Gardening Success! (so far...)

Ah, the garden. I have always dreamed of some day being successful in gardening, or at least trying my hand at it. I've always felt that as a nutritionist, it is ridiculous that I have such little knowledge about and experience with growing food. My very first attempts only began last year. Without initial success I gave up for a while but decided to try again a few months ago. Thanks to my mom stocking me up with some (non-expired!) seeds and some attempts to keep the slugs away, I am happy to report that my garden is thriving. I imagine this is strange for you all in the West as you are heading into Fall and Winter and I'm just getting tomatoes growing. Oh well, that's the benefit of getting to sweat year round. I have many more seeds I plan to plant as soon as the tomato harvest takes place and I have some more space. Next skill to learn: canning.

On a side note, I started knitting again and I've been really into baking these days, on top of the usual cooking I do for dinner almost every night. I had a realization the other day. I'm really domestic! I really, really enjoy being domestic. I love working with my hands and having something to show for it immediately or soon after. I've always been one for instant gratification. Lately there have been opportunities to cook/bake for friends and neighbors who are going through various tough times in life (cancer, miscarriage...) and I realize that cooking and baking is one of my love languages. I feel I can really love people when I cook or bake for them. I take joy in it. Andrey is a blessed man and he knows it. Here are some shots showing the gardening progress...

Our circular bed and the newly cleared bed now full of tomato plants

Close up of the circular bed with many transplanted tomato plants

The new bed is also full of tomato plants

The potted plants in the side-yard. Most of what you see are tomatoes (can you believe all of our tomato plants got started in that one large white pot?), plus there is a chili plant, some thriving basil, some not-so-thriving cilantro, and some gulay (or "guy" for short), a native green veggie that our helper planted

Chili plant. If you look close you'll find one, white chili ("sili" in Visayan). Next to it are a couple of sprouts I found in the compost. I think they might be watermelon.

More tomato plants - this pot's still a bit crowded

The basil (so fragrant!) and cilantro (go baby go! I want to make salsa.)

Where the tomatoes got their start. I've cleared out and transplanted all but a few so they'd have room to grow big. We just added the stakes today to keep them upright.

Bonus picture of Gerald. Enjoy those balls little buddy because you're getting castrated soon. If he only knew what was coming. When I said I believe in family planning, I meant I believe in family planning. There are too many orphaned kitties around here! I don't want to perpetuate the cycle.

Yard Work

Since we've been back, I have been motivated to try to get a garden going again. My last attempts to plant seeds were unsuccessful for various reasons. We also had a compost system set up, which worked for a while and then, because of it's accessibility to slugs and rats, it became clear that a new system would be required.

Another issue was that our landlord stopped sending a gardener over to tend to the yard each month. We had really let it go and it became extremely overgrown. It is amazing how quickly things grow here!

This post will showcase the progress we have made in one week in those three areas - the compost, the planting of vegetable seeds and the yard.

The "before" pictures are from last Saturday. The "after" pictures were taken today.

COMPOST

BEFORE - note the aluminum wire than I hand-weaved into the basket for reinforcement.

AFTER - No slugs or rats have entered yet! During the day I take the clay weight off the top and let the sun shine into it to further the decomposition. I add a little water to keep it slightly moist and add composting enzymes regularly.

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THE VEGETABLE GARDENING

BEFORE - This is just after I planted tomato, basil and cilantro (coriander) seeds. I was planning to put these inside the house but thought better of it when Gerald (our cat) immediately started in for a dig in the new dirt. In this spot they are under shelter and I have a plan to keep the slugs away. The young boy in the shot is our helper's 3-yr-old son, Dilbert. He's a cutie.

AFTER - 1 week after planting. We have seedlings, people! This brings me much joy. If this actually works out and I get tomatoes that I can eat, it will be my first ever successful gardening experience. The pot on the right has the tomato sprouts. I know I will have to thin them out. I just didn't think any would sprout so I put the whole packet in. The pot on the left only has 2 sprouts but I'm hoping more will pop up here in the next few days. Note the black stuff at the base of the pots. It is coffee grounds. Slugs hate it and it may even be fatal to them. We'll see if it keeps them away. This is the stage where my progress was halted last time.

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THE YARD

BEFORE - There's Dilbert again. This is the front of our house and I have to walk through there to get to the side of the house where the potted plants are. I seriously have had to practically crawl through there. That plant was taking over!

BEFORE - Note the height of the grass

AFTER - So much better


BEFORE - Our circular bed. Last week I sprinkled an assortment of other seeds that I had in the center just to see if anything happens. You can't tell but the center is actually empty.

AFTER - Today I noticed a few sprout but I have no idea which ones they are - could be green onions, Thai eggplant, sunflowers or lemon basil.

Gerald BEFORE - playing in the tall grass

Gerald AFTER - He is loving the out of doors these days but never leaves the yard because he's very timid when it comes to the unknown

On a side note. These are the papaya trees that were a third of the size when we left for the US in late July. The gardener who used to come would chop them down but after being left untouched for a little over a month, they have not only tripled in size but are producing fruit! This is one tree that split into two branches. We have another one like it in the yard. Note the narrow space it has to grow in between the roofs of ours and our neighbor's carport. We'll have a lot of papaya to eat soon. It's very high in potassium and is great for the stomach and intestines, I think.

And for my last exhibit. Our lemongrass plant. I had no idea what it was until one day we decided to cut it back. The fragrance was so strong that after further inspection of the base of the plant, I knew right away that it was lemongrass. Who knew?! I'm such a novice.