First Harvest!

(I'm about a week behind on publishing this update).

Yay! The cucumbers have arrived! I picked off two beauties! And I also tested out the spring onion... Everything tasted delicious--as you can see from my salad:

Cucumbers

Spring Onion

Cherry Tomatoes (store bought- but soon to be coming from my garden as well!)

Parsley (also from my garden!)

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

The plants themselves are HUGE! I had to shabbily construct some more trellis-like structures made from string and old bamboo branches to keep everything in place.

Overall Growth!

First Flowers!

It's super exciting! The first flowers--cucumbers soon to follow!

Whatsthatbug.com ?

I came across this website just the other day and the following day I walk out onto the patio and came across a cool looking bug I've never seen before... Here's what I sent in to whatsthatbug.com, and they even posted my submission on their website!  :)

"I just came across your website the other day and low and behold I head out to garden this afternoon and see this little guy in my backyard!  I've lived in West Broward (South Florida) all my life and never seen one like this... It was lying on my pool deck and seems to be on his (or hers) last limbs :(  I placed the little guy on a plant after I took these pics. It has two pairs of wings (which is reminiscent of a wasp, but it also has a proboscis, and very, very long antennae and legs. What is this South Florida creature? Is it even from here?

Sunny South Florida

South Florida, West Broward County"

Turns out it's a Milkweed Assassin Bug! OMG! 

Check out whatsthatbug.com description here!

Raised Garden Bed #2

I'm really loving these raised garden beds!  They are perfect for South Florida suburban backyard confinement and can be customized to your hearts content.  Again, I layered newspaper, old leaves, and then soil and plants. Waa-laa...#2!

And planted...

Cucumber

Spring Onion

Sage

Hot Pepper

Getting Bigger! + Basket Pot

Oooo! Check out the growth after only about 1 week!  The cucumber leaves are almost double in size and the tomatoes are really taken off-- I'll have to construct a more suitable trellis. 

Basket Pot Project

I was wandering around my house looking for a project to create and found this old basket.  I got a garbage bag and poked a bunch of holes in it for drainage and then just lined the basket.  I added some broken pottery and rocks for drainage, filled it with soil, and added two sage seedlings and some Mexican Sunflowers.

It's super easy to do!

Recyclable Paper Pots

This was a great find!  They are supposed to be waste baskets, but I turned them into pots with just a few hole pokes down on the bottom and I lined the bottom with some broken pottery bits for drainage.

I found them at Bed, Bath, & Beyond for only $2.00 each! I couldn't resist their cuteness and charm, but especially because they are made from recycled paper products- Yay! 

I transported some Mexican Sunflowers into one and Spring Onion into the other.  Let's see how it'll work out...