WW: Garden Woes

Linking up with Mama Kat again this week for writers workshop. If you want to learn more about it, click the link at the bottom of this post. The prompt I chose this week is: You were supposed to start a garden this summer…share the fruits of your labor.

I am very disappointed in our potted garden this year. It was late in producing and what it did produce was not much.

The pear tomatoes were good and I did finally start getting more then just one or two at a time. I have hopes that it will keep producing, if we have a mild fall. The roma tomatoes did okay. I have picked about six. The problem we have with those is all we have is overhead watering so they are cracking. We also had a problem with nutrition being they are potted, so I had to buy fertilizer and lime to make them even grow. The ones I did eat, I cut around the cracks and blemishes but they weren't really flavorful. I was pretty disappointed. We still have a few more on the plant, hopefully they are better.

Peppers were AWFUL! The sweet pepper plant only ended up producing two peppers. I might get a few more next year. The hot peppers Stephen got did okay. I think we had six or eight. Maybe pots just aren't the way to go with these types of plants.

Lemon cukes also did alright. I think I've picked four that were yummo, but I am still hoping for a good fall. Again, if it's a mild one!

We have a plan for next year, I am praying we are able to get it done. The goal is raised beds in the back yard. It's a little less direct sun. Any other tips for something temporary for a garden? I want my veggies but don't want to spend a ton since I know we aren't staying here forever.

This post inspired by:

1000 Gifts: 3 gifts yellow

• It is a gift to still be getting a few yellow pear tomatoes.
• It is a gift to see the beautiful hot air balloons floating around town in the mornings. Yellow ones included. 
• it is a gift to have the bright yellow sun shining, not quite so hot, today. 

What I Learned in July

Linking up with Mama Kat again this week for writers workshop. If you want to learn more about it, click the link at the bottom of this post. The prompt I chose this week is: Share something you learned in July. I figure there is LOTS to learn, so I am making a numbered list of things I learned last month.

I learned that:

1. potted vegetable plants need more care then those in the ground
2. going to the zoo when it's in the triple digits will mean you see less animals
3. mental illness isn't just hard for the sufferer, its hard for the family
4. sometimes facebook recipes can be a win (we had this one and it was amazing) 
5. I like to review books and if motivated I can read them quite quickly (three books in four days!) 
6. a small dog can bring a lot of love to a family
7. my coworkers know me too well (I got tagged in pictures on facebook from two different people. One about how clumsy I am the other about ocd lol)
8. about and fell in love with the semi-colon project. 
9. that having NCIS on netflix is bad! I need someone to stop me from wasting an entire day watching
10. when you stand up for what you believe, you might be surprised to see who stands with you.  

This post inspired by:

1000 Gifts: 3 gifts in green

• My diet Mt Dew is a gift, an addiction but so worth it! 
• it is a gift to have the beautiful green grass to walk through. 
• it is a gift to have my green plants to get fresh veggies from, they are really producing now and I love it!! 

Seven pear tomatoes, two lemon cukes and a red pepper! All a day's picking

Wordless Wednesday

It's come a long way in less then 4 weeks!

1000 Gifts: a gift in water, in words, in white

• it is a gift to be able to use water as we need it. I can't imagine being in drought conditions like California. 
• it is a gift to be able to use my words to express myself. Be that by talking or in writing. 
• it is a gift to have a clean white slate every day with God. He doesn't care the crap that I did in my past, all He cares about is that going forward, I am trying to live for Him. 

Our Container Garden

So, not sure if I've mentioned this, but we live in a duplex. Unfortunately, we don't have a garden space. I didn't want to go another year without a garden, so I decided that this year we would do container gardening. We have been putting off buying the stuff, just because it wasn't in the budget, but this weekend we finally took the plunge and got pots, plants and dirt.

It isn't the biggest garden, but I am praying it produces for us. The other pots in the picture above are my indoor Angel Wing Begonia who needed a little sun, a marigold that Alivia brought home for me for mother's day and the one that looks like dirt, actually has lettuce seeds in it. We will see what comes of that! Hopefully soon I will have some yummy produce!


1000 Gifts: a gift at 8am 12pm 8pm

• it is a gift to see my girls off to school every morning. 
• it is a gift to have a few minutes to myself at work to enjoy my book. 
• it is a gift to be able to share down time with my love, both of us reading our books. 

Currently on my Bookshelf

So, most of you know I am a big reader. I have a lofty goal to read 100 books this year including 12 non-fiction. I read 96 last year, so it isn't too lofty! You can keep up with my goal and also what I am currently reading on my goodreads profile, but I thought it would be nice to show you what I am reading and what I am thinking about them so far.

Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier is the third in the Ruby trilogy. This one has been on my "to read" shelf for awhile, it's taken me MONTHS to finally get it from my hold list at the library. My buddy Angel already finished it and told me to be prepared to cry. I am just a few chapters in and am excited. If I could only quit falling asleep while reading I would be a lot farther.

Make Any Divorce Better! by Ed Sherman - Enough said. It's got tips for me. I'm not planning to be the one to file, but I think it's important to be educated. I'm getting through it slowly.

Putting Children First, a guide for parents breaking up by Hanna McDonough & Christina Bartha - Just started this one. I think this is THE most important thing that I am reading right now. Honestly, nothing else matters but them. It is my absolute priority to make sure they get through this with as little scarring as possible.

The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee - Also just started this one. I joined a new women's study group, started by my friend Erika over at Overflow. I'm pretty excited to get more into it and start discussing it with a group. This will be my first study with these ladies and I'm looking forward to it!

Container Gardening for Dummies - Just got this one from the library this weekend. I'm pretty bummed we won't be able to have the garden we did last year, but I am pretty excited to grow something again. This is my solution. Hopefully I can learn something and make it work. I loved my garden fresh veggies last year.

So, what are you reading?
Are you on goodreads?

365/239: Motivation Monday

Nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels. I would take a bowl full of garden fresh tomatoes any day!

Training recap:
Tuesday - 3.5 miles speed work at the track
Sunday - 8 miles "easy" run with Heather

I missed two training runs this week. I could give you all the "reasons" but I won't. You know what though? I'm still VERY happy with the 11.5 miles I got done this week. Onto the next =)

365/237

I am so blessed to work with a great group of people. I am also blessed that they are a sharing kind of people. One of the girls last week brought in some abundance from her garden. I was lucky enough to grab this before anyone else

Yes, that is a cucumber, and yes it is right next to MY arm. Talk about HUGE! Big enough to give me and all the girls veggies to go with our dinner. They LOVED it! I'm so glad they are like mommy in that area of life. They all three seem to love all the veggies coming out of our garden. We are getting lots of tomatoes (mostly the roma ones) and a couple cukes still. My plants aren't looking great though. Not sure if it's the heat or what, but its making me mad to have tried so hard this year to get barely any produce. Praying that I might still have a good fall harvest. But honestly, not holding my breath. :P I'm okay with the results we have this year, just makes me more excited for next year, to start all over and try again!

365/216: Great Harvest & More to Come!!

Beyond excited! I got all of this from the garden Monday night. After talking with a few girls about how to know when the cukes are ripe, I decided mine were good enough for me! The girls and I already split the lemon cucumber. YUM! Loving this garden a bit more every harvest. =)

And look at some of what I have to look forward to: 

How My Garden Grows

See? Four at the same time! Biggest harvest yet lol

Lemon cukes. You can see the top of the bigger one and the whole
smaller one. =) So excited to see these boys come off!

365/192: Garden update

My garden exploded this last month and started giving me some real veggies to eat!

Tomatoes, growing out of their cages

and the tomatoes are looking WONDERFUL! Can't wait to taste em!

This is my yellow pear tomato. I have gotten 4 off sofar
with twice that many nearly ready and TONS of green
ones!

"the rest" Beans on the far left, then cukes and squash with a melon along the
sidewalk edge. I have gotten more beans, probably 10 or 11 total, but no
other veggies yet. Not even babies! Just TONS of flowers. I keep coaxing them
up along the fence, and keeping the melon right along the sidewalk's edge.
I am sure this will end up one hot mess of vines by the end of summer but
hopefully I get lots of produce that makes up for it. =)

Closer look at one of my cuke plants. It's quite yellow at that one side, not
sure what is going wrong... ideas?

And my peppers. Still quite sad looking. I have one pepper on the left plant
and had had to pick one that wasn't growing and got burned by the sun
I have started watering these guys nightly. I think they just need more then the rest
of my plants... Not sure what else could be going wrong. Any thoughts?

365/177: A Dinner with History & A Garden Update

If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?

I think that I would have dinner with Narcissa Whitman. For those who don't know, she and her husband were missionaries in Washington in the 1840s. Their story isn't a happy one, but I would love to learn about what it was like traveling the Oregon trail. How it was living "in the wild." that kind of thing. I think I would like to eat something that was "normal" for them. Bread from scratch, farm fresh veggies, and maybe a stew or soup or something. I'm not picky! lol

And the garden is growing growing! 

My beans (far left) are doing awesome. Already got 6 picked total from them and they were WONDERFUL! =)  The watermelon is looking pretty good too. I am thinking I will try and train this one along the sidewalk and try and get the others to go up the fencing. 

My squash and cukes are doing great. They are even starting to climb the fencing. I have LOTS of flowers so I am expecting LOTS of vegetables soon

Peppers are still looking pretty sad. Dad says they should perk up more as the nights get warmer. I did see a couple teeny-tiny peppers today! 

The tomatoes are looking FANTASTIC! I have a bunch of little greens on the right side one, and lots of blooms still on the other two. =)

365/171: When I became a mom & a garden update

How did you feel the moment you became a parent?

Most people think the day they become a parent is the day their first child is born. I disagree. I felt like a mother the moment I got my first positive pregnancy test. I felt like suddenly my life had more meaning. I had this little being who was relying on me completely. Sadly, my first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. It isn't something I like to talk about, but it happened. I had this strong feeling that this baby was going to be our son. I even named him, Logan. I was a mother without a child for another 2 years until Miss McKayla made her appearance.

 

And on a lighter note, the garden is moving along nicely. We got our first "harvest"

Almost too much to handle! I can't wait until they really start coming off the plants! =) It was enough beans for everyone to have one. Well, I got two since Jimmy isn't a big vegetable fan. His loss. lol.

Making an attempt this week to kill the ants that I think are eating my peppers. I am starting with soap water, see if that works. I got tons of the weeds out this weekend, so it is looking much better! The rest of the plants all seem to be doing great. Again, I can't wait until later this summer when we really start getting lots of veggies!

365/163: Pet Peeves (my abbreviated list) & Garden Update

Describe 10 pet peeves you have. By the title I am sure you know, I have quite a few. I will try to get the top ones here.

1. People who don't turn off their turn signal
2. People who speed up to pass you, just in time to slow down
3. People who pull out in front of you when there is NO ONE behind you
4. People talking on their cell phones in public areas loudly (like loud enough for you to be able to participate in their conversations if you wanted)
5. People who don't hang up the phone when they are being helped (at the doctor's office, the grocery store, or in a restaurant)
6. People who don't warn you that they are coming up behind you on the greenbelt (or the sidewalk). At least ring your bike bell, or say "on your left" so I can move over and let you by!
7. People who tell me that I'm not running because I am taking recovery walk breaks
8. People who wear socks with sandals (in my opinion, this is never okay lol)

9. People who chomp their food loudly
10. People who invade my "personal" space. How much space I need really depends on the person but I can't have them too close!

And a garden update. I think I am done taking pictures of each individual plant. But I have a few pictures of how it's going. I added some fencing for my squash, cukes, watermelon and beans to climb this weekend. Hoping this is enough! I have been told that as long as I keep redirecting them to the fence they will grow that way. My peppers are still looking a bit "munched" on, so I am working on that one. I also think that the peppers need a bit more water, so I am going to start watering those every other day (at least) and see how they do.

the peppers

Tomatoes

And all the climbers. See how big they got in just a week! Wow!

 

And I got a surprise when I was getting the plants through the fencing,

baby beans!

And the first of my cherry tomatoes!

Cannot wait until they are big enough to EAT! This garden feels like too much prep at this point and not enough product. That will change soon enough. I am going to be having veggies coming out my ears =)

365/143: Garden Update Week 10

I have less words, more pictures for my update this week. We did have a causality this week. One of our radishes was harvested early by Miss Natalie, too early to even eat. It was one of the two that survived the transplanting. :-/ The other is doing really well!

And all three of my tomato plants are doing well.

Still not a lot growing in our new planting of radishes, but there are a few! =)

The cukes are all doing well. I might have more then I can eat! Thankfully I have a willing group of coworkers and also church family who can help with that!

And the peppers are looking alright. Seems like something might be munching on them....

And we finally identified this one

It's our baby watermelon!

The beans are looking much better

And we still have a few mystery plants in the garden.The seedlings I planted that aren't identified yet are squash and cucumbers. I am seriously going to have a LOT of cukes! lol

365/133: Garden Week 9

This week we moved out into the ground. The weather cooperated and it was BEAUTIFUL last week and over the weekend. I got the plants from the store that I planned to and even got them into the ground!

These are my Romas, I have two of those =)Then right there on the right in the orange one is a cherry tomato plant. I got the blue and orange cages from my wonderful sister and brother in law, FREE! Woot!

My two remaining radishes. Most were lost in the transplant. This is one of the reminders for next year, don't plant earlier then April inside, and no need to start plants like radishes inside.

You can't see these too well, but this is an entire row of a mystery plant. Praying I can figure out soon because it's kinda driving me crazy!!

This is a straight 8 cucumber. I have a plan if I end up with more veggies then I can eat (especially since Jimmy just told me he doesn't really like them!)

And then the lemon cucumber. I am so excited to have a bunch of these!!

And another row of mystery plants. =) The not knowing is really, really, really driving me crazy lol. I just wish my kids hadn't helped me with those tags!

My peppers. One is a sweet yellow, the other is a mini sweet. Love me some peppers!