Wednesday, July 17, 2013

A new garden!


I'm back! After a year's blogging hiatus, I've returned with a newly minted PhD, a new address, a new wedding band, a new garden, a bunch of new kitchen gadgets, and lots of new domestic pursuits.

Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
2013 Patio Garden | Bobbins of Basil
I have a TON of wedding stuff to post, but I'm waiting on the final versions of my photographer's pictures because they are a far superior showcase of my wedding creativity. Coming soon: bridesmaid dresses, centerpieces, "guest book," invitations, save the dates, a tutorial on dyeing flowers, homemade jewelry, bridesmaid gifts, and a rehearsal dress.


For now, though, I'd like to show off my new patio garden.

I partially moved to the new place right before Memorial Day, and we bought some small plants at Walmart. After the wedding, my lemon and lime trees arrived along with my mystery plant I'd been keeping at lab. We also added a parsley plant recently (we didn't get one with the initial batch).

Despite a TON of rain this summer and a trip to our friends' house while we were away for the wedding/honeymoon, the plants are more or less doing great, though they very quickly took over their pots and have already been moved to their larger homes and newly root pruned. Here's the garden progress so far! I'll post details on the root pruning (something I never knew about before) another time, as well as some details about my attempt to rescue a yellowing orange plant and an overwatered pepper plant, my forays into using Epsom salt, and lots of recipes using our edible garden.
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Baby plants--Memorial Day Weekend, 2013
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Baby plants in their small containers--Memorial Day Weekend, 2013 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Mint on the patio (we've since gotten different patio furniture)
Memorial Day Weekend, 2013 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Mint and lemon balm out front--Memorial Day Weekend, 2013 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Our first tomato--6/11/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Better Boy tomato-- 6/11/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Rosemary--6/11/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Pineapple Sage--6/11/13 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Serrano Pepper--6/11/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Cherry Tomato--6/11/13 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Thai Basil--6/11/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Italian Basil--6/11/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Peppermint and Orange Mint--6/11/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Lemon Balm--6/11/13 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Orange Mint and Chocolate Mint--6/11/13 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Kitchen window--IKEA pots on a tension rod
holding peppermint, orange mint, and chocolate mint
6/11/13 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
All the plants after returning from their honeymoon
at our friends' house. It rained a LOT. The pepper is the only one
that really really suffered.  6/30/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Thai basil's leaves got smaller due to rain, but the plant was
still sturdy. 6/30/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
The basil got incredibly root-bound during its first month of life--6/30/13 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
We split the basil--half stayed in its window box style pot,
half moved into big pots with the tomatoes--6/30/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
We split the basil--half stayed in its window box style pot,
half moved into big pots with the tomatoes--6/30/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Cherry tomato with Thai basil--6/30/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
A waterlogged serrano pepper--repotted into dry soil--6/30/13 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Some plants have moved into their grownup homes--6/30/13 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Two basils per pot instead of four--6/30/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Our smaller pots had no drainage. We thought that was ok since
it was only temporary, and there's not usually a ton of rain in
June/July here. We ended up drilling holes in them instead
of buying new pots--6/30/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Tomato will grow roots out of parts of the stem buried under
the soil. When you replant a tomato plant, you can plant up
to 90% of it below the surface! Since this tomato was very
leggy, I moved it down lower. Unfortunately that meant
messing with its cage quite a bit and breaking the stem.
I splinted it and will do a separate post on this method later.
7/1/13 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
The pepper plant was not (and still is not) doing well.
In addition to its new soil, we moved it in the shade
and gave it a little "hang in there" rock--7/15/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
The mystery plant. I inherited this plant from a friend
in my old lab who gave me cuttings that quickly rooted.
It hasn't received the best care along the years, but now
I'm determined for a nice houseplant! It doesn't seem to love
the sun, even in its shady location, so I've since moved
it indoors. 7/15/13 
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
The new addition: parsley--7/15/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Rosemary hasn't been growing too much, but that
could be because we've been using it so much and/or
because it has been so rainy. Hopefully it will take off now!
7/15/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
The citrus trees arrived 7/3/13. I left them at my parents' house during
the move. Orange is really struggling. I'll outline my attempts to salvage
it in another post. Photo taken 7/15/13.
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
The basils growing alone are really root-bound. I've since
done some harsh root-pruning (again, coming in another post),
which will hopefully lead to better growth! I'll wait to see
how they do to post it!
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Basil sans tomato--not looking so hot--7/15/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
The basil and tomato are really helping each other
out, though! 7/15/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
The basil and tomato are really helping each other out! 7/15/13
(yes, this is the same photo up top--it's my favorite!)
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Pineapple sage really took off! This one also got
a serious root-pruning today, so we'll see how it does.
7/15/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Cherry tomato with thai basil, 7/15/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Our first ripening tomatoes! 7/15/13
Gardening with Bobbins of Basil | bobbinsofbasil.blogspot.com
Front yard--the landscapers associated with the community do this,
but I added my Mickey and Minnie garden gnomes.
So that's our garden so far! I'll post updates along with lessons learned over the next few months :)

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