars eating my spinach. Does anyone have any natural pesticide knowledge or recipes?

Garden update

The weather is lovely today and since I completed my errands early, I'm going to spend some time planning the re-planting of my seedlings. My spinach, at 21 days, is out-growing it's starter container!

The cilantro, also at 21 days, is starting to look delicious!
I had to re-plant my onions and, at a week old, they've started to sprout!
My sugar snap peas, at 8 days, are HUGE! They will definitely need to be replanted soon.And my peppers, at 21 days, are doing well, but seem a bit stunted.Okay, well, I'm off to plan and plant!

Gardening Time!

For some reason I got bit by the gardening bug yesterday. We have oodles of seeds and lots of little pots and plenty of soil and good weather - the only thing missing is the green thumb. So I called several of my friends who have already delved into the planting season this year and began my little garden.
I always screw up tomatoes so I didn't even try this year, but I managed to plant some spinach, yellow onions, garlic, and peppers. My little sister started some poppies and broccoli.
I also planted some random flowers in the soil bed along our house (next to my lady friend in the corner there) but my mother's dog seems to hate the idea and dug them all up earlier. And then it rained.My goal for the next few weeks is to kill as little as possible. then I may move up to loftier goals, like transplanting them into the ground.