Now that we live some place with a place to have pots outside, I'm trying out growing some food plants. We've been fortunate to have lots of nice weather, which helps a novice like me.
I wasn't holding out much hope for my success, but most things have been growing nicely (I think despite my husbandry, rather than because of it!).
I've been really pleased with my tomato plant, but it turns out that it's too bushy - apparently you get more tomatoes if you pinch out the branches before they grow too big. That's ok, I'm just pleased that I haven't killed it yet and it looks healthy. Any tomatoes it might produce are just a bonus!
I'm most pleased about the strawberries. I remember trying once, when we lived in the house in Richardson, to grow strawberries. We had one of those clay pots with the holes in the side, and I was so excited. But the Texan sun and the neglect of an adolescent (I can't remember how old I was) meant that they burned up and died. And I think that was the last time I tried to grow anything to do with food. Consequently, I was excited all out of proportion when I noticed this:
Hooray for strawberries!
5 comments:
Aw, man. I'm just jealous that it's a week away from July and you guys are standing there in sweaters. I ask you!
It's been flirting with 100 degrees here for-EVER!!!
yay for you and your strawberries! how did they taste?!?!?
i am VERY jealous. i would love to grow some here, but as you mentioned, it just doesn't go well with texas heat.
and speaking of...are you and mark wearing long sleeved fleece??? at the end of june????? it's like a million degrees over here and you have on long sleeves. [sigh]
It is getting warmer here, but inside the house, out of the sun, it still is a bit cool, in the evenings...sorry, everybody...
And they tasted great! So great the birds and snails are going after them, so I have to be extra vigilant...
Congratulations on all your veggies - you inherited the green thumb gene!
The strawberries are especially impressive - large ones!
What about some kind of netting tied around the pots to keep the beasties out?
I have thought of it. Right now my main concern is the snails and slugs. I came out today tto find that not only had a slug eaten off the tops of the cilantro I had been carefully cultivating (it had been looking pale, so I moved it around a bit - now I realize that it was just scared. I should have known it was trying to tell me something), not only had it eaten holes in one of my lettuces, but it had the gall to crap all over the lettuce, too.
This is not random slug-on-lettuce violence. It's taunting me and I'm not going to stand by and let this happen.
I've now spread a layer of vaseline along the edge of the pots in question, which is said to work. We'll see. If that doesn't work, this "humane," mother-nature lovin' malarky is out the window and I'm bringing in the pellets.
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