Great Seed Watch: Plants Galore!

A ripened strawberry from our plant. Super tiny, but it was sweet. Mmmm..can't wait for more!

I love the feelers that grow on the cucumber plants. They start out curled up and unroll themselves, finding something to hold onto.


You can kind of see how they have wrapped their feelers around the post. Looking good, cucumbers!


The tomatoes have grown TALL! I even think I see a little flower starting to develop on this one! I love how hairy the tomato plant is!


And a nice aerial shot of all the growing going on!

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

xoxo

Jobity Job Job Job

It's all new beginnings up in here, y'all! Look! We have a flower! A flower on the cucumber plant! And yes, that is a chopstick, holding up the plant. Whatever you have on hand, right?

Plus, I got a J - O - B!

I am over the moon. Excited and calm about this one. It's the right fit. A creative fit and a positive new opportunity for me and what it will mean for us to exist in this city.

If you looked at the scorecard of Kelly and Kevin Move to New Orleans, it would look something like this:

NOLA - 4
K&K - 1

You might be asking, why do we only have one point? Because our #1 All Star Game Player Kevin. He's the only one in this household who has acquired and kept his job here in NOLA. Way better than just a measly 4 months. He will have been at the Hospital for a year this summer.

But, that doesn't mean the game is over. It's really just beginning. You know, like in baseball. That game goes on forever. Seriously. America's favorite pastime is an excuse to sit around for five hours and drink beer and eat peanuts and Cracker Jacks. But who doesn't like that? I like to pass a good time with the rest of 'em.

But, back to the game of K&K vs. NOLA. It's really not a game. This is our home. It's not some novelty that is depicted on television. It's being able to pay the electric bill when it's 100+ degrees outside. And not being cooped up in the apartment, day after day after day.

Not that I didn't enjoy my little sabbatical. I did, thoroughly. It gave me a chance to re - situate our priorities here.

I promised myself that I would work with creative, like minded people. So far, that has become my reality.

I start Monday. I am working for a graphics/architectural design firm that has done a lot of corporate branding projects here in the city.

And yes, this is the job that is above the coffee shop.

*BLISS*

Have a FABULOUS weekend!

xoxo

Great Seed Watch: More Growing

We have been paying close attention to the progress of the garden. Watering, fertilizing, sunshining (well, that's more the sun's job), and talking to the plants.

The oregano looks happy! Getting bigger every day! I think oregano is pretty.

We have a new addition to our garden. I convinced Kevin to buy us a strawberry plant! I know, we didn't start this from seeds. But I have always wanted to grow strawberries and I'm thinking this might be the right weather for those babies!

The garden, growing.

The mint is growing slowly. But, things are coming right along. Thanks for the help watering, Princess Watering Frog!

Here is one of the cucumber plants. He's getting his little spindly finger thing! Yay! AND they are starting to develop flower buds.

The tomatoes are moving along nicely. Their bases are getting stronger and thicker. And they are MUCH taller.

Next time, I'm going to show you the progression of the plants thus far. I think it will be nice to see a side by side comparison of how far they have grown in a months time.

Happy Tuesday!

xoxo

Great Seed Watch: The Garden is Placed!

Hey, Hey, Hey! Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you all have had a week filled with sunshine and happiness. We finally have all our plants planted in the appropriate place! I'm so excited! So far so good!


If you were to walk out our back door onto the balcony, this is what you would see! I am anticipating a very fruitful growing season with our little spot of sunshine! No chairs on the balcony, but that's okay. I love having the greenery so close. Maybe eventually we can plant some flowers amongst all the veggies. We will see!

Have a great weekend, y'all!

xoxo

Seed Watch Update and Another Experiment

It's a little cool outside this morning. A big rainstorm yesterday morning brought with it a cold front. Not cold, cold. Just cooler.



Because the temperature is so nice, Kev opened the windows and is baking bread this morning. MMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmm.....bread.

As far as the little seedkins, the cucumbers have now all found their permanent homes in the trellis boxes. They seem to be doing just fine, aside from the occasional nibble from Alice or Oliver.

Speaking of things taking a little nibble out of the plants, there was a green wormy caterpillar that fell into one of the boxes yesterday and wiggled around. Kev removed him from the box and we *believe* he is now living in the oak tree.

R, my brother R's girlfriend, warned me about caterpillar season down here. Yikes! Apparently, these babies get all hairy and fall on you out of the giant trees during April. Note to self: have umbrella open at all times.

Here are the tomatoes! Jules has a tomato on her plants that is ready to be plucked. :( Ours still have an entire summer to go. I have to keep reminding myself that good things come to those who wait.


Like I said before, we had a big rainstorm yesterday. Here's to hoping some good sunshine can help these guys pick their heads back up.


This is a bucket o' herbs from my mom! They seem to be coming along quite swimmingly.

So these guys kind of got hit hard with the rain as well. But, I must say that planting seeds in egg cartons is a great way to get things started!

And I started another little experiment. I read that you can plant the bulb part of the green onions you buy at the grocery store and they will grow. So, I tried it. I concur, this works beautifully. I have planted these gradually over the week as I have used the green onions in my recipes this week. But, look at that! One week and they have already grown this much!

Notice how there is a lighter green down at the base of each stock? Well, that is the line of where I started with them!

So, try this. I swear, anyone can do this. And, you can save some $$ at the grocery store next time you need some green onions. When you are cutting up your onion, don't cut off the white part at the bottom. Get a pot of soil, poke a hole with your finger and bury the onion bulb! Voila! Green Onion Garden!

I hope you all have a fabulous FRIDAY!

*Doing the Friday tap dance*

xoxo

Great Seed Watch Update!

NOM NOM NOM....Someone has been eating the houseplant. One would automatically believe it to be CatZilla but she prefers shrimp to salad. The culprit? Oliver. Then he yacks it up.

Great.

Must find a higher location for said houseplant. Perhaps I should buy some wheat grass seeds and grow the plant for him to eat. :( I don't think Kev would be a fan of that.


We saved our egg carton and planted more herb seeds. The chives are doing well!

The other herbs that we planted are growing. I planted a few of the basil and chives and parsley in one of the boxes. Grow, grow, grow!

We also planted a couple cucumber plants and a couple of tomato seedlings in the front trellis box. Alice, you aren't about to do what I think you are about to do?????


NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM


ALICE! How could you!?!


The tomato plants are still growing. I separated all the seedlings that had come up so they have more room to grow. So far, so good!

And so, we continue to watch and water...happy growing!

xoxo

The Great Seed Watch Continues...

We are just growing up a storm! I added my collection of pansies to the tree garden and one of our neighbors rolled by on his bicycle and asked if I had spring fever. I said yes.

The cucumbers have been replanted in a bigger pot. They are doing awesome!

I believe we have handled the little mold issue. Thanks for the suggestion, Mrs. B! Plus, the mint and parsley are starting to poke their heads up. Come on, sleepy heads!

We decided to go ahead and plant the tomatoes in a bigger pot, as well. They have some fertilizer and I think will grow well like the cucumbers in their new home. Grow! Grow! You can do it!

The pots look happy in the sunshine! We are growing more herb seeds in the "bare" looking pots. I am loving the Louisiana sunshine and humidity...at least right now I am. Check back with me in August.

And voila! Here's the seed garden, as evidence of the pictures taken on 3/26. I will post pictures of our trellis project soon.

And the watch continues...

xoxo

oOOH: The GREAT SEED WATCH!

I am crazy excited! We have GROWTH! Take-off! Grow, grow, grow, little seedlings! Oregano and Basil have started poking their heads out!

The tomatoes are moving along. So delicate. Grow tomatoes, Grow! (I'm not sure what's going on with chives over there...gotta figure that out. I think it might be mold. :(

But the first guys to pop their heads out of the little pod nest? THE CUCUMBER SEEDS! Congratulations, Cucumbers! You get the gold medal for quickest start! HURRAh!

And the GREAT SEED WATCH continues....

Also, I thought I would show you guys this new creation, ala Neighbor S. I'm kinda excited about this. Pansies, planted in the nooks of the roots of the giant, I'm talking HUGE oak tree that is in front of our door. I have some pansies ala Neighbor S that I think I'm going to add to the collection.


Should be pretty!

xoxo

Planting the Seeds of Change

I'm being true to my word. I have started my garden and now I'm asking myself, "How does MY garden grow?" We are trying this little experiment from seeds. Seeds, y'all! In the past, it has always been easier to go to the nursery and buy the plants already partially grown, but planting from seeds enables me to have more of a garden.

Therefore, we are trying our little experiment from seeds. Hopefully they turn to into seedlings and then grow bigger and bigger into full blown plants!

Here are my seed packets. Basil, mint, parsley, tomatoes, and oregano. We are also trying our hands at chives and cucumbers. We do not currently have ground with which to plant these babies, so we are doing this experiment in containers. Our balcony is 6 feet X 3 feet and we still want to be able to sit on our balcony and enjoy the outside. Therefore, we have found planter boxes that we will affix to the outside of the railing and put our newly grown seedlings in to achieve greatness!

Currently, our baby seeds are growing in a seed starter greenhouse kit. It's sitting on the desk next to me, incubating our baby seeds!

Who knows if these will turn into anything, but I believe it will take about 2 weeks for these babies to sprout. Then, we grow them some more in their greenhouse and finally get to put them into the ground.

I'm a tree hugger! I love nature and I'm going to nurture these seeds so we can have some veggies and herbs to enjoy!

I hereby state this 18th day of March the beginning of our GREAT SEED WATCH! I'll keep you posted! Think GROW!

Happy Thursday - hope you all didn't drink TOO much green beer yesterday!

xoxo