The Garden

I'm not sure if anyone remembers, but I started a garden when I first got down here. It consisted of a few onions and misc tomato and other seeds in an ice cube tray on my balcony. It failed miserably. I'm awful with plants.

When I moved to my current apartment, I asked the landlord if I could dig up the weeds and make a garden on either side of the walk way. He, of course, was thrilled with the idea that someone else would make the yard look decent. I started on the far side, to the left of my door as you'd look out. I also filled up two large (25 gallon) containers with water and placed water lilies (acquired from school) in them. They have lilac blooms and have attracted tiny thumb nail sized frogs. I put a few little fish (also acquired from school) in them to eat the mosquitoes. It's also a good out door place for the koi when I change their water.

After I got that side growing, I started on the other. My plan was to make a small quarter circle with golf course grass in between the rocks so that the door could open and shut easily without getting stuck or ruining my plants. I got the rocks (and plenty more) from tilling up the soil. I've never seen so many rocks or trash in one spot. I also put in the walk way through the middle of the "gardens" to keep people from stepping on my plants.

As you can see, I've successfully convinced several plants to grow and many more weeds. I'm going to try to make these picts as small as possible to fit them on the page, so if you want to really see them (cuz they're so pretty) then click on the image.

My favorite plant is basil. It's so green and every time the dogs or I barely brush past it, its scent fills the yard.

The dill might be my next favorite because it's almost blue. The dill looks so delicate and yet so ornate with it's branching, almost like a tiny tree.

I also have parsley growing, but it's the smallest. I wanted to get cilantro to grow as well, but it hasn't decided to yet. I use parsley and cilantro the most in my cooking.

Other than herbs, I planted several vegetables and flowers. The two zucchini plants died, but I didn't mind because they almost took over and had massive flowers. The carrots are in the first green picture on the right along wit some juicy lettuce. The best vegetables so far have been radishes and lettuce. There is one radish that got a little too much Miracle Grow, because it's a Godzilla radish about the size of my fist and tall enough to reach my knee. It's flowering too. The left is a picture of it and a picture of lettuce flowering. Note the red stem on the super radish.

I think I also have tomatoes growing. They are hidden by the soon to be blue Morning Glorys. No one mentioned Morning Glorys were vines!!! They've taken over and fight with each other. I spent hours last weekend untangling them. I bought some wire mesh to make a cage for them. You'd think they were critters!

From campus I harvested a ton of Xmas Palm tree seeds. It's taken weeks, but as of today, 5 are working their way up!!! They're barely 2 inches tall! Very cute! This also tells met that dad's weeds of Xmas Palms had to be undisturbed for months to grow to be a foot tall.

To shade a lot of the other plants, I've used okra. The okra grows quickly and give a lot of cover because of its tall stature and broad leaves. There is my shortest okra with the grill in the background. I'm not quite sure how it got on this side because I only planted okra on the other side, not to mention this would be up hill if water flow. I have the suspicion that a four legged fuzzie moved it.

Speaking of four legged fuzzies, here are the kitties in the garden! Note how massive the Morning Glory's are.