End of April: Transplanting, Building, Rebuilding, and Growing

It's the beginning of May, and my garden has been coming together for about 2 months now. It seems the caterpillars have had their fill, and the worst of the insect damage is done (it seems). Now it's just a matter of hoping that the inevitable heat and drought are within acceptable limits and that I can get out and water frequently enough.
For this blog, I'd like to start with the toilet garden.

The second leaf of my elephant ear getting ready to unfold

Last year, I planted two elephant ear bulbs and got two stalks.
This year, I planted two elephant ear bulbs and got four stalks!

The elephant ear after unfolding

The entire toilet garden

After a week, all of the elephant ears were out

It's already huge!

It looks great! I hope it keeps up!

In other news, I got some new vegetables: 3 different varieties of tomato and two different varieties of peppers. I've decided not to do habaneros this year, because I've still got some preserved from last year. Jalapeños and Cayenne peppers will have to do this year. I also got a strawberry!

Green zebra tomato, strawberry, and jalapeño. Also, beer and cigarettes.

The green zebra tomato is advertised as an heirloom variety, but a little internet research set off
my bullshit detector. Also, it's not supposed to do well in the heat/drought. We'll see.

With any tomato, you pinch off the bottom leaves

It looks a little naked, but it's all good

Plant it down an extra few inches. Where the leaves were, roots will appear and your plant will be steadier

Perhaps I should have buried it deeper...

Do the same with peppers.

I particularly like this picture

In the dirt!

I took this picture, forgetting the strawberry.

There we go!

More vegetables? You bet!

In the future, I'll sow my seeds early and indoors, but for now, Home Despot plants will have to do.

High-quality focus on this pic.

This tomato is called a Solar Flare. It's supposed to do well in the heat/drought that will be forthcoming.

Gonna be hot!!

Ready to be planted.

I think growing a tomato this early constitutes a cop-out on my part.

The bed.

This squash, which must be an accident, seems to be doing ok.

The seed tomatoes that are still left.

Somehow they survived the caterpillars. Notice the rootstock on the closer tomato...

I took it out. Only the strong survive.

Still no strawberries :(

Zebra tomato still looks good.

Tomato growing tip: Cut back the branches growing out between the main branch and leaves.
If you pinch that off, your plant will concentrate on growing out rather than up.

I know it's time to water when the fig tree gets a little droopy

I almost feel bad keeping this cabbage alive. The caterpillars were merciless, but it's still growing a little.

The lemon tree is doing well. It has new lemons and new leaves growing...

But the lemons from March when I bought it have yet to ripen.

The wildflower bed is doing ok after the caterpillar assault.

Kelly's rose

Flowers are done.

So I pruned them off. More will grow, I'm sure.

Mom gave me some iris roots. Hopefully I didn't leave them out for too long...

In other news, butterflies are eating my agave.

I've never seen this before.

The rest of the cactus patch is coming along nicely!

This vine...

needs to be trimmed.

It's already growing another shoot, so I figure it's safe.

Time to soak in water fore a few days. I repotted it recently.

I repotted a lot of my plants.

This guy was really rootbound.

It was also time to rearrange the potted plants.

I used Miracle-Gro on many of my potted plants and my morning glories, but not the vegetables.
I used the Schultz cactus fertilizer on my succulents.

The morning glories have made quite a comeback.

Climbing...

They're reaching!

Sunflower and Jerusalem artichokes. Later I pruned off many of the mangled leaves.

The grapevine

The grapevine featuring the White-Faced cat

I saved the best for last. My pumpkin vine is doing amazingly well. I never expected it to take off like it has.

Using PVC pipe I had laying around, I erected this trellis

Then I used twine to make a net

Pumpkins have these tendrils that grow out and wrap around whatever they can find.

They grow flowers in between leaves and the main vine.

Climbing ever higher

Growing at night.

Flowering.

Lots of flowers!

Flowers everywhere!

Still growing, still sending tendrils out

You probably think I'm a jerk, but a pumpkin on the ground doesn't do me as much good
as one on the trellis.

I'll end the blog with a picture of my White-Faced cat enjoying the spot.
I planted some trees in pots and filled this space out, so she can't have it anymore.