Darn Hail......

Well, at least it wasn't me that killed the big tomato plant - it was the hail.....the hail and the wind that kept knocking it down... I'm pretty bummed since there are some pretty good tomatos on it already.

A closer look of the carnage!!  I might be able to salvage the single stalk in the middle but all the offshoots need to be cut off, I'm just having a hard time going through with the actual cutting...... 

BUT - there is a glimmer of hope on my deck - my nieces tomato plant that I was terrified of killing is actually sprouting a flower that might actually turn into a tomato!  I totally wasn't expecting this.  I never thought the little plant would survive in my care, hopefully it will do well over the next little bit until I hit my SIL's house again and bring my niece her (not dead) plant!!

Apparently I CAN grow strawberries though!  I have three big pots that have all given at least a few strawberries that the girls have been able to eat and all three have a ton of blooms on them and quite a few strawberries that are growing!  I'm super excited about these - so are the girls they keep asking to go out and water them and can't wait to eat them!  I still have to plant them in a planter box since I don't think they'll survive the winter in their original pots but I can deal with that closer to the fall.

I might bust out my AeroGarden in the fall so the girls can have another try at growing Tomatos and I don't have to worry about hail, wind or lack of water with that!  Plus its pretty neat to be able to eat fresh tomatos in the fall and winter.

I haven't killed the Garden yet!!

Well for someone that has anything but a green thumb my little garden is almost thriving!!!  I still need to put my strawberries in a proper planter but they are doing really well in their little pot they came in so I'm still pretty happy.

A tomato!  A REAL tomato!   Too bad the leaves are super dry and look dead but the plant itself seems healthy.

My tomato plant - it looks a little decrepit but its got quite a few tomatos on it.  I guess the plant doesn't have to look pretty to get some good fruit going!

Strawberries!!  The girls where thrilled to eat these (I had to sneak one for myself but thats the only one I've had) and keep looking outside every day to see if there are more that they can wash off and eat.

My nieces tomato plant.   I think I'm the most proud of this little plant because I haven't killed it yet!!  

I'm really looking forward to next year when I can really get going with the planting and actually being able to work in the dirt a little more.   For now I'm super happy with my little piece of gardening paradise  in our backyard and I'm loving the fact that the girls are learning that not all food has to come from the store!  

How does my Garden Grow?!

As much as I have tried to ignore it I have been bitten by the gardening bug this year...!  Because I can't tear up the back 6x8 foot patch that I really wanted to this year I've decided to go the container garden route instead.  I've always wanted to be a gardener but for some reason (probably due to having a purple thumb rather than a green one!!!) I usually manage to kill my plants without much effort.  This year I REALLY want to have a container garden that I can actually harvest some food from - even if its just a few nibbles here and there.  Nothing beats food straight from the garden!!

We hit the garden centre on Friday and picked up some flowers, strawberries and tomatoes.

The flowers are in the planter box - its not in its final home on the deck, I'm still not sure where its going to go but its pretty on the deck stairs for now.

We picked up a pretty big tomato plant, hopefully it won't take too much for it to start producing some fruit!  The girls are pretty excited for the flowers to turn into tomatoes.

We also picked up some strawberries but didn't get a planter box to put them in (opps).  The planter box that we put the flowers in was supposed to be used for the strawberries but the girls were desperate to put the flowers in the box so the strawberries will stay in their containers until we get a new planter box this week.

My SIL has asked me to watch my neice's tomato plant while they are gone on holidays next week so we planted it in some soil and gave it a pot to grow in.....and now I'm PRAYING that I don't kill it before they get back from holidays!  Its just so cute and tiny in its little pot!

I really want to go out and get a ton more plants but I think I should take it one step at a time and if I don't kill my plants that I have right now maybe I can do a little more next year!  

Wish me (or should I say my poor plants!) good luck!