Growing Pumpkins Up

The pumpkin is engaged in a hostile takeover of the garden. . .and the yard.  Having crowded out the peppers, it's now marching across the lawn toward the road and the neighbor's hedge. 

This is a problem because we live in rental military housing, and our lawn isn't technically "ours."  There are no fences between the houses, and every space except for our porches is communal.  That's part of why I made a raised bed--the defined edges to the garden ensured that the neighborhood kids that run around don't also run OVER the garden. 

Cooking our First Summer Squash

The squash is growing!  We have our first actual summer squash, and it's ready to pick.  It's that glorious bright yellow and just the right size for us to eat.

I was excitedly showing it off to my husband, and he asked skeptically "so. . .you like squash?"

"Oh no," I replied, "I was kind of hoping you did.  It's from those shared seeds. . .they were free, so I grew squash."

There was a long pause, and then from beside me I heard a quiet "um, no. Never been a fan.  I don't suppose you know how to cook it."

In that moment, I realized that one of the biggest producers in my garden was a crop I'd never liked and didn't know how to cook.  My mom suggested a cool recipe, which I'll try with the next squash--goodness knows I'll have plenty of practice because there are plenty of baby squash out there growing.  If that's a success, I'll post it in a blog entry later because I don't have the ingredients for it today.

33 cent tomato seedlings

I was at the store today, and wandered into the garen section to window shop and get ideas.  I've found that there are almost always free or inexpensive ways to duplicate some of the cool ideas I find there.  Far in the back of the outdoor plants were small pots of tomato seedlings.  The pots were originally $2.50, but had been marked down to just under a dollar.

Imagining my frozen tomatoes from a couple weeks ago, I found myself leafing through the pots.  Near the back there was a single small pot with three seedlings growing in it.  I looked carefully at the pot for tell tale signs of problems:  rootbound, plants too close together.  It looked good, so I gently plied the plants and dirt out of the pot and gently looked it over.  The plants weren't rootbound, and digging a little into the dirt easily separated the plants.  I carefully tucked it all back in the pot and prepared to spend my next dollar on the garden.

I purchased the pot for $1.01, and brought it home, gently teased apart the roots and plants, and now I have three independent seedlings resting quietly in their own pots that cost only 33.66 cents each.  It's more expensive than the original tomato seeds were, since they were free.  But, it's much less expensive than I would have spent before.

Each plant costs three times less than it would if I'd bought it on sale at $1 per pot, and seven times less than if I'd paid $2.50 per pot.  In about two weeks the plants will be the large size, which I could have purchased for $3.50 each, or ten times more.

There is little more delicious than a fresh-picked tomato, so I'm excited to have plants again.  I'm treating them gently as they nestle into their new soil and their roots recover from my unentangling.

Protect Plants with a Living Screen.

protective screen and growing space
for spring and summer plants

As cool spring weather moves to hot summers, some plants thrive while others wilt.  To get the most out of the overlap between the cool and warm weather, plant sun and heat loving summer plants in a way that they protect cool spring plants from the sun.  This will extend the growing season for the cool weather plants a bit, and ensure that you get a few more harvests out of them.


There are several hardy vining flowers and vegetables that thrive in hot days with full sun, growing quickly and producing well, while the spring plants suffer and wilt.  However, careful planting can make use of the quick growing nature of summer plants by planting carefully to extend the life of spring plants while giving room to the hot weather loving plants.  

Grow a Grocery Store Red Onion

Today, I found a red onion I bought weeks as part of a bag of several onions that was cheaper than buying a few in bulk.  I've allowed this onion to languish unused and it has been busily growing shoots, making it perfect for planting.

To grow an onion, it's important to know that they're biannual.  In the first year the bulb grows into a plant that produces seeds.  In the second year, the  seeds grow into delicious onion bulb.

People who plant onion bulbs expecting to dig up new onions at the end of one season will pull up a rotten looking mess of plant matter. The growing onion plant feeds on the bulb from the inside out.

The onions we get in the grocery store are the product of year 2, but planting them starts the cycle over again.  So, don't worry if people have said that you can't plant onions because they rot.  They don't and you can.

Grow Celery from the Kitchen

Celery mid-planting, before being covered

I just found out that I can grow celery from the bits I don't use.  I'm excited to try it because it's a new addition to the super cheap garden.  Here's how I did it.  I'll report back as the spring continues to see how the celery is doing and if it grows.

Celery loves poorly drained soil, so it's a great plant to put in that part of your garden where the drainage just isn't good enough for most vegetables.  If you have to container garden celery, then it's content in containers that don't offer the drainage most plants need.