Garden Update June 2011

I think I've lost the battle with my pepper plants.  The 2 that looked wonky seemed to have died.  I won't toss them in the compost bin just yet, but I've lost hope of getting any fruit from them.

I do have some exciting news though...several more sunflowers have popped up in my front bed.  I think I've only gotten about a 20% germination rate from this pack of seeds so far, but it's the first time I've ever grown sunflowers and maybe that's how they are.

There isn't anything much that can be planted at this time.  I told my husband that I need to start tilling some new beds to prep for August (when we can start heavily planting again).

I transplanted my watermelon plants to the back yard because it was taking over my veggie garden plot.  I hope I didn't shock it and kill it.  I was SO big and beautiful and lush before transplant.  Now it's looking scrawny and sad.

I've got hundreds of little sprouts in the front bed, but I don't know what is growing.  The sprouts look a bit like tomato plants, but none were planted.  I'm hoping the papalo seeds I spread are growing and that these don't turn out to be WEEDS - eek!

I can't decide if I want to buy a tiller or if I want to rent one.  I would love to hand cultivate all of my land, but I honestly don't have time to do it by hand this year...having a 9 year old and a 15 month old demands most of my time...time that I don't want to deny my children.  There's also all of the household duties like cooking, cleaning, etc.

What happened to my EarthBox peppers

I am growing tomatoes and an orange sweet pepper in my EarthBox and everything was going okay until I came out to find this...

I don't get it.  I thought the Earth Box was supposed to be fool proof?!?  I guess my thumb is more brown that I realized.  

Since this picture was taken, all of the leaves have fallen off with the exception of two tiny ones on the left stem there.  I hope it comes back.  I'm growing these for my mother.  She bought the Earth Box and the plant for me.  I hope I didn't kill it for good.  

Growing Dried Beans

Today I have planted Dark Red Kidney Beans, Pinto Beans and Black Eyed Peas in the front bed.  I didn't do too much to prep the soil.  Just removed the grass and roots.  We'll see how well these beans do.  I hope they do better than the sunflowers I tried to plant in there a few weeks ago.  Of the 20 or so sunflower seeds I planted only ONE came up.  :(

Feeling Discouraged

I think I may have gardening OCD.  I spend countless hours everyday out tending to my bed, making sure no bugs are getting my harvest before I do.  All in all things were going pretty well.  One morning last week I went out to check my garden (as I do first thing every morning) and I couldn't believe my eyes!  My pepper plants were being chewed apart, my radishes were turning yellow, my tomatoes were getting spotty, and something was eating everything else!  I couldn't believe it!  After weeks of a beautiful garden it suddenly looked unloved and neglected!

I raced into the house to google the million issues I was having and once I found what I thought was the cause of these many problems I headed back to the garden armed with my knowledge.  Sure enough I found caterpillars, aphids, mites, grasshoppers, gnats, flies, and more...EVERYWHERE!  I was so disappointed!!!!!!  I felt like I wasted all of my efforts.  Here I was wanting to start my little Florida Homestead and instead I felt like I created a breeding ground for insects.  I didn't know where I went wrong.  

After spending a day wallowing in self-pity my dear husband reminded me that this is a learning process and not to be discouraged.  Instead, he said, take the information I have and try to make it better.  That's when I began treating it more like a science experiment than a garden.  I didn't make any dramatic changes, but I added another 40 lbs of compost on top of the soil to act as a mulch.  And I started flipping over leaves throughout the day to see what I could kill.  Now, every time I head out the door I stop by to check for bugs. 

I'm happy to report that things have improved since my husband opened my eyes to the situation.  I hope I can keep the garden looking as good as it does now!