The garden is alive!

I am barely alive but luckily the garden hasn't needed too much of my time lately. I am doing an internship at Genentech this quarter along with school.  I am really enjoying this internship but the drain on my time is making me slightly insane.  Anyway, in my absence (aside from watering) the garden has been doing pretty well.

I went out this evening and found that I have my first baby tomato- the green zebra! The others (san marzano and yellow pear) have blooms but no fruit that I have found. The corn is getting tall, should be putting out tassel soon! I also have baby peppers on 3/4 of the pepper plants.

Last week was attack of the cucumber beetles week. My poor beans barely had a leaf left on them but they seem to be recovering. My pest control method is squish all the ones I find and hope for the best. I am lazy :)

My herbs and flowers make me so happy. All the herbs are so easy and taste/smell so good! I have lots of calendula- I have been cutting them and bringing them back to the apartment for display.

PS. Sorry for no pics. I promise it looks really great! ;)

Today I- oo! something shiny!

Today I came home early from school because my eyes were starting to cross from looking at the computer screen all day and my neck was starting to ache.  I was in the mood to do something

active so I decided to clean the kitchen. Not just surface clean but go through the cabinets and organize, etc.  During my cleaning session I came across treasures that I had forgotten about.  Look at these wonderful silver pieces! These are two of many pieces that my mom tried to force on me.  Not that I really mind, but a girl like me only needs so many shiny things.  I do love shiny things though..

They didn't look so shiny when I found them.  They were basically all black and still wrapped in saran wrap from when we moved almost 2 years ago!  I polished them up so they look all pretty now.  I love polishing and cleaning things like this.  Its such an immediate gratification- look what I did! I made all that tarnish go away.  Unlike the rest of my day- look, I worked in excel all day.. wooo..

I also found these beauties.   I am very conflicted over this crystal sugar and creamer set.   They were a wedding gift from I don't even remember who.  Neither of us drink coffee.  We don't even own a coffee maker.  But they are nice and if I ever did pick out a fancy sugar/creamer set it would be these.  So we keep pushing them around.

Do other people have stuff like this, that you never use but its so nice that you just keep it anyway?

True Leaves

Today I came home to find itty bitty true leaves on the tomato seedlings!

Seedlings!

I finally got around to starting seeds a couple weeks ago, on Feb 16th to be exact.  I planted tomatoes, basil, cilantro, hot peppers, bell peppers and parsley.  Thus far everything has come up except those pesky bell peppers.  The seed was a couple years old so maybe it is bad.  Anyway, on to the exciting part- the picture!

In the left column the only thing that came up was one cilantro.  There was another cilantro and chives planted in the other two.  Next column has three basils- they are so cute and already starting on their first true leaves!  Next column has parsley at the top (it hadn't come up as of the picture but its up now) and two marzano tomatoes.  Finally, two tomatoes- one still trapped in its seed coat- and an empty spot (the hot pepper peat pellet has now been transplanted there).

I am trying something new this year, starting the seeds in the peat pellets and then transferring them to the bigger 6-pack when they sprout.  I find the 6-packs much easier to work with, but the seeds sprout much easier in the pellets. We shall see how it goes.

I just love having these little bits of green in the apartment- especially on days like today when it is rainy and dreary out.  I just sit and stare at them, marveling at the miracle of a sprouted seed.

Is it spring yet?

So I've been a little bit busy and gardening has not fallen by the wayside but my blogging about it has.  I had quals in December so all my spare time went into prepping for that.  Its over though so now I can hopefully get back into regular garden blogging. Thanks to Paige for the reminder ;) My last post was in September so I guess I should try to summarize the last 4 months. .. I grew lots of tomatoes and made some really bland sauce.  I think it needed more herbs or something.  I also grew a pumpkin that didn't ripen until about Thanksgiving.  Its still sitting in my kitchen.  Its not a pie pumpkin but I can't bear to throw it away.  For the winter I planted peas, broccoli, garlic, green onions and beets.  Still waiting on the peas to make peas. They got a little frost bitten and have been slow to recover.  The broccoli, onions and beets have been very yummy and easy. Last year I had a big problem with aphids in the broccoli. This year I companion planted with garlic and mint and it seems to have done the trick.  No aphids!

OK, now for future plans! I have decided to dedicate the back fourth of my garden to herbs and flowers.  Thus far I have oregano, peppermint, parsley, cilantro, rosemary and in the future there will be basil.  I may also companion plant some basil in the with tomatoes.  I also want to put some wildflower mix back there to attract pollinators.  RIght now I have daffodil and freesia bulbs poking through.  As for the veggies, I have seeds for San Marzano tomatoes, some yellow watermelon, cantaloupe, green pole beans, black beans, corn, sunflowers, bell peppers and maybe some other stuff that I forgot.  I am going to try to grow with beans with the corn as the 'pole'. Last year they were next to eachother and the beans on the edge climbed up the corn so I decided that might be a good way to save some space and the corn probably appreciates the extra nitrogen from the beans.  Hmm.. I think thats it for now! I need to get my tomato seeds started..

Newest garden pest

So as if it's not enough to be fighting squirrels, rabbits, bugs, slugs and everything else, our community garden's newest pest is people. I had a watermelon disappear earlier in the week. My neighbor has had several stolen. I also noticed footprints in my beds. I think that's what irks me most- I can sort of justify the watermelon- maybe they were homeless and hungry. But if your going to steal my stuff and least respect the space. This also suggests that it is not a fellow gardener because they would know to stay on the path. Argh. Ok I'm done ranting now.

No poo for me

So I have given up normal shampoo and conditioner as described here. I am finishing up on week 2. I have been washing on Wednesdays and then sometime over the weekend. That first wed-sat was really greasy but since it has been better. Since my last 'shampoo' I have gone swimming, running and been outside in the 101 degree heat with just slight greasiness. We even got our church directory portraits done Thursday night :) My favorite thing about 'no poo for me' is that my shower on non-hair-washing days takes like 2 minutes. More sleep for me!