What I’m Growing In My Garden: Summer 2020
Welcome back to my little corner of the internet everyone! On today’s blog, I want to share with everyone what I’ve been growing in my garden this summer. When the pandemic officially started in Canada back in March, I was longing for summer so I could get out into the garden and grow lots of goodies. I’ve noticed many people have really gotten into house plants & gardening this year as well, but my love of it really started last summer, and only got more intense this year while being stuck at home, hahah!
To start, I’m not growing anything in an actual garden! It’s all in planter boxes & individual pots, so I’m going to section this blog off by starting with the planter boxes, and then pots, with subsections of edible plants & ones that I’m just growing because they’re beautiful. Gardening has been a really help with my mental health during this tough time, and I has forced me to get outside and enjoy the sun (safely) more than ever. I’d venture to say I’m a newly-self-proclaimed plant lady! So, let’s talk about what I’m growing this summer:
What I’m Growing in my Planter Boxes
What’s Growing?
Boston Lettuce, Red Lettuce, Radishes (Now: Edible Flowers), Chives, Sage, Basil, Parsley & Oregano.
Let’s start with the planter boxes! Everything I’m growing in these planter boxes is entirely edible. My family and I really wanted to put these custom-made (by my uncle!) bad boys to use by filling them with veggies & herbs that we could go out and harvest whenever we wanted. This year was our first time growing vegetables, but my second time growing herbs, so we mostly filled the box with herbs, and only a few vegetables until we figured out what worked and what didn’t.
I wish I would’ve taken a photo of when we first planted these, because not only could you hardly see them, but the Boston lettuce almost looked dead when we first put them in, and they were the best looking of the bunch! In only a matter of about three weeks, they were almost bursting at the seams of the planter boxes! Needless to say, the Boston lettuce & Red lettuce were a huge success. As far as the radishes went; they definitely did grow, and the leaves were also huge within about 3-4 weeks, however, I’m not sure if I did something wrong when planting them, or if it had to do with how deep/shallow the boxes were, but the actual radish never got super big or round, so we opted to remove them, and plant edible flowers instead, which are just starting to sprout & pop up now!
As far as the herbs go, when they went in, I pretty much knew that in a matter of only a few weeks, we’d have lots of them growing & luckily, I was right. They are now huge, and almost so big that we can’t use it all, so I’ve started giving some to family & friends (while properly social distancing!) to use in their home cooking as well. They’re also starting to go to seed, so they’re requiring a bit more attention from me as of late.
What I’m Growing in Pots
Edible Plants
What’s Growing?
Basil, Parsley, Chives, Lemon Thyme, Peppermint, Cilantro & Beefsteak Tomatoes.
My love affair with growing herbs started last summer when I took a trip to my local farmer’s market and bought six herbs to plant. I purchased basil, parsley, lemon balm, mint, chives & dill. Funny enough, about six months before I purchased this, I killed a cactus… because I forgot to water it…I was pretty much a self proclaimed plant killer, so I really didn’t have much expectation when it came to keeping these plants alive. I figured, whatever, I’ll plant them and attempt to remember to water them, but I won’t be surprised if in two weeks, my herbs are all dried up and dead. Much to my surprise, I did remember to water them every morning, and it quickly became a part of my routine during the summer that I actively looked forward to doing every day. In a few short weeks, I suddenly had more herbs than I knew what to do with, so of course with the pandemic hitting this year, and being stuck at home, I knew I wanted to get some plants to grow in these pots again this summer.
I’ll never not love looking back on photos of the herbs when I first planted them back in the beginning of June, seeing how small they were, and comparing them only a few weeks later to see how much they’ve grown. It definitely makes me proud considering not even two years ago, I killed a cactus because I didn’t water it enough, hahaha! But I am happy to report that this year’s herbs are all thriving – with the exception of the cilantro, which honestly, I can’t say I’m too upset about; I was growing it for my boyfriend. I hate cilantro…so sorry hun! Your cilantro may need to go in the garbage.
Though I’m super happy with how my herbs have been growing, I’m even more thrilled with how much our beefsteak tomato plant has done! When we first planted it, it was probably around 6-8” tall, looking far too small for the massive pot that we planted it in. If you’ve grown tomatoes before though, you know it doesn’t take long before suddenly you have a massive plant, and in about a month, exactly that happened. It’s easily grown from about 6-8” to easily about 2.5’ tall! It’s gotten huge, to say the least. We finally saw some tomatoes starting on the vines about 3-4 weeks ago, and they’re still a little while away from being ready to eat, but there’s 4 that should be ready by August, and about 3 more a few weeks behind it (those are just the ones I’ve found; there could be more in there that I can’t see!).
Non-Edible Plants & Flowers
What’s Growing?
Lavender, Hibiscus, Palm & Monstera.
Alright, I just want to start by addressing the obvious – yes, I am well aware that you can eat hibiscus! Haha. In fact, one of my favourite kombucha flavours has hibiscus in it. But, I did list it under the “non-edible” category because I do not have plans to eat my hibiscus plant; I just want to enjoy it’s beautiful blooms! I’m sure you’ve noticed through the rest of this post that most of the plants I grow are herbs, with a little bit of veggies, but I also love growing some flowers just to enjoy with my eyes too. Alongside my herbs that I grew last summer, I also successfully grew a lavender plant, so I picked up another one of those plants for this summer but at an earlier stage of growth than I did last year, and I’m so happy I did because I’ve been loving watching it grow & bloom!
After coming back from Hawai'i, I truly fell in love with tropical plants and knew the moment that garden centres & nurseries opened, I wanted to get a hibiscus plant…and then I ended up with two – a pink one and a yellow & orange one. Did it stop there? Of course not! The next time I went back to a garden centre, I picked up a palm that’s probably about 5ft tall, and then not long after that, I took a trip to a plant nursery and bought myself a 2.5ft monstera plant. Do I have a problem? Yeah, probably. I think I might need to stay away from anywhere that sells plants…once I get myself a snake plant, and then I promise I’ll stop. Also - please enjoy this rather cute photo of the chipmunk who has been making my planters his own personal digging grounds! He’s cute but he’s a menace.
I know that was a lengthy one, so if you’re still here & reading, thank you so much for taking some time out of your day to read my blog; I truly appreciate every one of you! Let me know in the comments if you’ve gotten super into plants (indoor and/or outdoor) this year, especially since the pandemic started, or if you always were into them! Have a happy weekend & see you again next week for a new post.
