My first gardening experience – Lessons Learned

san marzano tomatoes

(disclaimer before I go on: I rushed outside with R after her nap and before dinner, and didn’t have a chance to grab my camera…so we are left with iPhone pictures…)

we went out of town for a week, and I came back to an out of control garden! …it was good and bad…

roma tomatos

good because, I now have some veggies ready to eat! yay!
2 cucumbers, a baby eggplant (anyone have any suggestions on what to do with one baby eggplant?) and a red pepper =)

harvested vegetables: cucumber, eggplant and pepper

japanese eggplant

there are TONS of tomatoes growing which is really exciting, several jalapenos, and a couple more peppers. the bell peppers however are not growing yet.

cherry tomato

the bad part: the squash is literally taking over EVERYTHING. it is starting to suffocate my basil. I think I’m going to need to take out some of the squash plant, because the basil is more important to me than squash!

cilantro that has already bolted

I also need to go out today and harvest all of this cilantro, since it is flowering and it is way too hot for it to grow right now. I think i’m going to buy more basil plants and fill in my empty areas with them. and then make pesto with all my basil!

red cherry peppers

so lessons so far:
1) do not plant squash in a square foot garden – there is just not enough space
2) plant things that need frequent harvesting, like basil, in the outside areas so they are easy to get to (my basil is in the hardest place to reach)
3) plant cucumbers on the edge of your garden where they can grow up on a trellis or other structure

cucumber vines

4) when growing peas, train them onto a trellis early. If you wait to long like I did, then they will get all tangled and many of them may die =(
5) when planting radish, do NOT over crowd them – they will not have space to grow (I got lots of radish leaves and flowers, but no radishes)
6) eggplants are usually plagued by beetles…be prepared.
7) if planting cilantro from seed, you CAN over crowd. Just sprinkle them out over the area and barely cover them with soil. It is best to first soak the seeds overnight in water and if you can, use a brick or stone to VERY LIGHTLY break the seeds in half. I know it sounds crazy, but my mother in law has been doing that for years and it worked beautifully.
8) Don’t leave broccoli on the plant too long…it will start to flower!

jalapeno peppers

Well that’s it for now…

Hope everyone else’s gardens are going well!