Monday, May 24, 2010

My garden - it is a-growin'!

Well, my garden is growing away, which I'm quite pleased with.  I even have two yellow boy tomatoes tomatoing (yes, that is a word ... at least it is now.)  Some of the leaves of that plant are turning yellow, though, and I can't determine if it's not enough sun or too much water.  We had a big rain yesterday and it got a drenching.  I think I'll let it dry out a bit and see if that helps (I also just added some organic fertilizer.)

That's the Yellow Boy on the left with the Riesentraube cherry tomato right next to it.  A pathetic and gangly lettuce is next and then my perennial failure: rosemary.  Bought a start last year and killed it, got a plant for Christmas last year and killed it, and these were cuttings.  They are dead.  I don't think I'm destined to grow rosemary. I've got several basil plants in the rust colored planter that are doing well.  Basil, at least, doesn't hate me!


You can see two of the basil (a LOT more of my basil seeds germinated than I intended, so lots of fresh basil this summer and then some yummy pesto in the fall.  Mmmm.   Next to the basil is my cilantro, which I grew from seeds.  I'm really proud of the cilantro, actually, as it's my bunnies' preferred green and it's so darned expensive if purchased at the store (and never lasts very long, either!)  I've got a hanging pot full of it (along with a volunteer basil which apparently came from last year's basil bolting as it's a different type than this year's). 

These are two of the Thai Striped White Eggplant that were free seeds from the seed company.  I wasn't so sure they'd survive at first, and I don't think they're going to get enough direct sunlight, but there wasn't really any reason not to plant them.  The leaves have a bit of fuzziness - less than an African Violet, but almost the same texture.  It's very interesting and I'm anxious to see how they turn out.  As I've never had this type of eggplant, I'm curious how it'll look and taste!


My Sugar Snap Snow Peas are growing gangbusters!  They're already outgrowing the trellises I bought the other weekend at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, so I don't quite know what I'm going to do next.   Down at the bottom there's the beans - not sure if they're the blue lake bush or the golden wax, as I forget what I planted where.  It'll be fun to find out, though!

In other garden-y news, my garlic seems to be doing well, but the lack of 100% direct sunlight may hurt my crop.  If I even get one bulb, I'll be tickled, honestly.  There's only so much a girl can do with a teeny porch, after all!  My sage is growing well, too, and I have new tenants.

If you recall from last year, I was slightly concerned (okay more than slightly when they swooped down near my head) by the barn swallows that took up residence on my porch.  Well, they returned this year, and after a few days of discouragement, I gave in and admitted that Mother Nature had won.  Barn Swallows: 1, BunnyChick: 0.

Things were going along fairly well for several days.  They remembered their part of the bargain - don't kill me - and I remembered mine - don't bother them.  It was working out well.  Imagine my surprise when I go out one morning to water the plants and I find, not my friends the barn swallows, but rather two mourning doves, who had built their nest on TOP of the mud nest of the barn swallows.  For those who aren't familiar, mourning doves are a great deal bigger than barn swallows.  And they've got beady eyes.  It seems like the swallows gave the doves the low down on the Do Not Kill The Human agreement, but I'm still wary.  f

And sad to say, I miss my barn swallows.