Over the last few days, although I haven’t posted, I’ve gotten a good bit done.

I got the sage and more of the tomato seedlings planted, as well as the marjoram and some of the chamomile.  I also gave the Tree tomatoes their first big pruning (the Bonnie Grape and Better Boy, anyway, the Romas are determinate) once I was satisfied they’d settled after transplanting.  Two of the suckers from the Bonnie Grape were so large that I hated just tossing them aside, so I stuck them in water to see if they would root — and boy oh boy have they!  Less than four days in now, and their roots are nearing an inch long already.

I’ve also been harvesting away from the AeroGarden.  Another batch of basil and lemon basil dried, as well as mint, dill and globe basil.  In addition, I’ve used each of those (except the mint) fresh in meals, as well as parsley from both the window garden and the outside planters.  There is something incredibly satisfying and almost magical about going outside to pick the herbs for that night’s dinner!

 

So, now, for the promised pictures!  As always, click on the thumbnails to see the full sized picture and a more detailed description.

 

It’s definitely been another busy day!

I bought and put in some little solar yard lights and a couple of rainbow pinwheels, hoping they might keep the squirrels away.  Unfortunately, they backfired somewhat…  the neighbor’s adorable little black lab puppy dug up half the planter of parsley I planted yesterday in an effort to ‘attack’ the pinwheel!  I just can’t win!

I did get the rest of the thyme planted, and the jalapenos.  Two of the peppers are in a little oval planter in the window inside, and the other six are in an outside 18″ planter (slightly smaller than most of the others).

I was getting ready to plant the sweet bell peppers, then realized I’m almost out of soil..  again.  So, I will wait until next week to plant those, as they will need a lot of soil, and I’m not sure I have enough.

I can’t decide what is the next highest priority to get planted.  I think probably the sage, but I can’t decide what to plant them in.  I suppose one of the 24″ planters for now, then I can transplant them again later if they get too big for it.  Sage is recommended to have like 2-4 square feet of soil per plant, but that’s an awful lot of soil for what is right now itty bitty little plants.

 

I also finished drying the basil and lemon basil from last night.  I chopped them into smallish pieces and then dried them on paper-towel covered cookie sheets in the oven.  I kept switching it on to ‘warm’ until I could just begin to smell the lemon basil, then switched it off for an hour or so, repeated over the evening, and one final round this morning since I wasn’t satisfied they were completely dry.  I got quite a bit!  And this is after taking out a bunch for the spaghetti last night, and it won’t be long before the next harvesting from the AeroGarden!

Dried Basil

Oven-Dried Basil and Lemon Basil

I spent all afternoon, from lunch until long after I should have been cooking dinner (oops!) planting seedlings.. and have almost as many still left to plant tomorrow!

I added marigolds, basil, and thyme to the upper bays on the tomato tree and topped it off with soil, then fertilized and watered it.

I got another outdoor planter of parsley, of basil, and of thyme planted today.  Tomorrow I need to do another of thyme, and possibly one of oregano – they are big enough in that they have three ‘real’ leaf sets, but baby oregano plants are so tiny that I’m afraid I’d lose them!

Then, I also need to plant my peppers, both sweet bell and jalapeno, and maybe my baby cherry tomatoes.  I can’t decide if I should go ahead and plant the tomatoes, or wait for them to grow a bit more so I can bury more stem when I transplant them.  I’m just not sure how much more they will grow in the little seed-starter pellets.

Once I get all the tomatoes planted, the marigolds will need to go in around them.  The chamomile is almost ready for planting, too.  Two of the sage are, but I think those will wait until I can plant them all at the same time.

 

I did get to use a lot of those nice fresh herbs from the AeroGarden in a big batch of spaghetti tonight.  It was very yummy!

 

I also found a great place to dry my herbs!  It’s in a window, but it only gets about half an hour of direct sunlight a day.  If it turns out that that is too much, I will find another spot, but this is so great:

Well, after being gone for a week, I think most of today will be spent trying to recuperate my poor plants.  Justin was here until Thursday and took reasonably good care of my gardening, but even three days unattended (and the things he did not know to do) has left me plenty of fix-it work.

The big tray of seedlings was completely dried out; the herbs are happy enough still, but the little tomatoes are completely wilted.  I watered it really well, so hopefully the tomatoes will perk back up.  Several of the herbs are about ready to be planted, I think.

The Aerogarden plants have mostly grown up into the hood, and the two tall basils and the dill are burned on top.  I lifted the hood a notch and will harvest and freeze the basil shortly, as well as one of the window garden basil plants.

My other tomato plants are doing rather well, which is quite a relief.  The planter and topsy-turvy romas have perked up a bit and I think they may survive after all.  The tomato tree roma is a bit browned to the point of several ‘crispy’ leaves, but it also has good green growth, so I’m not too worried about it.  The Better Boy in the tree is green and happy, and the Bonnie Grape is actually putting out flower buds already!

The small seed tray is the biggest disappointment.  Quite a few of the seedlings have died.  It looks like some sort of fungus or something got in there.  Two of the four Forget-Me-Nots that came up are dead already, as well as two marjoram and one or two marigolds.  Two of the lavender seeds are also covered in fuzz, though one of them (not fuzzy) finally sprouted.  I’ll just have to try again with Lavender and Forget-Me-Nots.

The outside herbs and strawberries and wildflowers are all chugging along happily…  nothing especially positive or negative with any of them.

 

All told, it could have been much worse I think.

Since I am busily getting ready for Gulf Wars next week, I didn’t get much done in the garden today.

I did, however, get my five tomato plants fertilized (three in the tomato tree, one in a topsy turvy, and one in a big pot).

Much more exciting, though — I seasoned dinner tonight with the first herbs from the garden!  Basil and dill from the AeroGarden, and parsley from the window garden.  Very exciting…  and very yummy!

Being as I am just beginning this garden blog, but my garden is already underway for the year, I thought a baseline post would be a good idea, so you can see where I am starting from.

 

(click on the thumbnails to see the full image, and click a second time to see the full size)

 

Welcome web travelers!  This blog will be my go-to spot for all things to do with the garden – primarily my own, of course, but also tips, tricks, how-to’s and other short articles.

I look forward to sharing my wonder and love of the garden and all the gifts it has to give with you, and hopefully help us both get the most out of our efforts!

© 2012 Gifts of the Garden Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha