Happy Weekend Eve! How was your Monday thru Friday? Things were good around here, just enjoying the weather, working for the Man and you know, living life. We’ve got a birthday party this weekend, I’m meeting up with my mentee and then Football Sunday. The usual. It’s a good life 🙂
So, the garden. I totally abandoned it in October and I’m trying not to pay for it in November. I noticed a white fly infestation getting a hold on the mint, along with caterpillars and spider mites eating the basil. It’s no surprise though, since we had SO MUCH RAIN over the summer, the bugs have been unreal. I trimmed everything back, raked up the fallen leaves and added them to the compost pile, hosed down the mint and fertilized everything. I’m going to try and keep up with the white fly assault while also keeping an eye out for bigger caterpillars in the coming weeks. Right now, they are so tiny and green, it’s just impossible to find them. Here are some pictures to put things in perspective:
a before picture of the overgrown mess… there were three large basil plants before ripping one out, and two large tomato plant carcasses that refused to grow again. totally wish there was an after shot of the potting shelf too, because that got a good scrubbing and sparkles now!
after trimming the basil back and ripping out a plant totally infested with critters we can see a sweet little strawberry plant now!
thyme and strawberry plant – after harvesting some of the thyme – with the compost pile in the top right corner
one of the basil plants in front of a blurry pepper plant
there are three tomato plants that came up on their own. surely they are a variety that was planted there before, but i really don’t know which ones… guess we’ll find out together, eh?
mint, mint and more mint that was flattened from the hose-down
and the “after” shot taken from the opposite end of the garden. because i’m consistent like that…
moving out of the garden bed area, the vinca and lily are exploding right now. so much so that the lily is too top heavy and it’s falling over. it would be really nice if one day that thing was perfect already.
in the front yard, the pepper plant is full of peppers but the leaves are yellowing. i’m hoping to see them perk up a little now that i fertilized.
in the same pot as the pepper plant, this marigold is putting on a show. too bad there’s a dying tomato plant killing the vibe in there too! Ah, well. next to that pot is yet another strawberry plant. and no, never did cover them this summer… guess they didn’t mind!
the roses are looking a little haggard and the lavender has never bloomed. i think it’s been there two years? i don’t even know. it smells pretty awesome though! fertilized these bad boys too.
i need to get some more flowers in those pots soon. and yes, that is the last strawberry plant in the pot on the right! altogether, there are four of them right now. and zero strawberries since the spring.
This ends the picture portion of today’s post 😉 I fertilized with fish emulsion diluted one tablespoon to a gallon of water and spread organic compost around the garden an inch from each plant stem. I did forget to take a photo of the tomato plant that came back in a pot out back. She’s pretty big, and I can’t be sure what variety she is either. In total, that’s one thyme plant, one lavender plant, two pepper plants, two basil plants, two mint plants, four tomato plants, four strawberry plants, lots of flowers. There is other stuff growing around the yard, too. It’s the perfect weather for everything, really.
Come hell or high water, I will plant lettuce, peas, carrots, cilantro, chives, spinach and flowers next weekend. It’s already a little late in the season for planting, but the weather has been warmer than normal so I’m going to do a special throw seed and good luck dance combo for luck. Keep your fingers crossed for me, OK? And have yourself a fantastic weekend!!
PS. Here’s a link to last November’s garden, just in case you want to see how things were growing back then!
