The Garden, Weeks 10, 11, and 12: Minty, Smelly, Watery, Rabbity

I know it's been awhile since we talked about the garden, but it turns out once you get plants in the ground there's not a lot of day-to-day ACTION. (Perhaps this is a reason, "The Garden!" is not one of this summer's action-packed blockbusters.) Time to just throw out a big updatey-update.

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This is an Apple Mint plant. I bought it at Home Depot and I thought it would be nice to have fresh mint for iced tea, mojitos, and whatever else I came up with. Mint is really hard to kill, it smells nice, and thrives in wet spots. Our hose bib leaks a considerable bit when turned on so I figured it was a GREAT spot for some mint.

Then, some bugs promptly chewed it up. There were hardly any leaves left and while I know mint is a very difficult thing to kill, I was sure the bugs had done it.

There used to be a lot more leaves on this plant. As in, you could tell it was actually a plant.

But! Lo! THE MINT CAME BACK! I was very pleased with myself for continuing to water a dead-looking plant. Surely only a very smart gardener continues to water a dead-looking plant, yes? (Don't answer that.) It was looking very leafy and healthy and I thought, "I should take a picture of it! To show how mint can come back!" 

And then, on Monday, Chris was making a loop of the yard with his trimmer and he mistook the mint for a weed. He said, "it suddenly smelled minty and I just KNEW." He knows how important my plants are. He felt pretty badly.

You can't even tell where a mint plant is supposed to be, it's just a jumble of sad plant body parts.

I told him it's okay. Mint is really hard to kill. It'll come back. Mint is the Pheonix of the herb world. (POOR MINTY-MINT.)

IN OTHER NEWS!

I (or other members of my household) have not actually killed anything, which is mighty impressive. I planted cucumber, okra, and scallion seeds and they came out of the ground a few days later with leaves and everything, just like they're supposed to. I don't know, man. There's something downright MAGIC BEANS unbelievable about this whole garden thing.

"You mean I just put these tiny things in the ground and FOOD COMES OUT?"

Yep. Allegedly, that's how this is going to turn out.

Spiders in my garden! I like to envision them eating bad bugs.

I fixed my ugly fence. Chris bought some actual stakes and I ripped out my sad version and re-did it one Saturday morning. I took before and after pictures and....you really can't tell a difference. This is disappointing only because I spent about an hour cutting wire and crawling around it for almost no reward in aesthetic. (On the plus side, it does appear to be keeping the rabbits out, so there's that.)

Before, with tables holding down the edges:

And, after with stout green stakes and excess wire cut off:

I know, it looks pretty much the same. How very disappointing. Perhaps I should have bedazzled it for true results. Because I know you enjoy seeing pictures of my mood after sweaty garden work, here's how I felt after I re-did the fence. 

PRETTY DAMN PLEASED WITH MYSELF.

I had a bunch of extra seedlings I was saving for delivery to locals, but one day the wind blew them off the table and because I was just tired of dealing with them and I didn't feel like performing seedling CPR, I threw them away. Next year I am for sure planting fewer seeds or starting a seedling co-op of some kind with local friends.

Sad tomatoes.

VEGETABLE STATUS 

California Wonder Bell Peppers

These are doing okay. They were planted all on the same day but they are VASTLY different sizes. I have one that is about 2" tall and another that is close to 8". Four of these, in all.

Cucumbers

One of the things I like to do is to smell my plants. I know, this sounds weird, but just go with me. The leaves of the cucumber plants SMELL LIKE CUCUMBERS! This sounds very "no shit" but it kind of blew me away when I figured it out. No actual cucumbers yet, but it SMELLS like them! How delightful!

Scallions

I have a bunch of thin, needle-like, green things that smell like onions. (Oh, come on, you knew I was going to smell these too.)

Tomatoes 

They're doing well! Getting taller and leafier. I have been pinching off suckers (leaves that grow at the apex of stalk and stems) as I find them, since they won't produce fruit and their leaves will just suck energy away from fruit-producing parts of the plant.

The Whiskey Barrel

Okay, I lied. I think I killed the thyme. BUT. I am still watering it, so maybe it will come back. There is a lone green stem, so I'm hopeful. The basil is getting bigger, so that's good because a key component of caprese salad is basil and the hell if I am going to have to buy any after all this freaking work. (Look how tiny it used to be!) I bought a rosemary plant because I planted rosemary seeds THREE times and they never germinated, so I think I got crap seeds. (Incidentally, these were the only seeds that came from Lowe's. NO JUDGEMENT, LOWE'S.)

Watering

Texas has been in a big drought for what seems like forever. The ground here is already cracked from a lack of moisture, and although this looks bad, I have cousins in west Texas with cracks in their yards big enough for cats to sleep in. The DFW area is faring better than the rest of the state, but it still isn't raining very much.

My yard is thirsty.

I have been SUPER paranoid about not watering enough, so every day I hook up the soaker hoses and let them run until I can see water coming out the bottom of the raised bed. I have no idea if this is the right way to do things, but it's what I do. Sometimes, if I feel like it's extra hot? I run out there with a cup or two of water and pour it on the basil and my favorite tomato plants. 

This sounds like a giant pain in the ass, right? Hauling the hose to that side of the yard and babysitting it for 20 or 30 minutes? It sort of is. Going to check the tomatoes has actually become one of my favorite parts of the day. It's oddly soothing to go through these small motions over weeks and weeks and hope they add up to creating productive plants. Plus, it's something that I usually do by myself (sometimes, Claire will "help") and I like alone time, even if it's only a half hour in the yard.

I'm pretty curious how this will impact the water bill. Last year when we started watering the lawn, the water bill went THROUGH THE ROOF. So much so, we cut waaaay back on watering the lawn. I'm trying to be thrifty with moisture, but I haven't figured out the sweet spot quite yet.

UP NEXT

I need to get some mulch and put it on top of the beds, now that the plants are a little taller. (Manual labor, UGH. I thought I was done with that for the season.) I also need to fertilize the tomatoes as soon as they start to flower and I don't know a lot about that so I'll have to make some garden shop visits. 

For anyone that made it this far (I should really go back to weekly updates because this is WAY TOO LONG), here's a picture of our resident bunny. He's one of at least two and these rabbits have NO FEAR. They don't even run off when we go outside. 

Comments

[Megan]

You should double check, but I think mint will take over the area where it's planted-- so make sure you have it in a spot you don't mind having all mint. I think a lot of people grow mint in a container, to control the spread.

I started a vegetable garden for the first time this year, too. I enjoy your garden re-caps!

[Katie]

I really like the recaps, too, although mostly because I can see how much work a garden is, and since I have the biggest, brownest thumb in all of America (I would kill the mint.) and therefore won't be starting my own attempt any time soon, it makes me feel okay about it. Because, Dang, girl, when you do something, you do it RIGHT!!!!! I would have given up (read: killed) at the seedling stage.

Seriously, though, good job. I am very impressed.

(Oh, and I would totally smell the leaves.)

[BigP's Heather]

The stakes do make the beds look nicer but I would totally not be opposed to some bedazzling. You know, if you want more alone time outside. Just sayin.

[Erica]

I think you are on to something with bedazzling the fece.

[Erica]

Fence.

[christina]

Girl, did you just put that mint in the ground? Cause its going to take over your yard! DIG IT UP! Dig it up now and put it in a pot becuase holy hell, it is hard to get rid of once it starts gowing.

[Meghan]

Very impressive! Maybe next year I'll get inspired to join you in the garden.

[Jesabes]

I was not at all jealous during the whole planting/hauling dirt/getting rid of trees phase because man, that's a lot of work. But now I'm jealous of the result. What a cute garden! I want vegetables and herbs!

[Home Sweet Sarah]

I'm loving Claire's stance of authority.

[Mia B]

Hi - Your neighbor across the river chiming in here. Agree with other commenters on the mint - get thee to a pot asap. Your entire lawn will become mint if you don't!

For fertilizing your tomatoes and peppers - I like Espoma Tomato Tone. Might not be a Lowe's/HD item, but often at nurseries/ace hardware.

On watering: your raised beds will dry out faster than in-ground beds (that is the upside of raised beds in wet places: faster drainage). For droughty hot OK and TX, not so ideal. Start weaning your veggies off the water pipe as soon as you can, just after they are out of the baby stage. I'd guess I start doing this after they are in the ground at about a week, 10 days. If I'm busy, they get started on the regime right away. You have to walk a fine line between keeping them "crap, we're thirsty, better procreate and put out some fruit before we die of thirst" and "crap, we're so thirsty, let's just die." During OKC's 100+ heat wave streak last year, I only watered every 3-5 days, but I did raised rows and not raised beds, so I had a little advantage. While they are still little, give them a good amount of water (likely every day is a bit much) so their roots will grow DOWN looking for water (this anchors them and supports them in wind, too, to have a fully developed root system). You have to let the surface dry out a little for that to happen. Stick your finger in the dirt to see if they need water. If it's damp, no water. If it's dry, water. If it's kind of on the fence, like the tip of my finger can kind of feel dampness way down there, I will try to hold off until the next day. Watering deeply and more infrequently encourages root growth more than frequent short watering bursts (think 1 hour every 4 days instead of 15 minutes every day). If tomatoes start looking heat stressed (leaves will roll up/curl to reduce evaporative surface area and thus retain moisture) put your finger in the dirt. During the heat wave or really hot days, the leaves curl anyway, it doesn't mean they are thirsty. Finger in the dirt!

PS - all the above does not apply to your pots. Pots will likely need daily water. Finger test as needed.

PPS - I think your fence looks good! I am completely A.R. and can see the difference with the sharp edges and the taut wire. Good job!

[Marie]

I also cannot grow rosemary from seed! I tried the last 2 years and finally gave up and spent the $3 on a plant.(i probably had spent $20 trying to grow them. DUMB).

We use miracle grow. Seems to work and we have a mad cool garden every year.

Make pickles with your cucumbers-its super easy and THAT would be a funny post.

[Life of a Doctor's Wife]

Oh dear. You have to FERTILIZE the tomatoes? I did not know this. I have two tomato plants (and they smell WONDERFUL) so I should probably figure out the fertilizing situation. I only JUST LEARNED the bit about suckers - from my mom. All this info should be on the tag that comes with the plant!!

And I have killed many things already: my rosemary plant, a basil plant, a cilantro plant, and a mint plant. Sigh. I replaced the basil and cilantro, and the basil is doing okay but the cilantro is struggling mightily.

I also have a rogue squirrel who likes to dig in my herb planter. SIGH. Stop disrupting my herbs! There are no nuts here!

[Erica]

I see that I am two days late chiming in about OH NO CAREFUL MINT IS CRAZY so I assume by now it's too late and it has already enveloped your house.

[alison]

I'm seconding what Mia said about the water. I know it gets hotter down there in the summer, for longer stretches, but we still have 95-100 degree days all the time, and I maybe water 3-5 days a week. I just kind of go by how it looks. If it's super crusty on top but moist-ish underneath then I wait a day. If it's all BARREN EARTH WE ARE DYING dry, then I water a bit. If it's been really hot for a week, I might water every day that week. BUT I only do it for 5-10 minutes, definitely not until the water runs out, or mine at least would flood. :)

Mulch: I don't know your lawn situation, but can you bag the grass next time its mowed? That's the BEST mulch and will help keep moisture in the ground and your little veggies happy.