It's a start!

A few days ago, we visited our soon to be home (hopefully) and did some outside work. Among pulling vines, pruning trees, and mowing grass, we planted some of our heirloom Brandywine organic tomatoes that we started from seed in Columbia on our balcony. Granted, these guys don't look like much right now, but hopefully they will grow tall and produce some nice greenish-red tomatoes that will taste great!

Here are some pics that were taken by Ash as I got my first lesson on tilling up the ground and the finished result.  I tilled one small strip that would accommodate six plants.  We'll try to keep you updated on these beauties!

Just in case you're curious...

Here's a picture of our garden on our balcony as of the end of March:

Wines and Evil Zen

This year I have officially acquired my taste for wine. It just hit me. It's weird because some wines used to taste awful, but now it seems that I am able to stomach them all. One wine I really enjoy is a cabernet sauvignon called Double Dog Dare.
It's quickly becoming my first favorite. Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you can taste hints of this and hints of that. But what I can tell you is that it's not bitter and not too sweet. For $4.00 a bottle at Total Wine in Harbison, I can't go wrong!

In other news, we worked at Conway Acres, our small balcony garden.  We started some organic tomatoes and bell peppers from seeds which you can read more about on Ashlie's post before this one.  After a long back-breaking day, we turned in for the afternoon and then it hit me.  I need a man garden!

Now one would think a man's garden would need to include something of great strength to be considered a man garden.  What could I add to give this garden great strength?  We have had a small, rectanglular fountain for a while.  I wanted to incorporate this in my design.  The plants would need to be of a species that require moist conditions.  That being said, I knew exactly what I would build around the fountain.  After a quick trip  to Lowe's in Harbison, I quickly had the recipe for my garden otherwise known as the "Evil Zen Garden".

The fountain, centered in a flower box, creates the perfect setting for two carnivorous plants.  Your traditional Venus Fly Trap along with a Python Pitcher Plant were my choices.  The box said they needed to be kept moist and could withstand direct sunlight.  Great!  We also grabbed some Irish Moss to help keep the moisture packed in the dirt for the plants.  Outlining the plants and fountain is some small gravel that I picked up from outside the apartment.  I've gotta grab some more gravel today to finish building it up to the rim of the fountain.  Simple and easy to put together, which is another requirement for a man garden.  Who said all gardens had to be for women?

Our 2010 garden

Spring is finally (well, almost) here, and it was time to get our garden started. We live in an apartment, so our garden is our balcony. We have a small fountain, a small two person chair, two window flower boxes on the balcony rail, and several various sized pots.
Last year we did our flower rail boxes with that coconut hair, and filled them with creeping phlox. By the height of summer we discovered our plants were frying in the brutal "famously hot" Columbia heat because the coconut hair baskets didn't hold moisture. This year we have actual rectangular flower pots, so hopefully we won't have the same trouble as last year.
This year we also opted for different plants. In the center of each box, we've got African daisies that are white with a purple center.

We also went with three purple/white/yellow pansies on either side of the daisies.


As far as our vegetable and herb garden, we're also making big changes from last year. Last year we tried green beans and onions (too dry and too wet, respectively); we succeeded at growing herbs and tomatoes, though. This year, we're only growing things we use the most that are typically or likely to be at high cost this year (we will supplement everything else from the farmer's markets). So for herbs, by far we use thyme and rosemary the most. For vegetables, the tomato crop in Florida has been damaged by frost, and bell peppers sometimes can be $5/per at stores in the summer. We're growing "brandywine" tomatoes. It's an heirloom variety that I've never had. We're also growing "California wonder" bell peppers.
In all, we started 72 seed pods, most with 2 or more seeds. All our seeds are organic, but the seed pods weren't. We'll be using organic dirt and organic fertilizer. Depending on how our seed pods turn out, we'll definitely have excess. If you're in the Columbia area and would like a few pods, just let us know! We'll post pics as the garden progresses.

That's all for now!
xoxo
akc