Saturday, January 19, 2013

STATE OF THE GARDEN: 1/19/13

Well, I've been doing a lot of work in the garden-- at least compared to the usual-- and I'm finally making some headway.

I'm slowly getting the bougainvillea cut down. I did a batch of it last weekend, and another batch this weekend. I'm hopeful maybe I can get most of the rest next weekend. I started on the really thick branches today, and filled the 65 gallon bin again.

This was it when I started last weekend...

...and this is where I stood after today.

I had sprouts left over from my seed experiments, and I hated to throw them away (I hadn't thought beforehand about what I was going to do with any resulting sprouts). So I stuck 2 of the bean sprouts on the sides of this windowbox...

...and I planted 4 bean seeds and 4 pea seeds in the front and back. Three of the pea seeds have just begun to peek above the surface.

 I also cleaned out one of the deck planters and put 14 sprouts in there, along with 2 pepper plants and a tomato plant.


In the back left, I put 3 Big Red Ripper Pea sprouts (I'll thin to two)...

...and 3 Garden Bean sprouts in the back center...

...and 4 Royal Burgundy Bean sprouts in the right-back corner (which I'll also thin to two).

And I stuck 4 Brandywine Tomato sprouts around my tomato cage, and was actually surprised to see them sprout up as they did (since they hadn't yet actually "sprouted", and I wasn't sure whether the old seeds were still any good).

My jalapeno plant has two little peppers started, and a couple more blooms...

My sweet bell pepper plant seems to have a couple of blooms coming in as well...

I also have a Better Bush tomato plant in this planter, and it had two tomatoes started on it when I got it, and now I see a bloom or two on it.

I also have two pots of herbs, and the top one also has an heirloom yellow cherry tomato plant, and I noticed today that it has a couple of blooms coming in.

I also have a strawberry pot, a papaya tree (I need to get a couple more to plant along the fence), and a passion vine that is loaded with buds.
My first passion flower just bloomed...

It smells so good! Very sweet, almost like grapes, and I can smell it from a couple of feet away. I can't wait until it has more blooms!

And my strawberry has a couple of blooms.

I also finally repotted my poor pineapple. I started this thing probably 4 years ago or more, but it has become stunted. I figure it is probably due mostly to it being in too small of a pot, and a lack of water. So I repotted it today, and gave it a good dousing. Look at the two pots compared!

We'll see how it does now that it has room to grow, a good drink, and a nice spot in the sun.

My one banana tree that was cut down a few months ago continues to grow, but the other three of them remain small. We'll see what happens with them.

My grapevine continues to hang in there. We'll see what happens with it.

My backyard came with what used to be a shade garden before I cut down the ficus, and I've considered getting rid of these snake plants...

But I'll tell ya... these things have been in bloom lately, and boy do they smell good! Sort of like jasmine.

Now I'm second guessing whether to pull them.

I also noticed the other day that I have some blooms on the mango. And those blooms have now changed over to tiny little fruits.

And I also trimmed the mango the other day (I know it isn't the right time of year for it), so I could walk under it. It was hanging too low over the deck, and it was getting impossible to mow under.


My goal this year is to take better care of my garden, and to fertilize my plants. I want to see what happens with the mango and loquat after some fertilization.

After I finish taking down this one bougainvillea, I need to work on the other one that has been taken over by the mango.

I'm trying to decide whether I am going to completely take them down, or if I will try to keep and manage them. I hate the thought of trying to manage those thorny things!

So I'm making some progress, and I'll work on it some more next weekend. But I'm done for today!

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