September Garden Update

I was so excited about all the new stuff in my garden last month.

The herbs were thriving and the flowers looked great,

but then a darn heat wave hit Los Angeles recently
and I ended up losing almost everything!

WOMP WOMP

While I do love having a garden on my balcony,
I've made the difficult decision and won't be keeping it up for now.
I don't have the time I used to have to keep it up,
and if I'm being honest it's become more of a chore than fun.

So with all the above said,
I won't be doing monthly updates after this one.
It's a little sad because my garden is what got this blog going,
but I'm looking forward to spending more time on cooking, baking and DIY projects.

Now that I have that outta the way,
let me show you how my poor little garden looks now!

Empty pots and window liners make me a little sad.

But I'm not getting rid or them or anything.

I have hopes that one day I'll have a garden again!

Maybe soon, maybe not - we'll see.

My basil is the last herb that's still around.

The heat knocked out all the rest sadly.

I almost got rid of the jalapeno plant,

but noticed a few new teeny tiny new leaves.

This plant has amazed me before,

so maybe, just maybe, it'll start producing again!

This could very well be the last jalapeno from my garden for awhile.

There haven't been any new buds or blossoms on the lemon tree in awhile,

but I'm hoping they start coming when the weather cools down a little more!

I know I say this every month...

but I am shocked by how big this Christmas tree is now!

It started so small and is just HUGE now!!!

And since this is the last garden post for some time,

I had to include my cute furry garden helpers!!!

August Garden Update!

Last month I mentioned I purchased new Coconut Liners
and was hoping to get new flowers to plant soon.
Well just a week or so after I published that post,
I made a trip to Home Depot for some new flowers!

The Home Depot flower (and herb) haul!!!

And all the new liners just waiting for new flowers to be planted!

I normally do a few different varieties of flowers...

But this time I went with just petunias in many different colors!

And I also replaced the liners/plants in my hanging baskets too!

I'm loving those lil purple flowers!

The marigolds I planted a few weeks ago are blooming like crazy!

And the gardenia plant is still going strong too.

This jalapeno plant continues to surprise me!

Keep the blooms and peppers coming please!

The basil plant I had was needing replaced,

so I brought this lil sucker home and it's already thriving!

And I know I say this every month now, but look at the Christmas Tree!

It's now HUGE and I can't wait to decorate it in December!

Slowly but surely, the lemon tree is filling out again.

And that one branch just keeps getting taller and taller.

I just picked FOUR lemons off the tree last week too.

And lastly is this amazing cactus!

I don't know if I've ever shared it,

but I've had it for years and it's HUGE too!!

As a reminder -

I will be blogging about garden updates 

every last day of each month.

It may not be a complete update each month,

but it will be about something in the garden.

So keep coming back to see what I have growing!

July Garden Update - 5 Favorites!

Happy last day of July you guys!!!

This month's garden update is extra special,

because it's a Five Friday Favorites post too!

Yup, a two for one on this fine Friday.

And like my usual Five Friday Favorite posts,

I'm linking up with THREE different groups.

Make sure to check them all out at the bottom of this post!

If you're new to the blog,
my garden is kinda what got this thing going,
but my cooking has sorta taken over for the most part.

A few months ago I made a point to post about my garden more.
And I even started a monthly garden update the last day of every month!
If you missed them, check out: March, April, May and June.

Ok - now onto the Five Friday Favorites Update!

Jalapeno Plant

When I posted last month's update,
I said I hadn't seen any buds or blooms recently.
Well wouldn't you know - I have a few of each now!!!

Lemon Tree

Last month I pruned the heck outta my Lemon Tree!
It it still looking pretty bare, but seems to be doing quite well.
I want more leaves already, but I know that will take some time.

Herb Garden

I recently added two new plants to the herb garden.
I hadn't had parsley for quite some time,
and I replaced the dying thyme plant I did have.

Coconut Liners

(Photo Source)
I haven't had liners in my window boxes for months!!!
In fact, I STILL don't, but I have new liners and that's the first step.
I'm hoping to have new flowers planted very soon!

Christmas Tree

Now that we're less than FIVE months from Christmas,
it's time for me to start thinking about the holidays
(I'm only partly joking folks...)
And I can't wait to decorate this monster again in a few months.

Now for more Friday Link Up Fun, check out the blogs below!

Andrea and Erika's blogs from Friday Favorites.

April's blog from 5 on Friday.

Karli and Amy's blogs from oh hey friday!

And lastly, as a quick reminder -

I will be blogging about garden updates 

every last day of each month.

It may not be a complete update each month,

but it will be about something in the garden.

So keep coming back to see what I have growing!

April Garden Update

When I posted my March Garden Update last month,

I mentioned that I was starting something new,  

where I post a Garden Update the last day of every month!

So since today is the last day of the month,

I have the April Garden Update for you!!!

Let me start off by saying how much I dislike caterpillars.

Yes -I know they turn into moths and beautiful butterflies,

but they also make gardening much more frustrating!

Need past proof?

Check here, here, here, here AND here.

To say I'm not a fan would be an understatement.

So you can bet I was super upset when I saw one eating my Thyme!

See that lil sucker towards the top left of the picture?

GRRRRRRR!

And shortly after I noticed another one eating my Oregano!

No, no, no.

Just no!!!

My poor, sad Oregano was done for.

Hope those leaves were tasty - 

since that was your last meal Mister Caterpillar!

Luckily they haven't found the jalapeno plant yet,

because it's still thriving and growing!

And look new pepper buds!

I thought there were only two at first...

But from another angle I noticed there were FIVE!!!

And then just a few days later,

a few of the buds had become flowers!

In last month's garden update, 

I thought for sure I'd have picked my first lemon.

Well sadly I was wrong!

They're so close - but still a little too green!

I was still hoping I'd get to pick the first one real soon!

Except to my surprise, there wasn't much picking!

Nope - just a few days after snapping the two previous photos,

I was outside watering and hardly touched the lemon when it fell off!

Not a giant lemon by any means,

but it's still my first homegrown lemon 

and one could say that I'm proud!!!

I was shocked again this past weekend.

 I found a second one that had fallen off as well.

C'mon lemonssssssssss!

Not only have I been able to pick some lemons, 

but the mums I bought in the Fall are blooming again too!

They've had buds for awhile, but only recently bloomed again!

While the mums are doing great, that's not the case for all my flowers.

I ripped out the dying flowers and their coconut liners

and hope to redo that area of my garden soon!!!

And last, but certainly not least - my gardenia bloomed!!!!

I've had this plant for over a year and it never flowered.

Not once. It'd get buds, but never any flowers!

I was in shock and couldn't get over how amazing it smells!

There are currently four other buds on the plant

and I hope they all become flowers too.

As a reminder -

I will be blogging about garden updates 

every last day of each month.

It may not be a complete update each month,

but it will be about something in the garden.

So keep coming back to see what I have growing!

My Poor Forgotten Garden

When I was talking to my mom recently, she said to me, 

"You haven't posted about your garden in awhile".

I know, it's been a long time - almost five months in fact,

but if I'm being honest there hasn't been THAT much to share.

Yes, I still have a garden growing on my balcony, 

but it's not what it used to be.

I'm pretty sure I'll always have fresh herbs

and I do enjoy the beauty of fresh flowers,

but I don't think I'll ever have "crops" growing

like I did when I first started this blog 

over FOUR YEARS ago!

So without rambling and saying much more,

let me show you what I do have growing  in my garden these days. 

Four different views of the balcony.

And of course a little appearance by Kahn!

My two balcony trees!

A lemon tree with FIVE lemons growing.

And my Christmas Tree from a few years ago.

It started off less than a foot tall,

and is now HUGE!

Can't wait to decorate it this Christmas!

A mixture of flowers.

And another mixture of flowers.

LOVE the dark purple pansies!

Some red geraniums with a cute little harvest sign.

And pink geraniums in hanging baskets.

My collection of Fresh Herbs!

I currently have the following in my garden:

Basil, Rosemary, Dill, Chives, Parsley, Oregano and Sage.

My jalapeno plant!

I thought I lost this one earlier in the year,

but then it came back and is doing so much better!

And I currently have a handful of peppers growing too!

A recent addition to the garden.

A Thai Chili Pepper plant.

I have yet to use the peppers,

but I'm betting they're HOT!!!

A mixture of other plants between the two trees.

I have two little mum plants (that aren't currently blooming),

two little gardenia plants that are very fickle and 

another that used to have flowers in in with some ground cover,

but I lost the flowers when the ground cover took over!

Oh and I can't forget!!!

One last thing before I go...

I MUST introduce you to someone!

With Halloween being just around the corner,

there's a little visitor in my garden!

Keep on reading to see who it is!

I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Ahhhhhhh!

Got'cha!!!

My hope is to return to posting about my garden more often,

at least more often than every five months that is!