Fresh Food

Today, I visited my garden. Well, a lot of people would argue that it is a garden. I have cherry tomatoes in pots on the railing of by back deck. I have ‘starter’ tomato plants in a pot in the corner of the deck. I have a pot that I planted 24 carrots, a pot of lettuce on the railing,  Off the deck, in a planter box, I planted nearly 20 corn seedlings. So, back to the visiting today…

The cherry tomatoes are almost finished producing. There are about a dozen green balls hanging from the minutely leaved branches. I had decimated lettuce plant last week and noticed this morning that the light green leaves are returning! Yea! I am wondering what I should do with the tomato plant seedlings, it seems too late to plant them into individual pots but I don’t want to see them die before their time.  The carrots. Well, only one carrot top is visible. Sadly, we will not be eating carrots this season.

My corn, the only plants that I planted into ‘Mother Earth’ have been abused not only by the weather, as the other plants have been, but also by animals. I have yet to discover if it is moles or brother, Chip and Dale, that took the seed out of the hole. After the first half of the seedlings were destroyed, I enclosed the the planter box with small-holed chicken wire. It seemed to do the trick for a while, but after some times three more plants all but vanished. The next day, two  more.  I had read an article on corn and discovered a possible ‘cure’, hot pepper, chili powder, paprika. I grabbed my Sam’s Club sized Spanish paprika and began scattering. Not sure if the leaves were to be sprinkled or just the ground. That seemed to do the trick. The remaining plants remained in tact, however, they did not seem to grow any taller. Except one. This one is now shoulder high with no signs of an actual ear of corn.  Yesterday, I told Mom that I did not expect to get any corn from my plants but I would be ecstatic for the corn plant to tassel. Today, I saw the beginning growth of a tassel. I jumped for joy! I can’t wait to see the full effect.

When I was a kid I never though t about wanting to have a garden. Even 10 years ago, growing my own food was not even an inkling of a thought. Now, it intrigues me. Too bad I don’t know what I am doing.