Are you planning on working on your garden this weekend? If so, don’t miss these two deals at Home Depot! These are available in-store only. We can purchase 4.5″ and 5″ Bonnie Vegetables and Herbs for $2.00 each (they are on sale 5/$10). And soil is starting at $1.88! Go HERE for more in.
Check: Save A Lot Ad, Fry’s Ad in Weekly Circulars.

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Features:

• Introductory home canning kit eases a novice canner into it with a trail set that makes use of existing kitchenware
• Includes an illustrated, simplified instruction book with recipes
• Also includes polypropylene rack with separate, fitted lifter that works in standard stockpots and 3 Pint jars
• Efficient, low-cost way to learn canning, which could save money and broaden supplies in the long run

Go HERE to purchase your Ball® Home Canning Discovery Kit for only $5 shipped!

Thanks Swaggrabber.

*Remember prices on Amazon are always subject to change, so buy now if you’re interested!

• Check out more Amazon Deals while you’re browsing Addicted to Saving.

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Product Features:

• Made from recycled plastic and wood
• Will not rot
• Patented corner system

The Greenland Gardener 6-Inch Raised Bed Garden Kit will ship free with CowPot 4 Inches Square 8 per Order by David’s Garden Seeds for $8.95 to help get your garden started.

Go HERE to purchase your Greenland Gardener 6-Inch Raised Bed Garden Kit.
And if you need a filler item and are unsure what to get, check out these CowPot 4 Inches Square 8 per Order by David’s Garden Seeds to help get your garden started HERE.

*Remember prices on Amazon are always subject to change.

Thanks She Saved.

• Check out more Internet Deals while you’re on Addicted to Saving!

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U-pick tomatoes are once again available at Hunsader Farms. They seem to be starting a little later this year, so I want to give you a heads up in case it gets too hot for the tomatoes to last long by the time they get to be $1 for 25 pounds!  The only catch is this is a u-pick farm, meaning you have to actually do the work and pick them.  Check out Hunsader’s facebook page and website for more information and directions.  As always, call ahead to make sure tomatoes are available! There is a limit of fifteen 25lb buckets per person.  I can’t even begin to imagine how I would preserve that many tomatoes! Also available for u-pick is eggplant, okra, and black eyed peas.  One tip:  if you pick other veggies, be sure you know how much they weigh and how much they are per lb before you go all crazy, because once you pick it, it’s yours.  Happy picking!  Look for updates when Hunsader Farms drops down to just $1 for 25lbs!   $5/25 lbs is still an awesome deal to be had on fresh picked produce.

*Just a head’s up, Hunsader Farms is a local farm located in Bradenton, FL.

• While you’re on Facebook, check out Addicted to Saving!

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Here’s a fun last minute freebie for those of you who are blessed to have Friday off! Tomorrow 5/10/13 Better Homes and Gardens and the American Public Garden Association are offering FREE admission to select public gardens nationwide. They are doing this to celebrate National Public Garden Day. This would be an excellent opportunity to enjoy the beautiful weather we’ve been having in Florida. Celebrating National Public Garden Day would make a great impromptu FREE field trip for any kids at home as well!

You can go HERE to see if any gardens near you are participating.

Thanks Totally Target.

• Go HERE to check out more fun Freebies on Addicted to Saving.

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Check out this fun FREEBIE you can get at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores this Sunday (4/21/13) from 2-3pm! Herbs are a great way to spice up healthy gluten free eating. I think it’s adorable and would make a great housewarming present or Mother’s Day gift.

They should have all the supplies needed for FREE! Remember to call your local store to make sure they are participating. Go HERE to find a store near you.

From their FB page:

Love it! Stop by our FREE Make It-Take It from 2-3pm this Sunday and learn how to craft this Ball Jar Herb Planter It’s in all stores!

Check out other great FREEBIES on Addicted to Saving!

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Spring is here and some of us are going to be getting our gardens ready! Go HERE to get your FREE Sample of Miracle -Gro ExpandnGro. 

The post Free Sample of Miracle -Gro ExpandnGro appeared first on AddictedToSaving.com.

Above is the remnants of my pepper plants.  They were thriving and doing so well until the branches, leaves and peppers were eaten.

Close up of pepper plants.  So sad.

One lone Cayenne Pepper.  I do still have about 25 Cayenne Peppers I have drying in my kitchen.

I do have a huge surprise for you!  Do you remember me complaining that my basil plants were dead?  Originally I planted the basil in a small pot but then I transplanted them into my raised garden bed.  Well, they were doing horrible.  They were yellow, had black dust on them, etc.  Well, I had given up on my garden over 4 weeks ago and then a week ago, I was looking at it and saw that not only was my basil flourishing, but it was spreading!  SO exciting for me!  If there was any herb that I could literally cook with three meals a day, it is basil.  So, I’m happy about my thriving and spreading basil!

How are your gardens doing?  Did you find that any of your fruits and vegetables flourished?  Which ones did poorly?  Would love to hear your updates and any tips you have on my fall garden, I would love to hear!  Because remember – I am brand new to gardening.  This is my first gardening experience!

The post Weekly Gardening Update appeared first on AddictedToSaving.com.

Despite the fact that I didn’t post about my garden last week, it is still somewhat thriving and I’m still loving every minute of being a newbie gardener!  While I’ve had many moments of disappointment: watching my zucchini plants provide me with one zucchini each and then withering away into nothingness, watching my flourishing tomato plants with hundreds of green tomatoes disappear as the greedy deer ate the fruit, etc, I’ve still really enjoyed this process.   I’ve cooked with more hot peppers this summer than I have my entire life.    I’ve learned a lot and while I’m still confused about some of the things I’ve witnessed, my hope is that next spring, when I plant my summer garden, I will be a little wiser with some of my gardening techniques.

I took a picture of the flower above so that you can see that new growth is still occurring in my garden!  The main growth is peppers.  Peppers, peppers and more peppers.  Some of my herbs are still hanging in there.  But mainly, any growth you see in my garden is peppers.

Dead zucchini plants.  It is amazing to compare this picture to what the plants looked like when they were flowering and flourishing. 

Cayenne peppers.  They are so pretty!  The plants look like a Christmas tree with the red and green   Today I strung about 20 of them so that I can dry them.

Even some of the green bell peppers are turning red.  Love red peppers!!  I’m noticing that most of  my pepper plants are now producing red peppers.  The red peppers came late in this growing season.  I’m wondering if that is normal and that early fruit doesn’t turn red?  Just a thought!

Yellow banana peppers.  This plant is still doing amazing.  Such a hearty pepper plant!  One plant has produced at least 25 yellow banana peppers.  Would definitely plant this again!

My chili peppers are finally turning red!  I’ve picked quite a few of these and they never turned red even sitting on my counter or on my lanaii.  So, I’m thrilled to see that my chili peppers are finally resembling chili peppers. 

Evidence of Destruction #1.  I know many of you have told me my disappearing tomato plants, branches and leaves were due to bugs and worms..  I just have a hard time picturing a worm being able to cut and digest the branches like seen on the pepper plant pictured above.  Every morning I wake up and see more and more examples of this.  There are no branches lying on the ground.  They are entirely consumed by whatever is eating them.  And, I’m thinking the sweet deer that I’ve been watching every day in my backyard are the culprits.  (Even though I haven’t caught them in the act as of yet..)  I really do love deer too.  So I’m torn between being frustrated about  my gardening losses and then  being happy that I’m able to feed the hungry deer…

Evidence of Destruction #2.  My poor tomato plants.  All of the branches look like this. 

How are all of your gardens doing?  Are you harvesting any fruits or veggies right now?  If you are planting a fall garden, when are you starting your fall garden and what are you planting?  Would love to hear all of your gardening stories!

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I realized today that I am at least two weeks (if not more) behind on posting about my garden!  So, your first question will probably be, “How is your garden?”  I can tell you that my pepper plants are alive, well and thriving.  In fact, above are all of the peppers I picked today.  We did spray all of our plants just once with sevin and since then, the bugs have dwindled drastically.  The pepper plants also seem to be happy with the amount of sunlight and water they are getting.

Much of my garden is alive.  On the other hand, a lot of it isn’t doing so well.  Since I’ve posted last, I have had a creature destroy all four of my tomato plants.  Last time I posted, my cherry tomato plant had lots of little green cherry tomatoes and I was able to pick 3 or 4 red tomatoes a day.  Well, the creature has eaten off most of its branches and all of the tomatoes.  A few weeks ago, my roma tomato plants were thriving with lots of large green tomatoes.  Now, every single tomato is gone as well as most branches.  We think the culprits are deer because whatever the creature is/was, it managed to get top branches.  You can see our attempt to thwart the deer below as we have an old chair leaning against the cherry tomato plant.  And, nope, the chair hasn’t helped one bit.  So sad.  When I plant my next garden, do you have any tips for keeping scavengers out?

Another sad event in my garden is my squash plants pictured below.  They looked so amazing about 3 – 4 weeks after I planted them.  But, I only managed to pick three large squash from them.  The plants have since withered away and they are not flowering at all anymore.  I did fertilize them once a week for three weeks and it didn’t help.  Do you all think I should pick and toss these plants?

Another disappointment for my garden has been my cantaloupe and cucumber plants.  The cantaloupe plants have flowered but I haven’t gotten even a teeny tiny cantaloupe.  My cucumber plants have only started about 5 baby cucumbers but they have not grown any more than the two babies pictured above.  (I think that means they may not have been pollinated?  I did try hand pollinating some of them..)

I know you may think that I’m down about my garden.  But, really, I am loving it.  This has been an awesome learning experience and while I tend to get discouraged when I see that a deer or whatever ate what seemed like 50 – 70 baby tomatoes, I am still into this.  And thankfully, my pepper plants are still producing so even though I get frustrated with the cucumber or zucchini plants, I can at least see thriving pepper plants.  Remember my jalapeno plants?  Well, they are still producing jalapenos as you can see below!  We had a party a few weeks ago and I used 20 jalapenos to make jalapeno poppers that turned out amazing!  This is still possibly my favorite gardening purchase just because it has been such a hearty plant!

You can see above that the cayenne peppers are finally starting to turn red!  Do any of you have any tips on drying/crushing them?  I’m thinking about drying them since there are approximately 50 peppers or so that will need to be used..

The chili pepper plant pictured above is still thriving as well.  None of the peppers have even remotely started to turn red.  I’ve picked and used many green ones.   I’ve also placed some of the picked ones in the sunlight on my lanai but they never did turn red.  I am wondering if this type of plant stays green?

Then there is my yellow banana pepper plant.  This plant is amazing.  Constantly producing banana peppers even though it was laying on a 45 degree angle at one time.  (We’ve fixed that problem by using a piece of wood to support it.  These peppers are really tasty and another fun aspect of my garden.

Questions for you:

1) Should I give up on my tomato plants or should I hope that they flower and produce more tomatoes?  Also – what should I do to prevent squirrels and deer and other varmints that are eating my garden?  (They don’t seem to like peppers…)

2)  This may be an early question, but at what point do you start to think and plan for your fall/winter garden?  Especially if you live in Florida?  Just curious.  I know I planted my garden a bit late in the “season” so I want to make sure I’ve planned ahead for the next part of my garden.

3)  Do you know how long my pepper plants will live?  Will they continue to produce peppers through the end of summer?  Into the fall?  Just curious. 

4)  Would you remove the dead squash plants from the garden? 

And most importantly, how is your garden doing?  Would love to hear how your plants are doing and what fruits and vegetables you are harvesting! 

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Gardening is still going strong at my house!  I’ve religiously watered my plants every morning and thus far, everything is doing pretty good!  And, we were so excited when we were able to pick our first zucchini!  While the harvests have been super small thus far (i.e. one pepper one day and one tomato two days later), this has been a really fun experience!  Above is one day’s “bounty” this week.  And, below is the finished result.  From a “healthy” standpoint, this was a super healthy meal that I threw together.  The only nutritional deficit was that I didn’t add any protein (besides the toasted pine nuts) which I should have.  (In retrospect I wish I added garbanzo beans) And, it was super cheap!  I used low sodium chicken broth, whole wheat pasta and frozen rolls that I had stockpiled away.  All of these items I scored dirt cheap or free.  My husband gave me the best compliment when he said he would order this meal in a restaurant.   

I don’t want to lie and tell you that everything is going perfectly in my garden.  I’m finding signs of worms.. In fact, I’ve seen the worms – one crawled out of a zucchini this a.m. (we were able to salvage half of it – is that gross?) and I found more baby worms inside an Anaheim pepper.  BLECH.  Above is a picture of my herbs.  The basil I had transplanted to my raised bed garden and it thrived for a little while but now is doing horrible.  The herbs pictured above are all alive but many are getting sunscorched.  And, I may not use them enough to help them thrive?  Like the cilantro, I probably use it once or twice a week and in small quantities.  Or the dill – I add it to tuna fish or to fresh fish but only a few times a week..  The mint is still hardy as is the greek oregano..

My favorite gardening purchase still remains to be my jalapeno plants!  They have gone crazy with baby jalapenos again and they are so cute!  I am going to start picking them tonight.  The only concern I have is that I’m noticing the plant isn’t flowering anymore.  So, I’m wondering if this is it’s last hurrah?  Does anyone know how to tell if the plant is finished producing?

This is the second zucchini that my plants produced.  I actually picked this zucchini this morning.  It had a worm in half of it

but we (yes – I did have to get hubby involved.. I’m very squeamish with worms..) were able to salvage the other half.

My tomato plants are still doing great!  I haven’t been able to pick any of these tomatoes yet but today noticed that towards the center of the plant are a couple of tomatoes that need picking.  Will get them tonight.

Above is a pic of the leaves of one of my Roma Tomato plants.. You can see the worms are loving this plant.  So, can you guys leave comments with your best remedies for getting rid of worms?  I’m noticing that they are in all areas of my garden and that while they love this plant, they are loving little bits of all of my plants.  So, can you give me remedies that I can use on all types of vegetable plants and not just tomato plants?

Can you make out the dead plant in the picture above?  (Sorry – I was lazy – I should have used my good camera for this.)  This is a green bell pepper plant.  One day it was thriving and had 3 baby peppers.  The next day it was a shriveled mess.  I know that I watered it enough.. I’m thinking that something else killed it.  Any ideas on what might have happened?  I’m so worried that this might happen to my other pepper plants!

Lastly, above is a green pepper plant that is thriving.  The bell peppers may look big in this picture but they are still too small to be picked.  (I think??)  My cayenne pepper plants and red chili pepper plants are still looking good.  The red chili peppers have gotten huge but I’m just supposed to let them stay on the branches until they turn red right?? Can someone help me with that?

Questions for you:

I’ve spread out some of my questions in the paragraphs above.  I’ve highlighted them in purple.  I’ve loved all of your feedback and help to my questions!  Thank you so much for all of your advice and comments.  I would still love to hear how your gardens are doing!  What veggies do you have planted?  What veggies have you been able to harvest!  Have any of you grown garlic before?  I know it is too late in the season for me to grow it but would love to hear how it went for you!

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My garden is still alive!!  And, as you can see from the picture above, it is still overflowing!  The darn Buttercup Squash is overtaking my garden!! I actually did research on Buttercup Squash just this past week (I probably should have done it before planting, but oh well) and I guess their vines can go up to 8 ft long?  I was excited to read that people find Buttercup Squash to be sweet and also that it can keep for months and months because I’m seeing TONS of girl flowers with little mini squash.  When I took this picture it was already mid afternoon so most of the squash flowers had closed but in the morning my garden is so pretty with the bright yellow zucchini flowers and buttercup flowers.  Also – I’ve worried about bees in the past but today when I went out bees were almost every where.  In fact, I got a bit skeeved out for a little while.. I had three buttercup squash girl flowers on one vine that had opened and one of the flowers had 3 bees in it!  So, I decided to let nature take its course today and not worry about attempting to pollinate those flowers.

Above is a baby Buttercup Squash.  This is the largest one thus far.  I’m hoping that it continues growing unlike my cucumber, cantaloupe and zucchini plants.    Do you remember the cucumber picture I posted last week?  Well, it still looks like that.  That was the first and only sign of a cucumber my plants have produced thus far.  And my zucchini and yellow squash plants?  The “fruit” that they have produced stopped growing after just one or two days.  Very disappointing. **Many of you commented on stuffing the flowers and cooking them.. Can you give me more information on how to do that?  I would like to try that this weekend!

Above is one of the zucchini plants.  Do you see all of the really thin stalks?  (Is that what they are called?)  This plant really is struggling and I think I’m going to pull it to give my other plants more room.  Speaking of – is there any tricks for removing this plant? Do I just pull it out or do I need to be more careful?  Would love some help on this.

Above is the first sign of a ripening tomato!    This is from the potted tomato plant (still potted) that I’ve had for over two months now.  I also have three tomato plants in my raised garden bed and I’m so excited because one of the plants has baby tomatoes all over it!  One of you were super funny posting a comment a few weeks back telling me that it is bad luck to count the tomatoes on a tomato plant.  So, I’ve tried my hardest to refrain from doing that!    Especially since I know I would mourn the loss of each and every single tomato.  I have to say that from an estimate, there are at least 20 tomatoes!!  And, one of my two Roma tomato plants just started giving me marble sized tomatoes so I’m super excited about that since Roma tomatoes happen to be my favorite!

My pepper plants are doing absolutely amazing.  Above are two of the skinny Cayenne peppers growing.  I have four of these plants and three of the four are producing skinny peppers like the ones pictured above.

How cute is this baby Green Bell Pepper!!  I think there are only 4 peppers started thus far even though I think have about 8 plants which are flowering.  I am SO excited to think about harvesting these peppers!  I cook with peppers as often as I can so I could think of tons of uses for these!

My red chili plant is doing really well too.  Question though – I am assuming I wait for these peppers to turn red before picking?  Can someone confirm that?

Lastly – above is a picture of my Yellow Banana Pepper Plant.  This has tons of peppers and I may pick one of them tonight to try it out.  This plant is lots of peppers even though it is literally growing on a 45 degree angle (not from the weight – I think I may have transplanted it poorly).

Oh – and my jalapeno plant is still thriving!  I have 7 jalapenos on my counter that I need to use and the plant has at least 20 baby peppers growing.  Every meal I cook my husband is commenting on how it is super spicy.  (I do better with heat than he does ;))  I made homemade pizza (using Publix pizza dough – does that make it not homemade ;)) Friday night and my hubby looked at me and said that he shouldn’t be sweating just from eating.  Ha.  I know I should be removing the seeds but I feel like that is wasteful!  Every little seed counts especially when I’m just happy to be picking fresh produce!

Questions for you:

I actually only have the few questions and I asked all of them above.  But I would love to hear how your gardens are doing!  What veggies do you have planted?  What veggies have you been able to harvest!  Please tell – I would love to live vicariously through all of you!

The post Weekly Gardening Update appeared first on AddictedToSaving.com.

Do you remember this picture above?  This was my garden on May 9th.  I had lots of adorable little vegetable plants that I purchased at Lowes because I cheated and didn’t plant from seeds.  My garden was so cute!  I loved how everything was so organized and how I could read all of the cute little veggie markers telling me what each plant was.  You all saw this picture and told me I overplanted.  You told me I needed to transplant my veggies.  I didn’t understand why that was necessary since everything was so cute and tidy.  But, I took your advice.  And, as you read last week, my husband and I replanted some of the veggies above.  Well, below is an updated picture of my garden(s).  I literally have acorn squash plants overflowing out of the garden.  If I had this to do over again, I probably wouldn’t have planted the acorn squash in this bed because they are so greedy and so viney!  I probably would have just tried planting them *gasp* in the ground.

Oh – I haven’t found any evidence of birds eating any of the plants but I have found that they like to perch themselves on the tomato plant wire thingys..

Below is a close up of the new raised garden bed that we transplanted the pepper plants in.  Everything is flourishing and thankfully I haven’t lost any plants despite the shock of replanting them.

Below are baby red chili peppers.  Thus far the “hot” peppers are the ones growing the quickest.  I also have baby cayenne peppers.  And, my jalapeno plant is still producing although it has seemed to slow just a bit.  Everything I’m cooking is spicy right now with all of the jalapenos.  I can only imagine the heat of my meals once the chili peppers and cayenne peppers are ready to be picked!

So, I’ve been spending A LOT of time figuring out the difference between boy and girl flowers.  I didn’t even realize that I had to worry about pollination when I purchased all of the plants.  I just thought the plants would take care of growing their veggies if I would take care of watering them.  Oops.  Since I only see one or two bees per day I know that I have had to help out.  I actually just reread the post I made last week where I said that I had found two girl zucchini flowers.  I lied.  They were boy flowers.  I just didn’t know it.  And, the best part is I pollinated the boy flowers with other boy flowers. Ha.  The girl flowers have started arriving and they are drastically different from the boy flowers. 

To pollinate the flowers I have been removing the boy flowers and rubbing their pollen directly into the girl flowers.  This seemed easier than the Q-tip method although I may attempt the Q-tip method with the fragile cucumber flowers..  So, my question for you is will the girl flowers reopen again or do they only open once?  And, if they do reopen, do I add more pollen?  (Reminder – I have no idea what I’m doing so would love any and all help!)

Above: Boy Flower.

Above: Girl Flower.  The “fruit” is behind the flower.. I should have taken a picture of the side view..

Above: Yellow Squash.  I did pollinate this so we shall see what happens.. It doesn’t look the best to me although I have no idea what it “should” look like..  So speaking of.  Do any of you know how long it will take for a fruit to appear after pollination?  So, for this yellow squash that I pollinated on Sunday, May 30th, how long should it take for the flower above to actually look like a yellow squash?

The picture above is a bit difficult to see but in the center is a baby zucchini with its flower.  I pollinated the flower.. Have no idea what to expect now!  And, I was surprised the zucchini was so big prior to pollination.  Could it be that the flower was pollinated already by bees?  The blossom was wide open yesterday so I pollinated it.  Am I too late pollinating it?  Are you all sick of my naive questions? 

Above is a basil update.  If you remember, I had my basil in a pot along with parsley.  The basil wasn’t doing well at all.  Many of you recommended I replant the basil as well as cut it down.  I did both and it is starting to thrive again!  And, I am almost thinking that the greedy squash leaves are helping shelter the basil a bit from the sun which is helping it!  Thanks to everyone for recommending I replant the basil!  I had just about given up on it!

The tomato plant I have potted still has the green tomatoes growing.  Thus far they haven’t ripened.  Above is on of the tomato plants in my raised garden bed and it has adorable little tomatoes growing.  I have no idea how big they are supposed to get?  But they are cute!

So, I am finding that with gardening come a skill that I lack.  Patience.  I find that with everything – I want FAST results.  When I was losing weight about 3 years ago, I wanted the results quickly.  But instead it took 6 months to lose 45 pounds.  When I was speed training for my running, I wanted quick results.  Instead it took lots of time and lots of effort to drop just seconds from my miles.  I know many of you struggle with this as you email me asking how long it should take for you to start saving over 70% at the grocery store.  My answer to you – give it time.  Well, today as I was taking pictures, I was thinking about how sad it is that my cucumber plants are not producing any fruit or even giving me any female flowers.  Well look at what I found.  A baby cucumber with its flower.  In my impatience I was already planning on writing about my lackluster cucumber plant but in reality, it was doing okay.

Oh – and an update on the cucumber leaves – they are still brown and brittle.  I did purchase vegetable fertilizer with nitrogen and used it on Memorial Day.  I didn’t use it on all of my veggies.  Just the cucumber and jalapeno plants. 

Questions for you:

1) Should I fertilize all of my veggies or just the cucumbers since they are struggling.  And, if I fertilize the cucumbers, should I do it once a week?
2)  Once a female flower is pollinated, will it open again and if so, does it need to be pollinated again?
3)  My squash plants are getting extremely unruly with their overpowering leaves.  a)  Can I remove the brown leaves that are on the bottom of the plants and if so, where do I cut the leaves?  b)  Can I trim back any of the healthy green leaves and if so, where do I cut the leaves?
4)  Is it too late to plant onions?  If not, how and where do I find onion plants and how much space do they take up?  I’m wondering if I can plant some amongst my pepper plants?

The post Weekly Gardening Update appeared first on AddictedToSaving.com.

Side view of both raised beds.. I do need to get one more tomato thingy as one of my Roma tomato plants doesn’t have a holder supporting its branches.  (What in the world is the “holder” called – my mind can’t think of the name?)

Close up of Cucumber plants.  You can see I’m still dealing with dry/dead leaves..  The plant is still producing lots of flowers although from the research I’ve done online, all I am seeing are “male” cucumber flowers.  Does it typically take some time for female flowers to appear?  Also – I just read the comment left by Christina on my previous gardening post HERE and she said maybe the plants need some nitrogen?  I’ll have to look into this.. Any recommendations for good fertilizers with nitrogen?  I used some coffee grounds earlier this week because I read that was a good fertilizer..  But truthfully, I had no idea what I was doing and I only used the grounds on the cucumber plants, jalapeno plants (it is thriving but I thought maybe it could use some help since it is producing so much fruit?) and the basil that is struggling…

My original potted tomato plants is still doing well.  I was frustrated, though, because on Sunday, I found a tomato that was starting to turn red and the bottom was all eaten away.  I don’t know what got to it but something did…

New raised garden with the transplanted pepper plants.  Thus far everything is still thriving although only one plant is producing flowers.  I’m thrilled that none of them died after the transplant though!  And, yes – I realize this garden is still probably way too populated.  But what was I supposed to do?  Throw away plants that were perfectly healthy?    I’ve only had one green bell pepper plant die so far and that was last week before Sunday’s transplanting project.  

Zucchini plant flower.  (Male flower – yes I did spend at least 2 hours online looking at the differences between male and female cucumber, zucchini and squash flowers…).  You can kind of see that there is something greenish on the inside of the flower?  That is a bee.  I’ve spent much time fretting about my garden because there seems to be a major bee shortage – i.e. ZERO bees.  But yesterday, I saw my first bee and watched it gather pollen.  And today there were three bees gathering pollen as I took these pictures.  So, I was happy!  **What do you guys think about me helping the pollination process?  Many of the blogs I have read says I should use the boy flowers to pollinate the girl flowers..  Today I found my first two girl zucchini flowers so I attempted to help the pollination process.   Do you all recommend this??

Oh – and a basil update.  I removed the basil from the small container I had it is and replanted it into the large raised garden bed.  I also cut back most of the stalks.. I will let you know how it does.  I still have a very bad feeling that it won’t make it which is frustrating because I would cook and use basil on a daily basis if it was “healthy” and thriving..

Oh – and lastly – below is a picture of three peppers I picked today (Anaheim pepper and jalapeno peppers).  I tell you what.. that Jalapeno plant was by far an awesome purchase.  I am picking jalapenos on a daily basis and it keeps producing more!  Love it!

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I do have a couple of questions for all of you that are gardeners:

1)  I’m starting to grow my cucumbers up a trellis like contraption.  I noticed that some of the leaves are yellowing and some are even dried up.  I water every morning and my garden is in the sunlight for around 8 hours.  Do you recommend I water the cucumber plants more at night?  (I know not to water the leaves..)

2)  My basil plants aren’t doing well.  I’ve been picking off the flowers but my basil plants are “leggy” and the leaves have some yellowing.  Also, on the bottom of the leaves there is a black dust like substance.  When I pick some of the basil leaves and rinse the leaves the black stuff stays on them.  Theonly way I can get it off is scraping it with a paper towel.  Do you have any ideas on how I can save my basil plants?  I feel like I’m going to lose them..

3)  Do you have any tips on how I should remove and replant the veggie plants into the new raised garden bed?  Is there anything I need to do to be careful?  How do I know if I’m giving enough space when digging them up so as to not hurt their roots? Any tips?

Below are updated pictures that I took on Tuesday, 5/17.  (I feel like everything has grown even more since then..)

Can you tell how “leggy” the basil is?  Any thoughts?

Close up of the basil legs.. Are they supposed to look brown?

Tomato plant is flourishing.  I counted 8 tomatoes this morning.

Jalapeno plant is still doing awesome.  By far this was an awesome purchase for me.  I spent a bit more than I probably should have ($10.00) BUT it gave me almost instant rewards by growing jalapeno peppers within just a few days of me having it.  This may be the reason I decided to plant more veggies!  We’ve harvested 8 jalapenos thus far.

Raised bed garden.  Looks so much different than last week!  I’m nervous about removing and replanting some of these plants – I am afraid that I may kill them.   I know I have to though.  Everything is getting so big!  **Remember – I know nothing about gardening so I don’t even know what a full size green bell pepper plant or a full size zucchini plant should look like!

I picked this Anaheim pepper today – it got even bigger since Tuesday when I took this picture.

Since taking the picture of the cucumber plants, I have started growing them up a wire trellis.. Can you notice, however, that some of the leaves are yellow?  Those yellow leaves are now brown and dried.  That said, the plants are still flowering.  Do you think I should water the cucumber plants twice a day?  Could underwatering be why the leaves dried?

Flowering tomato plant.    My problem is that I can’t even picture how big this will get.. Question – at what point do I put the tomato wire thingy (like my professional gardening terminology?) around it? 

That’s it for this week!  Will update you next week on the status of everything!  I would love any tips you might have and would also love to hear how your gardens are doing – if you are gardening!

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Well, if you have been following my website for the past month or so, you probably remember that I originally asked all of you if I should start a garden.  You may also remember I was concerned that I was getting into gardening too late in the season.  You all gave me a resounding yes that I needed to start a garden!  So, almost four weeks ago, my mom and I planted the tomato plant and herbs pictured above.  I also bought an amazing Jalapeno plant.   The picture above is an updated photo and you can see that everything is thriving! 

I’m so excited because the tomato plant that I didn’t have high hopes for is starting to show tomatoes.  I think that right now there are about 4 little tomatoes showing.  They are adorable.  So, my goal (besides not killing this plant) is to not overwater and to not underwater.. Easier said than done when the temps are 90 degrees already. 

My pride and joy.  This jalepeno plant is doing amazing.  I have at least 20 jalepenos that are not quite ready to be picked but getting there.  We’ve picked two and while it was a bit soon to pick them, they were really good!  **NOTE – I cheated and bought this plant pretty much ready to go.  In fact, I bought all of the plants versus growing them from seeds.  If I can see some success this summer, next spring I’ll try growing veggies from seeds..

I do have a question – if any of you are familiar with jalapeno plants, I’m noticing that this plant takes a lot of water even though I’ve been told they don’t like a lot of water.  In fact, its leaves get droopy almost every day because of lack of water (I think??).. Any advice for me?  Also – how do I know when they are ready to be picked? 

This past weekend my husband helped me tackle the second part of my gardening adventures.  On Saturday, he put together this great raised bed garden (given to me by generous friends) and he also filled it with all of the soil (I used topsoil on the bottom and then 10 huge bags of Miracle Grow on the top).  Then, Sunday, I planted what may end up being too many veggies.  This garden is 25 square feet and I followed the square foot method.. The only problem is that there were a couple of plants that needed 2 square feet and instead, I put them in one square.  We may (emphasis on may) build another raised bed garden so I can thin out this one a bit.  And, I’m so dissapointed that I couldn’t find any onion plants or green beans so I would love an excuse to have a little more space to plants some of each.  (And to think my husband originally wanted me to start small ;))  I planted 3 tomato plants, 2 cucumber plants, 2 cantaloupes, a few zucchini plants, various types of peppers, leeks, a little more cilantro and a winter squash.  I am planning on growing the cucumbers up a trellis although I have no idea to do that.  I also would like to grow the cantaloupes up a sturdy trellis but I have no idea how to do that either.  Do any of you have tips?  What do you think?  Is my garden too full?

Close up of some of the veggies in the raised bed garden.

That’s it for this week’s update!  I would love any and all tips you all might have!  Remember that I literally have no idea what I’m doing (besides reading an awesome book my neighbor gave me and besides watching Youtube videos on gardening).  I’m especially curious about my jalepeno concerns and I’m also looking for tips on how to grow veggies upwards.  If any of you have blogs you have written with gardening tips or if you want to email me pictures of your gardens, please forward them my way!  Would love to see what you all are doing as well!

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I will say that from a “frugal” standpoint, I went out on a limb when I purchased the Jalepeno plant.  It was $10.00.  But, it was gorgeous.  Looked so healthy and had a ton of flowers on it when I bought it (I thought that was a good sign right??).  Well, the jalapenos are growing so nicely.  I’m going to have to do some research online to see when it is time to pick them!  **Remember that I am a TOTAL non-gardener so I know NOTHING about what I’m doing!  Below are some pictures of my adventures thus far.  I will say that I feel so accomplished to have everything alive and thriving.  Last night I made pasta with tomato pesto sauce and lots of fresh basil from my basil plants.  Was so fun to pick fresh basil right in my backyard! 

I would love some comments with any tips or advice you have for me!  Would also love some ideas for veggies I should plant once I have my sandbox!  I plan on planting veggies that are already under way so let me know if you know of any hearty vegetable plants I should focus on!

Below are some pics of my veggies and herbs thus far.  Due to horrible neighborhood watering restrictions we have to resod and also ignore the fact that the grass needs to be mowed.  Thank you.    I plan to have the “sandbox garden” (do you all even know what I’m talking about when I call it that?? There is probably some official name that I’m unaware of. :)) inside the perpendicular border that my potted plants have created.. 

Tomato plant on the Left, Jalepeno Plant on the Right.. The tomato plant is starting to flower.. How long does it take for tomatoes to actually show up once a flower appears? 

Closeup of two adorable jalepenos.    I have to research when I’m supposed to pick them.. There are literally 20 more flowers on the plant.. Will the plant reflower after current flowers turn into jalepenos?

The horizontal pot has two basil plants that are totally thriving on the left and the small plant on the right is parsley.

Greek Oregano on the left, Dill in the center and Mint on the right.    The dill was looking a little questionable last week but it seems to have rebounded.

That’s it for now.. Will keep you posted on the good bad and the ugly!  Thank you to all of your encouraging comments and emails when I originally posted about whether or not I should start gardening.  You all majorly inspired me!

P.S. A HUGE thank you to my wonderful mother for her help!

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I need some advice.  I REALLY want a vegetable garden.  I also REALLY don’t have a ton of free time.  So, I need help.  If any of you are gardeners, specifically vegetable gardeners, how much time do you have to devote to gardening each day?  Also, how much experience in gardening do you need to undertake a venture like this?  Lastly, am I “too late” in the season to start a garden?

I love giving myself goals but I don’t want to undertake this adventure if I am too much of a novice and especially if I can’t care for the garden like I should..  Please help me with your words of wisdom!  Oh – and if you really want to know the honest truth, while I want a vegetable garden, I really want to reap the benefits of the garden with vegetables like the ones pictured below. 

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