More Seeds & the 1st GREEN!

Yesterday, I planted these after tilling in some purchased garden soil. ($5 a bag at Walmart)

This morning, I planted these, also in that new soil. 

And I was so excited to see the first bit of green popping up from the yellow squash hill!

Preparing the Soil & Planting

Today, I did some long-awaited work in my garden. Because I'm pregnant and it got too hot, I didn't finish it. But here's what I accomplished. 

I tilled the soil and added some fertilizer granules and mulch.

I soaked the soil and tilled it again to allow the moisture to seep down deeper. 

And I planted these:

Zucchini

Yellow Squash

Spinach

Iceberg Lettuce

Romaine Lettuce

I'm not quite sure about my soil. I think it is too sticky rather than nice and loose. I thought the sandy loam that I purchased last season would be better, but so far I am not too impressed by it. I hope that with added mulch, this soil can produce well. 

Fall 2011 Season Plans

I went through my blog archives to help me remember when I planted seeds for the Fall Season last year.

Of the many things I planted, here's what I want to plant again this year.

Last year, I planted:

Lettuce on Sept 24^th and Nov 23^rd

Snap Peas on Sept 24^th

Cilantro on Oct 8^th

Spinach on Oct 8^th

^{Also, this year, I want to plant some cherry tomato plants and try again with zucchini. I plan to plant my first seeds mid-late August depending on the weather. 
I have high hopes for a successful season in my garden.} 

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.