Well, my name’s not Mary.
And my garden doesn’t grow with silver bells and cockle shells.
But, it’s hard to believe that just one month ago today I planted my vegetable garden in the backyard.
I have said countless times I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing with my vegetable garden – I really am learning as I go. In fact, I am kind of so bad at this that I don’t even remember what half the plants are since I didn’t put the stakes in the ground to remember. #epicfail
Did I seriously just tag that? Too. Much. Tweeting.
My little garden is growing up!
I want you to scroll up and down a few times from the first to the second picture to get the full effect. I’ll wait.
You good? Good.
My garden has gone through some difficulties in its first month. First, some bunnies nipped away the tops of the plants, leaving them bare. They’re just starting to recover.
I have also had a lot of ants. Ants are hard to decide if you want them or not. While they keep the soil aerated, they can unleash disease on your plants. I decided I didn’t want them, but I also do not want to use pesticides in my garden. I used cinnamon to keep them away. Someone told me a while back that ants really hate the smell of cinnamon, so I sprinkled cinnamon on the beds. Sure enough, the ants went running and did not return later in the day when I went back out to check.
My zucchini plants have gotten huge! I definitely planted them way too close together – that is a lesson I quickly learned. Although zucchini is by far the easiest vegetable to grow, I still feel pretty good about myself.
Baby zucchini! The way zucchini grow is pretty cool. The plant flowers, and after the flower blooms, the zucchini starts to grow on the other side. It’s fascinating! My zucchini plants have about 40 flowers right now. I’m so not joking. Zucchini for all!
Look in the center of the plant below – do you see what I see?
Broccoli!
I was so excited to see this start growing last week. I read somewhere that once this stalk gets about 4 inches high, to cut it on an angle to allow for more crowns to stem out from it. We’ll see how it goes!
I have no idea what the plant below is – does anyone know? It’s really long, and I think maybe it’s a cucumber plant?
Some questions I have (if anyone knows – Katie I’m talking to you!):
- Do any plants besides tomatoes need supports? (Like this plant above)
- Any other remedies for ants?
- Why aren’t my plants that I planted as seeds growing?
Thankfully there is enough rain for the next 5 days going on right now – my plants have been hot in the 95 degree weather!
Question: What should be the first thing I make with my 12309023 zucchinis?
{ 55 comments… read them below or add one }
The long plant at the bottom looks like a cucumber plant. It’s funny, I did scroll up and down between the first and second garden pics to get the full effect and then I read that you suggested doing that. Ha! Also, when I saw your zucchini plant growing so close to the other plants, I was thinking “wow, that’s way too close” and then you said it. I tell you, I’m reading your mind today. Isn’t it so exciting when the garden starts to grow? And, thanks for the tip about cinnamon! I’m going to tell my husband. We have TONS of ants!
P.S. The cucumber plant will get HUGE just like the zucchini plant.
Sorry for the broken up comments…I just read your questions at the end…No, the cucumber plant doesn’t need support. They just spread out on the ground.
Whenever we plant seeds, they take forEVER to grow.
Awesome garden! I’ve been scared to try my own and also the work is too much for me right now. I did have a question for you though. I recently received an eggplant and rhubarb in my co-op box and I have no idea how to cook/what to do with them. Any suggestions?
Oooo eggplant is so delicious - just grill it up or roast it, or even sautee it! I have a few recipes on my “eat” page with eggplant. As far as rhubarb is concerned, I’ve never had it! However, I have seen a lot of people use it lately in pies, baked goods, and as a compote!
zuc bread! zuc cupcakes! zuc + potato pancakes! grilled zuc!
I tried to grow tomatoes one time because they are supposed to be SO easy…they all died
haha So I am far from having a green thumb!
But I LOVE zucchinis! I throw them into baked goods, and grill them too
Good luck with the garden! It looks great
How fun! One of my life goals is to plant a garden!
You should make zucchini bread!
Your garden’s great! That baby zucchini is adorable, by the way. I’d make grilled zucchini one night (to taste garden-fresh zucchini alone and with minimal dressing) then zucchini pizza and zucchini bread!
Orzo salad! http://wealthshealth.blogspot.com/p/recipes.html
scoot your butt to home depot or something similar and buy “Diotomaceous earth” its basically the most natural way to get those ants out of your life =) no chemicals or pesticides… its just ground up diatoms! fabulous for keeping ants out of your garden!
my potted jalapeno plants need supports sometimes… and anything that likes to climb should be given posts or trellis or whatnot =) hope this helps girl!
xoXOxo
Jenn @ Peas & Crayons
Zucchinni Pasta!
If you don’t have a spiralizer use a julienne peeler, works good!
That’s a great idea thanks!
wow your garden looks amazing, im doing a pot garden so I cant grow zucchini or cucumbers yet but maybe next year! Nothing better than growing your own produce!
That does kinda look like a cucumber plant, but mine have never got that big! I don’t think it needs any type of support if its cucumber…
I found my stuff planted by seeds required alot of watering - if it was hot twice a day and then sometimes it would take a couple months and out of nowhere they would pop up, so hopefully they do the same for you!
With the zucchini’s make sure you don’t let a plant have more than 4 zucchini’s cut the weaker vegetables off so the other ones get more nutrients etc from the plant. I always liek to make muffins or cookies with zucchini and freeze them!
Your garden looks great by the way, love the broccoli!
I’m a fan of zucchini n’ hummus sandwiches. Quick, easy, and delish! Your garden is lovely by the way. I bet it’s so rewarding to see it all grow!
I love zucchini, but zucchini flowers are delicious lightly battered and pan fried. Something my grandmother used to do this time of year.
I’m not much of a gardener, but my grandparents and my mom usually start seeds in the house in those seed starter pots and then transfer the small plants outside. I don’t know if that makes a difference. We live in NY so our weather is not all that much different than in Chicago (perhaps a bit warmer in the winter here).
That sounds so good! I never thought to do that!
Definitely a cucumber plant! They don’t need support; they just spread out on the ground. Last year we planted our cucumber plants (it was our first BIG vegetable garden) wayyyy too close together! They were overlapping and we had cucumbers hidden everywhere. Just when I thought I had picked them all, I would find about 15 more! Zucchinis are amazing any way you cook them - but definitely check out Megan’s low fat zucchini cookies! http://munchercruncher.blogspot.com/2008/02/low-fat-zucchini-cookies.html
Enjoy your veggies! Our garden will be blooming late this year as we waited until after the “flood of the century” and about 50 tornadoes to plant. Better late than never!
Oh boy! I’m in for a lot of cucumbers!
I wish I could help you with the questions, but I have absolutely no idea when it comes to gardening. I love the way dirt smells and I fantasize about being able to eat something I grew myself, but I’m not that great with plants… I can hardly remember to water all my mom’s plants now that she’s gone, and I’ve killed my fair share in the past… oops.
That ‘mystery plant’ is definitely a cucumber. I disagree with some of the previous commenters that it doesn’t need support (from personal experience).
I didn’t support mine last year, and my one cucumber plant took over my yard! Seriously. Mutant invasion. We had to flop it around, fold it up to mow, and many, many cukes were lost to rot from laying on the ground, etc. This year I planted two cucumber plants and put a ridiculously tall trellis between them, for them to share. They are growing up it like champs, and I have blossoms galore. You can see a pic of this on my latest garden post: http://musingsofavioletmonkey.com/2011/06/03/my-grandpas-green-thumb/
(They are in Garden #1, and there are several pics).
I am SO MUCH HAPPIER having it grow UP.
But, that’s just my two cents.
Congrats on the growing garden… it’s so exciting!
~
That’s a great tip! For right now, I think it’s okay since there isn’t much growin around it, but if it gets out of control, I might get a trelis!
Ahh how exciting! You should definitely make zucchini bread!
Your zucchini plant looks fabulous, Chelsey! The zucchini flowers are actually delicious stuffed with a ricotta cheese (or substitute,in my case), fresh herbs and finely chopped nuts. All you have to do after you stuff them is bake them at 350 for about 15-20 minutes with a drizzle of olive oil and they are DELICIOUS.
WOW your garden looks GORGEOUS! I had no idea about ants & cinnamon! Good to know.
Jealous! I live in an apartment so a garden really isn’t an option, but even when I move I doubt my ability to actually stick with one.
Ah, your garden looks amazing! I tried to grow a garden 2 years ago and all I ended up with was 1 measly tomato. Needless to say, I haven’t tried again! haha
bahaha!! I love that Stef!
Make zuchinni bread!!!!!!!!!! That would be terrific!
I would LOVE to have a brocolli plant in my back yard! Its my fave veggie and I would looove my own little stash
So jealous of your garden
I still live in an apartment so I won’t have one for a while but told my boyfriend the other day as soon as we buy a house I am planting one! I also wish I had that much zucchini! I tried it for the first time about a month ago and LOVE it. I’ve just been grilling some with almost every meal lately
Make ratatouille and grilled zucchini topped with “parm cheese.”
oh that sounds great!
Your little baby broccoli is so cute! It would be hard for me to not pick things right away!
The zucchini plants are my favourite because not only do you get a huge amount of zucchinis, but they grow to be the size of your arm & twice as thick! I make everything under the sun with zucchini in the summer. Lasagna, parm, muffins, bread, stir fry. I love my veggie garden.
AHHH I am so jeal, mine is JUST starting to sprout!!! I loooove zukes and broc I could eat them all day:)
zucchinis remind me of my dad’s garden!! grilled, kebabs, in pasta, zucchini bread, ahhhh I just love all fresh zucchinis!
the downfall to living in New York City!
-courtney
Looks like your question was already answered, but I’ll chime in on “that’s a cucumber plant right there”
They can get quite large and grow a LOT of veggies, so congrats, ha! I worked on a farm one summer and one of our biggest crops was cucumbers. I probably picked thousands of them, ha!
Congrats on your garden! I had one last year and zucchini is the most exciting thing! It get so big so FAST! Well, it WAS exciting. I grew so many last year and had so much zucchini bread, grilled zucchini, etc that I literally can’t eat it without gagging!
Zucchini bread, it’s so good!
I WISH I knew one thing about gardening! Go you for planting such an awesome garden!
Grilled zucchini skewers!
Looking good!! I want a “big girl yard” so I can have a HUGE veggie garden! Right now I’m growing hot peppers on my porch
Peppers do pretty well with supports too; they can get kind of top heavy. They grow off one stalk though, so you can also just put a small diameter wodden dowel in and tie the stem to that and it will be fine.
Your zucchini flowers are only half female - the males won’t fruit, but you can eat them. Fried stuffed with cheese is really good. Maybe stuffed with hummus? Eh? Here’s what the males look like, so you don’t accidently pick the females: http://members.iinet.net.au/~msheaton/Organic Gardening Down Under/zucchini5.jpg
Some plants are hard to grow from seeds outside because they require a really high soil temperature to germinate. That’s why a lot of them are started in greenhouses. I know we’ve had some cold nights, but they may still pop up! Don’t despair!
I scrolled even before you told me to.
I just made roasted zucchini last night. Continue with zucchini bread-bake 20 loaves and have them live in the freezer all year!
Your garden is growing so nicely! Wow I wish mine looked like that. Make zucchini fries… So good.
Well first you can send me some zucchinis because Iove them, and second…anything zucchini would be delicious! Muffins?
Looking good! We started gardening this year (well, I did a much smaller space 2 years ago). We have a 25×25 plot at a community garden. It is lots of work and there is a huge learning curve, but we really enjoy it as a family. Pineapple zucchini bread is delish! Seeds take a lot longer to come in and need heavy watering at first. Happy harvesting!
A couple of days ago I found a zucchini muffin recipe. I think you could use it too!
http://glugleglutenfree.com/gluten-free-zucchini-muffins/
Oh yum, you will be having zucchini feats soon- bread, muffins, pastas, lasagnas, and zucchini, nooch & hummus sandwiches are my life during the summer. My friend grew so much zucchini she even made ice cream, weird but actually sort of good. I hope to one day have my own garden too once I grow out of my “poor college student living with roommates” phase, yours looks awesome and to eat something you grew yourself taste 100x better!
Make a healthy rendition of zucchini bread and be sure to slice some thick strips for a japanese style stir fry!
The pics are so cool, I am completely jealous!
I planted a veggie garden from seeds before… and absolutely nothing grew! I think seeds are just too hard. You’re supposed to like, sow them in an ice cube try and babysit them inside until they look like the plants you buy at the store-and then you plant them. Which I don’t really understand… but hey, I’m not gardener! I think zucchinis taste amazing in frittatas and quiche!
Nice garden. I am new to gardening too, so this year I planted zucchini for the first time, but they are only about 18-20 inches aprt. I have blooms on most, but will they be ok planted too close together? Can I transplant or maybe prune back a little?
Oh man, my fiance and I are counting down the days until we are married and have a house where we can plant our own garden! As for your zucchini- my roommates mom makes the most delicious zucchini salad. She grates zucchini, onion, and chops tomato in a bowl. She then seasons it with salt and pepper. It seems like it wouldn’t be anything special, but it is wonderful!!!! It is so simple and summery. She eats it with fish, but I think it would be wonderful on top of chickpea cakes. Enjoy your garden!
A few tips: Watch out for squash bugs! They will lay eggs on the back of your zucchini/squash leaves. Just scrape the eggs off when you see them & get some neem oil. It will keep several different kinds of pests away. It’s all natural and organic. If you don’t spray it on the zucchini leaves, the bugs eat the root of the plant and kill it. Last year I got several great zucchinis & then the plant died. I had no idea they were so ferocious.
The cucumber doesn’t need to be supported but it’s nice if you need more room to make a bamboo trellis for it to climb up. That keeps it from taking over your garden. I just secured some netting around two bamboo stakes and it climbs right up.
As far as support goes, tomatoes are the main ones but if you have any pepper plants (mainly green peppers) you’ll need a tomato cage for those too.
Have fun with it! Love your blog