Just Another Day In The Garden!

This is what my garden looked like on Day 20:

The next day (Day 21) I decided that I needed to assess the garden and decide exactly what I wanted to do with it after finals. 

The Right Side

This is the Right Side. The Pansies are freaking out as well as the lettuce! Those pansies are going to be removed and put into their own container and the lettuce needs to be thinned out. There are 12 lettuce plants total. Right now there are 6 with the carrots and 6 with the herbs. I think I am going to take 3 out of the herbs and 2 or 3 out of the carrots. 

I also need to remove the Purple Basil from this herb bed and move it away from the Sage and Rosemary. I am not sure where I am going to move it to but I have another new Basil plant, so I at least know they will live together.

You will also notice the little green plants randomly in the bed.. Yeah those were tomato sucker branches that I pinched off the plants, but they are dying so those will be gone too. (We'll hear more about those in a moment) Oh yeah and my lavenders are getting kind of big, so I am going to take them out of the bed too... 

 This is just a quick shot of the carrots! I am so proud of them!!

Here are the tomatoes! They are quite bushy and happy! I read somewhere that tomato plants like it when you snap off (with your hands, don't use scissors!) the branches below the first flowers. I guess those branches are called "Sucker Branches". The idea behind this notion is that those lower branches do nothing but suck the energy needed from those flowers and use it. The goal is, while the plants need the leaves to absorb sunlight and such, the leaves also use a lot of energy staying healthy. If you keep the top leaves (where the sun hits) the plant will still absorb light, however getting rid of those bottom branches leaves more energy to be used up by the flowers (which will hopefully be turned into fruit). 

That being said, I snapped a few off. I figured I would give it a try. The advice (though scary because I am snapping limbs off my tomatoes) seemed logical. I have a few flowers on here now, but only a couple. We'll see how my plants react the coming days.

You can see where I snapped off some branches.

It's been kind of windy out the past couple of day. Thats why my Petunias are looking a bit funky. They are happy though. :) And so are the Strawberries. I have noticed a good bit of foliage growth! That makes me happy!! Maybe they will get bushier and produce more than one berry at a time!

Here is the lower half of the Right side. The 2 pots that I have in the white thing are just going NUTS! The Sweet Mint is vining and I have it climbing up the white thing. The Peppermint is putting off new shoots! And the Bee Balm is getting really leggy.

The Violas and Petunias are going crazy too. I think I am going to put all of the Pansies and Violas together and put the Petunias together.

My Rose is doing great too! Although, it's doing something weird. It's older leaves are getting black spots on them, turning yellow, and then falling off. It's weird. But in the place of those old leaves, it seems 2 leaves sprout. Which those 2 leaves get black spots, turn yellow and die too... So IDK. The Rose is becoming exceptionally bushy though. :) Must be all that Epsom Salt! Oh yeah, and on the soil I place some cut up pieces of my banana peal. Gives the soil a little extra calcium and such. Fun huh?

My squash plant is looking kind of sad in this pic. :( It's kind of going through a weird time. On one hand, it's experiencing some great growth! But on the other hand, it's leaves keep getting bent! I don't think the leaf thing is going to hurt it too bad, but it makes me sad. Especially since the vines are hollow and really crisp. So, when I have to pull a leaf off or one of the vines snaps, you hear it!

 The leaves in the squash plant are mixing with the leaves of the Zucchini plant in the pic above. But here is a better pic of the Zukes:

That stand is kind of cool but not very stable! Currently its being supported by bricks. I do like it though, and here soon there will be another pot on top. Perhaps a yellow pot. Anywho... The zukes are doing well. I think the bottom zukes are kind of sad. I'm not sure how that plant is going to work out. I guess its not getting enough sun? 

Oh yeah! I moved this from its original spot on the Left Side next to the door. The Hydrangea used to be here, but it was getting fried by the sun so I switched this two around. I hope this proves beneficial to both. But, we'll see. 

The Left Side

Here is the left side of my little urban garden. (and my finger.)

I think it's important to mention this Zuke First! Look at it! It's truly going crazy! Well, actually it's 2 zukes in one container, but they are doing great considering they half the amount of room and food. The leaves are nice and green! The vines are nice and crisp feeling. Everything just seems to be rocking in this pot! Keep up the awesome work Zuke!!

Here is my fabulous litter watermelons. Again, this is a container with 2 plants, but just like their Yellow Pot Zuke Brothers, they are doing awesome! I will say that I have noticed some weird little growths coming off of each branch. The growths are like weird antenna-like wire-looking string things. IDK. These things are on just about each branch. I don't see any buds yet so IDK what they are! If anyone knows what these things are please HELP!

What is that?!?!

My hydrangea didn't feel up to being photographed this day. It's pretty sick. After some research, I think my sweet hydrangea has powdery mildew. :( When my baby is feeling a little more up to it, I'll take some pics of what I am talking about and post them on here. :(

My Baby Carrots in my make-shift pots are doing pretty well! They also high-five me as I walk by! :) I did notice that they are growing a little unevenly, but I attribute that to the way I was watering. It was kind of an "all-at-once" method. Not really good for seeds. :(

I am sad to say that The Sugermeyer/Morton garden of Epic-ness has experienced its first death. :( My dear Rosemary plant has officially bit the dust. You will remember that I started out with 2. It could have been several things that did this baby in. First, I had the 2 rosemary's in a space that was really only able to hold 1rosemary plant. Second, that space was right next to a basil plant. After some investigation and some really fun reading on Companion Planting, I have realized that you NEVER want to plant Basil next to Rosemary (or sage). I haven't figured out why they don't like each other, I just know that it isn't a good idea. I am confused as to why this rosemary died, and the other one hasn't. IDK... Maybe this particular Rosemary just wasn't very strong to begin with. Who knows? :( Anyway... RIP Rosemary.

New Additions

In this pic you will see some very pretty flowers! YAY!! Who doesn't just LOVE flowers?! 

More specifically, the pink and white flowers are Petunias. (I am pretty sure my favorite flowers are petunias!) I saw them at Wal-mart and just couldn't resist! They are SO fun!! 

The yellow and orange flowers are Marigolds. Now, anyone who knows the basics of tomato farming will know that you are better off with a few Marigolds in your garden. Wanna know why??? Well, marigold ward off bugs that will otherwise devour your garden! Thats right! They are natures bug repellent! Fun huh?? (I may have to do a whole spiel on the effects of certain plants in the garden) I also need to point out that these marigolds were on clearance! YAY! Gotta love the clearance isle. 

The Purple flowers are Petunias. YAY! The rule of thumb I am figuring out, is the darker the color of the flower, the better it smells! These dark purple beauties smell AWESOME!

The Red flower is a pansy. This little guy was also on clearance. I think I paid .45! Can't beat that! I am really starting to love pansies and violas! They are so fun. They come in many different colors and I am really hoping that they make it FAR into the summer. :)

These little beauties were... you guessed it! ON CLEARANCE!! There is another red pansy! :) And, some really interesting looking violas! These little guys are fuchsia and lavender with a yellow center. How pretty?!

While my fiancé and I were at Wal-mart, we saw the Thyme. It's actually Lemon Thyme. It smells AWESOME! We had to grab some. We also grabbed some Sweet Basil. When I bought the Purple Basil, I only bought it because it was 1/2 off and they were out of regular Basil. I mean, the Purple Basil is awesome and I totally love it, but it's rather small and I wanted to get another ..."regular" Basil Plant. Plus we use a lot of Basil in the kitchen, so I figured another plant would be fun. :)

So there you have it! This is my garden 21 days in. Mostly successes, although 1 of my Rosemaries was a fail. :( I need to move everything around again. I guess I didn't anticipate the majority of my plants doing this well! I need to find some more room. I am thinking of going up. I mean why not, right?