Maybe a better title for this post would be “I’m a plant murderer”.
A few months back, I was inspired by this pin, and many others like it, to start a vegetable garden.
When to plant chart...
It looked easy enough – plant seeds in little pods, use old concrete blocks to build a raised bed, fill with garden soil, add plants, water, watch them grow, weed the beds and pick lovely veggies/make lots of salads. Uhm… yeah, not so much.
The part about planting the seeds in little starter pods was easy enough, but then the first day I put them in the sun for too long, they all died. All of them.
Okay, I’m not the type of girl to just quit, so I started over. Moved the starter trays to a new position on the porch so it would get direct sun all morning. Re-planted the seeds and waited. This is what I had a couple of weeks ago.
I was pretty excited about all the peppers, but my tomatoes weren't coming up.
I love how they grow in the direction of the sun.
At this point, I tried to put them out in the sun for longer periods of time, but on day two of this part, I forgot about them as we were working to get our refrigerator from the old house moved into the new house, so they got a little wilted in the Florida heat. They went back to being kept under the covered porch for about a week with the hope that they would miraculously un-wilt. I faithfully sprayed them with a water mister every day. Yeah, that didn’t really help, but they weren’t dead. Just wilted and sunburned.
In the meantime, my brother helped to set up the concrete block raised bed. I went to the local soil/rock sellers, where I purchased two yards of soil, and got it delivered to the house. Unfortunately, the driver dropped it as far away from the planting bed as it could possibly be. So, my husband, who must love me very much, made many trips back and forth with the wheelbarrow to fill it up for me. God, I love that man 🙂
Today, I went out to plant the little buggers and it was a mess. I couldn’t get the plants out of the cups. Or, I should say I couldn’t get them out in one piece – they all crumbled and fell apart when I tried to get them out. I tried many methods of extraction… the wiggle, the tap, the pencil pushed through the bottom hole, to dislodge them but none of that worked. I was left with just a bunch of little plants with tiny roots. UGH! I tried to plant what was left of them, but I’m pretty sure they will all be dead by the morning.
I Â guess I am starting over tomorrow with seeds, directly planted in the soil. I have to admit that it makes me sad that all those little plants had to die because I don’t possess a green thumb.
Is it ever too late in the season to start a vegetable garden?
Hope your adventures in gardening are better than mine.
Eliesa
Jilien Gordon says
R.I.P. to your garden…:( yes it is too late to start now, wait till fall…unless you want to cheat like me and buy the plant and not start from seed!!! 🙂
A Pinterest Addict says
Thanks. I’m planning a memorial service for today at two 🙂
mairzeebp says
I’ve always wanted to plant a vegetable garden but, I’m an interesting mix of lazy/over ambitious/candy eating/vegetable lover gal if I do say so myself. Good for you for continuing to try friend. I look forward to the post with pics of all of your glorious veggies. I know it’s coming, I can feel it in my sometimes salad loving gut.
A Pinterest Addict says
Thanks, my friend, it is always nice to read your comments. You can have all the veggies you want when you move in with me 🙂
Jimmy Cracked-Corn says
I start my own seeds under hanging lights because it helps keep the plants shorter, which is better when they are small. Yours grew so long and gangly because they were desperately reaching for more light.
When you mentioned the tiny roots I was reminded of the one year that I had the worst time with my seedlings. After some evaluation I decided that I way overwatered them and most of the roots drowned.
Keep trying!
A Pinterest Addict says
Thanks for all the much needed info! I have decided to plant directly into the bed, making it much easier for the plants to get used to the hot Florida sun, and best of all, no transplanting! As far as overwatering, I made sure to only water when I saw that the soil started to dry at the top. Is that still too much? I just checked out your blog – I’m sure I’ll be pestering you with questions!
kushal karia says
http://geekgardener.in/
just came across this blog
have a read
it might be helpful…
A Pinterest Addict says
Thanks! I’ll check it out 🙂
Karen says
Starting to garden can be difficult. I made many mistakes when I started gardening many years ago. What works for me in California did not work at all when I moved to Virginia. I ended back in California and had to start all over again, but that was 30 years ago and I’ve got it down now! Still there are things I just don’t even bother with in my garden either because of watering (we are in a serious drought right now) or space (I’m a backyard gardener), or just don’t like! Or can get cheaper and easier down the street the farm stand!
Anyway, hang in there, try starting small with just a couple things you really like and are practical for where you live and space you have. If using seeds doesn’t work for you. Try purchasing a couple of already growing plants at the nursery and see how that works for you, or try an organic type of planter for your little seeds and you don’t have to take them out, just plant them straight into the ground, container and all!
Whatever you do, don’t give up! Gardening is wonderful and can bring you much joy if it’s not too frustrating.
Take care, Karen