STAKING MY LIFE AWAY

It's been so warm here the past week that the garden (specifically the greens and tomatoes) have really taken off.  I wanted to get some tomato stakes in before it was too out of control, so today I went and bought some stakes and jute twine.

 

 This bed had herbs, eggplant, cherry tomatoes and black krim tomatoes.

Oh and a random sunflower named Mary Ruth.

Last year I had used the wire round stakes for the tomatoes, but they just weren't stable enough and kept falling over and it just became this big mess.  So I'm trying a different method this year that I hope works.  I planted a ton of tomatoes (Purple Cherokee, Roma, Cherry, and Black Krim) so a majority of the garden needed to be staked for their support. 

The bed to the left has roma tomatoes, sweet bell peppers and purple cherokee.

The whole process took up a good amount of time, but I'm really happy with how it looks so far.  I might need to push that top row of twine down to the middle section more when they really take off!  Yeah summer!

Also, on the caterpillar update, I found yet ANOTHER caterpillar on a Romaine leaf yesterday morning! So the battle continues, but I am feeling more confident in this round.

DON'T TRUST THIS GUY.

The garden is looking awesome overall, and I'm about ready to harvest some collards and more lettuce!  Possibly some green onions too! 

I'm also looking into starting to can preserves and such soon.  This could shape up to be a really awesome and productive summer.

CAUGHT: MOTH CATERPILLARS

I finally caught the culprit in the garden on Saturday.  Just as I was collecting all of my sticky cards, since I was only catching flies and dirt on them, I found this guy:

What a fatty!  This guy it totally guilty of eating up my sunflower and those tomato leaves! I did feel awful that he got stuck to the card and I couldn't get him off.  Said a little mantra for him as I put him away.

Then, I was digging around in my carrots again to see what has been up for the lack of leaves sprouting up, when I saw this guy:

Gotta look close on this one...

These little moth caterpillar buggers!  Gah!!!  So now I'm trying to find ways to protect my seedlings that don't include foil, etc.  I'm trying to soap water method again, and I hope that works.

In other, much better news: I harvested some lettuce today!  It was good to see that the caterpillars didn't destroy all of my lettuce.  This lovely lettuce was part of my lunch today, and it always makes me feel amazing to eat what I've grown and just harvested.

Yes, this is an instagram photo. 

If anyone has a solution to my moth madness, please leave a comment!  I'm open to suggestions!  A big thank you goes to everyone who has helped me identify these guys and suggested ways to deal with them so far! <3

CATCHING THOSE CRITTER BUGS

Something has been destroying my kale seedlings, as well as my blue lake beans, and noshing on my sunflower (remnants from last summer) as well as a couple of tomatoes.  Yelling at the bugs to cut it out hasn't been helping, and I don't know where to purchase ladybugs here in the city.  The next step was to buy some sticky cards.

Reading this article from the University of Illinois Extension helped me get a better idea of what might be going on.  I did some research on various cards that work in the garden specifically, and ordered some Universal Insect Monitor Cards.  They have two sides, one yellow and one blue, both sticky.  They also have a grid to help monitor the buggers.

Here's a card by my blue lake beans

I put the cards out today, and hopefully with the help of my oh-so-smart biology friend and the internet, the case can be solved and my seedlings can grow in a much happier state.

Poor kale! :(

Card by the sunflower

If y'all have any tips or suggestions on what else I could do in the meantime, it would be much appreciated! Fingers crossed we catch these little buggers!

AND THE WAITING BEGINS...

My last two garden beds were completed a week or so ago, and since the cold spell finally broke last week I decided to get my gardening in a little early.  I also really needed the therapy of being outside and working with my hands (aside from knitting and sewing).  Many, many bags of soil later, we have the 2012 garden!

Many of the seedlings were still small, but I felt like they would do better in the warmth of natural sunlight and getting a light rainfall on them.  I also sowed many of my greens, as well as beets and baby carrots.  The one thing I learned this season is that seeds from last season are funny little things, and when you start transferring soil from one bed to the other, things transfer.  I have A LOT of randoms in many of the beds (mostly flowers) but I decided to just let them do their thing for right now and hopefully they will add some spice to the bed later on in the summer.

My green onions are doing well, as you can see!  I'm pretty excited about these guys, being something I have never grown before.  Might have to do some thinning out soon; they're looking a little all over the place.

Mamma also bought this lovely flower combination to put in the garden for some color while we wait...

Have I mentioned how impatient I am?

Is it July/August yet?

BAD ASS CHERRY TOMATO SEEDS

About a month ago I was starting to clean out my garden beds and get organized with the new ones that are being built. Last season I had a habit of just tossing rotted tomatoes and peppers into the bottom of the garden bed, so it could compost on its own. Well, turns out I had tossed some hard core cherry tomato plants in there. I found the shell/skin of one of the tomatoes still in the bed and was going to toss it, until I saw this happening inside of it:


I kind of freaked out. This little guy survived the fall/winter season and is ready to make a come back! I had to give him a chance! I put him in a container and brought him inside to make some friends under the grow lights. It was pretty cool to see the changes the next few weeks...

Finally pushed through the skin


Taking in the light


Where he's at today

I am noticing a few other seeds from last year are growing on their own in the beds too. Mostly flowers, but did spot two other tomato plants growing outside in the same beds. I'm gonna keep letting them do their thing before I move them anywhere though. I just think the fact these seeds are making it happen on their own is so fascinating!

More seedlings starting in the garden bed

GERMINATION STATION

Well, I did something right. Only 24 hours later, did my kale and collard seeds start germinating! I kind of figured these would be the ones that would germinate first, only because last season I sowed them directly into the beds and they came up crazy fast. Either way, the whole seed to food process still fascinates me.

Little germinating Collard seed

My favorite seed so far has to be the Rainbow Swiss Chard. I'm a sucker for anything with obscure texture and color. So when these little guys started popping up, my heart melted a bit.

Rainbow Swiss Chard

Overall, both beds are doing great! I'm so happy, and really, this is all much easier than I anticipated. I'm still getting the outside ready for planting; I did toss some flower seeds in some of our containers today since it was so nice out. It might be a little early, but I figured why not and see what happens!

More of the little guys


My puppy and some spring flowers

LET THERE BE (SEEDLING) LIGHT!

My last two grow lights finally came in yesterday, and with that last piece of the puzzle in place, I am ready to start growing!

This weather in Chicago has been incredible. I spent part of Sunday outside getting the beds ready, and figuring out what containers I will need to make all of this garden magic happen. I found a wooden crate on my walk home from work last summer, and though it would be perfect to grow something in. I wish I could find more of these around town or in the alley to use and line up along the fence of the patio.

Found alley crate

So yes! I've started the little seedlings. I have 60 total that I've started indoors, and a bunch of seeds I am going to sow direct once all my beds are in order. I forgot to mention that I used a seed starting mixture by Hoffman in the pots. It's very light and got good reviews on Amazon, so I went with it (note: I've been in freelance hell and had to buy almost everything over the internet).

Filled peat pots

Everything seems to be going wonderfully so far. It's also a good thing that I like to keep my apartment around 70 degrees all of the time. I checked on my "greens" this morning and already saw some germination with the collards and kale seeds! Being this is my first time seeding, I started to freak out and took a picture to text to all of my friends!

Germinating collard seed

Final set up!

This is all super exciting for me, and I can't wait to document what the next few weeks will bring! Also, a good friend of mine gave me this guy to put in my garden for good luck:

Love this guy!

Here's to spring and gardens and puppies!