Status Report 1

Its been about two weeks since the garden plants were put in the ground

OK, I know it is a Friday and not a Monday, but I’ve been away from our getaway place for awhile and only got back here yesterday. This post is mainly just going to be several images providing an update on how the plants are doing roughly 2 weeks after being planted in the ground - plus a few bonus images.

I can’t deny the progress isn’t what I was hoping for, but it has been rather chilly and it could have been much worse. All indications are I’m going to have some crops and actually there are already several tomatoes out there (green ones) and I also saw a pickle in the making on a rather hapless looking cucumber plant. I wasn’t looking close so there might be more. The lettuce and beets and onions seem pretty happy in general.

Here are the images:

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Garden 1 - the lettuce is almost a whole new batch because I picked off most of the leaves when I left 11 days ago. Beets a growing, onions forming, and the new plants trying to take root. Plus a bunch of weeds some which actually look sort of “sharp” to me.

Garden 4 - Most of the plants are still alive - some doing better than others. I hope the Okra starts “taking off” - in general it seems ok. The big “grandma” tomato in the middle doesn’t look much different than how it was after I planted it, but I suspect that is good news - I suspect it may have looked kind of rough a week ago, so maybe it was better that I wasn’t here to see that.

Garden 3 - “The Pepper Garden” (with a few basil plants). About half the pepper sprouts are still alive and some of them have grown a bit, so I suspect they will take. The basil probably has not appreciated the cool evenings we have been having.

Garden 2 - This is a small part of Garden 2, but I want to highlight the two cherry tomatoes to the left - I’ve had these two tomatoes in my home since last October I think and some of their brothers and sisters that were with them are planted also now but “suffering”. These two, which were planted first of all (a day before the others), seem to have taken root well and are growing up from the bottom as I suspected they would if they stayed alive. If nothing else, I have now proven I can keep a cherry tomato alive over the winter time and plant it in the Spring successfully. If nothing else, this is an accomplishment that makes me happy. There are a few basil in the image and a cucumber as well I think.

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Needless to say I have some “weeding” to do plus I intend on getting more of the mulch clearly indicated in the final image (it is cypress but I like cedar mulch as well) and placing that across the whole surface - it helps for moisture retention and makes it a little harder for weeds although I don’t really mind the weeds that much as long as they don’t block the light.

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Bonus Images:

This is a miniature rose plant we planted last year after my daughter graduated with her Master’s Degree in Horticulture at NC State - Summa Cum Laude. They were offering plants for the parents and we picked this one. She (my daughter) is now teaching high school kids about growing things - she has had an exciting year. We had a bit of a different opinion regarding the plant to the left the rose (per the viewers perspective) - I’m pretty sure that is what they call “galax” around these hearn parts. I need to keep it from getting to close to the rose.

This is in front of the house - in includes a nice cedar that was already here, a yeller plant trying to grow back after I had pulled it out of the ground (it started getting moldy), some vinca flowers my wife planted (they are hardy and I really like the “creeping vinca” which I doubt is in the same family but it does share a name), and a hydrangea starting to come back after we planted it last summer in full bloom.

This last image may seem a bit bizarre, but for some readers they will see what I’m working on - I’ve been working on this hexagon puzzle in my mind (it is harmless) for over a year now, and this last image speaks to some recent progress - if you want more details just ask and I’ll share.

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That is it - I hope all are doing well.

Lastly, I’ve made quite a bit of progress on the pee-wee story, so let me share a link to it.

Peace is easy I think but it doesn’t necessarily come easy I reckon.

Ken