Noticeable

I was out this past weekend when our landlord stopped by to drop off a lease renewal. While he was here he mentioned to J that there's a tiny spot of land out by the garage that we can plant in if we'd like. He offered since he said "It seems you like gardening."

I can't imagine what might have given him that impression!

I think maybe people are starting to notice our ever-growing plant collection.

Apple Issues

I came home on Friday and went out to look at all my plants and found a very unwelcome visitor!

Does anyone know what this is and how to get rid of it? So far I've just been pulling any worm I see off the plant and then disposing of it in a method that is far more violent than it probably needs to be.

I've read that spraying plants with a soap water solution will help, and that you can add cayenne pepper and/or garlic. Has anyone tried that?


Other than the "guests" the apple looks really good I think!

Insanity

So I work full time in higher ed and I'm a part time graduate student so the last week of classes is pure insanity for me. Not only does the office get busy this time of year with commencement and retiring faculty receptions and graduating student receptions and honors banquets and did I mention the fiscal year ends 5/31? So yeah, this past week has been CRAZY at work. Not to mention I had a final exam on Wednesday and another coming up on Monday.

That's a long way of saying no post today. I am headed to a "Garden Party" this afternoon here on campus. It won't be as cool as my garden. I bet they'll only have flowers and no edibles. But they probably will have champagne. Hmmm... that might make it better than my garden.

Have a great weekend!! It's supposed to rain here, but that means I don't have to carry heavy watering cans out to my porch, so that's fine with me!

Dana's Porch is Falling Down...

The season hasn't even fully begun, but our porch is already getting crowded. J is worried that there won't be room to grill - GASP! We planted a few tomatoes, but it's still getting down to about 45 degrees at night, so we pull them into the house at night.
Between the in and the out and watering and soil moving and everything else, gardening is turning out to be a real workout! I can't imagine how it would be if I was doing more than just a few containers on my porch - scratch that, a LOT of containers on my porch.Our apartment is on the top floor of an older home, so I'm just hoping that our porch stays attached to the house all summer. And if it decides to make a break for it, I certainly hope we're not on it! :)

Even more fruit!

Our apartment is quickly becoming a fruit tree orchard, but that hasn't stopped me from adding to the collection.


The newest additions include a lime, a pineapple, a passion fruit, and an apple. Who knew that limes were thorny? I pulled the lime tree out of its box and stabbed myself!


The passion fruit showed up and looked pretty pathetic, but it's really started to take off! It grows by the hour and sends off shoots that cling to everything and make the cutest curly-q's.


The pineapple was similar to the passion fruit, showing up looking sad, but it's throwing off a few new leaves.


And the apple seems to be thriving on the porch and has lots of new leaves.


All of these are in 12'' pots with regular potting soil and are being watered regularly and I have some fertilizer on the way.


Oh, and the banana plant is putting out new leaves too. We should be making fruit salad soon! :)

More Mushrooms

After we took the mushrooms from the one side, you can flip it around and spray the other side to get more mushrooms and it worked really well!

We're hoping to do a stir fry soon.

1st Harvest Monday!!

Left: Before Harvest
Right: After Harvest


So up to this point we've had a tiny bit of lettuce and about 2 cherry tomatoes, so I haven't been posting for harvest Monday, but today I am happy to report that I have a harvest! All of the lettuce we planted was ready for harvest, just in time for J's birthday dinner. The lettuce was delicious, with a great flavor and crispness. And, along with about 5 cherry tomatoes from our Aerogarden it made the perfect dinner salad! Yay for a harvest!Generally, for your birthday in our house, you get to pick whatever you want for the whole meal, so to go along with the homegrown salad, we had some homemade macaroni and cheese and J requested that I bake him a pineapple upside down cake. I've enver made one before, and I think I've only eaten once once, so it was quite the challenge, but I think I did pretty well. And it was darn tasty!!

Happy Birthday J!