My Plants Survived My Absence. Here's Proof!



While I was off partying in the desert, my plants were busy too. All the indoor plants were relatively unchanged by the experience (though I did find a loving home for my leftover wandering Jews), so this update focuses on outdoor plants.

 

My purslane is growing like a weed, probably because it is a weed. As expected, it doesn't seem to mind the clay soil it's in. I've been sprinkling these leaves on sandwiches and in dips. They add a nice twist.

 



This plant is new! These are hens and chicks (probably Sempervivum tectorum). I got these (and a couple of "chicks" that fell out) for a dollar at a farmer's market. I couldn't pass them up.

My sage has some new growth, though it appears to be afflicted with some manner of fungus. I'm not sure what to do about this.

My basil and peppermint are affected too. My thyme is just beautiful, though, and the rosemary is also untouched and thriving. Maybe not as well as it thrives in Vegas.

My Swiss chard has never looked better. I've been eating these leaves on sandwiches too. It's a wonderful feeling to harvest homegrown food. There's nothing like it.

I've saved the biggest news for last. None of my tomatoes ripened while I was gone, but they've come a lot closer! And there are new fruits! When I play I Spy with this picture, I can spot eight tiny tomatoes. How many can you find?

This is the best picture I've gotten thus far of my ripening fruits. This picture shows three of them.

This shot is not so good, but it shows the most prolific cluster of fruits on the plant (so far).

In all, I am quite happy with how my plants are coming along. I just need to find some way to treat and prevent whatever kind of fungus or pest is going around. How are your plants doing this summer?

Next post: garden-fresh snacks.



Fruit Ahoy!

There's a special time in every edible plant's life when it approaches functionality. That time is coming for two of my favorite crops.

 

Here are the first two tomato flowers I found on my tomato plant. There are a few more now. Thank goodness tomatoes are self-pollinating.

 



My chard also looks like it's coming along better now. It's recovering from whatever was hurting it. I'm a little surprised at this chard. It was supposed to be 'Rainbow,' but the stems are only one color. Either it's an extremely unlikely coincidence, or I just got a variety of red chard. It doesn't concern me too much, though--the nutrition and taste are what I'm after.

Next post: knocked out by roses.

What My Plants Are Up To

Too infrequently do I get a chance to really study my plants and evaluate their conditions and activities. But the other day, I was fortunate enough to observe lots of new changes.

 

 

First off: my purple shamrock is flowering! When I bought this plant, all its peers at the farm were flowering, but since I like these plants for their foliage, I chose the one with the nicest, biggest foliage. Maybe this one's just a late bloomer. The flowers are pretty (though blurry--my apologies), and a lot closer to lavender than they look here. 

 

Interestingly, all the flowers here are nestled underneath the leaves. I've never really seen a plant do that before. Usually they want their flowers as high up and visible as possible to encourage pollination. I wonder what advantage this flower placement confers to the purple shamrock.

The evening after I first saw these, I noticed that the blooms had closed up. I thought they might be one-day blooms, but I was mistaken. They just close up at night and open again the next morning.

In less joyful news, it seems that something is eating my Swiss chard. It looks a bit better now than it does in this picture, but some of these leaves look like they're really not doing too well. Do you know of any pests that really like chard? I hear they're fairly rabbit-proof (and I don't think we have rabbits around here anyway).

Also, we've had a lot of rain recently. As in, more rain than I expected to get all summer. This hasn't pleased my desert rose, but look at my sage go! It's huge, compared to when I got it! It's already started to form a woody stem, as you can see in the picture. I'm a proud mama.

The peppermint and lens flare are also enjoying the rain.

How has the weather affected your garden so far? Do you have anything that's struggling?

Next post: another exciting development.

Finally...

...I can keep plants outside. Today is my third day in my new apartment. Remember how I had half a salad's worth of Swiss chard before I left home? I have at least twice that today. One of my professors told our class that plants don't grow because of us--they grow in spite of us. The fact that the chard stayed alive for three months indoors and is now growing prolifically testifies to the truth in that statement.

So, here are the pictures of my plants' new homes. Maybe at the end of the summer I can do a before-and-after post. I'm sure there would be lots of improvement.

These are the three wandering jews that I've decided not to keep. I'm still looking for good homes for these little guys. They're really easy to care for. Thankfully they're recent cuttings, so they haven't developed much of a root system, so they can stay in this four pack for a while without becoming rootbound.

My spider plant and bromeliad aren't really near a window, but light from three windows reaches them, so they might be okay there.

My lucky bamboo also isn't in a window, but from what I understand, these plants actually benefit from staying out of direct sunlight. It works out very well.

This table contains the two succulents I brought, my wandering jew, and my purple shamrock. They've got some of the best seats in the house.

My jade plant (unfortunately not pictured) is near a window in the bedroom. The rest of my plants are outside. My tomato is looking happier by the day. The parsley pot (behind the tomato) was flooded by rain a couple of times, but I poured out the excess. We'll see how that does.

There's a noticeable difference between the Swiss chard in this shot and what it looks like now, a day later. I have high hopes for this crop.

My basil's still a bit raggedy, but I'm working on it. The peppermint, however, doesn't need any help.

I'm already excited to see my desert rose bloom, though the plant already looks very dramatic against this brick wall.

Here are the rest of the herbs. My thyme looks small, still, but if I can keep it out of heavy rains, it should be fine. I'm going to be cooking pizzas with rosemary soon, and I think I'm going to harvest a few leaves from my rosemary for it. Think of it: my first true harvest (eating doomed plant matter doesn't count) of the year. Miraculous.

What miracles are transpiring in your garden or containers?

Next post: more from the dawn of summer.

A Brief Respite at Home

I am home for the weekend, and my plants are here with me. They're enjoying the sun. Thankfully, they'll remain outside once I move again next week.

These plants (spider plant, jade plant, lucky bamboo, and wandering jews) are hanging out inside since they're suited for such conditions.

I'm also wary of putting the wandering jews outside for fear they might grow too much. They already look eerily taller than they did just a few days ago. Another concern I have is that, because they grow so much, I really don't need four of them. I'm looking for good homes for three of them; if I can't find good homes, I might just pitch them.

My desert rose is ready to go outside. I don't have room in my car to take this one with me over the summer (though I may try anyway), but I'll get it eventually. Judging by the plentiful foliage, I'd bet this is going to be a great year for desert rose flowers.

Here's my purple shamrock, stealing the show as per usual. In the top right corner is a succulent that I'd like to take with me. I think the two plants are going to switch pots. Also, in the lower right corner are some basil seedlings that my mom is growing. Very exciting!

A better shot of the succulent. This is definitely multiple plants, so I might have to put them in multiple pots. Some might need good homes at some point as well...

In other basil news, remember my basil plant? As you can see, we're working on getting it to bush out a little. It's looking (and tasting) good, though.

Mints in general (I imagine peppermint is no exception) are tough, and my little specimen here is responding particularly well to the great outdoors. I suspect I'll have no trouble keeping this plant healthy and producing. Peppermint is one herb I've never used in cooking, but I love mint tea.

Though this isn't a great shot, you can see that the sage is doing okay too. I think it has some new leaves, but this pot will keep it happy for a long time.

The rosemary is also looking healthy as ever. All my plants (well, most) are getting repotted into permanent containers tomorrow, and I imagine the rosemary will benefit from that. Rosemary can turn into full-fledged bushes, so it needs room to grow.

Though blurry, the thyme seems to be taking off more than it has been. If this batch doesn't grow much, I can plant some more seeds and see if they perform better, as they would be outside from the beginning. We'll see.

The Swiss chard has definitely grown since coming home. It looks like it might just grow up nice and big after all. I mean, there's already half a side salad here! I could also probably get rid of the knife at this point, since the air will be well circulated. I thought these were goners on my way home because all the chard started to wilt from the heat when I was packing up my car. I gave them plenty of water, though, and they perked back up like nothing happened! I was truly impressed.

My tomato apparently got caught in a slight frost a week or two ago, but it appears to be recovering as well as can be expected.

It looks tiny in this pot, but remember, it's supposed to become 6-7' tall. I have a cage for it, but I'm going to wait until I move to put it in. You can also see the parsley pot in the background. I'm fairly certain the soil in it is good old clay garden soil, so the parsley may not have an easy time surfacing, but we will see. If it doesn't turn out, I can put something else in that pot.

How are your plants doing? Have you been moving some outside?

Next post: a garden overhaul.

It's 11 AM. Do You Know Where Your Crops Are?

Since nothing much has developed around campus (that I've seen, at least), and I haven't done anything exciting with plants lately (except one thing -- see below), I've decided to show you how my crops are coming along.

I recently started a crop notebook. As of May 2013, the status of all my edible crops is "Growing slowly indoors." I still contend my Swiss chard and thyme will improve once outside, but for now they're still puny.

But they're getting better. I have three main sprigs of thyme coming up now, as well as a wee one.

The leaves on my Swiss chard are approaching baby green size, which is really better than they're supposed to be able to do indoors. This brings me to my sole piece of plant news: I ate my first Swiss chard leaf today. There was a leaf on my biggest seedling that was small and curled up. I thought that if there was one plant that could handle losing a leaf, it was that one. So I ate it. Swiss chard really is mild. I approve. This experience gives me something to look forward to; that is to say, getting these suckers outside, watching them prosper, and feasting!

This is the plant that provided me with a sliver of nutrition. I use the knife to mix up the soil so a mysterious white fuzz (which the Internet tells me is mold caused by lack of circulation) cannot persist in the soil. You can see the lack of leaf on the lower right of the plant.

This 'Mr. Stripey' seems to have grown a bit since I got it. At any rate, it's doing okay, but it's ready to head outside too. It's going to get that chance on Friday! Hooray!

While my bromeliad is by no means an edible crop, I figured I'd report on it too. Its condition is deteriorating more rapidly than before. I doubt I can really save it at this point.

How are your crops faring?

Next post: who knows!

The Crops in Mid-April (With Special Bonus Flower Action)

There have been a couple of significant changes in the crops in my room. To supplement this news, I will include some eye-candy flowers.

First, my Swiss chard's true leaves are growing well! Slowly, but well. They're even developing the wrinkles characteristic of the species.

Also, another Swiss chard seedling has surfaced where the old one withered up and died. I knew I kept watering that spot for a reason!

In other news, I finally said goodbye to my wheat. Maybe I can repurpose this colander (as a colander, perhaps?).

Those are all the developments in my plants. There have, however, been lots of developments outside. This is one of the nicest. I don't know what kind of tree this is, but it has adorable green blossoms that I couldn't resist photographing.

That's all I've got for now. How are your crops doing?

Next post: another plant acquisition.