Serrano Peppers

This single plant has been producing peppers like there's no tomorrow!

Marigolds

I planted four types of marigolds, but only two types sprouted, and these are the only type that lasted. The other was snowmen marigolds, but they died from the heat.

Dead and Gone

Sadly, most of my garden did not survive the flooding. About half of it withered and died from all the water. The first day had 4-6" of water, half of it soaked into the ground by the end of the day, but the other half sat for many days. The ground is still water logged, all mushy and gross.

The plants in the garden boxes survived pretty well though, since they had better drainage and didn't sit in water. The peppers look a little sad, since they really don't like much of any water, but I think they'll be fine.

Not sure what to do now, I guess collect what I can and call the rest a loss. Tomato, watermelon, squash, basil, morning glory, lemon balm, and various flowers were all affected severly. The watemelon looks like it will pull through, it just isn't as good looking as before.

My unproductive white eggplant is in good condition! It was in the middle of everything else that died, soaking in water with it, but didn't seem to care the slightest. Its still just as unproductive though, and showing no signs of changing.

When Bad News Is Good News

Recently my butternut squash vines and muskmelon vines have been wilting during the day and leaves are dying near the crown. At first I thought I wasn't giving them enough water, but the soil was usually moist when I checked it. I gave them a little more water than usual anyways.

The wilting didn't cease, it just kept getting worse. I noticed at night and in early morning the plants were fine. The days have been getting really hot, much hotter than before the plants began to wilt. So I thought maybe it was the heat. But it didn't make sense that the plants were yellowing and dying starting at the crown of the plant.

Earlier, before the wilting of the melons and butternut, my summer squash started dying like crazy. I had done some research and decided that it was powdery mildew and squash vine borers at work. I just pulled the whole plant and threw it out, I had gotten enough squash that I was sick of it and so was everyone I knew. Plus it looked like it was beyond rescue. I did, however, spray the whole garden with some treatment for PM to ensure that no other plants became infected. So I didn't feel that they would have PM, plus there is no white on the leaves.

When I had been doing my research about vine borers I read in multiple places that butternut squash is resistant to vine borers and they wouldn't infest the plant because the stem was too woody and solid.

During the research I had come across information about Bacterial Wilt. It affects curcurbits including cucumbers, muskmelons, squash, and pumpkins. The photos looked just like my plants, I felt certain that I had my culprit. I began more research on the wilt and found a simple test for diagnosing the disease. You simply cut a wilted leaf, wait a moment, squeeze the stem, and then press the knife against the stem. Slowly pull the knife away a little. If you see a thread-like substance that strings and oozes from the stem to the knife you have bacterial wilt on your hands. The websites said that this test doesn't always work, especially with muskmelons.

Here is the worst part- apparently there is no cure for bacterial wilt, only prevention.

I headed out to the garden with my exacto knife to cut some leaves. First I tested the melons, the test was positive. I then went to test the butternut, choosing a leaf closer to the tip of the vine rather than the base. As I cut off the leaf I noticed a strange brown area near the base of the leaf stem, where the leaf meets the vine. The leaf stem tested negative, but the brown spot bothered me. It was kinda bulging and the leaf stem had looked a little mushy inside.

I'm not sure what made me decided to stab the knife into the plant and split the vine open. Maybe it was the margaritas I drank just prior or maybe it was just curiosity. Anyways, inside I found something big, white, and slimy- a vine borer! What!? But I was told they didn't like butternut! And I also had read that you would find them at the base of the plant, in the first couple inches of the vine. This felt like great news, its just vine borers. My melons might be doomed, but the squash has a chance!

I set to work inspecting the vine, cutting out more vine borers. The first one had been large, so big it made the vine bulge, but the rest I found were very tiny. There was a lot though. I wanted to try the needle stabbing technique, but I felt that it would be ineffective on such small grubs.

I'm not sure if the vine will survive, there was so many. I buried all the areas that I cut and watered them, even though I'm not sure if I'm only suppose to do that if I dig them out of the base. There were none near the base, they were higher up where the vine was more tender. I also noticed that they all had entered where the leaf met the stem or inside the leaf stem. You can tell where they enter because there will be a small hole, sometimes with a build-up that looks like sawdust. The place where the grub as at was usually near the hole. And the path of the grub was discolored and mushy.

I'm disappointed about the melons, not sure what I will do with those. At least something else is wrong with the squash. Although it could still end up becoming infected with the bacterial wilt.

Salsa, Anyone?

My first serrano pepper was ready this weekend! I had tons of tomatoes hanging around already, so the other night I made some fresh salsa. I used both yellow and red tomatoes, which created a nice mix of colors- very visually appealing. If I still have any left by Saturday I'm going to get some yard eggs at the farmer's market and use the salsa for omelettes.

Cloud Nine White Eggplant

I was very excited when I found this eggplant at a great price. I've never had a chance to try white eggplant before, so the idea of having something new to me in the garden was thrilling.

I went online to find out that white eggplant is typically more tender and less bitter than the darker types. I liked this news, less bitter is always a good thing. It also said that this variety grows well in hot, humid climates. Perfect!

The plant grew a bit, then just stopped. Its not dying, just not growing either. Maybe it's the heat. The most unfortunate part is that it doesn't seem like it is planning to give me any fruit. No flowers, not a single one! Not even buds. I am severely disappointed, but still hopeful that maybe my plant is just being slow. Perhaps it is too hot and will start producing towards the autumn.

Regardless of the lack of flowers and growth, it is still a good looking plant with a pretty name.

Update Photo- Box #1 and #2

April 26, 2010 (same box as left one in lower photo)

May 20, 2010

The box on the right is actually what I referred to as box #1 in a previous post, because it was the first one I built. From now on I will refer to it as box #2 to keep things in order.
There are three boxes in total, but only two are shown in this photo. I will post a photo of the third next time.

As you can see, there has been a lot of growth since the last photo I posted of the box on the right. The one on the left hasn't been posted before.
I never, in my wildest garden fantasies, imagined I would be saying this- "Dear tomatoes, please stop growing. You're out of control and going insane." The plants are over 5 feet tall and growing!

What's growing in this mad jungle of mine?
Box #1
1 Cherry tomato
2 Tomatillo (which are taking over)
2 Green Chili
1 Bell Pepper
1 Serrano Pepper
Garlic

Box #2
1 Big Boy Tomato
1 Yellow Pear Tomato
1 Sweet Baby Girl Tomato
1 Patio Tomato
1 Spicy Globe Basil
Carrots

In between the boxes is yellow squash.

First Squash and Other Harvests

Yesterday I harvested the first of my yellow summer squash. I kinda let them overgrow (just look at the size of that squash!), so I was worried that they would be bitter tasting. Luckily that wasn't an issue, they were delicious. I won't be letting anymore grow this large though.

I cooked the squash with some green beans from the garden, onion, garlic, chicken, and quinoa. I seasoned it with fresh spicy globe basil and oregano.

I'm glad I ended up with some good squash. Most of my squash just turns brown and falls off due to lack of pollination. I guess I need to do some hand pollination.

My dill is growing well. Today I made some paneer and seasoned it with dill and thyme.

The other day I harvested my young lettuce growing near the house. I didn't even plant lettuce there, it just popped up out of
nowhere. What a wonderful suprise! I wanted to let it grow bigger, but the house is getting painted so I had to pick it before it got trampled and painted on. I made a salad with it, along with some nasturtium flowers and leaves, dill, chives, and sunflower sprouts.

As you can tell, I have been enjoying great food from my garden. I am so happy that everything is doing fairly well and I'm already able to harvest some stuff.

Also, I created a flickr account for uploading all of my garden photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/kerousa/

Garden Cats

Recently I discovered a litter of four kittens under the neighbor's house. The mother had the kittens outside and they haven't had any human contact. Which means they are wild and shy.

After a week of playing with Mama Kitty and offering small treats, the mom decided to move her kittens under my house. The kittens look around 5 or 6 weeks old. Well,the animal lover in me kept screaming "save the kittens from the life of a feral cat!" So I buy kitty food, start feeding them, and just hang out around them in order to get them accustomed to humans.

Anyways, lets skip over all that and get to the good part of the story. At this exact moment there are 4 kittens and a mama in my stairwell. I brought them in today. Well, it's more like I trapped them in rather than brought them in, but that is besides the point. I became nervous after seeing an opossum the night before and decided they would be safer inside.

I want to tame the kittens and find them homes. I have already found a potential home for one of them. My neighbor asked me if he could take one for his wife. So I will probably let them have whatever one becomes the most tame first. They have two cats already, both of which look healthy and have been spayed, so they seem like good candidates.

There is a crazy cat lady down the street who owns 30 cats of her own, plus she fosters cats until they find homes and she spays/neuters feral cats and provides them with food. Anyways, she offered to help me find homes for the kittens.

I want to insure the kittens are fixed so I'm thinking about requiring a deposit/adoption fee, which will be refunded after the new owners provide proof they spayed/neutered the cat. The deposit would only be $25, which is how much the clinic charges to fix a cat.

I would just keep them, but my landlord doesn't allow pets. I can't image how upset she would be if she knew they were inside right now.

Garden Box #1

Here are two photos taken around a month apart. The same garden box is in both the photos. The first photo was taken the day I planted the plants. Growing in the box is four tomato plants, spicy globe basil, and carrots. I ended up moving the marigolds from inside the box to around the sides. I had a sweet basil plant in it for a day or two, then something came one night and ate through the stems near the soil. The prime suspect is snails, who also seem to really enjoy my mint and sunflowers.

I built the garden box. It costed around $20 and took a little over an hour to build, including the time it took to prep the location and move dirt into it. I now have three of them, the one in the photo is the first one that I built.

March 22, 2010

April 26, 2010

Near-Death Experience

It's about time I post a garden update, it's been awhile. I've been neglecting this blog, but I promise that I have not been neglecting the garden. Some plants are going great and others are having a bit of a struggle.

The last I posted I had Septoria Leaf Spot on my tomatoes. Originally I tried some copper/sulfur leaf powder, but it didn't do any good. It was time for a new strategy. I purchased some liquid copper spray and showered them with it once a week for a few weeks. All my tomato plants were saved, in some form or another.

The plant that had it the worse ended up tall with only two leaf clusters at the top and one tomato. The riper the fruit got the more the plant slowly died, until one day it was nothing but a twig sticking out of the ground. And something stole the almost ripe tomato.

But I couldn't bring myself to remove the plant, so I just trimmed the brown stem almost to the soil. I continued to water it, in denial that the plant was really dead. And guess what, it paid off! Suddenly there were leaves sprouting up at the base of the stem, and new stems shooting up. It lives again!

No current garden pictures for this update, but I went ahead and threw in a irrelevant houseplant photo.

Early Blight vs. Septoria Leaf Spot

After more reading, more inspecting, and more thinking I started to have a deep suspicion that my tomatoes had been misdiagnosed. The spots seemed too small and too numerous to be blight. I saw multiple articles that discussed two different diseases, both common and commonly mistaken for each other. Maybe my plants had Septoria Leaf Spot rather than blight.

I took some pictures of infected leaves and posted them on the forums of http://www.yougrowgirl.com/ (only the best website ever!) Sure enough, it is Septoria Leaf Spot! The treatment for the disease is the same as early blight: copper. Since the copper/sulfur dust that I had previously tried didn't work it was suggested that I try liquid copper instead. I bought some yesterday and sprayed.

Let's hope the copper works and I end up with some healthy tomatoes!

Plants In- Trouble Begins

I put my plants into the garden bed last week. These photos were taken about two days after I had planted everything. Tomatoes and peppers are on the left; the plants on the right are onions. I also planted corn and spinach seeds on the right.

Since the photo has been taken I have added basil and more peppers. Sadly, my tomato plants are now dying. I've barely had them! It started with one. I thought maybe the leaves had gotten a little sunburnt. Next thing I know two plants have it. So I went online searching. It appears that my tomatoes have early blight.

I went and got some copper/sulfur dust, it didn't seem to help. I'm going to have to pull the first one that got infected, which already has a little tomato on it. The second one that became infected isn't too bad, yet. The disease still continues to move up the plant, regardless of the dust. A third plant has begun to show some signs.

Below is the first infected, before it started to die, now it only has the top three leaf branches and the fruit. It is a red pear tomato. I think I might replace it with some tomatillo plants.

Trip to the Nursery

I went to the nursery and bought some plants. I love nurseries and could easily spend all day in one (and practically did!) When I was younger I stayed with my grandmother during the summer and she would take me to the nursery, it was great.

I think that I came home with a nice selection of plants. There were so many beautiful plants there, I had to refrian myself from buying too many.

What I got:
1 Dill
1 German Chamomile
2 Sequiona Strawberries
1 Sweet Baby Girl Tomato
1 Juliet Tomato
6-pack Patio Tomatoes
1 Nasturtium "Whirlybird Mahogany"
1 Creeping Thyme
1 Meyer Lemon Tree
1 Asparagus Fern (Houseplant. He was in the clearance area and in desperate need of a new pot)

Working The Soil

Last week I tilled my clay. I tried to work it with just a shovel, but it ended up being too much work so I rented a small rototiller for a few hours and went at it! After I got the clay worked and broken up into something more managable I mixed in some humus/compost and aged manure. I am happy to say that I feel comfortable referring to the earth in my garden as soil now, rather than clay.

The only problem is that I have big clumps that don't want to break up. I made sure to work the clay when it wasn't wet, but still ended up with the clumps. There isn't a ton, but it is a little annoying. Some have hardened while other clumps are squishy. How do I get rid of these clumps? I broke up some hard ones and tossed ones that were hard as rock to the side.

Also, there is a very large population of pillbugs in my yard. I know they normally eat decaying matter, like compost and old leaves. However, the ones in my yard are munching on the weeds that are very much alive. Is this because there isn't enough decaying matter for them? Will they decide to snack on my garden? Should I feed them?
I made myself laugh with that last question, it sounds so strange!

What I Have To Work With

See that square of disrupted earth in the corner? That's the start of my garden. It's not much, yet. I took this photo from my bedroom window this evening. I thought that a photo from a high point would give a good view of everything, plus I was sick and didn't want to go outside.

The soil here is clay. Terrible, hard, sticky clay. There was a small top layer, about 1/3" deep, of decaying leaves, but otherwise all clay. This week I plan to get some compost and manure for it. Someone said I'm suppose to dig out the clay and replace it with bedding soil. However, I have no plans to do that. I believe in nourishing the soil already present rather than carting in some from elsewhere.
The plot currently measures 10'x6'. I'm not sure if it is large enough. I plan to grow squash and watermelon, which I know takes up a lot of space. I was thinking I could plant the squash and melon at the edge of the plot and let it grow out of the side. However, I heard about the "three sisters" companionship planting and am interested in trying that out. If I do that I think that I need to expand my plot. If I decide to go this route I'm suppose to make a mound. To do this do I just dig up soil into a pile? What about the hole that will be left behind?

I have no clue what I am doing. I've been reading about good soil and fertilizing, but there is so much information it feels a little overwhelming. It almost makes me want to crawl back into my comfort zone and stick to container gardening.

The Beginning

Let me start my introducing myself and explaining the purpose of this blog. My name is Tiffany and I just moved from New Mexico to South Texas. I am starting this blog to share my failings and, hopefully, successes of my very first garden.
"Very first" might not be a completely accurate description. I have planted a few flowers in my mother's backyard, I've tried my hand at container gardening, and my home is filled with houseplants. But none of those experiences are comparable to the task I am about to embark on- vegetable gardening in the ground. I have never, in my entire life, grown a vegetable.

Not only do I have the challenge of growing something I don't know anything about, I'm now in a climate that is new to me and very different from what I have lived in for most of my life.

I don't really know where to start with this garden. I'm just going to dig in and see what happens. Wish me luck.