The Mini Veggie Garden

I know it's too late in the season to plant seeds, so we decided to plant a small garden and pick up some already grown plants from Lowes. We wanted to just do around 4-5 plants so we picked ones we use in cooking. We decided on the following:

- Cherry Tomatoes 

- Fresno Peppers (my Father-In-Law uses these peppers in his famous hot sauce)

- Serrano Peppers 

- Bell Peppers 

- Persian Cucumbers Japanese Cucumbers

We couldn't find any Persian Cucumbers at Lowes or Home Depot, so we settled on Japanese Cucumbers. Once the plants were purchased Hubby spent the day digging out the spot on the side of the house we decided to start our wee garden.

This spot was chosen as my kitchen window overlooks it and it was really the only empty area of the backyard.

We bought little stone dividers to section off the spot to dig out. My husband spent over an hour digging out the dirt from this tiny spot. It was heavily compacted and apparently (from old photos of the house) previous owners had a huge bougainvillea bush along this wall. The remnants of the old root system was still in the soil and was quite an ordeal to dig out. We basically mixed almost all new soil with probably only 20% of the original dirt mixed in. I wanted to make sure the veggies had a good start.

Now here is where I could have done a better job. Since I was a kid my parents would always have a mini veggie garden in the backyard. They never used compost or fertilizers. Maybe we just happened to have very fertile soil, I don't know. But I automatically just assumed planting into fresh new soil was enough. Hindsight, I would have looked into mixing some like worm casings or other organic matter into the soil. But, we learn constantly! So I went ahead and planted everything a decent space apart. Then mulched. Again, we learn so much after the fact. I would not have used the mulch we already had (that was used around our flowers and trees) which is dyed. I would have chosen an organic mulch instead.

The mulch was pushed up to the stems after this pic was taken when I did my first water.
Pictured left to right: Japanese Cucumbers, Red Bell Peppers, Serrano Peppers, Fresno Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes.

As it turned out, there was a screw already in the wall directly above the garden, so we hung my Mayan Calendar decor (seemed appropriate for a garden).

Things I would change for next year:

1. Grow your own veggies from seeds, begin at the proper season
2. Mix your fertilizer/organic matter into your soil before planting
3. Cucumbers are best grown vertically, plan for a trellis
4. Stake your peppers for support early when their small (to avoid destroying any roots)
5. Cage your tomatoes
6. Use organic (un-dyed) mulch

We Need to Discuss The Lemon Tree.

Before I really get going documenting all my gardening adventures. I really feel it's necessary to discuss the Meyer Lemon Tree in the front of the house. I am not even 100% sure it's a Meyer, that was just my Mom's best guess. We didn't even own the house yet at the time (we were still in escrow), my Mom came on inspection day and pointed it out to me.

Our Meyer Lemon Tree (approx. 4' tall 4' wide) March 2017.

"Oh what a shame, this lemon tree is dying." 

"That's a lemon tree?!" I replied, shocked and also pleased.

"Yeah, looks like maybe a Meyer Lemon? I'm not sure. But it doesn't look very happy here, might be a bad place for it. May even be diseased."

I start examining the leaves, "Oh yeah *sigh*...you're right, doesn't look good. What a bummer."

The tree is placed in partial sunny and shaded walk way up to the front door of the house. It's easily something you can miss as it's nestled between big beautiful red geraniums, a large healthy rosemary bush, and big tall wall of what I think are African Fern Pines. The lemon tree is small, with some scraggly dead empty branches, the branches that did have leaves had only yellow and discolored leaves. Many of them mangled or diseased looking. The picture here is from the day of the inspection, it was a still shot from a video hubby took so the quality isn't so great. It is also hard to tell, but the leaves are actually very yellow. This picture makes them seem greener than they were.

I did some research on lemon tree care. A lot of research...like...A LOT. I watched video after video and read up and what could cause yellowing, too much water? Too little? Poor nutrients? I came to the conclusion it must be that this tree just had never been fertilized since it was planted. So I bought some quick dissolving Citrus fertilizer. Now, the reasoning behind the quick dissolve is that I was impatient to help this tree. I figured I would fertilize every 2-3 weeks (per instructions) until the bag was done and then move onto a slow release so I wouldn't have to fertilize so often. I picked up Jobes Organics Fruit and Citrus Fertilizer. I sprinkled it that day, April 23, 2017.

Also discovered Lemon Trees really love being mulched, so even though this area had been mulched before most of it looked several years old and had all dried out so I decided to re-mulch the area. I also pruned it back and cut dead branches to help it focus on it's health. Lastly, I read amazing things about Epsom Salts for basically ALL plants. Especially ones that might be low in magnesium which can also cause yellowing in leaves. I decided what can it hurt at this point to try? I bought basic Epsom Salts off Amazon. I followed instructions for how much to dissolve from reputable gardening sites. I used a 2gal sprinkling watering can and poured enough all over the leaves and enough to slightly soak the ground.

For the next few weeks I was incredibly impatient. I checked on this tree every morning (and sometimes evenings). I made it a fun activity for the kids and I to do. We started calling it our "garden walk". I put Mina in a little pink car with push handle and Z would get on his scooter and we'd start in the backyard checking all the plants, pulling weeds, pruning, etc. Then we'd make our way to the front and I'd check the lemon tree. I began to see positive results I'd say after a month. New growth began to appear and then finally after about 2 months this little guy appeared. I missed the blossom, so one day BOOM there was a tiny baby lemon. I was beyond excited!

My first lemon appeared after 2 months!

Here is a shot of the tree after couple months fertlized. You can see brighter green leaves started growing near the tips if branches. May 2017.