AAAH CON.TXT!

[corbae]

Tonight has been crazy! There's never enough time pre-road trip. I'm heading up to DC for Con.Txt tomorrow and it will be AMAZING. I saw Team DC at the Avengers premier & fun. show the first weekend of May but it feels like much longer. This is why teleportation would be the best mutant power.

I'm apparently taking a Sherlock break--I'm still reading, but only authors I was already following. I've been exploring new-to-me fandoms lately instead. It's kind of weird; the last time I did this was probably post HP7 and my S:GA kick, which would have been 2007 or 2008. I hopped around for a while before getting into Bandom in 2009. There was a lot of Supernatural and original fic from what I recall. Now I'm reading Dresden Files, Teen Wolf, Avengers, and Hockey RPF. With hockey I've gone so far as to tell my family I'm starting to follow it. (This was precipitated by my brother making fun of me for not knowing who Cam Newton was.)

I mentioned a few posts ago that I have a vegetable garden this year. We have a tiny patch of sunny yard next to a very sunny but small patio and I'm taking advantage. I manage to get out there even when I'm having bad days so it's been A++ for my mental health. Sunshine makes me happier and I know it makes me happier but, historically, that hasn't been enough to get me outside. The garden is!

I had lettuce and onions this spring and right now my tomato and pepper (jalapeño and bell) plants are starting to produce. My carrots are mostly grown and I've already pulled a few. I planted pole beans a few weeks ago and they're about 8 inches tall, and the pumpkin seeds I planted last week have sprouted. I have a pretty long list for the rest of the year--radishes, rutabagas, spinach, bok choy, collards, broccoli, brussels sprouts, peas, kale, cucumbers, squash, and more carrots, onions, and lettuce. Hopefully I can get at least half of that in the ground! I'm planning to preserve as much as I can through freezing and canning.


Standing on our back steps looking over the patio & garden.



My new Brandywine tomato plant! It stayed wilted for most of a week after I transplanted it and then suddenly perked up after a giant thunderstorm.



Cherry tomatoes, doing well despite being in a tiny pot. After aforementioned thunderstorm I noticed some leaf spots. I'm hoping it's just sunburn and not blight :/



German Johnson tomato plants. There were originally four but one had leaf spot.



This is a volunteer of unknown type (genus Cucurbitaceae, though, I can tell that much). It came up too close to my tomatoes and bell peppers and I had to move it; I wasn't sure it would survive but it's done well.



The jalapeños are thriving. They're absolutely full of fruit, it's unreal. Behind them are my stunted bell peppers and more tomatoes, this time Cherokee plants.



Beans! Also the remaining lettuce and mesclun mix. Their support came with the property and I added the string to give them more to cling to.



My pie pumpkins sprouted in 5 days, much faster than I expected.



Finally, my harvest from yesterday. Today I got another five peppers and most of the rest of my lettuce.





I was going to make blueberry muffins tonight but I've run out of time. I'm just going to eat the blueberries tomorrow on my drive instead; they should make awesome snack food. And no crumbs!

(I get to see alpheratz tomorrow! And then a con! *flails*)

Comments

[fleurdeliser]

Yaaaay Garden! It looks really lovely . :D

And YAAAAAAAY CON.TXT. Hug team DC for me!

[corbae]

thank you!

I will pass out giant epic hugs from you, it will be great :D

[alpheratz]

Oh wow, vegetables! And plants! They look beautiful. The time you're spending outside is clearly paying off.

See you later today! :DDDD \o/ (If you get here while the fannish icebreaker is still going on, we could go to the hotel and register and play it!)

[corbae]

thanks! I daydreamed about it all winter and it has been even better than I hoped.

\o/ IT WILL BE THE BEST \o/ I should definitely be there before the end of icebreakers.

[turps]

Your garden looks so great. I'm very impressed with your carrots, ours failed badly last year.

[corbae]

thank you! I might be brave enough to try them in the ground next year.

[anacoluthon.livejournal.com]

Oh, yum! I'm especially excited that you're growing Cherokee purples (unless there's another Cherokee color?) because they're probably my favorite heirloom tomato. =)
I don't know much about growing brussels sprouts, but that's really exciting. I hope they grow well!

[corbae.livejournal.com]

I don't know if there is, but mine are definitely purples. They were the first heirloom I tried and are still my favorite. I don't know if they're getting quite enough light, but hopefully I'll get a decent amount of fruit anyway.

I've haven't planted them yet because I can't find seeds! I may need to order them. I went to the NCSU extension site for ideas--I never would have thought of brussels sprouts otherwise.

[tanisafan.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I'm so jealous! I only have a tiny balcony but I've been thinking of getting one of those 4ft² balcony vegetable patches. It's a little too late in the year to start though, so for now I got a big basket for my kitchen table and I planted it full of herbs. It looks so great!

[corbae.livejournal.com]

I totally get the jealousy! The bed is more partial sun than full, and literally every other part of my yard is full shade due to two giant live oaks. I see people with sunny yards and giant tomato vines and just yearn. You may still be able to plant! I live in the Southern US and can plant through early September. We have farm extension offices at most of our agricultural colleges and they have really helpful charts with planting dates--there may be something similar in your area.