Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Watching Our Garden Grow



During the Memorial Day weekend, the kids and I started our very own container garden of tomatoes, green peppers and sweet basil. Well I'm happy to report that we have our first baby tomato! Isn't the little guy so cute?

I didn't even notice it until my Mom brought it to my attention. There are several more blossoms on the bush, so hopefully we'll get a few more baby maters!

Our other tomato plant has shot up which leads me to believe that it is not the patio variety the little tag said it was LOL. It has several blossoms as well and will most definitely need to have a support added. The basil seems to be growing okay. Although I do wonder when we can start "harvesting" the leaves.

The green pepper plants are not doing so hot. At first they seemed to be growing well right along with the others. But then I began to notice some leaves shedding. Then more leaves began to fall off. Up until now, we had just been watering the plants. I was about to go out and buy some pricey organic fertilizer for the struggling peppers when I came across this timely post at Keeper of the Home. It turns out I had to look no further than my own kitchen for safe and low cost fertilizer - coffee grounds and egg shells! The coffee grounds provide nitrogen and the crushed egg shells are a source of calcium carbonate - particularly good for tomatoes!

Since I've spread the coffee grounds and crushed shells around the pepper plants, I've noticed some new leaf growth. I also moved the pot so the plants aren't getting as much direct sunlight. So maybe there's hope for our struggling peppers - fingers crossed!

1 comment:

Momzoo said...

Seeing your little tomato made me run out and check my plants, I have one too!!! YAY....I love gardens.