Home & Garden: August 2008 Archives

It's exciting to finally see some pumpkins on the vine Maddie planted from one of the seeds from her class Jack O'Lantern last Halloween. I was starting to worry because the flowers keep shriveling up and falling off. I've never had a pumpkin vine before though, so I'm sure that's just part of the process.

I grew these baby peppermint plants from seed. They took a long time to germinate, so when they sprouted I had completely forgotten what I'd planted. I couldn't tell what they were at first, but they had the cutest teeny tiny leaves. I didn't thin them out when they were tiny because they seemed so fragile, but I am taking the larger sprouts and replanting them when they start to seem crowded.

Madison grew this plant from a seed from her class' Jack O'Lantern. When we brought it home in May it had just two leaves. I'd say it's doing pretty well now. :) How great would it be to be able to donate one of the pumpkins to the class for this year's Jack O'Lantern! We're having a great time trying to nurture a garden in the sandy soil. It's so sandy that it's like walking on the beach, or the desert. Nothing has ever been done with the backyard either, so it's completely devoid of top soil. So far we are having very good luck with the parsley, cilantro, dill, chives, basil, jalapeno peppers, tomato vines (no tomatoes yet though) and pumpkin and gourd vines. We are growing strawberries, peppermint, rosemary, and more basil and chives in containers and those are all doing great. The main problem with gardening around here is that it's so cool (we're lucky if we hit sixty degrees) and overcast most of the time. This just means that plants take longer to flourish. I'm trying to be patient though. Hopefully it will pay off before too long!