Hello Steemians, today I take a break from my primary love, science. I do this to just make a simple post to share another part of my self with all of you. Today I will share the plants that I am growing for the summer. I have not been a gardener for many years, and I certainly don't have what you could call... a green thumb. I live in a modestly small apartment and am not provided with the necessary land to have a full garden (which I hope in the future that I will someday be able to have, I would love to own a home at some point, alas the Boston housing market is exceedingly expensive!)
Since I am not provided with land to have a garden I plant a few things in some pots, and grow them on my patio. Previous years I have always just bought pre-potted and greenhouse grown seedlings and transplanted them. This year my girlfriend bought me a variety of seeds to plant such that I could grow the necessary plants to make my favorite snack, SALSA (yumm).
I mentioned above that I don't have a green thumb right...so I planted some seeds in starter pots to later transplant. I planted seeds for roma tomatoes, yellow onions, cilantro, jalapenos, and anaheim peppers. I then got a variety of seedlings for all of these various plants, I was pretty pleased with the success rate of the seed germination. I let the seedlings grow for quite some time, then attempted to transplant them into small pots for them to really begin to take hold.
This Was A Huge Mistake!
I don't know if I transplanted them too early, perhaps I did, because I managed to kill my tomato plants, my onions, and somehow I managed to even kill my cilantro (it was doing so well one day, then the next day all plants were dead... I didn't over or under water them... maybe cilantro hates me?). A few did survive:
Anaheim Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
My little jalapeno gets her own story. This was a pepper, the only one of 6 seedlings that didn't immediately die. It just sort of sat in its pot for a month or so, not growing not doing anything. I figured it wasn't going to make it.. until one day when I came home from work and checked on all of them to ensure that they were not too dry. I saw that it had finally started to grow, I am pretty happy that I can add this little pepper plant to my list of successes! She may have been chewed on by a bug a bit, but shes a fighter. I look forward to tasting the peppers she provides me with.
Other Seedlings I Bought When I Thought I Killed All Of My Own
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If you look closely you can see that even a tomato or two have started to grow (thanks bees!)
Serrano Pepper
For flavor with a little bit of heat you just cant beat a serrano. My favorite pepper.
Cayenne Pepper
I grow cayenne's because I like to dry them, crush them and make my own red pepper flakes for cooking with. I get much better heat and a much stronger flavor then anything I have ever bought in the store. One plant usually makes enough peppers to last me all year!
Mixed Red And Green Leaf Lettuce
There is nothing better on a sandwich then fresh lettuce that you have just picked!
Herbs
Can't cook great fresh stuff with out fresh herbs, so I am growing some of my favorites. Oregano, Thyme, and Basil.
Finally A Bit of Lavender For Some Color
Plus, who doesn't love the delicate smell of lavender?
It may not be much but all I have is my pots! I love to grow plants, it's nice to take care of these living creatures that provide me with wonderful things to eat. One of the biggest joys of the summer is caring for my plants and making great food with them to share with friends and loved ones.
Thank you for taking a look at this post. I hope you are not disappointed that its not a breakdown of science. I thought maybe people would like to know that there is more to me then just facts and figures.