Good Morning in the Garden

Project 365: Day 26

Yesterday morning I stopped into my garden before work for the first time after being away for 4 days. I asked a fellow gardener to water it while I was gone and she must have done a great job, since we're experiencing drought conditions right now. I had a bunch of Sungold tomatoes (above), 3 sandwich bags full of green beans and 3 huge cucumbers.

Bonus photo of some green beans:

Keys

Project 365: Day 16

In the nearly two years that I've lived in my apartment there has been a continuing dispute between the landlord and one of the other tenants about access to the basement, which has resulted in there being 4 different padlocks, with 4 different keys throughout my time here. Somehow all of the old keys have ended up in one spot on my counter (you know, in case they bring back one of the old locks). So here they are, all 4 keys to the basement.

HHH

Project 365: Day 12

The big news this week is the Heat Wave. And in NJ it's not just heat, it's HHH - Hazy, Hot and Humid. I had this glass of water out on my back deck for about minute before it got all sweaty. That's about how long it took me to get all sweaty, too. Thank goodness for my one little A/C unit that works to cool off 2 of the 3 rooms of my apartment.

Thriving Garden, with tomatoes!

Project 365: Day 10

It was a very exciting morning in the garden! I noticed yesterday that one of these little cherry tomatoes was almost ready to go, but this morning it looks like there are 2! And my lettuce is pretty much ready to go, too, and that sounds like a salad! Guess what I'm having for dinner?

Bonus Photos:

Above is an overall shot of one corner of the garden with cauliflower in the front, then lettuce (yellow-green leaves), then green bush beans, and then sunflowers. Everything seems to be doing well. The beans I replanted are starting to come up, and after a massive weeding project this weekend, I replanted the carrots and planted some arugula and bibb lettuce.

This is a teeny little cucumber. The cukes seem to be doing really well this year and they are doing well climbing up the support that I got for them. This is already looking better than last year when most of my cukes ended up with end rot and were inedible. I'm looking forward to having these guys for salads, too!

And here is the progress on the Sungold tomatoes: Above are some blossoms toward the top of the plant (almost up to my chin!) and then below are some of the earliest fruits still waiting to turn yellow. I can't wait!

So far the garden seems to be looking good. It's going to be a hot, dry week so I'm going to try and check in every day and just make sure everything is doing OK.

Morning Glories: Sprouting!

Project 365: Day 9

Last week I did a little renegade gardening and planted morning glory and moonflower seeds in my yard and my neighbor's yard. I also planted some in pots on my front porch, hoping that they'll climb up the rusting metal handrail. And Sunday morning I woke up and they had sprouted! It's one of my favorite times when things just start to sprout. It's like a magic trick that works. I don't think I'll ever grow tired of this amazing little moment of gardening.

Chioggia Beet

Project 365: Day 8

I picked up some Chioggia Beets at the farmer's market on Thursday and took advantage of a cool Saturday morning to roast them in the oven. The fun thing about these beets is that they have a lovely candy-striped interior. And this one has a little heart shape, too.

Macro Fun

Project 365: Day 4

Yesterday after work I wanted to play with the macro lens that I bought with the new camera, so I just sat on my porch and photographed some of the plants there as close up as possible and with as shallow a depth of field as I could. The above image is part of that exercise. This is a Dianthus flower. The whole bloom is about an inch across. I am loving this macro lens! It also works really well as a portrait lens, throwing the background out of focus quite nicely. I'm sure you'll be seeing lots of macro photos in the coming year. :)

Bonus Photos

Basil:

Another view of the Dianthus:

And this creepy little bug on my dill plant. It's only about 1/4 of an inch long: