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...

March & April Favorites (flowers, food, & festivities)

I hope all you gardeners are out there getting prepped, starting seedlings and germinating seeds. I'm going to start germinating radish, lettuce, tomato and peppers seeds. I want to be able to till some garden spaces too, but this weather is not consistent. One day it's freezing, then thr next it's nearly 80, and then will rain and continue that cycle every week. 

All that to say, Spring always has its quirky weather, but seeing all the flowers and trees blooming makes it all worth it. Here are just a few photos of the Spring garden this past March, and a few seasonal dinners! 

Scilla flowers

The Crocuses, scilla, and daffodils are always the first to bloom, and I should be seeing the blueberries, peach, pear and plum trees blooming this week.

Purple crocus

Some seasonal favorites for Spring dinners is root veggies and leafy greens. This is baked cauliflower, tomato, lettuce, vegan caesar dressing. 

One of my favorite dinners is a baked sweet potato and chickpeas with fried spinach on top and agave and balsamic vinegar glaze. Notice I always top everything with chili flakes/oil...it's a guilty pleasure.

Another spring favorite was the vegan shepherds pie for St. Patrick's day. 

Another essential spring ingredient is asparagus. We baked some tofu, asparagus and mushrooms over top of rice. 

This April, I germinated radish and basil seeds. I wrapped the seeds with a moist paper towel that went in plastic bags. I tried to germinate lavender, cilantro, dill and lettuce seeds but that was a bust. I decided to directly sow lettuce seeds in pots. We'll see how it goes. I'm at trying to have a small container garden at my apartment. 

I checked on the old forest garden a couple days ago, and there's some pears, peaches, and  blueberries growing fruits. 

This forest garden is a little out of control, and it needs taming as I have let this garden become invaded by thorny bushes, mimosa and maple trees. I'll try to cut back all these bushes and mulch the old hugelkuktur beds. I noticed there was a lot of animal activity here, so I'm sure the birds and rabbits will get to the berries before me. 

Last night, I was given some free cucumbers. So I pickled them in a sweet brine like gherkins. I used salt, sugar, pickling spice, dill, and vinegar. They were pretty tasty, and gets me excited for all the summer veg to preserve!