Apparently, 11am on a Monday is Lowes' down time. There were maybe 5 customers besides me, and every single one of them walked by my cart and waved at Camille. And every single time, she waved back. One lady said Camille was like morning sunshine. Aww!
Before you get jealous of my happy shiny baby, be aware that the moment we walked out of Lowes, she started screaming and didn't stop until she fell asleep in the car while I was parking at home.
I got two 11-gallon planters, two tomato stakes, some Miracle-Gro fertilizer, and some of those peat plugs that you plant seeds in. I transferred the sprouted seedlings from the paper towels into the peat plugs and am going to give them a while to grow before I put them in the planters.
I also got habanero pepper seeds. For Jake. I didn't get any last year because I didn't think they'd grow, but my jalapenos went bananas! So I guess peppers like Utah just fine. I'm sprouting them now. I read that apparently habanero seeds take FOREVER to germinate. So hopefully I don't get impatient after a couple of weeks and throw them out the window.
Last year I had a ton of planters crowded on the balcony and it looked really messy. So this year I'm going for something a little more minimalistic. My original plan for planting was to get two 5-gallon planters and put a tomato plant and a couple of basil plants in each one, and then use a couple of the 3-gallon planters from last year for the jalapenos, habaneros, and whatever else happens to survive past the 2-inch growth phase (because that's when they all seemed to die last year).
But at Lowes, I saw how small a 5-gallon planter really is, so I got 11-gallon planters instead. I think I'll do a tomato and basil in one and a cucumber in the other. The cucumber will enjoy climbing all over the tomato cage. Last year when I had cucumbers on the windowsill, they climbed up to the blinds and wrapped all over them.
I have two window planters that hang on the balcony's railing. I think they will be the receptacles for the random plants that sprout and grow that I was expecting to neither sprout nor grow. Like the nasturtium. That shit didn't even think about considering sprouting last year.
I think 2 habaneros and 2 jalapenos in 3-gallon planters will complete the balcony planting assortment. So if all goes as planned, I'll have a nice salsa garden and a few flowers. If things do not go as planned, I'll probably at least end up with tomatoes.
The Tot just came home with a tomato plant. Actually now it's just a cup of dirt. A cup with dirt in it. We have to find a strategic place to put it so diablo gato doesn't eat it.
ReplyDeleteYou are a total inspiration!
ReplyDeleteJust this evening I was complaining to my husband the cost of berries and he flippantly told me I should just grow my own.
Hell, maybe now I will.
Boo ya!
Tomatoes are crazy easy to grow. Just put them in sunlight and water them often. When they get huge you should get a cage or something to prop them up on or they'll get all droopy. If you care about the tomato crop, you have to worry about calcium and stuff, but just to accomplish growth is easy.
ReplyDeleteDepending on where you live, growing berries is totally doable! Raspberries and blackberries grow wild in the South, and they'll grow cultivated in Utah. Strawberries will grow in a pot on your porch if there's enough sun. I've never tried to grow berries because I haven't had the space and/or right soil, but I know lots of people who have. Berries you grow yourself taste SO MUCH BETTER than storebought berries.