I'm a horrible blogger...

So yeah, it's been well over a month since I updated. Life is definitely getting in the way of gardening this year. I'm to the point where if I can get half the stuff planted that I hoped to this weekend, I'll be doing well. I'm having a major surgery next week, and so this week it's a scramble to take all my finals early and get the house (and garden) in order as best I can before Tuesday. Not a fun week...but I do like to keep my mind off this surgery, so that aspect of this crazy week is working.

Anyway, back to the garden. I've lost quite a few plants this year, and I'm not sure if it's the setup I have as far as the growing "container" since it seems to have unequal distribution of water (some cells stay wet and others get bone dry within a couple of days). Who knows...I'm hoping to get a lot of the stuff repotted this weekend (like petunias, which are still too small to get outside).

Okay, so here are some pictures...it's misleading how much they have grown since it's been so long, but I can still be proud. :)

Peppers and Tomatoes




Tomatoes




Dead and dying Salvia and healthy gaillardia (far right)




Overcrowded petunias




From left to right, marigolds, dichondra, zinnias, and impatiens




Dichondra and marigolds




Coleus




And here are some of my other indoor plants:


Orchid




Making baby violets



New violet rescue




A new violet rescue




I have lots more (especially violets), but they're not doing much of anything right now.

I'll try to update when the garden and flower beds are up and going.

Some pictures

Hello again!
So far, everything's up and growing quickly (almost scarily so). I snapped a few photos this morning to show the progress...enjoy!







That's all for now...I'll update again when I can!

I must be doing something right!

Hello all! Well, it's been 6 days since I planted everything, and almost everything has sprouted! Far earlier than any "days to germination" that were reported on the seed packets. This morning, I awoke to find coleus, vinca, and petunia seedlings! Before today, there's been some tomatoes (yes, TOMATOES after 3-4 days!), gaillardia, salvia, marigolds, zinnias, and dichondra). I think all that's not up are peppers, other tomatoes, impatiens, and dahlias.

I have to go get ready for class, but I will try to update with pictures soon! Hooray for healthy seedlings..and here's hoping they stay that way.

Spring's almost here!

Well, Spring is officially only a couple of weeks away, and I'm already behind! I just planted all my seed today. Mostly similar stuff as last year, but here's a list of what I started:

French Marigolds (Yellow)
Impatiens (White and a mix with pinks)
Salvia (Red Hot Mama and Lady in Red)
Coleus (Nottingham Lace and Green Halo)
Dahlias
Silver Dichondra
Mediterranean Vinca (Polka Dot and Red)
Prism Yellow Petunias
Mesa Yellow Galliardia
Zinnias (Dreamland Red and Yellow)
Tomatoes (Patio Princess, Jelly Bean, Legend, Fresh Salsa)
Bell Peppers
Jalepenos
Sweet Banana Peppers

I have 3 flats that I just put under the lights, which is more than I can really fit. I think I'm off to Home Depot tonight to buy more lights! :)

Since last year, I've been trying to get more into African violets. I'm really great at killing them, but am slowly getting better at keeping them alive. Now if I could only propogate them. :) I'm hoping to change my setup a bit, and when I do, I'll take some pictures and post them.

Well, not much is new...so, I'll update when I have seedlings sprouted and/or my setup is complete. Wish me luck!

Way overdue update

Well, it's been a LONG time. Things have been going really well. I got a late start putting out a lot of my veggies, but have been enjoying lettuce and cucumbers out of the garden and have harvested a couple of crookneck squash (planning those for dinner tonight!). I have tomatoes that are getting huge, but still green.
So today's my birthday. :) I thought I'd spend a little time updating this while I have the time. So here goes.

Here are photos from June 1 when I first put everything out (remember: everything was grown indoors from seed!).

These are (from top to bottom): coleus with dichondra in top two baskets and impatiens in bottom.

And here's the same baskets July 10:

And a closeup:

I just love those. I'll definitely be repeating the dichondra and coleus. The dichondra is supposed to be able to take full sun, but those pots are in mostly shade and they are my best dichondra.

Here are other pictures from around the garden:


These are tomatoes on June 1.
And on July 10.

I made some self-watering containers for some tomatoes and squash. This is one of them on June 1.
And a view of the squash and some tomatoes on July 10.
Some cuke transplants on June 1 in my square foot garden (before trellis).
The SFG after trellis.
SFG on July 10. Things are much bigger today. Mediterranean Vinca with dichondra in top, sweet peas in middle, and red petunias with coleus and zinnias in bottom.
And the Med. Vinca on July 10...it's actually trailing! I'm still waiting on the red one to start blooming...it finally has buds.

I promise to update again really soon!

A mini update

Hello! So it's been a while, but not much new to report other than everything is growing! Just wanted to add a few pictures of the progress. I again apologize for the poor quality of my camera...
I am trying to start tomato seeds in ziploc bags since I have had no luck with starting them in seed starting mix for some reason. Just put those in yesterday, so I'm looking forward to sprouts! I'll write again soon...

Moving on up..

Well, today I decided I should try to transplant some of the big "kids" to some 3" peat pots. I honestly couldn't believe the size of the roots! They were growing through the peat pot mesh and all over the place! So that's a good sign. Here's a picture of what's left to be transplanted (I ran out of room! But I did get the ones that needed it most...)







I lost at least 9 Mediterranean vinca, and I"m not sure why. They were doing really great, and then all of a sudden, they withered up and fell over. I know it wasn't from too much water--they were always barely dampened...and if anything, too dry..which could also be the reason. However, I think it may have been due to too much light. I had one red one that had the two "fake" first leaves that folded back together yesterday, so I transplanted it and it's white cousins and put them away from the light, and sure enough, the red one opened its leaves back up. Dunno what's going on there, but I'm still so sad that I lost so many of these. Here's a picture of where they are (super tiny!).And here's some pictures of the bigger transplants...mostly gaillardia, dichondra, and salvia.

Well, other bad news..yesterday I gave up on some of the peat pellets that hadn't sprouted anything. I threw away probably 30+ pellets (after checking them for signs of life, of course). Thus, I had very poor germination for petunias, impatiens, and re-planted coleus, salvia, and gaillardia.

Also, no sign of life for my tomatoes, zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, or dichondra in the pre-filled peat pots that I planted about a week ago. I put a clear cover over them today so hopefully that'll help. Also, nothing going on with the AV seeds, but it's still too early. I'll update again when something happens! :)