Plastic Reclaimation Project

I again begin by apologizing, its been 2 months, I know.  And lots has happened.  As it stands, the following are alive and in various stages of growth out on the deck: tomatoes, onions, carrots, bell peppers, spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, garlic, cilantro, nasturtiums, and lupine (the last two are more for looks).  The rest of the story is in the pictures:

 

The two big pots on the right side are the flowers, not much too them yet, but hopefully with the warmer weather we are having, that'll change soon.  Center rear are four lettuce starts, the ones with plastic bottles over them.  Its been chilly recently, I'm hoping creating mini-greenhouses will spur some more rapid growth.  Up front we have 4 spinach starts, and chives.  The left side shows carrots and onions.

The tomatoes have taken off like weeds.  I had them staked up with bamboo the last couple of months, and just removed that today.  The stalks have gotten pretty thick, and the cages are helping support the branches.  I moved some of the bamboo stakes to the pepper plants (right in front of the tomatoes).  At ~6-8 inches, they are doing ok, but I'm hoping to see some more rapid growth soon.

 

 Here's a closer look at the pepper plants.  Again, these were grown from the leftover seed pod from a green pepper purchased at the grocery.  I'm surprised the put up plants, still not sure if I'll see any peppers come out.

Here we have the two cucumber transplants, both are about four inches tall.  Same as the lettuce, I just reclaimed some plastic drink bottles and enclosed the cucumbers with them, hoping to see some decent growth.  I also plan on building a lattice work using the deck siding and bamboo for the horizontals.  I haven't added the bamboo yet, waiting for the cucumbers to grow a bit more first.  

On the north side of the tomatoes, I have my cilantro and a test run of a transplanted philodendron.  They both need partial shade, so I'm hoping that the tomato plants will help with that in the early afternoon.

  These are what I'm using to start my seeds in.  Right now I have the cucumbers and lettuce I didn't transplant still in there, in case one of the transplanted starts doesn't make it.  I got the plastic trays from my grandparents, who got them as 12-pack apple containers from Costco.  All I needed to do to use them as seed trays was cut a drainage hole in the bottom of each indentation.  The great thing about them is that they have tops that seal over them, giving me a great little 12-pod mini-greenhouse to start my seeds in.  Today is so nice an warm, I'm leaving the tops off and giving the starts some fresh air!

  Here is garlic row (I also thought about calling it garlic cove, but garlic row sounds less stupid).  Like the peppers, I simply planted garlic cloves we had gotten from the grocery.  They had sprouted already, so hopefully they grow and become usefull.

So here is a picture taken a few weeks ago of my cilantro, chives, thyme, and basil.  The cilantro and chives are still going strong, but soon after I took this picture, the basil and thyme both withered and died.  I don't know why, they were doing great before that, and they both suddenly turned brown at the same time.  So that one is leaving me scratching my head, and rather sad at the loss.  I'll get some more thyme and basil, but not yet.  It's too soon.

Yes, of course, Ophelia.  And a great flower arrangement I got from Vander Geissen Nursery!  They were a gift for my dear wife, and have really filled out the color palate of our otherwise predominantly green-plant themed deck.

So again, I apologize for being silent for two months.  But, here is proof that I am starting to see the fruits (veggies) of my labors!  Yes, they are small, but they are a half-long breed, and are planted in six inch deep planters, so I'm rather happy with them!

And now that I'm starting to see significant progress, I'm going to try to put up more pictures, I promise!!

See you next time!

The second-story gardener