Eat My Garden

Mini beans

2007-07-03T14:56:00.000+02:00

Cutest thing ever.

Beans flowering

2007-07-01T09:09:00.000+02:00

I didn't expect bean flowers to be so white and delicate. I love them!

Garden under attack!

2007-06-28T10:06:00.000+02:00

My leaves have holes on them! They are on the bean plants, tomato plants, sunflowers, even in the mint! Evidently I'm facing an enemy with a big appetite!

This is the main suspect at the time. I found 5 of them hiding under bean and tomato plants leaves (needless to say, I helped them move on to their next life).

I'll keep on checking on the plants to catch these little buggers before they do too much damage or become bigger. Any advice?

Sunflower progress in pictures

2007-06-24T08:58:00.001+02:00

The two sunflowers I planted have been extremely nice. I haven't given them the space they technically need, and they're growing in plastic bottles (which can't be too comfy, can it?). But they are growing fast and look beautiful.

I would reeeaallly like for them to start making the flower. I don't have high hopes... but it would be awesome!

Potted beans

2007-06-23T09:25:00.000+02:00

The beans have grown 3 new sets of leaves since I potted them (this picture is actually from 2 days ago). They are a little over 15 cm (6 inches) tall, so I'm supposed to "earth them up". I'm just gonna add some soil to the pots and hope that's what "earthing up" means.

New plant

2007-06-18T12:14:00.001+02:00

This morning I walked by a store selling strawberry plants and I just couldn't resist! They were only 3 euros each, and looked much better than my plant.

I feel like I'm being somewhat unfaithful to my older plant... :P

Mini corncob?

2007-06-16T10:59:00.001+02:00

This thing literally came up overnight! Is it a corncob? Does it mean it's been pollinated?

(Edited to add)
After some research, I've realized that is not a corncob :(
As blackstarjewelry picture shows, corncobs actually come from the side of the plant. So this thing coming from my corn is the baby version of the golden stick thingies (nice vocabulary!) that you can see in tomsch picture.

Potting

2007-06-13T11:16:00.000+02:00

This is what my beans and lentils looked like yesterday morning. Poor things were really crowded! (You can't see the lentils on the right so clearly, but believe, it was getting bad).

The thing is I've been so busy with college that I didn't have time or energy to go get some small stones to put on the bottom of the pots to help with the drainage. I kept saying "I'll do it tomorrow". Yesterday I finally did it!

I only potted 3 of the beans (the healthiest looking) because our balcony is getting really crowded and we need to save space for other things too!

Using the space left from the beans, I let the lentils have more space. I also had to throw some of the lentils. I figure is better to have 4 comfy lentils than 8 overcrowded ones... But I felt so guilty throwing them away!
They are not looking very healthy... A little pale. But I hope this new space will make them feel better.

Lemon verbena in bloom

2007-06-12T16:12:00.001+02:00

I love the tiny white flowers :)

Tomato blooms

2007-06-12T15:46:00.000+02:00

We have our first tomato flower!

I don't know why it makes me so excited since I'm not going to eat it (eeew!). However I can't wait for it to look like a tomato.
I think it's because this will be the first edible thing that wasn't there when we bought it (strawberries don't count because they came with the plant, even if they were still tiny and green).

Corn romance

2007-06-10T10:37:00.001+02:00

It seems like the sweet corn is growing. Some of them have flowers, and others have two tiny sticks. Girl and boy corn?

I read somewhere that I would probably have to hand pollinate them. I guess now is the time. I touched them a little in a girl-boy-girl-boy order. But I have absolutely no idea if that's what I was supposed to do.

Mystery C part II

2007-06-09T20:18:00.000+02:00

The left side of the Carrot/Cauliflower pot has started to come out too. My initial guess is that this one is the carrot, but time will tell.

7 beans

2007-06-09T10:36:00.001+02:00

7 beans have come out and they are huge!
I think I have to move them to a bigger pot this weekend, but I don't know how big of a pot, how deep should it be?

(9 days since sowed, 3 days since they came out)

Lettuce and tomatoes :o

2007-06-09T09:07:00.000+02:00

In the first post I mentioned we got some lettuce and tomatoes, but I never got around to posting a picture. In all honesty, I hate them! So I haven't been paying attention at all.

This is what they looked like on the day we got them:

And today, only 2 weeks later, they look like this:

I am impressed with how much everything is growing! I honestly didn't expect it.

Sunflower progress

2007-06-08T19:13:00.000+02:00

A small update on the sunflowers. They got 2 new leaves :) I can't wait for the actual flower to appear!

Sweet corn day 13

2007-06-08T18:37:00.001+02:00

It's been 13 days since we planted the sweet corn. It doesn't look like it's producing any corn, but I think the plants look a little bit bigger and healthy enough.

But this picture looks like they don't really have enough soil. I don't know why we didn't fill the pots completely? It just looked better I guess, more contained?

Mystery C

2007-06-06T21:02:00.000+02:00

I put seeds of cauliflowers and carrots in the same pot, side by side. The right part of the pot has started to show, but I don't remember which side is carrots and which is cauliflower!

I think it looks more like cauliflower, which would also make sense because the germination time is supposed to be faster.

Bye bye strawberries

2007-06-06T20:57:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we finally got to eat the two strawberries. This is what they looked like just seconds before their end ;)

I guess we won't get any more strawberries, hopefully the plant will survive and next year give us some more. They were yummy!

Growing lentils

2007-06-06T20:50:00.000+02:00

This is what the lentils look like now. Funny to think that just 10 days ago they were just normal edible lentil seeds...

I guess I'm gonna have to move them to a bigger pot, just like the beans. But I have no more pots and not much space...

Sunflower in a bottle

2007-06-06T20:44:00.000+02:00

This is one of the sunflowers growing on a water bottle

Magic beans

2007-06-06T19:18:00.000+02:00

As promised, here's some visual evidence.

This morning, one bean was starting to show. Sadly my cam had no battery, so I took a picture with my phone.

But then when I got home in the afternoon I found this!

I just can't bring myself to believe how much it's grown in no time!
Now it's 4 beans!

Magic seeds

2007-06-06T08:16:00.000+02:00

It's been 6 days since I planted the seeds and 3 of them have already come out! I'm so excited!

Two out of two sunflowers
One of the beans (I think I must have planted 6)

Ill post the visual evidence at night ;)

Beans

2007-05-31T19:28:00.000+02:00

I planted dwarf French beans next to the lentils. They should be planted May to July, 5 cm apart, 2.5 cm deep in soil.

Germination takes 10 to 20 days. Afterwards they should be transplanted somewhere with 40 cm distance.

When the plants have grown to a height of 15 to 20 cm, they are earthed up.

The crop should be ready in 45 days.

Carrot

2007-05-31T19:25:00.000+02:00

Along with the cauliflower, I planted carrots. 5 cm apart, 0.5 cm deep in soil. March to June.

Germination should take 18 to 24 days. Then I should transplant them somewhere with 25 cm distance. The crop should be ready in 3 months.

Cauliflower

2007-05-31T19:22:00.000+02:00

I planted the cauliflower following the instructions as closely as I could (April to June, 3 cm apart, 2 cm deep in soil).

Germination should happen in 10 to 15 days.

As soon as the flower appears, I need to remember that the interior leaves should be bent over to ensure that it remains white and firm.

Sunflower

2007-05-31T19:16:00.000+02:00

I planted these just for kicks... I didn't follow the instructions at all and I don't really expect them to flower... but I hope they do.

The package said it should be planted on April/May. Technically it is still May, but I'm not sure it really counts.

Anyway, I just planted one seed on each of the two halves of a bottle. The package said they needed 50 cm diameter. The bottle might be 10, being really optimistic. But maybe they'll still grow and just turn out mini sunflowers?

Germination is supposed to take 10 to 15 days. I'll report if anything happens.

Oh! By the way, did you know cut sunflowers last particularly well if the stems are dipped into boiling water for a short moment?

Seeds

2007-05-31T19:09:00.000+02:00

A few days ago I bought these seeds.

Each packet was 30 cents of euro, so instead of choosing I just got everything that I felt like I would maybe want. Today I planted 4 of these packets, and I'm gonna make a separate post for each one of them so that I can keep better track.

Planting lentils

2007-05-31T18:50:00.000+02:00

This morning (day 6) my lentils looked like this:

So I decided it was time for them to have a real home:

Funny how much they've grown in 6 days! Their roots are strong too, they were really attached to the cotton.
I have no idea how much each plant might grow, so I didn't really know how much space to leave between plants. I ended up leaving around 3 cms (1.5 inches). I might have to transplant them again if they grow, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Sprouting lentils

2007-05-29T09:58:00.001+02:00

Back in first grade we all did the sprouting experiment, right?
Well, I decided to sprout some lentils, that I could then plant on a pot.

Day 1: I put the lentils on a glass of water and let them soak for the night.

Day 2: I took them out of the water, placed some wet cotton on the bottom of a glass, and put the lentils on top of it.

Day 3: Some lentils started sprouting. I made sure the cotton was still wet (added a couple of drops, just in case).

Day 4: Took the glass outside to the sun. The sprouts are getting bigger and greener!

Not-so-bendy mint

2007-05-29T08:02:00.001+02:00

It looks like the mint woke up feeling better today. Was it the water? We don't really know, but just in case I checked the soil again, and it was dry, so I watered it a little more (before it got any sun).

Bendy mint

2007-05-28T19:52:00.000+02:00

Something is going on with my mint. This morning it looked fine, but now it's all bended. It's been windy today, so maybe that's why? But the basil next to it seems to be doing fine...

I had already watered it, but my mom said maybe it needed more water because the soil was a little dry. So we sprayed some water on the leaves (you shouldn't water tomato leaves, but what about mints?) and watered around a little.

Berry watch

2007-05-28T14:59:00.000+02:00

A picture of the tiny teeny small ugly strawberry (fingers for perspective - contrary to what this picture shows, I have small proportionate fingers... it's just a really tiny berry!).

And one of the strawberry we just discovered today! Could it be that we didn't see this one? Or has it grown in 3 days? I don't know, but it's about twice the size of the other one. I can't wait for it to be ripe.

The beginning

2007-05-27T21:54:00.000+02:00

On Saturday we bought our first herbs & edible plants.

Mint and basil for my window. I love the smell of mint, and basil supposedly keeps flies away.

We also bought a strawberry plant (that came with a wonderful strawberry - that my dog ate before I could even take a picture!). There's still a small tiny white/green strawberry that will hopefully grow so I can taste it too.
I read somewhere that strawberries can really take over the place if you let them, so we put it on a smallish pot. But I hope it grows and we can have more strawberry plants.
I love all sorts of berries, so I'd love to get some other kinds too...

Some sweet corn, that apparently we shouldn't have planted in rows and now I'll have to pollinate myself. Don't know how, though.

We also got some red lettuce and tomatoes (I don't like either, so I'm not paying much attention to those) and some lemon verbena (that apparently reminds my mom of her childhood).