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!
Thanks for coming to Addicted to Saving! Here’s a little bit about me so you can know who’s behind all these posts!
My name is Liza and I began my money-saving journey in the Spring of 2009 as a way to stretch a limited household income. I had lost my job and my hubby was self-employed. I launched Addicted to Saving in November of 2009 and it has grown by leaps and bounds. Since then, my hubby and I have struggled with the ups and downs of two failed adoptions and are now LOVING being parents to our little man Asher who we brought home from Ethiopia in August of 2013. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to help you save money. My goal is that you will have FUN and become empowered to save more and more money each week..
Have you ever used Earth Boxes? They are located in Ellenton, FL but ship. My husband has great success with them. I can send pictures if you would like. My husband has grown vegs and fruit in them as well as a graden on the side of our house and has done good.
My husband looked at your pictures and commented maybe you should water them longer on the days you water them and when first planted all plants need ALOT of water to get over the shock of being transplanted.
Also you have a great looking garden! Good luck on the jalapeno plants when they get going you will be swimming in peppers, but they will be the best you have ever tasted.
very nice…I’m jealous…I’ve only started planting things outside this week
I think you are supposed to water long and generously to build a good root system….not just a little everyday. My jalapenos were in direct sunlight and they didn’t wilt so I don’t know why they are doing that. Also, if the square foot planting system called for more space, the plants will need it…I learned that the hard way. The squash plants get huge.
Liza,
WOW! Congrats on the awesome garden. HJaving raised bed garden boxes has been my dream… still dreamin
🙂 I have ben told that if you grow chives throughout your beds, it will keep the pests at bay. ?? Worth a try maybe. Enjoy
One tip I heard today at EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival seminar was to get one of those hoses w/the holes in them (can’t think of the name of them right now) & use that to water but either put on a timer & carry it w/you or get a timer for the hose :).
It is called a soak hose and works very well.
To grow things on a trellis, you will need good sturdy poles. You can use any type of wire available at the hardware store, including the plastic webbing. If possible locate it on the North or South sides of your garden and I would suggest leaning the trellis at an angle and as the fruit developes, work it to hand down through the trellis. This position and angle will help keep the sun from being blocked from the rest of your garden. We have grown some perfectly beautiful melons vertically by using old knee hi hose as a hammack to support their weight.
As for the wilting pepper plants, when the heat is 90+ here in the deep south, all the plant wilt in the heat of the day, but perk up in the evening again. Just be sure to water in the evening (not wetting the leaves) or early morning. Use a nice slow trickle for an extended time every few days, rather than daily so the plants develope deep supporting roots rather than shallow feeders.
The crowding you are concerned about may actually help by sheltering the soil so that their is less evaporation and weed development, but you will need to be sure to fertilize them adequately. If you are going to transplant them to a new bed, do so ASAP. Try to plan it just before a rain. God puts something in the rain that is not in the water hose, and it will help them adjust to being transplanted. Move them with as much soil as possible and disturbing their roots (and those around them) as little as possible. It is sometimes better to just cut a few plants off at the ground sacrificing them to prevent disturbing/overcrowding the rest of the bed.
You can harvest your peppers when they reach the size you desire. If you notice the fruit beginning to show signs of splitting or cracking, they should be picked. Also, the more you harvest, the more the plants will continue to bloom and bare fruit. The longer you leave fruit on the bush the more strength it draws from the mother plant and the less likely it is to rebloom. Hope this helped.
I loved my Square Foot Garden. It is the only way to garden… we are planning to move, so I have my garden in pots this year. Contact me if I can help.
Wishing you a green thumb,
PJ
YAYYY!! I am so happy that you decided to give it a go! It’s not as hard as it seems huh? My answer to your pepper plant watering issue.. just make sure it’s in shade some during the day and water it every day. They say they don’t need a lot of water but I think “they” have just never had a garden in FLORIDA HEAT! lol I have 3 green bell peppers and 1 banana pepper and 1 jalapeño I water them 2 times a day. And I see that people are saying to water for a long time. If you were anywhere but Florida I would agree. but the sun here loves to burn the plants that have water on them and pepper plants are easily drown-able from my experience in this state. I water once in the morning before the morning shade leaves them and once in the evening when the shade is back on them. I will tell you to be careful of watering ANY plant in the heat of the day here because water holds the heat from the sun and will burn the leaves.
Usually you won’t find onion “plants” they will be in the bulb section. Check there, I actually found some on the clearance aisle in Walmart along with asparagus which my daughters love so I got some of that too. The green beans..girl you can start green beans ANYWHERE they are very sturdy. Even if you bought some fresh green beans, took the “beans” out and let them dry for a week or so.. put them in some of that Miracle grow dirt and viola! They are one of the easiest plants in the world to start. I wouldn’t start them after May here though because the heat will probably kill the little seedlings 🙁
My dad used to do this for something that stayed droopy, he took a section of maybe 1.5 ft long PVC pipe and dug a hole right beside the plant at an angel into the ground.. he ran that pipe down to the roots of the plant so that he could water it at the roots instead of the leaves. That man had tomatoes that came back EVERY year WITHOUT replanting because of that. He never did anything but watered them!! I’ve never seen so many tomatoes in my life as that man grows..lol
Let’s see.. did I miss anything.. LOL I love talking about gardening .. can you tell???
OH.. I forgot one thing.. Your garden looks AMAZING!! Great job chica!!
My tomatoe plant started out like that but after several weeks it became huge, I should have put those metal funnel looking things around it to keep it upright… in the future when the plant is still small I will put that thing around it…
I have been growing red, yellow, green peppers in the bay and have noticed when I water not at the base of the plants my peppers havent done well… the water sits on the peppers and rot them (i am assuming) so now I water at base and not getting on peppers or leaves and actually have had a chance to now eat some of them.
Good luck, this is my first attempt at a garden and still trying to learn the tricks of having a thriving garden.
Squash plants get HUGE!!! You may want to give them adequate space or a trellis to tie them up. I have a square foot garden in FL. The squash bugs are ruthless here, but I hear are not as bad the further north that you go. You are off to a great start!! You’ll get better every season, so anything that doesn’t produce this year, you will become an expert on for next year 🙂
Thanks for all that you do for us!!!
Happywife! Thanks for the comment – do you by any chance have any pictures from your garden of of how big the sqash plant gets? I have no idea what to expect! Thanks for the encouragement. My goal for my garden is to of course get some veggies from it but to also really learn about gardening and to have fun! We’ll see how it goes!
I have an AWESOME book called Vegetable Gardening in Florida, by James M Stephens. It tells you when to plant what and helps you with so many things! I LOVE it! Also, I get my seeds from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. They are an employee-owned company and they are so nice to talk to when you have any questions. They have a website :www.johnnyseeds.com. I would request a catalog. It is a great reference that tells you how to grow each seed. My brother-in-law has an organic garden in New Port Richey he sells to co-ops. He has helped me start my garden this year. I was so shocked since I usually kill everything, and this year I have lettuce, cucumbers, I would have had beans but the bunnies got those :(,tomatoes, and hopefully my squash and carrots will go unharmed! I am keeping my fingers crossed! Good Luck!
I love your photos! Looks like you kept them easily portable for now. Meaning, bad storm-pick them up and run like crazy. I think you may need to take half out of the big white planting box. As adults they are not all going to fit in that. But get a second opinion.
Also, you may want to “tent” visqueen the big box–or some plastic if you know a hard rain is coming. It has been raining sideways here in Bradenton-so never smart enough for FL weather.