Early Summer apartment garden

In Mid-May I planted germinated seeds of grape tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, lavendar and basil. Slowly, as different plants thrived, I transplanted them into bigger pots from their recycled containers. As you saw from my last post, these containers were used to act as a mini greenhouse. Because they were in their own greenhouse containers, within the standing greenhouse at night, they survived fantastic through the late Spring nights. 

 

The eggplant here was transplanted about a week ago into bigger pots. They are growing and I have transplanted more eggplants with some basil. 

Transplanted eggplants 🍆 

Eggplant growing a week later after transplanting, and some just transplanted days ago

Growing eggplant and basil together

Lime fruits growing in a pot in
Gardening Zone 6, first year 

Houseplant & Apartment garden

Some of the houseplants and veg

Many of the veggies seen in the main garden here were from plants I started from seed on my small apartment porch. 

Tomatoes growing around the old tree

Coxcombs and tomatoes in the flower garden

I also snapped a picture of the veggie garden with cucumbers 🥒 beans 🫘 squash/zucchini, tomatoes 🍅 peppers🫑& pumpkins 🎃 I snapped these pics even after weeding and watering the plants! I swear there's vegetable plants in there, but it is hard to tell! 😄 

These are pictures of the flower garden within a month span. The begonias, inpatients and tomatoes really flourished here. And obviously, some decor was moved around! 

May 31, 2025 flower garden

July 4, 2025 

I've been pretty diligent about keeping the veggies weeded and watered. We have had extreme temperatures in our region with what feels like weeks of 100 degree Temps. Despite that, the garden has remained unphased by the heat as this garden is very shady. 

While i believe the veggies frim my garden will at least take another month to grow for harvest, at least a coworker gave me a bounty of vegetables from their garden. With the cucumbers, I have been making tomato and Cucumber salads. With the yellow squash I have made squash pancakes. I grated the yellow quash, and then seasoned with salt, black pepper, onion, and garlic powder; then, I mixed a potato starch paste with water (used Energ egf replacer), and all purpose flour ti get to the right consistency for frying. Fry with a little oil for about 4 minutes on each side, should be good. 

Yellow squash pancakes

Remember to take a break from work, and enjoy the outdoors with loved ones and friends! Be safe from ticks! There's a lot of ticks this year in our area, a lot of people getting sick and getting Lymes disease. 

Eat delicious food and listen to music...

Grilled vegan burger, vegan cheese,
fried onions, & lettuce.

Me and Ash at my cousins wedding,
Enjoying the scenery 

Grill corn on the cob

Grilled tofu, peppers, tomatoes &
Onion with Avocado 

Of course on these hot days, it's always nice to enjoy a rocky creepy to splash in.

Video screenshot of me tubing down the roaring creek

Like I said, be careful this year outside. There's a lot of people in my area with lymes disease and getting sick from tick bites as well as bacterial infections from lakes. Take all precautions, but have fun and enjoy your precious time on this earth. I'm feeling emotional lately, because this year I have been around a lot of friends and coworkers that's loved ones have died. I don't know if it's because I'm older now, but I feel like I know more people that are dead or dying. 

Keep well and safe, my garden friends...

Gardening with art & zen (peaceful water & rock features)

To help you get your home garden started, visit gardens in your area. It will help you visualize and learn what type of plants grow well together, positioning, and types of plants that do best in your area. This garden I visited yesterday was a wedding venue, and I absolutely adored it. The hosta plants were large and in charge! There was even a lime tree growing fruits in my area's gardening zone 6-- I was shocked. The only explanation I had was that this garden was heated in the soil. I'm not sure...

This particular garden was filled with perennial and annual flowers, red maples, pines, tomato and pepper plants, water features and sculpture pieces that made the garden a piece of artwork. That is the thing to remember, your garden is a blank canvas. You can choose the colors, the methods of planting much like painting, and you can have as many bushes, flowers, or trees as you want on your canvas. 

Starting garden in Late Spring mid-May

One of the things to remember when starting a garden- whether as a novice or expert- is that you should accept that projects are always a lesrning experience. You have to experiment with growing crops early or late for your area; types of soil and compost to use at different stages of planting and for different plants; type of container or location; and amount of watering. There's so many factors that contribute to the experimental successes. 

I try all kinds of methods of growing. Mostly because my situation changes all the time to the quality of a garden I can or do produce. I either don't have time, or don't have enough money, or I-am-just-plain-fed-up. For me lately, gardening can just feel like an expensive hobby with little reward. Houseplants are a little different because you tend them year round with the knowledge that their purpose is air quality and aesthetics, not necessarily to produce food. Houseplants have nearly become the only thing I can tend to! 

I have the houseplants outside full time, now that the area has become hot and humid during the day. We're having flood after flood, and tornados, in our area. For the people, here, it is one natural disaster after another. 

Before we got more rainfall this week, I got a piece of the garden shoveled, tilled, then hoed in wildflower seed, cosmos, marigolds, zinnias, cucumbers🥒, cilantro, lettuces🥬, peas🫛, squashes, beans 🫘 & pumpkins 🎃 Some of those may be too late and some may be too early, but again- it's about experimenting! 

Additionally, I have started germinating some pepper, tomato, and flower seeds. I have basil, cilantro and mint growing with my houseplants and some snapdragon flowers on my porch.  

Mint

Basil

I can utilize my mini greenhouse for the starter plants on the cooler nights. In fact, I keep my cacti plants in the greenhouse right now

This week, I had some personal time off from work, so I took advantage of this time to care for some of my houseplants, germinating the starter plants, and prepping a part of the tilled garden. It was a rainy week, so hopefully the seeds planted will take root and get to growing. I'll need to check the garden at least twice or three times a week from here on out, and to prep the rest of the garden. Which means, I'll need to shovel and till to expand the garden to plant more bean seeds, peppers, transplant tomatoes, and try to use the rest of seeds in inventory. 

One of the most crucial lessons I have learned in successful gardening is growing lots of flowers amongst your herb, fruit and veg gardens. I cannot stress this enough. If you're not attracting pollinators into your garden, then you're going to have a difficult time getting your plants to bear fruit and keep pests away. The most successful home growers have established large varieties of flowers throughout their yard. 

Both of my grandmothers have long standing patches of a variety of flowers. 

Poppy

Peonies

Clematis

Wisteria

Wisteria 

Iris

Roses 🌹 

Dianthus

Petunias

Impatiens, begonias, cannas, tomatoes, & colelus

Remember to have fun, experiment, grow big flower beds, and grow with intention this year. Don't ever feel like giving up; start again small and start with the basics. Good luck this year!