Who are YOU?

So this guy showed up in the tomato plants yesterday. Specifically, he was on the big boys.

Who are you and how did you get here? What have you done to my leaves!?

I cut this branch off where it joined the main stem, ran inside and immediately started to shoot some photos.

This is the damage that was caused to the leaves of the tomato plant. Thankfully, this branch had no flowers on it, so I know no damage was done. What I don't know is if there are anymore of them lurking around the area. I don't want to spray chemicals, and I know he's there as a result of all the moisture we've had in the recent month, so I'm trying to think. Hopefully, if I just let that area dry out a little and pick these branches as I see them, then I will be able to control these guys.

I'm all for nature having a piece of the prize, but not like this! Take a tomato and eat it, bore into my zucchini, eat some basil, that's fine. But don't destroy the very being of my plants! Who do you think you are?!

My neighbor told me to be very careful with the squirrels in our 'hood. He said he had a perfect tomato on his plant that he was leaving to be the perfect shade of red. He planned on coming home that night from work and picking it. When he got home, he went to the backyard to pick it, and it was gone! He looked around for the squirrels, and actually saw one sitting in the fork of his tree eating the tomato! A big move for such a little guy. My neighbor said he's going to get his pellet gun out if he sees him doing that this year. I'll keep those things to myself, I've decided. I don't want karma coming back to get me.

Next post- what's eating Zena Zucchini?.. a real teaser!

The Garden of Eatin'

All is quiet in the garden this week. I'm happy with the way things are progressing. The plants are getting huuuge. I picked my first yellow pear tomato last night; I think it was too soon though. It's been in the window sill and still hasn't started to change color. It'll get there.

The zucchini plant is gigantic. I'll have to take a photo tomorrow to show the size of the leaves! It finally started to flower. Now I just have to worry that it will pollinate so I can get some veggies from it. I'm looking forward to having too many than I know what to do with. This is what most people tell me happens. I want to make zucchini quiche, zucchini bread, fried zucchini, and oh yeah, grill some too. I'm doing this to have healthy foods at hand.

Things that make you go hmmm..

Well now, interesting things are beginning to happen here in the garden.

We have tomatoes! We have peppers!

I just took these photos

outside, but on a side note, I'm interested in the biological aspect of this garden. I purchased a variety of soils and things, potted these plants in

the ground, and they're taking on this life of their own. It's amazing to watch the bees come to

pollinate the flowers- I never noticed bees previously around

the 'hood. Seriously, I've always noticed the lack of bees, however, we have wasps. They're in the garden too. Spiders, spiders love them the tomato plants. I've gotten used to them, and, instead of screaming and running out the garden, I'm okay with them there.

All these things are taking up together and working together to make all these veggies and fruits that I can't wait to eat! It's almost like I don't even care about eating them anymore, though. I just enjoy watching them mature from the small plants they started from.

I'm taking this garden way too seriously.

Enjoy the photos.

The war began

The most exciting plant to take off in the beginning was the basil. There is enough basil to last... I don't know, a long time. We also noticed the parsley and mint take off. Then the mint boomed in growth, and we have too much mint now. I've realized, all you can really do with mint is- add it to iced tea, make mojitos, and give it to my dog because he loves it. So, for the past month, we've been turned into alcoholics with a fresh-breathed, iced tea drinkin' dog.The tomatoes started to grow too. So exciting to see the first little flower on the plant, but to be honest... I had no idea, what does that mean? I know a flower is good and we definitely wanted to see these things, but do I have to do something? Should I pick them? Should I stick my finger in there and pollinate the other flowers? Should I eat these flowers? Maybe that's all we'll get.

Then the troops moved in at an alarming rate. Who am I talking about? The bugs. The first sign was from my husband. We were admiring all the plants and he turns a leaf over and sees some little bugs. I said, "What's that!" And he said, "Nothing to worry about I guess." I knew what he was doing! He was trying to make it seem like no big deal. No big deal, just some thieves trying to ruin OUR harvest, not theirs! They didn't grow seeds in the basement just to watch them die! They didn't drive over to Lowe's feeling like a failure to buy these plants- no, no they didn't. I DID! These little bugs, which I decided were aphids, weren't going to stick around.

We went to sleep that night, my panicking, my husband acting like it's not a big deal. Images flashed back to my time in the greenhouse- aphids flying around plants, then the spider mites

came, then there was no growth, no flowers, nothing. I dreamt of bugs taking over, moving into our house, this was war.

Through research, I learned ladybugs were a strong defense. So, I wanted them. I almost ordered 4,500 of them. Then I chilled out and decided 1,500 was the best bet. I ordered them. And waited.. and waited. No ladybugs. I called, "Where are my troops, please call me back." No such luck. Well, I found another website and ordered another 1,500. I waited, I got an invoice that said they'd be here soon. I waited some more. No ladybugs. I can't win this war alone!

I'll never know what happened to those ladybugs... Who knows what happened to my orders? I haven't heard still. Head's up- don't order ladybugs from the internet.

I then remembered, the garden store from school! So I went over and bought my 1,500

ladybugs and felt stupid, again, because I forgot I could actually purchase them from a store, rather than the world wide web.

That night, the ladybugs were released. We took pictures, checked on them a few times, then went to bed feeling secure and safe. My help was here.

Got up in the morning, they were hanging out, but in all the wrong places. On the gate surrounding the garden, on the wood, on the basil (there's no bugs there! move on!)... but okay, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I went to work, they'll do their job.

Then I got home and noticed two things immediately. 1- no more aphids! 2- there were only 3 ladybugs still there. 3. Out of 1,500, 3 stuck around. I guess they ate and moved on to join the other ladybugs I never met. Okay, cool. Thanks for the work, see you guys.. never again. That was last week, today I went in the garden to look for the 3. I found 1. Awesome. Where was it? On the basil.

So this photo shows one of them on the tomato plant, but this was the best I could do.. this is from before they all left.

All in a month's work...

The plants never took to the real sunlight, apparently when grown in a basement with artificial light, the real light isn't going to help. So, the plants slowly started to die. My zucchini was so strong in the basement. It was exciting, until the sunlight got a hold of them. They all started to die.
Then I go to the grocery store and see the 'real' tomato and pepper plants. These guys are huge, huge, huge. Way bigger compared to what I have dying in the basement. Now I am discouraged.
On to better things... we started to dig the spot in the backyard where the garden was to go. My husband removed all the sod, removed centuries of dead tree roots in the ground. We went to Lowe's and bought wood to box out a section. We bought tons of Miracle-Gro, manure, etc. We started to compost. Everything that can be done to make this garden grand has been attempted. But the plants are dying!
So I decided to quit those guys and went again to Lowe's and bought the starter plants. It was a tough decision- I have no idea where these plants came from! What have they been treated with? Have they seen the artificial sun, too? Are they laden with pesticides and fake sun- what to do.
Well I went nuts and bought every healthy plant I saw. Basil, parsley, mint, hot peppers, habanero, cherry peppers. Beefsteak tomatoes, bigboy, cherry, and romas. We also got zucchini and squash.

first blog

Day 1

This blog is going to be for me to vent/question/track my gardening progress. I started a garden because I want something to keep me occupied without having to go out and spend money. I want to be a homebody who gardens and can make something out of nothing. In college I worked in my greenhouse.. yada yada. I've always liked plants. Same old for everyone who starts a garden. No one does it because it sucks.

So my husband and I went out and bought seeds. Tomatoes, all varieties, peppers (sweet and hot), basil, parsley, squash and zucchini. We kept them in peat pots and put everything in the basement with lamps over them that we turned on religiously in the morning then at night. Watching the seeds sprout was the greatest accomplishment I've had in recent months. We grew something....

....then we started to bring them outdoors to get "real" sunshine.