The husband pointed out that I have eight other tomatoes growing, and shouldn't feel too bad. But it's sad to lose your best plant. Ah well.
The rest of this post is going to be mostly a photo dump, so you can see the progress the plants have made. I'm also going to label what was started from seed and what was store bought. I'm really impressed with them, especially the zucchini. You'll see in a moment that they've become pretty monstrous.
Starting inside, I have five pots of basil (grown from seed) I haven't transplanted outside. Honestly they're doing so well on the windowsill I might not move them, and the few I did take outside have suffered a bit. I expect delicious pasta dishes in the near future as they're almost ready to start being harvested.
Also pleasing is how well my lavender (seed) is growing. When I bought lavender seeds I thought it sounded sort of romantic, to grow my own lavender. This was with no research, and definitely qualifies as an impulse buy. I found out later it takes months to go from seed to substantial plant, and almost didn't both to transplant the seedlings. I'm glad I decided to give them a chance, because they've done pretty well and started developing secondary stalks already. Still small, but doing just fine.
This morning I transplanted the sensitive plants (seed). Seven of them had been living in just two pots, and they were getting to be of a size where have their own pots was recommended for quicker growth. I'm still planning to keep 2-3 of them and bring the rest to the museum I work at so little kids can have the joy of poking them, just like I do most nights. What can I say. Plants that move bring out my inner child.
I also transplanted my jade and purpurea (both long-standing house plants of mine), because the latter had developed a fungus. Not sure if it'll be alright, but I'm propagating a few stalks off to the side in case the mother plant dies.
Here's my remaining upside-down tomato (seed), which you can see is doing really well. It's got several flowers, which hopefully yield fruits. And don't worry, I checked the stability of the hanger and this one isn't going anywhere. I think.
Here's the main patio, which you may not have seen yet as I think the husband only posted to facebook when we put the planters out. I've taken kitty litter tubs and buckets and attached makeshift trellises to them made from twine and upcycled branches from a tree my neighbors cut down. Total cost for four trellises? $2.00. Sure they're ugly, but they're functional and cost almost nothing.
The planter without a tomato formerly had my other upside-down friend, but since the top flowers (store bought) were alright I figured I'd place them by the other tomatoes to attract pollinators, which was their purpose in the first place. You can also see the way we constructed the trellises a bit better. We zip-tied the branches onto the sides after drilling small holes, and then strung the twine around in a few layers to provide support. The great thing about this is that I can add layers of twine as the plants grow, depending on how tall they get.
I have to show this off, even though it's not especially impressive. My broccoli (seed) have been transplanted into a new box, which I made myself. The dimensions are all slightly off and the bottom was too long, but I cut the wood and hammered it together. First thing I've ever really constructed in my memory. So, a little goofy, but I'm proud of it.
I took a shot like this a month ago, and you can see how much most of the zucchini (seed) have grown . Except that second one. I don't know what happened there, but it was the first to flower and just hasn't really done anything since. It's the only plant in a wood pot, so I wonder if that has something to do with it. But the others are monsters that I'm convinced would take over the whole patio if given the chance.
The herbs are doing well, primarily the pineapple sage (store) that dominates the left side. You can't even see the rosemary on top, it's so big. I might have to switch their locations, though the rosemary (store) is still green and healthy for now.
My latest planting was cilantro seeds (seed, clearly) into the bottom level, and they've come up just splendidly. A few of them even look like real cilantro which is encouraging. So far (except for one diving tomato plant) I haven't killed anything that made it outside, and I'm really proud of that. This is my first real "garden" and it was ambitious, but with the husband's help we've kept it growing and blooming. Now I just hope it actually produces something, though I know it will be a low yield my first year. You have to start somewhere though, and I'm confident that with this strong a start in growing my own food, I'll eventually reach the point where we're nearly self-sufficient for fruits and vegetables.
Stay tuned for some big announcements this week! Things are about to get exciting. :-)
