Spring is here, spring is here!

And that means I can start my seeds (well, that I started them nine days ago).

Basil, Cilantro, Chives (though I think two basil seeds might have escaped to the chives section). All growing well in their Chinese takeout container, basil especially!

String beans! Growing fast!

Snow peas

The string beans are in the black pot, and the snow peas are in the tan one. Both have teepees to grow upwards.

End of summer garden update

Despite attacks now by early blight (view here) and TWO types of caterpillars (hornworms and pinworms), my tomato plants still haven't kicked the bucket. The only thing that didn't make it from the beginning of summer was my rosemary plant (still have no clue what happened to it), and I've accumulated a handful of additional plants too. Here's what I have!

Dinner tonight! (Pesto - recipe here)

Italian Basil (after the pesto hair cut), some petunia cuttings on the side, and flowering Thai basil. I couldn't keep up with all the Thai basil, there's just sooooo much, so I decided to let the small pot flower. They're pretty, and I'll try to collect the seeds.

Cherry tomatoes and petunias (Thai basil in the back)

What's wrong with my Thai basil?

What's wrong with my Thai basil? The edges are kinda metallic looking
(not showing very well here). It's wilting. All happened very suddenly,
and only to one of four plants (two in this same pot).

My basil has been doing GREAT, especially what's planted with the tomatoes. The tomatoes are also doing great. I gave the Thai basil a nice haircut the other day because it was growing like crazy. Then the next day one of the two basil plants potted with the cherry tomatoes started wilting and getting a copper hue around the edges of the top leaves. Today, it was even worse. I've removed most of the wilted leaves, but now the whole plant looks terrible.

What's wrong with it? Should I remove this plant from the pot? It was doing so well, and the trimmings look perfectly fine in a glass of water. I don't want whatever this pest or disease is to kill its pot-mates (another Thai basil plant, parsley, and cherry tomatoes).

The only insects I've seen in these pots have been scarlet and green leafhoppers. I've read that they can cause damage to plants by spreading disease and sucking the sap from the stems, but this all happened very suddenly.

07-31-13

08-01-13 Trimming

08-01-13 Post-trimming

08-01-13 Post-trimming

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.

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).

Pesto, my favorite food

My favorite food: pesto pasta with shrimp

Pesto pasta with shrimp has been my favorite food for the majority of my life. It's what I asked for for every birthday dinner. I hold out every summer to have enough basil to make my own, and by combining some of my own with some from my CSA, I made some great pesto last night!

I use basil, garlic, romano cheese, pine nuts, lemon juice, and olive oil in my pesto. You could use a different nut or a different cheese if you'd like.

Basil for the pesto: mine on the left, farm share on the right

Garden update

It's been a while since I've done a garden update. My plants didn't handle the move too well (and the fact that my brother stacked the basil pot on top of the tomato pot to carry them didn't help much). Long story short: I have no tomatoes :( I moved my avocado tree outside right before I moved because it was doing very well, and I thought it could use the extra sun. Unfortunately, i got sunburned and died. I do have some plants, and they've been doing very well in the past two weeks because we've had a lot of sun. I miss my old porch, but I love this apartment, so I'll compromise.

My friend just gave me some seedlings to add to my garden (some more thai basil, some cilantro, another green onion, and a mystery plant that I have to ask her about). I also bought miniature lemon, lime, and orange trees through Amazon! I've had them in my Amazon shopping cart for about two years, and I finally bought them! They're so cute, and in about a year and a half, I should have some fruit! I planted some new avocado pits, too, so hopefully I'll get a new avocado tree.

Anyway, here's my garden at the moment!

Living room windowsill--my baby citrus trees! 

My poor, poor little tomatoes

I thought it was about time for a garden update. I'm moving in a few weeks, and my new apartment doesn't have a porch like this one, so my garden will have to be much smaller and much more indoors. However, I really can't live without tomatoes, so I planted some cherry tomatoes and roma tomatoes to grow in pots on the fire escape of my new apartment. I had posted a few pictures of these tomatoes when they were babies, but then they got really big really fast! Like a good four inches tall with lots of leaves. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of this stage in their lives... They were on my windowsill when one day, it got really windy! 


My poor tomatoes got blown around quite a bit, and they never recovered:

Dead

One lone tomato remains
(I had just thinned out this pot, too,
since there were like eight)

My cinnamon basil seedlings survived the storm, though (they were on a table next to the window, not on the windowsill):