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. 

Summer wanderings (Hiking, biking, & Mushroom Finds)

My Summer began pleasantly, with a trip to South West Florida, where I ate delectable food, swam in the ocean, and spotted dolphins swimming whimsically in the glimmering sunlight. 

Me, after eating Jackie Chan vegan pizza at Wildwood in Punta Gorda

Mango Bistro eatery in Englewood, FL with lots of vegan food options

Mango Tree

Juncture at the ocean where Peace River and Gasparilla Sound - Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserve meet

South Jetty Beach at the corner of the Gulf Coast

Boca Grande Beach at the Gulf Coast

Vegetable Vegan Sushi Roll at Hurricane Charley's 

For the remainder of the summer, I've been working- and in my free time, in the garden. My garden has been on the back burner for various reasons. But, I'm patiently waiting for cucumbers, tomatoes, pumpkins; and particularly corn! I have a newfound obsession with street corn aftering eating some at this great restaurant, The Social Vegan. I made my own one day, too. The picture doesn't show the finished product- only after the corn came out of the broiler. For these, I broiled with vegan butter, then after cooking- covered in vegan mayo, lime  juice, different pepper spices and cashew powder to act as the "parmesan."

Furthermore, I need to investigate the garden for cucumbers. I have lots of cucumber plants growing and flowering, but I've only harvested 1 fruit thus far; so, I'm not keeping my hopes us. In addition to that, I need to dig and harvest up potatoes from the mounds. This was my first batch- seen in the picture.

In the next day or so, I'll be sowing leafy green seeds to transplant for a fall garden. 

Besides gardening- Ashley and I both recently purchased bicycles. We are trying to stay active physically; but also to try to enjoy our summer with nice bike rides, little camp fires by the creek, hikes in the woods...and alcoholic slushies, ha!

Drinks at The Social Vegan

Frozen Peach, strawberry, pineapple, & vegan almond creamer "Ice Cream" topped with coconut & almonds

As mentioned, I have enjoyed leisure hikes in the woods with scenes of mossy oak, vivacious ferns, and delectable-looking mushrooms; so, I wanted to share some of those photos from my recent hikes. 

As you may or may not know, Kentucky has been regularly hit hard in the last year from flooding and natural disasters in general. The particular region I am located in Kentucky was hit with light flooding, but nothing as disastrous as the other regions recently. With that said, my hikes through the woods have consisted of mushroom spotting. With much rain and heat, comes a variety of mushrooms!

Chicken of the Woods mushrooms growing on an OLD fallen oak tree

Sometimes you find treasures in a fairy garden of the woods!

Before a bike ride in the woods the other day, there was a light rain; so, I put my bigger houseplants out in the rain on our stair steps to get watered.

Sometimes I'm told I have too many snake plants...

Jewels in my container pots...with freshly added garden soil and coconut coir to revitalize my houseplants...

Propagated Monstera transplanted 

Fossilized fish head from the creek with marbles to accentuate the cacti plant 

Her name is Buela

Monstera

Monstera rocks 

Mossy tree along the creek

Tree roots like the veins of the Earth's floor

Snake-like tree overhanging the creek...

Back in June, some colleagues of mine went to Comedy Off Broadway, and had dinner at Palmer's- and we spotted a goose giving birth...

Another evening in June, we had a fire next to a creek, roasting veggie hot dogs. Our cats always follow us to the creek- one of them likes to laze on my backpack.

This past weekend- the end of July- Ashley and I visited Indiana for some family time. Here was one view- of a soybean field. To me, much of Indiana was miles of disorienting roads with walls of corn and soybean fields. Indiana is a different landscape than my stomping grounds- it's flat, swamp like terrain whereas Kentucky is rolling foothills that can look like towering mountain sides. 

Looks like an alien spaceship is going to abduct a cow in this field

That's the jist of my summer so far. I will say, I had a Covid stint that required me to quarantine for 10 days and mask for 5 days. I was fortunate to not have severe symptoms- but it felt very close to pneumonia- it did not feel like the flu. I have also been fully vaccinated and had my booster; so, maybe that helped. I became very weak; and it took another weak to regain my strength back. I am also fortunate enough to have a job that can accommodate working from home, which I did. 

The summer is going by fast, and I hope to continue to harvest some veg as well as start a fall garden. Stay tuned!