Nitty Gritty: April 9, 2010- Garden Remodel!

Last Friday I finally had the opportunity to do something that had been racking me with guilt to complete for about a week prior to. I had been worrying and getting anxiety that my poor tomato plants were getting so large that they were starting to crowd each other and, even worse, snuff out my jalapeno and bell peppers! I had the pots at my disposal I just needed to soil and the time to transplant the tomato plants to greener pastures where they could stretch out their stems. Every time I would water them I felt the need to apologize for their cramped quarters and promised I would take care of them if only they could hold on just a while longer until I could fit it into my schedule. Each day hoping I wasn't making a promise I couldn't keep. Friday came along and the stars must have been aligned because not only did I have a day off, but it was also payday- Lowes...here I come!

After completing all my chores and domestic labors I rewarded myself with an hour long affair with Lowes' Gardening Center where I bought 6 bags of potting soil, a window box planter, Gerbera Daisies (four: Hot pink, orange, soft pink, and yellow), Celosia, Madrid Purple Lavender, Salvia Red, English Ivy, a house fern and a house ivy plant (to bring some garden inside). $86 later and I was ready to leave, but then I realized I needed to pick up some items in the lumber area for my garden (still leaving without a chunk of wood to prop up my herbs). I grabbed a few pieces of 38 and 42 in sticks to snap in half and connect my tomato and pea plants to to help them stay upright. The sticks help because they are natural, small and out of the way, and hide away in the plant instead of being the centerpiece of the pot. I prefer using the sticks over the classic tomato cages that are metal because of those reasons.

I stopped by the Dollar Tree to get a few cheapie things and saw that they have a garden area right now with basic pots, hanging pots, pot hangers, garden decor, and wind chimes. I grabbed a little harvest angel out of the bunch and some garden twist-ties to connect my tomatoes vines to the sticks and finally made it home. A day under $100 is a good thing.

I could feel my stress and anxiety relieving already as I lugged the 6 bags of potting soil up the stairs to my second floor apartmen. Finally I could dig in! With Izzie at my side I started the transplant process. Now I'm no surgeon, but I have to admit it did make me sweat a little trying not to destroy too much of the root balls supporting the close-knit tomato and pepper plants. I filled my pots with the base amount of soil and placed each plant in its respective pot, filling dirt in the gaps. I repositioned the pepper plants to give them some breathing room and filled in the missing dirt in the window box. Overall, it was a successful operation- but then again, only time could truly tell if it would stick. I snapped the sticks in half and stuck them in the soil by each plant that was drooping and twisted a tie around the vine to form the union between the stick and plant. Checking the inventory I realized I had already used 3 bags of soil- Oy!

I planted the rest of the flowers and put the daisies in a bucket I had gotten from a garage sale earlier in the month with Whitney. I have to admit, the daisies in the bucket are pretty stinking cute. Very country bumpkin. It's perfect. Everything made it into its respective pot, but I did run out of soil at the last of the flowers so for now the Celosia are hanging out in a shallow terracotta pot until I can make it to Lowes once more to stock up on soil. Below are the pictures of the new and improved garden corner and new flowers. I'm running out of space!