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.

Tomato Plants Getting Big!

My tomato plants are growing really fast! And little yellow flowers are starting to appear! I'm really excited about the progress of these plants. I need to move them into bigger containers. I read that a 5 gallon container is the minimum size for tomatoes. I went to Home Depot to find some 5 gallon nursery pots, but they only had 7 gallon and they cost around $8 a piece. I thought that was way too expensive since I need six of them. I ended up ordering some containers online. I hope my tomato plants won't mind their tight quarters for a few more days.

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.

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.

Trial and Error

My tomato plants are not doing very well. I put my little tomato plants in those peat pots, and they totally dried out. I watered them, but not enough, and I did not notice that the dirt in the pots became hard and dry. Out of the Jiffy pellets I planted with tomatoes, I have maybe three sprouts that still look healthy. I think the peat pots make the soil dry out fairly quick, and putting them in the sunniest place I could find may not have been a good idea either.

In an attempt to recover these poor plants, I soaked the peat pots with water to be sure all the soil is moist. I moved the plants to a place that gets less direct sunlight, but is still really warm and sunny. I think I'll plant new seeds in the peat pots that have no more growth, I would really like some home grown tomatoes. I'll be watering generously from now on!

On a happier note, I read an article that suggested planting peas in hanging planters. I ordered three hanging wicker planter baskets from amazon and will be planting my peas when they arrive. The article also suggested planting sweet peas in the same containers for aesthetic purposes. So I've planted some sweet pea seeds in little peat pots and will plant them along with the regular peas. Hopefully these pea baskets will turn out really cool.