Ghetto Gardening 2015
“Gardening is how I relax. It’s another form of creating and playing with colors.” – Oscar de la Renta
07/14/15:
This past weekend I went to the garden store to buy more thyme seeds and organic soil mix. While there, I always enjoy wandering around and getting ideas for my own outdoor space. I found a diverse selection of seeds offered by a local company, Renee's Garden. In addition to thyme, I decided to try some morning glories (one of my favorite flowers) and a packet of mixed greens that are supposedly nutritious and appealing to cats.
Clicking on the small images below will bring up a full-size version.
Container gardening ideas abound
at my local garden stores.
Tempted to bring home more plants
than I have space for!
Homemade tags are easy to make.
Extra seeds/tags stored together.
The seaweed I picked up a few weeks ago has broken down, becoming a dark liquid with mushy bits, so it's very easy to use as fertilizer. Not sure yet if the nutrients are aiding the selected plants I treated with seaweed previously; every one of my potted tomatoes is growing and seems disease-free. Five plants have flowers, and I spotted the first little tomato on Saturday. The peppers on one of my 8 plants are turning red. I am relieved to see this: the large size of the fruit while still green had me wondering if I'd mistakenly bought serranos instead of cayenne.
Leetle green blackberries.
More good soil to mix in
with the local sandy clay.
Fuchsias are having a great year. Squirrel!
Although the blackberry bushes have grown long brambly stems and lots of leaves as usual, there are fewer flowers, and hence berries, than last year. But clumps of little green berries can still be seen here and there. Blackberries grow wild in this area and likely prefer more rain. When buying seeds or plants recently, I've been trying to keep in mind their natural locality and potential drought-hardiness. So I'm reading the tags stuck in the pots at the store, instead of just buying flowers that are pretty colors or inexpensive. Also, I've realized that I favor perennials over annuals, and that shade-tolerant varieties do better in my yard. I've been paying attention as well to which varieties of ornamental plants grow nicely outside other homes around town, so I'm hopeful that I can get the morning glories to provide lovely blue blooms later this summer.
