Summer is Here!

So it's getting pretty hot here in Phoenix AZ, and the planting season is long over. My garden has experienced a few setbacks. First, caerpillars have been eating my gorgeous pea plants. I tried using some organic spray on them, but I'm not sure it worked. I think they are gone now though. They were also in my parsley and kale, which was really annoying. Next time I notice caterpillar activity, I'm going to get a fungus that kills them and sprinkle it on the plants.

My pea plants are kinda recovering. I don't think I'll use hanging baskets for peas in the future, I think instead I'll plant in a 4-5 gallon pot with some polls for them to climb.

The corn plants are making corn! I didn't think it would happen, but I see two ears growing! I'm not sure I'll do corn again, but I'm glad I'm getting something from my current plants.

My tomato plants are getting really big! I can't believe they were started as seeds. For awhile they were dropping all their flowers which was very frustrating. I moved them to be more in the shad and started shaking their cages to help with pollination. Now I see at least three baby tomatoes growing! I'm really excited, I hope I get lots of tomatoes.

I planted some kale maybe 8 weeks ago, and it seems to be doing OK despite the hot weather. These plants are in full shade.

I bought a jalapeno plant and kept it in the shade and watered it everyday, and it's growing but it dropped the flowers it had made. I thought maybe it was getting over watered or it needed more sun. I put it in the sun for a day, and it was SO droopy by the end. I watered it and moved it to partial shade. I hope I can get it to produce, I buy jalapenos from the store quite often and would love to get them from my garden instead.

Since it's getting too hot for most vegetable plants, I've decided to try focusing on planting herbs for the rest of the summer. I planted some basil and I bought a parsley plant. I figure it will be easy to move them inside if they get too hot. I'll probably start some more herb seeds indoors.

Window Garden

I've been making the most out of the space around my window that overlooks my patio. It is getting hot here in Phoenix, and I'm finding that many plants prefer the shade since the sun is so string. First, I bought a parsley plant and a jalapeno plant from home depot last week because parsley comes in handy when cooking, and my jalapeno plants that I tried growing from seed didn't make it. I am hoping that the jalapeno plant produces!

Second, I decided to plant a window box with kale. I did some research, and it looks like kale plants prefer colder climates, so we'll see how it does now that it's getting hot. I'm hoping that by keeping it in the shade, it will grow better.

The third thing I did was move my hanging pea plants some hooks over the window. Here they have shade almost all day. I think the pea plants are doing much better now that they are out of the harsh sun. I've already gotten some peas from them, and it looks like they are still blossoming. I've decided to freeze the peas I harvest until I have enough to make something with them, since I've only been collecting 4-6 pods every few days.

Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow! Or at Least Peas and Beans...

Check this out! My pea and bean plants have been blossoming, and are now producing vegetables! They are very small now, like baby veggies. The peas are not growing as I expected. When my grandparents grow peas in their gardens, the plants grow out, whereas my plants are growing up. I kinda thought the pea plants would grow long tendrils that spill over the sides of the baskets, but that is not the case. I wonder if I should put some poles in the baskets so they have something to climb on.

The beans are doing well so far. I thought they might be too crowded, but the seem to be doing fine. they looked like they were falling over, so I put some thin wood rods to hold them up. Remember, these are bush beans, rather than pole beans.

Patio Tips and Hanging Pea Plants

One of my favorite things about my house is my patio. It's quite large for a townhouse, and I love throwing parties and having everyone chilling outside on the patio. I recently came across this article: 5 Ways to Create a Stunning Patio and I realize that I am already doing most of the things this article recommends.

1. Lighting - I already have some awesome stringed light hanging along the house which really looks great at night.

2. Fire - I totally have a fire pit that becomes the main attraction of my house parties during the colder months.

3. Add some green - Of course, the main subject of this blog is starting a patio garden containing lots of plants, so I have this taken care of too.

4. Water - Ok, I don't have this yet, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, I would really like to get a small fountain.

5. Patio Floor - This part of my patio needs some work. Right now it's just plain concrete, but I really want to stain it to make it look not like concrete. Another thing I could do is get a large patio rug, but the staining idea would be way better.


Anyway, check out what I've done with my pea plants. I bought these 14" baskets from Amazon marketplace, and the cool hanger thing came from home depot. I can't wait till these plants fill out and start spilling over the sides of the basket, it's going to look super cool.

Pea Plants!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my little sister Jessi asked me to plant some peas. The reason for this is because we have fond childhood memories of picking pea pods straight from my grandparent's garden, cracking open the pods and devoured the little morsels inside. My grandparents have always had a huge garden with several rows of pea plants.

My 12 pea plants are doing well. The roots were outgrowing the little jiffy pellets I started them in, and I don't yet have their final containers. So I decided to plant them in small peat pots for now, so their roots can continue to grow. I will be planting them in their final containers early next week (I hope).