Autumn Asks: What Did You Plant This Year?

Now that we have passed May 15th, we are out of frost danger.  We can now plant.

We did fairly well with our container tomatoes last year so we thought we would try again. We did not like how small the tomatoes stayed so we looked around at other possibilities.  And this year I found Straw Bale Gardening.  Looked worth giving a try since its a larger medium and still keeps the plants out of the poisoned soil. We even went so far as to cover the bottoms with an old shower curtain (so they are diapered!) to ensure there is no contamination.

Mouse did talk me into a couple of flowers also. I find this a waste of time because you can't eat them. Why do I want to use water and time and energy on something I can't eat?  (You must understand I am highly allergic to just about everything that grows so flowers only hold pain...no pleasure.)

So I actually planted out these tomatoes a week ago. They came a little early....and I didn't read the directions that said to baby them indoors and then harden them off. Last years instructions didn't say that so I just planted them.  Plus it turned out that they sent me 2 orders of the yellow/orange tomatoes and left out the bush/container tomatoes. So I called them and they sent the others - leaving me with 3 extra tomato plants I wasn't planning on -- not that I'm complaining.

I did lose one, but a week later they have doubled in size. I'll let you know how this experiment goes as the season progresses.  They are supposed to need more water than a normal container. Also I will need to fertilize/feed them once a week.

And the cool thing? Living in military housing you have people moving out all the time and throwing things away.  The day I was outside planting a neighbor across the street set all 7 of these planters out in the trash by the road.  Score!! And they are the expensive ones! The couple bought a house so I have no idea why they would leave such nice planters behind....but I sure grabbed them and ran!!

And so my garden has enlarged even more.

The rest of the tomatoes are now in and line one side of the fence. I didn't plan to have this many...that's what the straw bales were supposed to be for...but hey, its all good! I can't believe how fast they are growing.

We also have several different pots/planters of lettuce. This is the most mature (bought that way) and others are started from seed.

There is also spinach....

and bib lettuce....

And yes we have already eaten many salads with fresh greens to round out the iceberg.

We also have cucumbers to trail on the fence...

Red and yellow bell peppers and even some jalapeño

Throw in some mint for my tea and some other cooking herbs and I'm calling it done.

Hope it all works out. Its always a risk when you know you are taking a family vacation during the hot part of summer and will have to find someone to take care of it all for you.  As a matter of fact I'm hoping to find a college student that would come in and stay at our place while we are gone to take care of the monster dog and the plants.  Wish me luck!