A wall of ... tomatoes?

My new trellis at 3' high

So I thought I was going to have some tomato plants.  You know, some San Marzanos and Romas.  No big deal. I started them from seeds and didn't think they'd do much.  In fact, I gave a lot of plants I started to other people as they began to get true leaves to spread my happys.

I planted the last few in my 2 x 4 box not expecting the plants that have been showing up this week!  So right now

That meant time to start building a trellis.  I had the smaller CPVC pipes as poles for the beans on the other side of the box wall, so it was time to think through what to do for my tomatoes.  Right now I've got a basic trellis built that I can add onto as they grow larger.  I wove the plants through the poles for now.  Like everything, it's up for modification and redesign as I go along.

Humungous Jarrahdale leaves

Since my focus was on the three sisters/tomato box today, I went to check on the 3 sisters side of things.  Remember that little bitty Jarrahdale pumpkin seedling given to me a couple of weeks ago?  The leaves are 8" long right now and getting bigger!  Holy Shamoley!!!  I was pretty excited about that when I saw them.

Then, of course,  I began to wonder about just how big do these leaves get?  I know the fruit is supposed to get that large, but the leaves?  It makes me wonder how our garden at the school is doing.  I'll have to go into school this week and see how it's doing and post some photos for them in our electronic classroom.  If my garden is any indicator, it's rolling gangbusters too.

I hope.

After the severe weather passes, I'll spend a lot of time this week trying to figure out how better to drain my tomatoes in buckets on the deck.  I drilled drainage holes, which have been fine but we had a couple of severe storms roll through this weekend and some more predicted for today (friends on the other side of the city are reporting cool electrical storms and posting rainbow photos).  Right now I have a tarp over them because the soil is saturated!  My herbs are OK because there's a couple of inches space at the bottom of the pot for drainage and overflow.  I'm not sure if I can repot them right now, but I may need to pick up an upsadaisy to create that space and overflow reservoir to keep that from happening again.  It may just be a note I need to take for next year.  We'll see.  We'll see.

Good fences make good neighbors?

Before with wooden gate

After, with PVC gate

Having replaced one fence, it was time to start moving across the lot and replace the next one.  So today I replaced the gate of, what has become, my main plot.  

It doesn't seem like a lot; however, it makes a difference in so many ways.  The wooden gate was in bad shape and needed to be replaced.  This one now swings fully and easily and is actually somewhat lighter.  I may stop there for now as the last bit of fencing is pretty solid.  

But it was running into the person who has the plot next time mine today.  She has been MIA this season and I thought maybe she was gone, but it turns out her husband had surgery and she's been caring for him.  I helped her attack some of the weeds and lent her my rake to make it easier on her.  I told her that I was going to start weeding her plot next week because some of the mint is now large enough to be shading my plants.  I will make sure to hit up some of her plot when I'm down there working going forward.

I think about how my garden failed last year because of being on the road for three weeks.  It feels good to give someone a hand.  I love my garden, it has become such a place of joy for me.  I hope others feel the same about their gardens.

Speaking of surprises, this was a good one.  I went in to water my corn and squash and found beans and some lovely blossoms on my bean plants.  I'm not just growing food here, I'm growing confidence and love.

❤️ 

Squash Blossoms!

Squash and cukes

Squash flowers

So I looked at my garden today and couldn't feel anything but happiness.  On March 29th, three months ago, I started my garden. Today there was nothing but green and growing plants everywhere.  I'm happy and excited and amazed.  I have corn that's hip high (what's the old saying?  Knee high by the fourth of July?).  

My tomato plants are strong and healthy and need to be trellised.  I have carrots, radishes, beets, peppers, and pumpkins I grew from seed along with the tomatoes and corn.

Three Sister Garden

And the garlic! The garlic is going strong and making more garlic while all the varieties of squash are flowering. 

Garlic Bulbs

Oh, my squash!  It made me dance and sing and jump around (a lot easier now that I'm down to a brace from Das Boot).  I even did a little watercolor sketch of my first squash blossoms.  I'm already dreaming of how to pick them, stuff and cook them into a tasty treat right after I'm sure the female blossoms are pollinated. 

I can't believe how my plants are growing and thriving.  It's really exciting. 

Now some stuff isn't so exciting.  For example, the other day I rebuilt the gate I rolled through by building a new one using PVC pipes.  I figured out that a 1" PVC pipe fits nicely over a piece of half-inch pipe to make a pivot for the gate to open in and out. 

My new PVC gate ❤️

I zip tied the mesh to the frame and used some zip ties looped together to make a latch to hold the gate closed.  I cut the piece to replace my other gate and will frame the other pieces in my garden to replace the weakened wood with PVC.  I'm kind of feeling ... I don't know, badass?

Yeah, badass

I know I still need to make some adjustments and such, but I keep surprising myself with what I am capable of doing with this little piece of land. I'm already planning on what will go in for a fall crop when I harvest the beets in the next week or two (if they follow the schedule the seed company says between planting and harvesting; however, they still look like little bitties to me).   I see the tops of my carrots, parsnips and Parisian carrots all getting bigger each day and know that they will start being close to harvest before I know it.

March 29, 2019

June 27, 2019

If you had asked me three months ago what I expected out of my garden,  I would have shrugged and told you what I hoped for but I wouldn't have believed that it would turn out better than my dreams.

Three Sisters

The three sister garden is the 4x4 sections of the 4x6x12" box.  The smaller section has my tomatoes and I planted some carrots and parsnips in there as well.

I started the tomatoes a while back as seeds and now they are starting to really grow.

❤️❤️

It makes me excited to think that they got this far.  As I've said before, I've never really grown things from seed like this before and it's truly exciting to see things growing!

See how pretty it looks!   It won't be long before there are lovely tomatoes starting to blossom and grow for me to cook up into a sauce or something wonderful to eat.

I noticed some of the carrots I planted a couple of weeks ago starting to poke through the soil.  They aren't really there yet,  but they will be there soon enough.  When that happens, you can be sure I'll be jumping up and down and squealing like a crazy lady. 

Then there's the corn in the big box.   It's really starting to shoot up and the beans are starting to poke through a little.   One thing I know about beans is that once they start going, they really get going.  But the exciting thing was seeing my pumpkin leaves.  When I planted the single seed in the other box to see what would happen, it took a couple of weeks.   These ones were, "Dude, where's the sun at?" and popped up so quickly.   I'm going to have to do some more thought and research, but the idea of the three sister garden is truly exciting.  If it all works out, then this will be a fun late summer/early fall feast.

The Plant Annex

Tomato #1

It's not just my garden plot where things are popping up and growing.  I have expanded to the deck outside the kitchen as well.

I planted some lettuce last week in a window box that is hanging on my deck railing.  They're popping up like anything!

Lettuce!

Today I planted my first container tomatoes for the deck.  I picked up a couple of seedlings at the local strawberry festival yesterday.  I'll have to pick up some soil down at my garden to fill my other bucket so I can plant the other one.  I am setting up a ceramic planter that was left behind by the previous occupant here at the house for some herbs - basil, oregano, thyme, and such.  This way I can just grab what I need from the deck when I'm cooking and need fresh herbs.

The woman at the festival also gave me a Jarrahdale Pumpkin seedling.  Jarrahdales produce a blue-skinned pumpkin with orange fruit.  They are originally from Australia and are a cross between a blue hubbard squash and Cinderella pumpkin.  I planted it in my three sister garden today along with some sugar pie pumpkin and some bean seeds.  It should be cool to have some odd stuff popping up.  I hope that I get some good fruit so I can save the seeds for next year.

And still they grow!

Everything keeps growing and I'm so happy!  The cucumbers, zucchini, and summer squash are really starting to grow.  My pumpkins are starting to really sprout. The eggplants are getting huge and carrots! Oh, the carrots!  The Parisians are starting pop up more and more leaves. The beets are popping up, even my banana peppers are finally sprouting.

❤️

The garlic has flowered and the chives are still popping flowering.  It's green and lush and growing and all I want to do is dance and sing whenever I am there.  It's almost time to start harvesting my rainbow chard.

Rainbow chard (which seems rather appropriate for PRIDE month) is something I never thought to grow and yet, here it is popping up with large leaves and colorful stems and tempting me.

Of course with a cast to my knee, dancing is a bit of a problem.

Over in the big box, my corn is sprouting!  I should be able to plant my beans in about a week and then the other squash and pumpkins.   One new addition was a gift from a woman at the  Topsfield gardening club today.  She gave me a blue pumpkin plant.  I would plant it in the garden at school; however, I don't know how often someone will get in there to water and care for it.  I will bring the pumpkins into school once they are ready for harvest (and save seeds for next year).  The San Marzanos are thriving and I'll have to trellis them shortly.

❤️ Overall, the garden is really starting to grow and thrive and I am over the moon.  ❤️

Growing the seeds I'm sowing...

Was it really only three weeks ago I planted my pumpkin, beets, and Parisian carrots?  Look at them now!

I am wicked excited about the beets. I never really grew stuff from seeds before and that things are growing.  Already I'm thinking about how I can turn them into salads and pickle them and a million and one other things because BEETS!!!!

Last week's seedlings are really stepping up their game to be part of this garden.  I mean, just look at those cukes and squash just taking to the soil and being all happy in there.  It's like they aren't going to let their seeded buddies across the way from them get all the excitement and glory.  A few have started playing on the trellis netting, which is cool too.  I can't believe this is so green and full and happy right now.

Then I noticed my garlic is starting to flower along with my chives.  The marigolds I got on clearance at Lowes that were almost dead?  Yeah, one has a lovely bloom and some of the others are starting to push out buds.  I am now at that point where I'm going to be handing garlic off to people to start growing their own as well.  It's growing and thriving and now I just need to know the right time to harvest some to make wonderful food. 

I can't help but be excited about all of this.  The whole idea that I am growing food and such makes me want to jump up and down with joy.