Update!

Hello my friends! It has been a while. Quick update: most of my plants have died! Gasp! Lesson learned: plants need good and proper drainage! Why is drainage so important? Apparently a plant's roots need a healthy amount of air. Stagnate water can harm the plant's health. This is called root rot. Once a plant has root rot it can be impossible to recover.

With my remaining plants I have propped them up on a wooden pallet with open slits, hoping that will allow more drainage and air for the plant. I may even drill more holes in the bottom of the pots.

While root rot was most likely the cause of my plants' death, it's important to remember that all plants have their own unique requirements to be healthy! Know your plants. Know their needs.

Source:
https://extension.illinois.edu/containergardening/choosing_drainage.cfm

The best way to start the morning!

Apples 

Carrots 

Pears 

Oranges 

Celery 

= 

YUM!

Juice it!

Cheers!

What foods to eat organic!

Hi guys! I've heard there are some fruits/veggies that you should eat organic and here's why! These specific produce items naturally absorb more pesticides. So, if you have the chance then go for organic when it comes to these foods! 

Strawberries, Apples, Nectarines, Peaches, Celery, Grapes, Cherries, Spinach, Tomatoes, Bell peppers, Cherry tomatoes, Cucumbers. 

Why is it important to avoid pesticides? They're unhealthy and hazardous to our health. Effects can be minimal or chronic. These effects can include things like headaches, nausea, fatigue, and even more serious problems like cancer, autism, and other diseases! Look it up! Think about it... if the purpose of pesticides is to kill living pests like bugs, fungus, weeds, etc then why should we assume it has no effect on human life? Take the initiative and buy organic! :) 

Sources: 

http://blog.puriumcorp.com/2016/04/13/choosing-produce-beware-the-dirty-dozen/

http://www.toxicsaction.org/problems-and-solutions/pesticides

Update and change of direction

Hi friends :) Here's my update: lots of plants are thriving, while some have unfortunately died! Gasp! Oh well, got to move on and take care of the survivors. Unfortunately, some of my plants are in need of more space. So my next game plan is to give some away and replant others. I hope it goes well, and I hope to yield some fruit (tomatoes!)! 

Even though this blog started to record my personal gardening experience, I want to shift in a different direction. While I still want to record how my garden is doing, I also want to research and record different health benefits of different plants as part of your diet and health! I would like support and input from you friends if you have good advice and info regarding health benefits! So stay tuned! 

Updated pic of the wildflowers

Grow grow grow!

All in a day's work... sort of.

This lil' guy bloomed today! Made me happy. <3 

It's happening

My cucumber grew its first flower! This is exciting news! To be honest, not all my plants survived. But the ones that did seem to be doing well, and this little flower makes it all so much more exciting!

Help!

Hey friends! Update on my garden... 

As you can see, some have really grown! Unfortunately, others haven't been doing too well. I am not sure if they are getting too much sun or if they are lacking in something (nutrients, etc). 

Yesterday I bought some Gromulch from Home Depot. It's a fertilizer/mulch mix. I'm hoping it will be exactly what my garden needs. After researching a bit about mulch I learned that it is simply "anything that covers the soil to retain moisture and prevent weeds" (http://www.gardensalive.com/product/ten-commandments-of-mulch/you_bet_your_garden). Mulch is good for your garden if you get the right kind. The wood or rubber chip mulch is supposedly not good for your garden. It doesn't add nutrients and it can actually starve the plants. It is better to just use compost as mulch as it will give the plants some nutrients. I'm hoping this Gromulch adds the nutrients the plants need and protects them from the scorching sun. 

Along with adding mulch to my garden, I also added Jobes fertilizer spikes to my flowering plants. These fertilizer spikes are a good way to add the proper dosage of nutrients the plants need. It's a slow-releasing fertilizer, so the plants will absorb nutrients daily for up to two months. 

Growing!

Hi friends! Good and bad news. Good news is, everything is growing! Bad news is that I don't have enough space for all the plants! Yikes! Something I learned... I should have not planted all of them at once. Another thing I should have checked is the size they would grow to and the amount of space each one needed. Currently finding homes for some of these plants. :) It's still been a fun journey learning to start a garden from scratch. You can officially call me plant lady...

Time to transplant

I recently transplanted the seedlings! Most have sprouted, leaving just a few to catch up with the rest! 

the four-o-clocks

Update

Cucumber seeds have sprouted! So have the wildflower seeds and the four-o-clock's! :)

Today

I repotted my miniature rose bush.  It's unhealthy for them to get overcrowded. Pruning rose bushes also helps the health of the plant. I noticed the roses start to wilt away, so I figured it was time for a larger pot. I read that commercial rose bushes also have multiple plants in each pot. While repotting, I saw at least three of them. :) It's better to separate them into their own pots so they have ample room for growth, but for now I only had one. Oh well.... On the next round of repotting, I'll get more. They like wide pots, as opposed to deep ones. It's also encouraged to repot them at least once every year, sometimes 2 to 3 times a year. Also, shake off the old soil and use new soil! That also helps make it healthier. :)

Today I also planted a few more seedlings! Winter squash, salad cucumbers, wildflower, and sweet pea flowers. The previous round of planting seems to be doing ok! My Mexican sunflowers have sprouted and are looking to be about an inch high. The four-o-clock's are just about to sprout.

Surprise!

Spring has sprung! My seedlings have sprouted! Can't wait to watch them grow. :)

Coming soon...

Flowers, fruits, veggies!

What I'm learning so far is the timing in which you plant, as well as the way in which you plant, will have an effect on whether or not your plant will grow. Depending on your geographic location, the timing will differ. By timing, I mean time of the year. However, I did read that mornings are best as well.

On that note, I picked out a few seedlings that can be sown from March-May. If done right, I should be seeing some beautiful plants by summer/fall!

To start my garden, I'm using a mini greenhouse kit. You water the pellets, pull back the netting, add a few seeds per pellet, and so on. The cover keeps the greenhouse warm and moist, helping the seeds to grow. Once my first seed sprouts, then I can remove the cover. P.s. I purchased the kit at Walmart. Detailed instructions are on the package. This is my first time ever using one, so hopefully it works well!

The "Roots"

Hello there! My name is Kim, I recently got married (about three months ago) and now that we live in a new city where we don't know that many people, my days off work when my husband isn't home can get lonely at times. Which brings me to my newest pursuit... gardening! I haven't gardened much in my life. And the times when I did garden I wasn't very successful (those darn squirrels!). Anyway, here I will blog my findings, experience, and new take on gardening! Here goes....

First plants in Kim's garden:
-succulent
-miniature rose bush

So far, they are surviving!