Let's talk a bit about what has happened with my garden over the years and take stock of what I currently have growing. Note that this year I plan to have a larger garden than normal. I will focus on trying to grow plants that I've failed to grow in the past. I will also focus on new things such as propagating mushrooms (to say the least.)

This last summer (summer of 2013) my roommates flattened my garden while I slept. The reasons for this are still unclear, but in the end, I am the only one who suffered a loss. I went outside to find that my grapevine that's over 20 years old had been cut to a nub. The entire yard was flattened, so they did do their job. I guess, over the years the dirt had washed up onto the cement. Not to mention that I deliberately tried to "create" a tiny hill, which I thought added a lot of character to the tiny backyard, but in reality, it didn't help with the flooding and run-off issues that we were having.

I also had the trees trimmed in a way, that made you feel as if you were entering a fantasy land, of sorts. The trees and leaves arched around you and you had to sort of duck into what may as well have been another world. And while it looked magical, there was nothing fancy on the other side. Just some sheds and storage. And it turns out that the trees had only been annoying people when the branches would smack them in the face, on occasion. So, there went my whimsical entryway into a magical, make-believe forest.

Yes, it is pretty bad that no one consulted me before flattening my garden. I lost nearly everything. Even my huge artichoke plants that came back every year were gone. They didn't leave one blade of grass, not one! My nectarine tree was cute down to a few stumps. In the end the only thing I got left with was some Aloe Vera plants (thank goodness because these are family heirlooms) and my two Granny Smith Apple Trees.

It looks as though we are going to have to go through the "re-birth" of my garden and this will take several posts, I'm sure.

* RainFern*

Container Gardening: Growing Salad Bowls

Garden Log : June 20, 2010

June 20, 2010

Unfortunately, my original grapevine didn't grow any grapes this year.
I'm not sure why. But I'll try to figure it out.

The vine itself looks great. The leaves are green and healthy.

Last year, I planted a riverbank grape seed in a flower pot and early this spring it actually germinated!
I'm so proud to have a healthy baby grapevine that I grew from a seed.

Granny Smith Apple Trees Pictures and Update

Baby Granny Smith Apple Tree Pictures

The sun was really shinning that day so the pictures were
fuzzier than I expected but here you can
actually see my little apple tree!

Here you can see both of the baby Granny Smith apple trees.

One of the apple trees had just been transplanted into the larger pot.

Since these pictures were taken I have transplanted the other apple tree into a larger pot as well.

I plan to transplant both of the baby trees into larger pots if I need to.

The idea here is this :

I'm moving out of this house and into a new house before the Summer of 2010 and I am going to have a much larger back yard to work with at my new house. When I move out, I'm going to raise chickens, plant gardens and even grow my own fruit trees. This includes Granny Smith Apple Trees. I can't afford a bunch of grafted granny smith apple trees at this time and I happen to have great luck sprouting Granny Smith apple seeds. So I will take what I can get (for now).

I'm curious what color apples I may get from these trees, if any. I'm sure that you are a bit curious too! They say that it's a bad idea to grow apple trees from seeds because you never know what your going to get. Well don't you think that somebody should show you the results of the tests that proved that apple trees grown from seed are undesirable?

I will perform that test! I will let you know exactly what the apples look like, how long it takes the trees to bear fruit, and I will even try to explain what the apples taste like. Don't forget about the pictures that I will be taking throughout the entire process.

For the Record :

In the Summer of 2010, my 2 baby apple trees will have lived through an entire (year-long) growing season. Which means that they are an entire year closer to bearing fruit! YAY!

I'm also going to continue to sprout Granny Smith Apple Seeds until I get a few more trees. At the moment I am attempting to germinate 6 more Granny Smith apple seeds that I bought on eBay. I will let you know how that turns out so Stay Tuned!


Later Alligator,

* SunnyStars *

Growing Artichokes!

Do you want to learn how to grow artichokes?

Growing a garden full of artichoke plants is easy and you might be surprised
how many artichoke plants you can fit in a small space.

1 Year Old Artichoke Plant

I've been growing artichoke plants for over a year and they are extremely healthy. I have eaten an artichoke that grew in my garden and I never want to touch a store bought artichoke again! I only wish that I had more artichoke plants and that the growing season was longer!

Check this blog regularly for updates regarding my artichoke garden. I'm working on getting clearer pictures of my artichoke plants and I will post the picture here on this Garden Blog.

I also plan to share with you some of the many artichoke recipes that I just adore!

So Stay Tuned!

Check out my *Artichoke* article on eHow :

How to Grow a Garden of Artichoke Plants

See ya next time!

* SunnyStars *

Peanut Plants, MidSummer Update

Peanut plants are very pretty! They remind me of Mimosa plants (The Sensitive Plant). Peanut plants are larger of course. A peanut plants leaves close-up just like a sensitive plants leaves do. So far I have noticed that a peanut plants leaves will close-up when the weather is hot, if the dirt is dry, when it's nighttime or if you stress the plant in any way.

I will touch a few of my peanut plants leaves to see if they close-up upon contact or at all. I'm surprised that I haven't tested it yet. I will share my results with you in the next few days.

At this time, 2 out of 3 of my peanut plants are doing great! One plant is dying or 'hanging on for dear life', I will move this plant into a more shady area and see if that helps at all. The other two healthy plants are sprouting yellow flowers all over them. These flowers will eventually bury themselves under the dirt where they will turn into peanuts! I'm very excited! As usual, I can't wait to eat some homegrown peanuts.

See you soon!


* SunnyStars *

How to Grow Dill Plants

I have dill plants that re-seed themselves each year. I never buy dill seeds anymore (after the first packet of dill seeds that I had ever bought.)

I will have dill plants for the rest of my life unless I stop watering my garden altogether. I love gardening so that's never going to happen.

Check out my other dill plant posts to learn more about why I love dill so much!

You can grow your own dill plants too! Here's how :


Step 1

Buy a packet of dill seeds.


Step 2

Plant the entire packet of dill seeds.


Step 3

Keep the soil moist until the seeds sprout or else the seeds will dry out. Then they won't ever germinate (sprout into a plant). Keep the soil moist until the baby dill plants are healthy.


Step 4

Keep caring for and growing one dill plant until it flowers. Then the dill plant will grow it's seeds. Then the dill seeds will dry out and start falling.

Once seeds are falling off of the plant on their own it's time to harvest some seeds. Pick some of the driest seeds from the dill plant, bring these seeds inside of your house, dry them out and save some of the seeds so that you can plant them next year.

Depending on the weather in your area you might be able to get away with growing dill plants all year long.


Step 5


Make sure that you plant at least one dill plant each year to keep the cycle going.

A dill plant that is allowed to fully mature, naturally will re-seed itself, That means that you will have a healthy, carefree, dill patch every year with little or no maintenance!

It's that easy to grow your own dill seasoning which you can use to flavor :

dill pickles, soups, meats, etc.