ah! real monster plants!

so, i'm back in school and have been trying to take some time to remember the fun things i got to do in my free time over the summer (as to defend myself from post-summer ennui). one rad thing was growing my own container garden for the first time. i've been eating on the cherry/romas for a while as well as starting to pick my first bell peppers. i grew from sprouts so everything should keep making for a bit. jalapenos and wax peppers have slowed down, but still look bushy and lovely (these are the only plants not grown from sprouts).


top pic: tomatos gettin' gnarly on the deck rail.
bottom: (r->left) jalapenos/wax peppers, back rail->cherries/romas, left->more tomatoes.
i'm thinking of doing an herb/sugar snap pea thing in the fall, but i've got to wait for all the containers back. i don't believe in spending too much more to plant than it takes to grow. at least for the time being.

black spot and the bubonic plague

my tomatoes which i have grown from mere sprouts have contracted a case of the black spot (a.k.a. blossom end rot). apparently this comes from a lack of calcium problem or irregular watering patterns which are both possible. 4 of the 6 plants seem to have it and i was (for real talk legit sad) for half a day about this. i think i had help nurse them back to life with lime, but at least the cherry tomatoes are okay so far.

in other diseased news, i heard on the radio that there was an outbreak of bubonic plague in china. turns out it was actual pneumonic plague, which is related to the bubonic but spread through the air not by flea bits. both sound equally wretched but the black death is a way cooler name for a metal band.

cool trick

so this morning i pulled this cool trick where i slept in 2 hours passed what i was supposed to. miraculously, i was only 4 minutes late. i felt like i looked a mess though, but the kids were kind. kind of made me think, "look at how much less i could be getting away with." anyway, at least my plants are in tip top shape. major overhaul on putting all the little dudes out. no more back up sprouts to rely on in this crazy monsoon season we've been having. from top to bottom: 1. the mean size of cherry tomato sprouts. 2. team jalapeno (bought these, poseur i know) 3. arial view of peppers and romas.

garden update!

my little jammers are going hard!

i did cheat a little and bought these pre-grown
pepper plants: jalapeno & banana peppers.

then i moved some tomato plants into big planters
to see how they fair outside. go lil doods go!

also, i tried the salsa again with better results
though it burned my face off a little.
and i'm trying to learn to drink selzter water
so i don't get a tumor.
and i got to eat one of these at my mom's today:

thanks for plants!

okay, so. . . this whole getting dark at 5 thing is just not working for me. i either have to forgo my 26 min. afterschool nap(thx janel) to get sunshine on my face, or have a super tired-chilly run. also suffering from the season change, my danggone plants!

so last night feeling like a neglectful plant caretaker (notice how i didn't say mother because it just sounds too creepy poison ivy style) i lugged a lamp outside and "winterized" all the little doods as best as i knew how. it was pretty rad and relaxing and there was the most beautiful wind chime next door keeping me supplied with tunes.

one part about replanting root bound plants that i like is dipping them in warm water and combing out all their roots. it reminded me of this one part in Beloved by Toni Morrison. the main character, sethe, has escaped a slave plantation, but has to struggle, pregnant, through a dense forest without shoes. this crazy white girl finds her days later, and massages her tore up feet explaining that it's part of the healing process to get the blood flowing again. made me of some of my students and friends that are being brave and confronting ugly things in their lives or passed on to them in hopes of better things to come.

anyway, i like plants because they're calming and lovely. danggone living metaphors if you ask me!