Thanksgiving: I am Thankful for my Garden

Welcome back! As we near closer to my last weeks as a gardener, I must say that this process has taught me a lot about not only gardening, but myself as well. Before, I go on my thanksgiving break I wanted to give you all a brief update on my garden since I missed last week. Upon return to my garden there were weeds, weeds, weeds, weeds everywhere! I should’ve known they would’ve been out of control. However, after about 20 minutes of picking I was able to remove most of my weeds. This week I harvested the few beans that I had and removed the remaining plants. I also harvested and removed several of the jalapeno plants that I had as well. I was excited to see my cabbage plants growing, hopefully in the next two weeks they will form a cabbage head that I can harvest and cook. My eggplant has not formed yet but hopefully it will soon. My tomatoes are growing like crazy! Thankfully they have had no disease attacks, they are the most successful crop that I have had this season. I also finally saw some growth from my bell pepper plants (I actually forgot that I planted bell peppers!). I am excited to see what growth occurs over the next two weeks. Tune in next week for my final harvest and my final thoughts on this experience. As always. . .

Peace, Love & Veggies! 🍍

Tiffany

Retirement

Hello everyone, this week I was not able to fully attend to my garden due to several different circumstances. One, my Dad is retiring from the Air Force this weekend after 24 years of faithful service. I decided to fly back home this weekend to share in this special moment with him. Two, I attempted to care for my garden on two different days, Wednesday and Thursday. Unfortunately the gardens were being watered both times. That being said I was unable to fully care for my garden or see any progress that has occurred. However, I still wanted to write to you all to let you know what was going on. Since were here, I do want to share a few things with you. The question was asked. . ."How would your garden be different if we were growing wild plants?" First we need to define wild plants. Wild plants are simply those that grow without much interference from human. Think of them as weeds, fungi, and flowers. Although many gardeners do not like to have these wild plants in their gardens they are very important. Wild plants contribute to nature's biodiversity, they serve as a source of food for many insects, animals, and birds. If we were to specifically grow wild plants, our gardens would be rather different. They would not require much fertilizer or water to grow, as they can grow in pretty much any environment. Wild plants would be a great items to grow for beginning gardens because just as succulents, they require little intervention and still grow very well. Check back next week for more updates as we bring this gardening experience to a close.

Peace, Love, & Veggies!

-Tiffany

Budding Eggplants

This week was a pretty easy week. I do not have any major updates for you guys, but there a few things that I wanted to share with you. As mentioned last week my shell bean crops were invaded by what seemed to be a caterpillar or some type of larvae. It ate through my bean pods and munched on my leaves leaving behind a white reside that seemed to be killing my plants. I removed the insect, and attempted to save as much of my plant as I could. Unfortunately this week, it seems as though my efforts were minimal as my plants are beginning to look worse than before. Our professor saw this as a common issues among our class gardens and provided us with a solution. We mixed together a solution made up of 1 Tbsp. of cayenne pepper, 1Tbsp. of dish soap, and 1 L. of water. This mixture was then sprayed on the leaves of our plants in an effort to make the leaves more acidic/spicy. This is supposed to make the environment unpleasant for the insects and drive them away. Hopefully this works and my vegetables can grow without fear of being eaten before time! My tomatoes are still growing and glowing! I also saw some growth from my eggplants! One even budded into a flower. I am so excited. Until next time. . .

Peace, Love, & Veggies!

Tiffany