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!

June Garden Update

A month ago when I posted my May Garden Update,

I mentioned that I was having problems with my lemon tree.

Something was eating the leaves and I didn't know what!

Just days after posting the May Garden Update, 

I figured it out when I spotted a green little culprit!

I now knew what was eating the darn leaves!!!

See that lil sucker???

No wonder I couldn't find him for a long time!

He just blended right in with the leaves!

I'm not normally squeamish about bugs,

but this time I was for some reason!

I was scared it'd jump or fly at me and I'd freak out.

So I tried to use tongs and scissors to remove the leaf it was on,

with the hopes that I'd just remove the lil sucker from my tree.

I tried, more than once, but sadly I failed.

Shortly after, I recruited a neighbor kid to help me out.

He's in elementary school and bugs are no big deal to him.

He wasn't hesitant at all and went to work helping me.

He tried to pull the leaf the bug was on off of the tree.

The bug wasn't having it and just moved to another leaf!

So he tried cutting the leaf off and the bug moved again!!!

I was frustrated and just wanted the darn bug gone.

So when the neighbor kid asked "Can I just cut it in half?",

you can bet that I quickly replied with "YES!"

Two halves of the bug that was destroying my lemon tree!

A little gross, but both halves kept moving for a few minutes.

I'm not usually one to flat out kill bugs, but this one just had to go.

About a week after finding and getting ride of the leaf eater,

I decided that I needed to give a little TLC to my lemon tree.

It just didn't look happy with all the munched on leaves. 

So what'd I do?

Grabbed my pruners and went to town.

All the leaves that were affected would get pruned.

BEFORE PRUNING!

It looks okay from afar,

but close up you can see the damage!

AFTER PRUNING!

I'm aware it currently looks like a sad Charlie Brown tree.

But I'm hoping it starts to fill out again soon!

Shortly after I did all the pruning,

I noticed a few new buds appearing.

I hadn't seen new buds or blossoms in weeks!!!

While the lemon tree was needing some help,

that wasn't the case for my GIANT Christmas Tree.

This thing is huge and only keeps getting bigger!

Can you believe this was once less than a foot tall???

I recently moved it to a more shaded area of my balcony,

and I think it's actually doing even better than before.

While the jalapeno plant is still doing well,

it's not thriving like it was last month.

I keep hoping to see new buds, but I haven't recently.

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!

May Garden Update!

When I posted my March Garden Update,

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 May Garden Update for you!!!

My jalapeno plant is growing and producing like crazy!

I cannot believe how many peppers and buds are on it.

I'm still shocked that it survived the winter,

and now it's amazing me once again!

Six buds/blooms and four peppers!

This pine tree really needs to be transplanted.

But then I'm scared it will just get way too big!

It's amazing that it started out less than a foot.

I always think I'm going to lose these geraniums.

But even if I trim them back like crazy,

they always end up coming back and surprising me.

Last month, I mentioned my gardenia bloomed

and that I had a few more waiting to bloom.

I couldn't help but clip one off of them off

and put it on my bathroom counter!!!

It looks pretty, but smelled even better!!!

Sadly, the last bud fell off before blooming.

Womp womp!

And lastly - look at all those lemons!

Lemons, lemons, lemons!!!

I have a bunch in many different stages.

Keep coming lemons!!!

Which bring me to this...

I'm worried that I may not keep getting lemons!

Look above at the damage to the leaves!

Something is eating them and I'm not happy.

I looked and didn't see a caterpillar.

And do they even eat lemon tree leaves?

Anyone out there on the www got any ideas?

PLEASE HELP!!!

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!

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!