Burning Love

This year, I didn't just have food in my garden. In addition to seed-producing sunflowers, I tried to grow three types of ornamental flowers. Only one survived.

Burning Love

This is burning love. Sort of. I just now found out that this is a pretty weak version of it, it's supposed to look like this. I chalk it up to a small container.

I didn't realize at the time how hyper focused this was going to be on the blooms. It almost looks copied and pasted!

2010 Growing Season Wrap-Up

Well, its been cold enough to have killed my plants since just before Halloween. Documenting the progress of my potted garden fell severely by the wayside in the months leading up to that point. I was still taking photos, though, even if I wasn't posting them.

Mini Green Bell Pepper

Everything was great until August, as the hot weather we had wasn't particularly nice for the plants. It seemed during the hottest times, the garden became dormant and when it started growing again, the fruit seemed stunted. The thickness of the flesh of these peppers was unusually thin.

3 Perfect Vine-On Tomatoes

These tomatoes only grew to be about half the size they should have been, but they still made some tasty BLTs. Check out the great color! I like these tomatoes, but I think I'm going to see if there is a good heirloom style tomato I can grow in a container next summer.

Opal Basil Blooms

My herbs grew abundantly and voraciously though. And I even left my opal basil alone long enough for a few stalks to flower. The blooms really are so beautiful it was worth it. The seeds even produced a few volunteers in some of my other pots and in a patch of grass in front of my house.

Genovese Basil

One herb that for sure didn't get to bloom was this lovely basil. I made so much pesto, it was awesome. I am completely bummed that though I did get some herbs brought into the house so I can have access to them all winter long, both varieties of basil died of cold before I had time to break the plants into smaller pieces and into smaller pots.

In addition to two varies of lavender, oregano, and thyme, I also currently have 3 mini bell pepper plants in my windowsill. They're all growing pretty well, I hope it keeps up. I'd like to have fresh peppers all winter long, too!

Baby Fruits

The work and love I've been putting into my container garden are bearing fruit. Literally.

Triplet Tomatoes

Aren't they beautiful? But this mini bell pepper and all of its ilk are what I am looking forward to the most. It looks a little misshaped though.

Baby Bell

And I think they're going to be okay. I found aphids on my sunflowers, but not on a single one of my peppers. Last year, the full size bell peppers were eaten alive, but the mini bells seem not to be attracting them. Either way, I know what to look for this time and I know how to get rid of the buggers organically without burning my plants, like I did last year. Oh how I've learned! This year's growing season has been going so much better than last year by all measures.

A Pair of Hummingbirds

I spotted a pair of hummingbirds in the garden of the Ames Florida Stork House today. At least I'm pretty sure they are paired. They looked so alike, the only difference was that one was brighter than the other.

Female Humming Bird #1

Female Humming Bird #2

Male Humming Bird #1

Male Humming Bird #2

These are not the most perfect photos of hummingbirds, but the pictures of the female are pretty good. If you click to view the larger size, you can see her furry little body. I think those two photos are the best I could hope for under the amateur-still-learning-my-camera circumstances. I'm okay with that, though, because I was just excited to have the chance to try to capture their image.

[Update: This has been identified as a Hummingbird clearwing moth. It is not a bird, but it's still cool! :) ]

Bell Pepper Blooms

The buds on my bell peppers have bloomed into flowers. Now these guys are really growing! Since I took this picture, the blooms have already fallen off and there are tiny, baby peppers starting to grow.

Bell Pepper Blooms

It seems like they're growing faster than last year. The seeds were from some miniature bell peppers, so maybe they're intended to grow more quickly.

Bell Pepper Flower Buds

What's the phrase? Ask and ye shall receive? Thursday, I posted about my tomato plant blooming and wished that my pepper plants would start. Today, I spotted not one but five little buds that will someday be peppers.

Bell Pepper Flower Buds

It has begun! I am sooo excited for this growing season and harvest, you have no idea. I just love watching the plants grow and taking photos of their progress.

Sara Duane-Gladden is a freelance writer and photographer in the Twin Cities area of the great state of Minnesota.  

Bloomin' Tomato Plant

My tomatoes are blooming! It makes me happy to see them doing something besides growing foliage.

Tomato Flower

This is the first time I've tried to use stakes instead of wire baskets. Because my plants are potted, the baskets seem too tall. Plus, they got knocked over by my dogs quite easily a few times last year because they were so awkwardly tall and their leashes caught on the wiring.  This way they have a lot less of a chance of knocking them down.

Tomato Bud

 Now if only my mini bell pepper plants would produce even a bud. Those little guys are really slow growing.

Stunted Seedlings, 2010

So it has been a while since I last wrote about the progress of my potted garden. Well it has been growing steadily in the two months since I planted my first seeds.

This Year's Potential Crop

For the most part, that is. The rainy, drizzly weather with no sunlight that we've been experiencing for the last week or so seems to have stunted the growth of my little plants.

Medium Potted Plants

From left to right, here are 2 sunflowers, 2 tomatoes, and 2 bell pepper plants. They're nice and tall, but they don't seem to have grown in the past week.

Bucket Full of Plants

The four plants in the upper left-hand corner of the blue bucket are opal basil, sage, parsley, and basil. The plants in the lower, right-hand corner are more bell pepper plants (yellow, orange, and red). The pail pink pot has cat grass planted, but it hasn't grown yet (I suspect a lack of sunlight has to do with that).

Box Full of Seedlings

In this box, though, are some extra plants and some stubborn seeds. I'm having a hard time growing lavender, which are in the 4 pots in the upper left-hand corner. I've killed many lavender seedlings in the past 2 months, but I think I might have something figured out now. And in the center 2 pots (that look like nothing is growing) are oregano and thyme, which are so tiny and fragile when they first start growing, it seems they will die if you breathe on them wrong. Mainly the trouble I'm having with the lavender, oregano, and thyme is that they like really dry soil and I have a compulsive watering problem. But I think I'm getting better at it. There are also extra basil and sage plants in the box which I will away. There are 2 daisies, too. I can't wait for the pretty flowers to grow!

Yellow & Red Tulips

Similar name as the last post, slightly different concept. More tulips have bloomed at the Ames Florida Stork House. They are definitely up there in my top 10 favorite flowers.

Yellow & Red Tulips

Yellow Tulip

Red Tulips

365 Project Update ~ March 2010

I'm still at it, though I did experience some hiccups along the way in March. I took a trip out of state mid-way through the month and it took me a while to get back into taking pictures and posting them and adding descriptions and such. But now it's coming along nicely.

Future Fruits & Veggies

Rough luck, then a smooth patch. Much like the plants I've been tending to for the past few weeks. They've been a good subject for this week's 365 project theme of Spring. I've had some die on me, some seeds just didn't germinate (and I read that some might not for 6 weeks!). But some of my experimental seeds are growing better than expected and if these last seedlings left can make it for a few more weeks, I'll be home free! Well, I won't have to buy any plants, at least. :)

Strange Green Plant

Spring is in the air. It's great to see plants springing to life. I spotted this in some landscaping and I've never seen one before.

Green Plant

Does anyone know what this plant is called?

[Update: Rob from North Metro Photo has identified this unique plant as being of the hen-and-chicks species! Thanks, Rob!]

I Have Seedlings!

I'm a bad blogger. I disappeared for a week without pre-publishing any blog posts. I was unexpectedly needed out-of-state with family. But the blog wasn't the only thing that I left behind without adult supervision. The very first sprout from the seeds I planted had emerged on the day that I left.

Baby Opal Basil

I was a bit concerned about what would happen if I left them behind in a dry house and I wasn't around to mist them. Plus, I've been growing them under a light because I was concerned the window ledge would be too cold. They would have to go in the window, though, because I'd be way too nervous to set a timer for those lights. I guess I didn't need to worry, though.

Seedlings Gone Wild

They grew like crazy while I was gone. You can see not everything is growing, though. Some seeds take longer to sprout. Additionally, everything in the little clay pots was planted about a week later than the first set of seedling. I'm not sure even if everything in those will grow, some of them are experiments.

There are too many growing in some pods, so I will have to cull some. Crazy, I thought I would have to plant more because some of the seeds were 2-3 years old. The ones that weren't were seeds I harvested myself, so I really wasn't sure they would grow. Almost everything you can see, though, has sprouted from seeds of fruits and veggies I grew last year. I am excited for this growing season!

Alright, time to get back to some regularly scheduled photo blogging. I'll be back soon with posts from my adventures in Ohio.

The Green Thumb Begins, 2010

Last year I tried my hand at organic potted gardening. Yeah, not enough that it was going to be potted, I wanted it to be organic, too. I sometimes documented my progress on my True to Words blog's Friday Photography feature. At the end of the season, it was evident I didn't start my seedlings early enough. I only got 8 tomatoes and 6 peppers off of 2 plants of each. This year, I started a lot earlier!

Seedlings 2010

These are trays of different kinds of bell peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and spices. I still have a few more seeds to plant, so those will probably be posted in here too. I have a much better camera for the growing season. I am so excited  to document my progress this year!