Tomatoes - Not For Me

Well, unfortunately, my indoor tomato plants have failed again. :( Two out of three have died, and the remaining one has no blossoms. Sigh. I think I may have goofed when I put in a fertilizer stick into the pots. They did not react well. Next time I'm breaking one of those sticks into thirds before I try it again!

On the brighter side, I have had a bumper crop of mint, some good turnout of basil from a plant that is on its second year, and parsley and some lettuce. I need to sow some more lettuce seeds soon, so I can actually have enough for salad!

I also bought a chocolate geranium plant which seems to be fairly happy. I can't find my camera, so no pictures for now.

In spite of no-show tomatoes, it is very satisfying to be able to eat some food from my own indoor garden. What a great feeling!!

Spring Is Here!

"Spring has sprung, da grass is riz, I wonder where da birdies iz?" This is a little poem that my father used to recite. I tried to do research on it, and could only find that other people's parents also told it to them, and nobody can find any information on it! Oh, well.

I've cleared out my sunroom (well, it's a lot clearer than before), hung pictures and have my plants in the windowsill. Soon I'll post a picture. It's a bright, pretty room and should make a wonderful retreat, though it does get very hot in the direct sunlight!

I'm growing lettuce, basil, parsley, mint, marigolds, one golden pothos plant and some English ivy, which is trailing wonderfully. I will get a plant hanger soon so it can trail down to the floor and elsewhere. It is so much fun to grow food! There's nothing like having a salad and knowing that part of it came from your own garden. I'm going to try tomatoes again this year and see if I can get them to bloom and produce fruit. Perhaps some fertilizer will encourage them. Everything else seems to be quite happy, even though they are growing indoors. Perhaps some flowering annuals will be good to get, too, just to brighten up the room more. And another pot of marigolds.

It's fun to read the garden section of our local Sunday newspaper, though most of the advice is for people with backyards. I'm hoping that eventually more and more city people and apartment dwellers will be interested in growing plants indoors and more attention will be given to that endeavor. Why should people with houses have all of the fun?

Happy gardening to all!

How Does My Indoor Garden Grow?

Well, well! The plants are coming along just fine. The tomato plants are about six inches high with well-developed leaves. I need to transplant two of them badly. They would be done already but I ran out of potting soil and haven't had a chance to buy some more. One of the plants was already transplanted and is enjoying its new home on the windowsill. I gave up on the basil seeds and bought a plant from the grocery store. It was about 4 inches high when I bought it and now is about 8-9 inches high and is growing into quite a bush! Basil always seems to grow well, though it does need a lot of water. I also planted lavender and marigold seeds. The lavender never sprouted (sigh) but the marigold is up and has adult leaves, so it will be moving to a new pot soon. The pineapple mint is also growing very happily, especially when I moved it out of direct sunlight. I read somewhere that they actually will thrive in partial shade. I'll retry the lavender and basil seeds again, but I don't have much hope for them. Unfortunately, the strawberry seeds that came with the planter didn't sprout either. Too bad. Pictures will be coming soon.

It is so much fun to grow food indoors. It makes me feel so self-sufficient!