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!

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!

March Garden Update

When I originally started this blog,

it was mainly about documenting my garden.

I wanted to be able to look back to see how things grew.

I've only posted about my garden a few times recently.

You can read the most recent post here.

Or one from last Fall (yes that long ago!!) here.

Over time, my blog has evolved quite a bit.

Sadly, the garden posts got less and less frequent.

But that's hopefully changing starting today!!!

I recently decided to implement something new on my blog.

I will be posting about certain topics at specific times each month.

And every LAST DAY of the month will be about the garden.

So without saying much more - here is March's Garden Update!!

Let me start of with my AWESOME herb garden!

I recently did a DIY project and am so happy with the outcome.

Check back very soon for a complete post all about the chalkboard pots.

This jalapeno plant is going strong.

It survived the little winter that Southern California had

and already has a bunch of new growth!

My lemon tree!

I'm SO excited for the first one.

And I think I'm going to get to pick it any day now.

And can we talk about all the new growth?

C'monnnnnnnnnnnnn lemon!!!!

Oh hello GIANT Christmas tree!

Flowers that currently only have buds, no actual flowers.

More flowers with just buds.

Exciting update, I know!

Oh yay - actual flowers finally!!!

Poppies, Snap Dragons and Marigolds.

Oh and even MORE flowers!!!

Like I said at the beginning of this post, 

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.