Gardening - Okra Flowers

Since the weather's been hot, the okra plant really likes it and has been flowering and growing okra. Yay! We've waited so long with nothing happening. One of the only good things about hotter weather is the plants that love them.

Okra Flower

First come these beautiful flowers. They only last about one day and then shrivel back up.

Growing Okra

Then the okra starts growing. That larger okra only took about two days to grow. Notice the fuzzy brown shriveled up bud on the left. There should be another okra there too. Depending on how you like okra, you can pick/cut them whenever you desire. We don't like large okra because we feel the smaller ones are more tender. So you can grow okra in Southern California...just have to wait for the hotter weather (so the growing season won't be THAT long).

Organic Veggies/Herbs on Sale at Whole Foods

Get your assorted organic veggies and herbs at Whole Foods for 99 cents! Sale going on right now! I picked up a few...it's a killer deal. They're normally $3.99 at full price.

Herbs and Veggies for 99 cents at Whole Foods

These were available at the Whole Foods at The District in Tustin. Supplies are limited, but there are a ton of tomato plants. I even saw a watermelon plant in there. Very few strawberries left. Not sure if this is going on at every Whole Foods, but it's worth a shot to take a look if you're interested right?

Also, the price didn't ring up correctly at the counter. So remember to look at the screen when they're ringing you up and let them know if it's wrong. They'll correct it for you! Get them while you can!

Gardening Woes

Something's been eating my organic leafy veggies. I couldn't see what it was at first but eventually found this little wormy thing eating my basil buds. Can you see it? It's on the stem and is what looks like a green worm.

As a new gardener this is my first time encountering these. I looked online and there are basically these moths that lay larvae on your soil and then these little critters come out to eat your greens.

 

Generally they're called cabbage worms, (I think these are cabbage loopers) but they don't just eat your cabbage and broccoli. No...they eat all your leafy greens and basil too! The above picture are my mesclun lettuce. The tiny holes in the leaves are the job of small cabbage worms. They're hard to find when they're that small. Apparently they consume your leaves in a voracious manner because in a few days, I pretty much had no whole leaves to eat...and found some pretty fat worms. Dangnamit!

Now these big suckers eat pretty much the whole leaf and are easy to find! Look how skinny that leaf the worm is attached to is compared to the other leaves. I pulled that leaf right out and tossed it in the bushes away from the home (while wearing gloves of course). There are also some black dots along the leaf...yeah that's the worm's poop. The bigger the poop, the bigger the worm. It's like one day you look outside and there's tons of big black dots in your leaves (not pictured). At first I thought it was some kind tiny egg...but nope...it's just poop.

So that's my problem so far...that and lack of sun which I can't help due to the location for now.

Basil and Lettuce A Month Later

So I haven't updated the progress of the basil and lettuce in about a month. The spinach isn't looking so great so I didn't take a pic. Well maybe I should...later. Here's a couple of pics.

Basil 3 Months Later

So it's been about 2.5 months since sprouting...so about 3 months since planting the seed. I can actually eat the basil leaves if I want now....except the purple one. There was a snail on one of the green leaves and pretty much ate the whole leaf so I had to break it off and put the little snail back in the dirt. There are tiny tiny bugs eating some of the basil though....grrr....oh well...at least I know it's truly organic.

Lettuce Approximately 2 Months Later

The green lettuce has gotten really big. Some of the earlier ones on the bottom have burned off....guess I could have eaten those earlier...oh well. As with previous analysis...purple lettuce is slower growing...same with the basil. That big black circular thing in the back is my new compost bin...yeah! More on that later. Next time I think the lettuce will be looking smaller as it will have been eaten. =)

Yes there CAN be Worms in your Potted Plants

So I am new to gardening and today I learned that worms can crawl into your potted plants outdoors. I was re-potting some succulent plants and found a worm in each pot. One 3.5 gallon pot and one small 3 pint pot. I didn't think there'd be one in the 3 pint pot (I found the first one in the 3.5 gallon). They are on the ground, but above a 2 square feet cement paver that's about 2 inches thick...so there is no direct contact with the soil beneath. They must've crawled on the paver and then into the pots somehow. I didn't remove them...I just let them live there. Just need to remember not to bring the pots back indoors. =) I heard that the holes they make in the soil may let water go straight through the pot instead of soaking the soil for the plants...but these succulents don't need a ton of water so I think it's ok to keep them in there...right? Anyway, I had no idea they would do that with the paver...but then again there's only a paver and then it's all dirt underneath.

Gardening Update - Basil, Spinach, Lettuce

It's been a couple of weeks since the update of my container garden. Here's how it's growing...

Basil at 5 weeks after sprouting

Haven't been looking at the basil as much and *bam*...it's much bigger. I can almost pluck the leaves to eat...but it hasn't grown much in height...just width. Seems the purple one in the middle is much slower.

Baby Spinach

First set of spinach...heard these were easy to grow. The package said to plant the seed 1/2 inch into the soil...but I read somewhere that you don't have to do that and sometimes it doesn't sprout if you put it in 1/2 inch. So I did as this website suggested and just scratched a little in the dirt and slightly covered it up. It worked just fine...all three seeds came out (at different times though).

Baby Mesclun Lettuce

These are meant to be scattered cuz the seeds are really small...but I spread some of them apart as much as I could...I'm gonna try to grow these to maturity instead of eating baby Mesclun lettuce. Here the reddish colored ones grow slower too. Hmm....purple basil grow slower...red lettuce grows slower...I didn't realize the colored greens are slower growers. Learning something new everyday.

The trouble I'm having with my new container gardening is lack of sunlight. My patio faces northeast so I only get morning - early noon sunlight. I can get a maximum of maybe a little over 6 hours of sun right now...it is almost summer solstice so the sun is almost at its highest in the sky. A month after that it will whittle to 5 hours...and then less. It's still growing....but seems slower. I guess we'll see what happens when the sunlight decreases.

Basil Update - 3 Weeks After Sprouting

So the second set of leaves look like tiny basil leaves. There's also a new sprout in the middle. That's where I stuck the seeds that didn't initially sprout. I guess some of them take a bit longer or a slightly different environment. Go figure.

Basil 3 weeks after sprouting

Current height

The package says to thin them out to 6"-12" apart when it reaches approximately 2" tall. Got a little bit to go...it's hardly an inch tall. They're coming along.

Inspiration for Gardening

Saw this on PBS the other day and thought...it is possible to grow veggies in the city! Simple living and self sufficiency sound really good to me. The approximate size of their farm is 4000 square feet. Incredible!



I'm just taking baby steps. I don't believe I can live without my electric blender and other goodies...but the gardening is a good first step. Don't even have a yard...so trying some container gardening. The solar panels and bio-diesel car looks like a great idea too...eventually.

Visit the Urban Homestead at http://urbanhomestead.org/

A Watched Basil Never Grows...(or so it seems)

I can kill almost any plant. I have a "brown" thumb but am trying to learn how to "garden." My goal is to learn to "garden" so that I can have the freshest food possible...and also so you know where your food is actually coming from. That's the best kind of food to eat, is it not? Well, right now I'm just trying to grow some basil since it's one of the easiest things to grow out here. I think I've improved over the years by killing less plants. =)  So anyway I sprouted the basil from seeds. Out of 6 seeds, 3 sprouts came about...because I killed the other 3 when I touched/moved them. Oops!

They're alive! Basil sprouts. (19 days ago)

As you can see there are three other little sprouts in the back. Well, that purple one in the far left eventually died. =(

Getting a little bigger. (1 week ago)

Yay...I can see the second set of leaves coming in. Woohoo! Took long enough.

2nd set of leaves getting bigger. (2 days ago or two weeks since sprouting)

So after a little over two weeks there are three survivors. I keep looking at it every day and it doesn't seem to be growing very fast (to me). Learning patience. I want to eat fresh basil with tomatoes and mozzarella already! =) Fingers crossed, it's looking good.