Grow, damn you, grow!

I’d like to share photographic results of my little organic balcony gardening adventure with you, but my son seems to think that the digital camera I bought last year was my gift to him. Um–no. Now I can never find it when I want it and he always “forgets” to give it back. And of course, I forget to ask for it when he’s here. Peeved, I am.

Remind me to squawk about it when he gets home tonight, will you? I’ll repay you with snapshots tomorrow. Thanks.

Anyway, I started a vegetable garden on my balcony a few months ago and the crop is coming in. I planted tomatoes, jalapeno peppers and cucumbers. Investment: $40 for seedlings, potting soil and pots.

Results: disappointing.

1. There were hundreds of tiny bugs on the pepper plants, and I was unable to vanquish them naturally with soapy water. They just kept coming back and I got tired of washing every darn leaf every freaking day. Because of that, and my erratic watering, only four or five actual peppers have emerged. Good thing I have no idea what to do with them in the kitchen, now that I have them.
2. Only one of the two tomato plants produced much of anything, and those turned out to be barely bigger than cherry tomatoes, with very tough skins. Didn’t like ‘em much in salads so I tried oven drying a bunch for future use. But I screwed that up and had to throw the whole batch away.
3. The poor tomato plants’ leaves turned mostly yellow a couple of weeks ago. Now they’re brown and crumbling off. Do I need to work on my watering skills? Methinks so. Too much some days, none at all other days. Not good.
4. The cucumbers never did come in, not sure why. Just a long vine with lots of pretty flowers. Maybe it needed a second plant for love and pollination. I don’t like cucumbers that much anyway so it’s no big loss, but I feel guilty about not providing a better home for all of my plants. Bad garden mom!

Lessons learned for next time:

1. Set up a simple, cheap, drip watering system.
2. Find a better natural way to fight pests.
3. Choose veggies that I will actually want to eat [and learn how to cook.]
4. Start from seeds to save money.

Fortunately, I live in San Diego. I can grow my own food year-round. I have 46 square feet of growing space, enough to supply us with most of the organic veggies and herbs we can eat. Imagine how much money I can save, not only in food but in gas for shopping. And as gas prices loom ever closer to the $3 per gallon mark, that’s no small thing.