My Garden

I have yet to return to the kitchen for baking purposes. It's just too hot. And I'd rather be outside, while I can. So, I have been filling my time with other things.

One such endeavour has been a garden. My mom planted tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and red peppers for me while I was away and I planted zucchini, cucumber, watermelon and butternut squash plants, and carrots seeds when I returned. I also got some potted rosemary, sage, and mesclun mix lettuce.

This is my first attempt at gardening. Unfortunately, I was away during the best period of time to prepare myself with knowledge, but I just went ahead anyway. I have now started reading books about gardening and techniques, so I won't be so unprepared next year, but it is a bit depressing to read about silly mistakes I've made and all the things I could have done, but for which it is too late...

Despite my lack of knowledge, things seem to be going pretty well. My carrots have sprouted, my tomatoes and peppers are growing, and the rest are making their way. These pictures are a bit old, so things are bigger now, but it's taken me awhile to get back on the computer.

Not pictured, however, is my failure of a lettuce crop...it's too sad. First, I had to deal with an intense earwig problem. After searching and destroying all earwigs, I brought the lettuce inside, hoping to protect it, but couldn't find a window with enough sun, so they soon wilted. Then I hoped to get the best of both worlds by setting them out in the day and bringing them back in at night. The first night I tried this, I put them down on a table and out popped some earwigs...mom kicked them outside again. In the end, I decided my only hope was to plant them outside, though I think they were a bit too far gone at this point. I also didn't realize being outside meant they would have to contend with a new pest—my dogs.

After all my digging and planting and weeding for my little lettuces, I turned around and Maddie was peeing right on one of the plants. I have also had to repeatedly shoo them away, as they insist on running over top of them whenever I'm out watering or inspecting. I have accepted my failure, and luckily have a friend with an abundance of home grown lettuces, who has been kind enough to share. I'll put lettuce on the list of things to grow next year...