Finally.. A Garden Update

It’s been a hectic few months..new job..stuff going on…I started in January sproutin’ stuff in the kitchen…then all the new little plants grew under grow lights until about two weeks ago…when I put them all out front and they sprung up like crazy…  I have been picking cucumbers for about a week.

Last spring, when I built the 5 gallon grow buckets and started tomatoes, peppers and greens in them…  I noticed a tiny lettuce plant growing at one point, but ended up covering it up when I covered the dirt and top of bucket with plastic (to keep out pests and retain moisture). 

A month or so later I noticed it growing downward, from under the edge of the plastic.  I thought to myself that mother nature sure was tenacious.  Then this thing started growing upward…looking very Dr. Suessian.  At the end of fall I picked my last tomatoes and cleaned out all the grow buckets. 

Jump ahead to the coldest day we had, sometime in January, I think…and I looked out the window…after all it was 21 degrees outside.  Bear in mind that I live in Jacksonville, FL…so this is highly unusual…  But, in my flower bed that day…a tiny lettuce plant pooped out of the soil..  I was amazed..

then I learned about over-wintering seeds..  makes ‘em hardier…and they know just when to sprout out..  Amazing…Anyway, that’s it above…I haven’t eaten any yet… I just want it to go to seed…  It’s cool to watch how it grows…I have never given a thought to lettuce having flowers…I can’t wait to see ‘em.

Here’s the Stevia plant…one leaf in a cup of tea is perfectly sweet..  It was a slow starter, took 2 months to get to two inches high…but now it doing good…going to plant more..

Here’s my greens..I’ve been eating off of these plants since December..growing in my kitchen..now they are outdoors…they will keep me in greens until about November or so…I’ll start more in August…  I have beets and I eat the greens as much as I can, my faves. The other is Swiss Chard.

Cherry tomatoes…with Dill and Parsley growing under them..

And last …my bran d new little orange trees.  They took 3 months to sprout…I about gave up!