The Patterson Garden

For those of you that don't know, gardening is something I truly enjoy.  I was super excited about planting vegetables this year.  Last year our garden was fairly small (3 tomato plants and 2 pepper plants).  This year, Tim requested that we have more peppers and do a salsa garden.  I planted three different types of tomatoes:  Big Beefy, Golden Boy, and Mr. Stripy.  Big Beefy is variety that produces a large, beefy tomato.  Golden Boy is a yellow tomato plant.  Yellow tomatoes are my favorite because they are less acidic than red tomatoes.  Mr. Stripy is a yellow/red tomato and produces a very meaty and juicy tomato.  For peppers, we planted 2 jalapenos, 1 hot banana, 2 cayennes, 3 habaneros, and 3 sweet bananas.  We also planted cilantro.  When we first planted the peppers we noticed that something was eating the leaves.  I had sprayed everything with Seven (which is a fruit and veggie spray) but whatever was eating my plants was not affected by this spray.  After doing some research, I realized that we had a slug and snail problem.  I tried some natural remedies: citrus peels and beer but finally I broke down and got some snail bait.  This worked wonders for our peppers and the leaves are finally starting to come back.  As for our cilantro, we totally killed it.  I had never grown an herb before but apparently cilantro does not take full sun.  When your cilantro plant starts growing straight up and blooms flowers, this is not a good sign.  I have since learned that cilantro only takes morning or afternoon sun.

Here are some things that I have learned from gardening this year:
1.  The potting soil you use really does matter.  Don't buy the stuff from Lowe's or Home Depot.  Go to an actual greenhouse/garden center and pay the extra money to get the good stuff.  If your potting soil looks like mulch then it sucks.
2.  Never pot anything in a clay pot (not even flowers).  Clay pots suck all the water from the plant/the soil and you have to water your flowers daily or more.
3.  Herbs are good to grow in window sills rather than outside.  If your cilantro sprouts flowers--this is a bad sign and your plant is dead.

Below are some pictures of our garden.  It is about a month and a half old and I have only fertilized it once.

The Garden

 The Pepper Plants

 The Tomato Plants

 Tomatoes on the Vine

Gerbera Daisies & Habaneros 

 Sweet Banana Peppers

 Dead Cilantro