Fruits of Labor (Also titled: My garden needs some weeding.)

A lot has been happening! First, I'd like to say that I ditched my little patch by the fence due to Cody's irrepressible urge to dig it up, and my guilt at keeping him on a chain. I am glad. I didn't expect to have as much as I do now. What you are seeing here is my latest patch of land featuring a couple variety of tomato plants and more than a few different types of pepper plants. This picture also shows off my lax attitude towards weeding. I think it could be much worse though, so all in all, we are doing pretty good!

Now for the opening act: GARLIC!

Mmm!! My hands are going to smell like garlic for three days! (Yes, that is also my bare foot at the bottom of the picture. I haven't wore socks since March, and if I'm not going to a place that requires shoes, you won't catch me in those either.)

In the spotlight: PEPPERS! (I don't know which kind exactly because I forgot, my dad kept dropping off random types of pepper plants and I just didn't keep up. He doesn't remember what was what, either.)

Honorable mentions:

• Tomato Plant

• Pepper Plants

Surprise flower in the yard:

I'm pretty sure these are tiger lilies.

Let's be serious...

I spent much of the afternoon digging since I had far more plants than I could possibly fit in my little section by the fence. So, I'd like to introduce my garden, part II:

All in a Day's Work

I finally managed to get outside and somehow juggle baby, puppy and planting.

The seeds have been sown, but I admit, it was done rather haphazardly as I ran around the yard trying to make sure my 1 year old didn't crack his head open. The dog provided a nice soundtrack for it all. It went something like this.. "woof woof woof" "bark bark bark" as he jumped, jumped, jumped. I have way too many plants to fit in my little section of the yard, so I am going to plant some of them in my neighbors yards over the next few days as they have donated land to my cause.

Tomato plant:

Pepper plant:

So, the question remains. Will I actually see any vegetables? More importantly, will I be able to eat them? This photo also includes the newly painted fence! What a tedious job that was...

To be continued...

The Plot Thickens

The good news: they are almost ready to plant outside.

The bad news: we started putting more tile down in the sun room and I didn't label which side was tomatoes or peppers or anything. So I have no idea which is where because the containers were moved around more than a few times.

Incredible!

I took a peek, although I was not expecting any results for a couple more weeks. Low and behold, I discovered the tomatoes are coming up.



No sign of any jalapeños, but I'm sure they'll be popping up soon.

Looking Ahead

It'll be a few weeks before my indoor seeds do anything, if all goes according to plan. Until then, I'd like to offer an intermission show of what will be planted outdoors when the time comes.

The Secret of Landscaping

First, I offer some background information. If I had been thinking ahead I would of taken "before" and "after" pictures. Here's after:

A glimpse of what came out of the ground:

My dog, Cody, really helped a lot during all this. You know, all the chasing, wrapping his leash around your legs and just generally getting under foot.

My first landscaping experience. I think it went rather well. For anyone that asks, I am indeed going for that old, worn, "what the ____ happened here?" look.

Those bricks came with the yard when we bought the house. They have probably been eroding for atleast a decade or two. Maybe three! Who's to say?

I think it's coming along very nice! There's only so much you can do on a budget of zero during peak baby nap hours. I was going to hose the bricks down for the picture but really, I didn't think it'd make much of a difference.. and then there's the fact that we don't have a hose, yet...

On The First Day

In this first container, the first six squares from the left are jalapeno peppers, the rest: tomatoes. I have no idea about gardening -- none whatsoever. All I know is that I tore up a whole lotta weeds and even some weird kinda baby trees in a spot in my yard. I turned the soil (learned that from my Dad) and away I went. I started these seeds indoors this evening.

The second container is all peppers. The rest of my seeds get started outdoors "after danger of frost." (meep!)

Well, hopefully my seeds do something or else this might be a very short blog.

I also have a replacement rose bush for the one I evicted from the yard.