Gardening Monday

My approach to gardening is to consider the process magic.  You plant a seed in dirt and stuff you were going to throw out, add a little water, some sun, and magically the thing grows.  I do realize there is a science behind the process - ph levels, soil consistency, temperature consideration.  But thus far the magical approach works for me.  Now that said, it doesn't always work exactly when expected.  Such as last autumn when I put in lettuce and grew some sad looking wilted plants because it is still an inferno here.  However, I was rather surprised when during our cold snap in January, my dormant lettuce took off and for several weeks we had fresh lettuce through April.  I also know that in the interest of the science of gardening, I should be documenting what I plant, when I plant, and the results, so the following year I can better prepare.  I even have a book to write this down in - except that I haven't.  So in the interest of science and to force me to take some pictures even during a busy week, I decided to start documenting my garden here on Mondays.  Feel free to give advice or just laugh at my utter ineptitude.

This weekend we did a second pick of the green beans which are still flowering.  I plan to use the beans in a summer salad for dinner with a friend on Wednesday.  The first batch was quite good so I have high hopes for the salad.

I know last year I had about half a dozen good picks before the plants stopped producing so in the interest of continuing the green beans through out the summer, I started another round of plants inside.  I also started some more rosemary inside and the kids sunflower seeds and the asparagus beans outside in pots.  The asparagus beans are a new try that are suppose to do well in humid Florida summers - we'll see.

The tomato plants that went in at the same time as the green beans are still not producing many blooms.  I suspect the late frost may have taken its toll, but as there are a few blooms, I'll give it them a couple more weeks before clearing out the plants.  The potted black cherry tomatoes are coming along, although still no blooms.  I think I might have to actually read something about growing tomatoes as I am told they are easy to grow and I seem to have some tomato growing deficiency.

Thankfully my de bourbonne cucumbers have boomed thus demonstrating I am not a total failure at gardening.  Can't wait to turns these babies into pickles!

And I won't mention the unknown pot.  I put in peppers and thai eggplant in two separate, unlabeled pot.  One died and one is growing green leaves and I haven't a clue which is which - I suspect it is the eggplant growing as I have seen a pepper plant before and these leaves does not resemble the memory, but who knows.  Another magical surprise!

The parsley and rosemary in the ground continue to flourish.  And in the interest of attempting to expand into flowers, I planted this

Under the mulch is about a foot of stones from the former owner's rock garden (it was truly hideous!).  As very little grows in the area, I decided to try a pot of bougainvillea (new river) in the back, some angelonia in the middle, and a few celosia in the front.  As the front two are annuals in Florida, I can replace with the seasons.  We'll see how this experiment goes as I am known for killing the most of hardy of flowers and have less tolerance for my non-edible plants.

Next week - maybe one more attempt at flowers.