How The Garden Changes In A Week...

Since my garden has been growing like CRAZY, I thought it'd be interesting to document the progress in a week. The first pictures were taken last Saturday afternoon, and the second ones were taken just yesterday. Take a look below to see all the changes that have happened in just seven days!

Three pretty poppies.

Now only one. 

But the good news -

I saw more buds today!!! 

Pretty window boxes...

are really filling out!

I love marigolds! 

And they tend to grow so well!

This was right after planting.

Thriving a week later!

Basil, parsley and mint growing like crazy.

And still doing well even with using most of the parsley!

More herbs doing amazing!

Rosemary, oregano, sage, dill and thyme.

Still doing amazing for the most part...

But this stupid caterpillar thought he was invited to enjoy my sage!

Stupid caterpillar!!! 

I hate them and hope this was the last I see of them this Summer.

Oh hello huge jalapeno plant!

And hello TINY praying mantis too!!!

It just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger!!!

It had 22 peppers on it at last count and I'm sure there are even more now.

My poor tomato plant is not living up to my expectations.

But it does have this one awesome bunch!

Looking a little better this week, so there's hope!

When will they start to ripen!?! 

They're getting SO big for cherry tomatoes...

The raspberry plant had a berry last week...

And the blueberry plant is growing like a weed!

Sadly, it was too hot and the raspberry didn't make it! 

But the blueberry plant continued to grow like crazy.

And the carrots are BEGGING to be thinned.

Yup, still begging...

I've been a little busy (hence the lack of posts).

The lime tree is THRIVING!!!!

And I cannot believe it's gotten so big!

Check back for more garden updates in the not to distant future! 

Garden Transitions

With the seasons changing, my garden is going through some changes too.  The tomatoes are almost done producing for the season, the jalapeno plants currently have peppers on them - but I think this is the last batch of the season and almost ALL of my herbs are gone.  I'll hopefully getting more Fall/Winter friendly herbs in the next few weeks.  

Tomato Plants

Jalapeno Plants

Rosemary

Parsley

I lost most of my basil recently to something, but I'm not sure what!  I noticed the munches and holes in the leaves, but after talking to a friend and doing some research thought it was maybe the beginning of a fungus! While I was disappointed about that, I was even more upset when I found DROPPINGS on three of the leaves yesterday. These weren't tiny either so whatever is eating my basil is rather large! I got rid of almost everything because I didn't want to take any chances.  Sadly, I don't think it will come back this late in the year either.

I've mentioned my problems with aphid this year in previous posts. They first attacked my shallots, forcing me to get rid of them completely. I then noticed them on my chives, forcing me to get rid of them as well! While cleaning up my balcony yesterday, I saw the little suckers on not only the last of my green onions, but on my newly sprouted garlic too! GRRRRRRR!!! I was forced to get rid of the green onions, but I didn't want to sacrifice the garlic too so I just trimmed all the shallots down to the soil and am hoping for the best...

Last but not least, the carrots. I'm sure they're nothing but tiny little roots at this point, but I'm holding out hope that I'll get something from them! 

An Unexpected Visitor

A few weeks ago I noticed tiny little holes on some of the leaves on my jalapeno plants. After removing the leaves and watching them for awhile, those seemed to go away. That culprit was gone, but soon after I noticed something else was eating the leaves! I pulled off the leaves that were munched on and hoped it was a fluke and I'd be smooth sailing from then on.  Well - I was wrong, the bite marks continued and more and more leaves were being eaten. GGGGRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

Last Sunday I'd had enough and I decided it was time to bust out the Bt again this year. I could only hope it was a caterpillar that was doing the damage. Whatever the culprit - it was eating the leaves of my pepper plants so the chances were good and after doing some research I can tell you that Bt kills most leaf eating caterpillars.

My suspicions were confirmed on Monday evening when I was watering my garden after work. After watering a windoxbox with flowers I turned around and was surprised to see a rather dark caterpillar on one jalapeno leaf munching on another leaf! I screamed like a little girl and didn't want to go NEAR it, but knew I had to.  

After calling a friend, breathing deep and calming down a little - I grabbed a pair of tongs, my pruners and got rid of the sucker! I wassssssssss going to kill it, but decided not to be a caterpillar killer and just threw it off my balcony floating on the leaf.  It may have died in the end - it's a long fall and all - but I didn't cut it in half like I'd originally planned.  Hey - it was an unwanted visitor after all!

I've checked every day, sometimes twice a day, and there are no new signs of caterpillars! I think the one I did find would have died anyway due to the Bt, but it wasn't dead when I found it.  I'm hoping the spray worked and I'll keep you updated if there are any signs of caterpillars returning!  

Bye Bye Radishes!

Goodbye, Farewell, Adios, Sayonara, Ciao, Au Revoir Radishes!

If you haven't figured it out by now...

I'll tell ya!

Just this evening, I said goodbye to my radishes only a few weeks after planting them. :( 

I recently noticed a few tiny holes in the green leaves and kept my eye on them. Sure enough, just a few days later more holes appeared and on more leaves! UGGGGGH. Bugs! 

I did a little research and think the culprit is a flea beetle, but I'm not 100% sure. During the research I found out that the flea beetle likes multiple different plants - two of which I know I'm growing. I quickly made the decision that I'd get rid of the radishes!  Not only was my success very poor the last time I planted radishes, but I care about my two tomato plants and four jalapeno plants MUCH more than I care about the radishes. 

Sorry to break it to ya radishes - but ya just weren't THAT important...

Even though the radishes rank lower on my plant hierarchy, it was sad to see them go.

I'm sure I'll try them again sometime soon, but maybe wait until Im done with my tomatoes and jalapenos.

And hey - it'll be my third attempt at growing radishes (You know the old saying, "Third time's a charm!"...) so maybe losing them now will work out in the long run!