the first harvest

The weather has been so great for gardening this summer. Lots of sun, nice and hot, and a good amount of rain. It feels muggy outside to me but to my plants its like a greenhouse. So, needless to say, they just keep getting bigger and bigger. A week or so ago I actually spotted the first edible things coming to life in my garden. Baby green beans! Today about a handful of them were large enough to pick and eat! Also, some of my sunflowers actually survived the transplant. They have grown to about 4 feet tall so far and two of them have opened up! Not only exciting but pretty! The tomato plants have gotten quite large and are just starting to flower. Hopefully soon some tomatoes will start to grow. And of course the pumpkin and watermelon plants are still going crazy. You really do need tons of space when you grow these. The vines are so long and grow every which way. Some of mine are crawling up and over the garden fence. I have definitely had to do a little trimming.

ready for your close up?

here are some close up pictures of everything!


green beans

sunflowers

pumpkins

cilantro

carrots

tomatoes

more tomatoes

watermelons

pumpkins, and melons, and vines, oh my!

Yes, it is sad but true. Over the weekend I had to part with several of my watermelon and pumpkin plants. I had no idea they would all sprout or that they got so large. I have downsized to about six of each, and I may still have to find homes for a few more. I didn't just toss the others aside in the trash, I posted an ad on craigslist.org and sent them all to new homes. Now the garden is flourishing with life and not being completely taken over with vines and leaves.

making progress

Well, my little garden is actually coming along quite well, as far as I can tell that is. Most of the tomato plants survived being separated and are getting a lot bigger. The pumpkins, watermelons, and green beans have all sprouted quite quickly and are looking good. I will definitely have to part with a few of the watermelon and pumpkin plants since they are growing like weeds and are going to take up more space than I anticipated. oops! I made a small discovery the other day, though. I was worried about the incident with my dog getting into the garden. I thought maybe she spread around some of the seeds, and possibly everything was growing everywhere. It turns out everything is in place, all of the vegetables are much easier to identify at this point. The leaves of the cilantro just formed and are very recognizable. Whew! For a while there I couldn't tell what were weeds and what wasn't.
Speaking of weeds, I have been weeding the garden about once a week and turning up the soil around the plants with my hand rake. I have also been watering every evening and occasionally in the morning if time permits before I leave for work. It's so nice to see all of the plants growing more each day, and to think that just a few weeks ago they were nothing but seeds!

pictured from top to bottom: watermelon, beans, pumpkins, sunflowers

at last!

The garden is 100% complete! Today I planted the last item, a row of beans. Then I weeded around the existing seedlings, and watered it all. The first batch of seeds that I planted a little earlier are all starting to come up! Onions, carrots, sunflowers, tomatoes, and cilantro, everything except the basil so far, oh and the garlic...I can't really tell if its doing much of anything at this point. The other day I finished spreading out and blending the organic gardening soil, then I planted the rest of the watermelon and pumpkin seeds. I'm not sure if I left quite enough room, since I just read that their vines grow up to 10 feet and take up a good amount of space! I also dug up my tomato plants and gently separated the roots, then re-planted them in smaller groups. I will need some poles for the beans and also some cages for the tomatoes when they both get a little bigger. Until next time.