Cabbage Harvest

My cabbage harvest included 3 small heads of cabbage. I haven't been feeling well lately, so it took me a while to harvest them and because of that, they had a stronger flavor than store bought. I am happy that we got something from that long time of growing and watering.

I finally dedicated a morning to clearing out the old plants in my garden that either were not producing, had died or began to seed themselves (cilantro and lettuce). It was a lot of work and filled half the trash can with roots and plants. All that is left now are three Roma tomato plants and they seem to be happily producing fruit for us.

I accidentally picked one of the most red ones while touching it to look at it. We haven't tried it yet, but I hope it is delicious and full of homegrown tomato flavor!



Cabbage and Romas

So, I realized that my last post titled "Giving Up" was slightly depressing. I haven't given up on gardening all together, just the seeds that I planted for the Spring season. My cabbage is still developing from the Fall season. The Roma tomatoes are growing too, which gets me excited. We eat a lot of tomatoes in our house, so I hope we can get really delicious tomatoes this season for a while.

3 tomato plants

Growing Romas

Giving up

I'm sad to say it, but only a few corn seeds grew to a few inches tall. The zucchini, roma tomato, cherry tomato and watermelon seeds did NOTHING! So, this past week I gave up on all of them, since a few stalks of corn isn't enough to pollinate and produce anyways. No more wasting water on those seeds. They may have been old seeds (although they were just purchased last year) or the soil may have not kept in moisture well enough for them to be planted on hills.
My tomato and strawberry plants that I purchased are doing well and those will be my success this season. :)
The cabbage from the winter season is still growing and I am still hoping for some cabbage soon, it looks like it is forming in the centers of 4-5 plants.
Cilantro and lettuce are also still edible and I use them frequently. The peas stopped producing this past week and I believe that's because it started getting too warm for them. I am happy with what I got from the sweet pea vines.

Slow Seeds

I am not sure exactly why the seeds I planted weeks ago haven't made too much progress yet. There are 6 or 7 corn seedlings popping up just in the last few days, but no zucchini, watermelon or tomatoes yet (possibly due to cat and bird problems.) Which brings me to another point. The Cat Scat plant that I purchased with high hopes has let me down. The cats in my neighborhood must like the smell instead of being repelled by it because it seems that the digging and pooping has actually increased since placing that plant there.

We'll see what progress comes with the seeds this coming week. I am glad that I purchased the tomato and strawberry plants so I can have a little success this season. I caged the 3 tomato plants this past week and they all look healthy.

Lots of Lettuce

It is great to have fresh lettuce in the garden! I really wasn't all that excited about planting lettuce, but it is much more rewarding than I anticipated. It is so much more fresh than anything I can buy at the store and it has such great flavor. I am excited about my lettuce. I have been using it slowly over several weeks now and still have several bunches to use up before it gets too hot.

Here is a large bunch of romaine lettuce that I used this past weekend for a great salad.

Also, my sweet pea vines are doing great with this nice warm weather we have been having. I get several pea pods off of it daily. They hardly ever make it inside the house before I eat them, but here is a handful that made it inside one day.

Scarecrows & Cat Scat Plant

In my many efforts to overcome pests in my garden, I have learned a few things. 

Scarecrows really do keep many BIRDS from pestering (and destroying) newly-planted seeds and seedlings. This guy has been in my garden through rain and shine for about a year now. He lost his pants and legs in a recent storm, but he's still smiling. 

And as for CATS...

There are a lot of them around our house (none are ours) and they LOVE soft garden soil to leave their unwelcome and toxic poops in. And it's not just the feces, but they also dig up seeds and seedlings in the process.

 After many attempts to make this area unpleasant for them, I came across this Cat Scat plant (also at Whitfill Nursery for $2.99) and planted it in a small pot so I can move it around the garden and yard. It smells faintly of a skunk, but it doesn't bother me. I have seen improvements already, but will report back after a long-term trial of this plant as a cat repellent. 

Strawberries

I went to Whitfill Nursery the other day and bought 3 tiny strawberry plants and 3 small Roma tomato plants. I planted them all in the garden after making room by taking out all of my slow-growing carrots. Here are my new additions to the garden.

3 Tomato plants in semi-sunny location

2 Strawberry plants in sunny location

In the next few days, I will give each tomato plant it's own tomato cage to help them grow big and under control. I also need to research these strawberry plants to see if I should allow fruit to grow in the first season, or pinch them off to allow the plant to focus on growing larger and stronger. Always more to learn.