2014 Garden Inventory
Spring is here! I am so excited to get the growing season going, and we've spent the last several weekends prepping our garden. There are both old and new plants with us this season, and I'm curious to see what success we have. I've come to learn that gardening is a lot of trial and error. Sometimes things don't work out and sometimes you can surprise yourself with your own green thumb. With the help of the internet and advice from garden veterans, my husband and I have grown to love to home growing.
This year we decided to put in raised beds because growing tomatoes in containers wasn't the greatest success last year. With this new addition (and freed up pots too!), we got a little enthusiastic at our visits to the nursery.
Here's our 2014 Garden Inventory (excluding our citrus trees).
Fruits
I was just able to buy the jalapeños this weekend, and they still looks a little flimsy, but I think some warmer weather and sun will do it well. When I saw the "Jalafuego" tag I thought it was just a fun play on the name. However, it is a specific variety: a hardy, high yielding hybrid, and one of the hottest jalapeños.
Because we had such great luck with jalapeños last year, we decided to try our luck at growing red peppers. We picked this one up from Home Depot a couple of weeks before attaining the jalapeños. We planted it in the raised bed, next to the jalapeños. It looks very healthy, hopefully we keep it that way.
This strawberry plant is a survivor of last year. Because it was potted (and completely neglected), I didn't think it'd survive winter. However, this spring it started fruiting completely without my help. The fruit was very small though so I added compost and it responded by giving me more blooms.
I absolutely love the taste of a Cherokee Purple tomato, but sadly we were not successful growing them last year thanks to blossom end rot and low production. So this year we've added crushed eggshells early and planted it in a raised bed (last year it was potted). Here's to hoping.
This is an Heirloom tomato originally from South Carolina; we picked up ours from Home Depot and it came with four plants. We have one potted and three in our raised beds. Due to issues with blossom end rot last year, we've already sprinkled a few eggshells on the soil. Three buds appeared on this one already.
After purchasing the Heirloom tomatoes I realized they were all rather large and last year our best luck was with small varieties! I couldn't find any smaller Heirlooms at the nursery so I settled on this Hybrid. I've read it stays rather small and does nicely in containers, so that's where it went.
I don't really know much about Zucchini besides the fact that my mom successfully grew some. I'll be relying on her for advice. I've had many blooms already, but I can't tell if they're resulting in fruit yet or not. The stems look hairy like tomato plants, but they're actually quite prickly.
Herbs
Last year I bought too much basil, not realizing how quickly it would grow and how bushy it would get with pruning. Basil is a good companion plant for tomatoes, so we planted it accordingly. The thing about basil is I miss my fresh, home grown basil once winter comes!
A survivor from last year. I bought Catnip seeds because I heard it is a mosquito repellent (it has worked decently well). Because Catnip is tends to spread like a weed, I potted mine. I cut back the longer stalks for the winter and cut back again once spring hit. It's making a very nice comeback.
I potted the Chocolate Mint because of Mint's invasive tendency. I did neglect watering it and it began to droop, but some water and couple of hours in the sun and it perked up immediately. Friday I snipped a few cuttings and placed them in water like so; this morning roots were already appearing!
Cilantro We had great success with our cilantro last year, and I'm looking forward to having it in our garden again. I just need to remember to cut it back regularly whether or not I'm cooking with it. Once it flowers, it's done. I'm also planning to collect the seeds (coriander) for reseeding and cooking.
I don't know much about Italian Parsley besides the fact that I want to use it in the kitchen. I assume it has a similar temperament to Cilantro. I'm hoping to try my hand at drying some along with some rosemary and basil for a homemade Italian blend.
Another terrific scent. I was going to let it grow freely, but further reading taught my otherwise. Lavender does well in the heat but will not tolerate too much moisture. In humid climates Lavender needs to be potted in well draining soil. I also mulched with rocks as a "water sparingly" reminder.
The oregano I bought was so thick I actually put it in two pots: a smaller one I could bring inside through the winter and a larger one to thrive by the raised bed. So far it seems pretty hardy and I've enjoyed adding it pastas. I think I'm going to try drying it as well.
I potted the Peppermint because of Mint's invasive tendency. I've read that Peppermint is a natural mosquito repellent as well so I liked the idea of being able to move it around to where it's needed. It is extremely fragrant, much to my pleasure. I like its look in a hanging container, stems spilling over the sides.
I had never heard of Pineapple Sage, but once I got a whiff of this guy in the nursery I couldn't pass it up –it really smells like pineapple! It's a great addition to water, tea, and -my personal favorite- lemonade. I potted it in a large container to make it a nice decorative addition to our patio.
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