Apartment garden & fruit garden

It's been difficult to commit to maintaining a garden this year, and for the last few years. My gardens aren't a 5 minute drive or a walk out the back door anymore, so I have resulted to focusing on the fruit trees and fruit bushes. Also, I have been attempting to have a Fall garden at my apartment. 

The Kieffer pear trees are still growing strong. 

My blueberry and blackberry bushes are growing great, but the birds are eating all of the berries, and the briars have taken over my patch of fruit bushes and my old main vegetable garden. 

I used to grow a ton of different veggies and lettuces, pumpkins, corn, beans, tomatoes, but it is now but a wasteland of briars, grass, and tangled mess. 

Until I can totally devote my time to gardening like I used to, I won't be able to maintain anything but what I'm doing now. 

As stated, in my despair of not having plotted gardens this year, I have experimented with potting vegetables at an apartment. As you know from years past, much of my gardening has been a hugelkuktur garden on one property and a tilled garden at a second garden. Plus, I've kept a mini fruit orchard that I used to be proud of. 

Alas, time flies when you're having fun and working your ass off, so I'm happy to say that I will have a massive pear harvest; my peaches will drop to the ground and nourish the earth; the blueberries, grapes and blackberry bushes will feed the birds; fig trees will fruit as long as I keep looking at them; and I will try my best to water my apartment garden.

Pear fruit growing late June

Kieffer pears

Alberta peach...not looking to cute

Here I have taken pics of my rose, houseplants and veggies.

ABC ROSE

Houseplants 

I've been attempting to grow some summer vegetables in pots at the apartment. It's all very experimental, I've never done it before. I have 2 Cherokee beefsteak tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, radish, garlic and potato growing in my pots. I am trying to germinate kale and lettuce. I sowed Kale seeds (blue curled) variety on  July 9th 2024...these are 60 days till harvest, so that would be October 1st. 

Additionally, I sowed Lettuce seeds (grand rapids) on July 8th 2024. These are 45 days till maturity; sowed sparkler radish, 25 days till harvest, and bloomsdale long standing spinach which is 45 days till harvest and I'll be able to harvest August 22nd. 

Cucumber and zucchini plants

Obviously you can't see all of the houseplants in this photo, but they're doing the beat they can in these hot, hot months so far.

Tomato 

I can't show off my couple of garden gems without showing my grandmas beauties as well...

And some of my other snapshots from the beginning of Summer...

Blooming cactus

July summer garden

 These first few days into July are already shaking out to be wet, hot days. That's just the kind of weather these plants here love. I have cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes and corn all trellised or staked. 

These peppers, like all the plants here- were grown from seed.

It's looking like a jungle!

This area of the garden seems like an infinite row of potatoes. Despite the stalks laying on the ground, the plant is still green- so it may be another month or so before I harvest the potatoes. I didn't see any of the potatoes flower, but I hope that doesn't mean there won't be any taters to harvest this year. 

That's all I have to report from the garden, for now.

Fruit & Veg Gardens in Early June Food Forest

On Sunday, I took the time to weed my gardens. I hoed around the rows of beans, corn, potatoes, peas, squash and cucumbers. My grandmother said she fertilized them and that we were going to have another week of rain showers. 

Here, I have Cushaw, cucumbers, potatoes, pumpkins, and peas growing amongst one another.

 

On this end of the garden, beans and corn are growing in long rows that I tilled a couple of weeks ago. 

My other garden has become quite the cilantro forest. This seems to be my most difficult garden this year as nothing seems to be flourishing here. I planted and sowes a plethora of radish and lettuce seed, but it has fizzled out fast. I haven't been able to harvest hardly any greens or radishes this year, so that's a bummer. 

I also planted lots of tomatoes and peppers amongst the garden beds so I'm hoping these do well at least as the hot summer has come full force. 

One thing that is making me hopeful for this year's garden harvest is the fruit from the trees this year. For the first time I have the plum and nectarine trees fruiting this year. Amongst these, the peach and pear trees are also growing decent sized fruits already. 

I was worried the birds would have already picked the blueberries, as these have grown large and in big cluster this year. My hope is that these are also very fruitful and I can actually harvest them before th birds get these AND all of the blackberries I am also growing.

What's weird, is that I have completely neglected my fruit trees and fruit bushes this year. I have not weeded nor mulched or composted around them at all! But, they seem to be doing just fine! 

Finally, I have arranged my house plants on an outdoor shelf that I have situated on the porch. This actually helps my cacti to avoid getting scorched by the sun when they're on a shaded porch on dark plastic shelving. And now that we have entered the month of June, I can keep the houseplants outdoors where it is hot and humid--jusy how they like it!

My lettuce garden & wildflower haven

In my yard, I make sure to avoid mowing down the milkweed. Now, the milkweed stands growing tall and will be flowering soon. From what I've heard, milkweed is the only food source for the Monarch butterfly, so every year, I'm sure to keep the patch of Milkweed growing just for them.

Also, my patch of wildflowers are doing great. I may fertilize them again soon, but I'm glad that they're growing so that it attracts bees and other insects in the hopes that the insects will pollinate the flowering vegetables or fruit trees.

Grapes getting bigger

Basil

This garden is different from my other I showed you in my last post. It is my permaculture garden which I continue mulching and layering with compost. In the  garden beds here, I planted an abundance of radish, many varieties of lettuce, cilantro, spinach, arugula--and now most of these plants are going to seed. The lettuce will be flowering soon too. I have continued to pick the lettuce for salads, sandwiches, and wraps. I have been giving lots of lettuce away too, but as mentioned, the lettuce will be flowering soon and I will not be able to pick it any longer because it will taste old and bitter.

Cilantro and lettuce

Yarrow flower 

Onion flowers

Lots of onions flowering 

Here I have some strawberries growing too amongst the lettuces but animals are eating them.

Strawbery plant

In my pots, I have squash, melons and tomaotes. I have struggled with these though because of animals digging up plants and making holes. It has been a constant struggle this year with animals, unfortunately.

Today, I composted around the tomatoes  in pots. I brought some pots that animals ate the plants from to my apartment to transplant tomatoes in. It looks pretty good! And I brought compost from my home garden to my apartment garden for the tomatoes!

Tomatoes in pots for apartment garden

Already getting big!