In the Garden

I set a goal this year to ease back into gardening. I went whole hog a few years back and spent gobs of money on square foot gardening stuff. My harvest that year consisted of one tiny onion, two radishes, one tasteless tomato, and about 3 zucchinis. Oh, and 2 cucumbers that tasted like cat pee. GROSS. That was it for all my money and work. So this year I thought I'd take it easy and try for one or two types of plant. I scoured Pinterest for gardening tips and headed to the Home Depot. That's when all my plans exploded and I walked out grinning like a hopeful idiot, with far too many plants, seeds, soil, etc. I went nuts. I didn't drop the same amount of money as I did that last fateful gardening attempt, but I spent more than I intended to. All I could do at that point was plant and pray. It's been quite a dry summer for my little garden. My strawberry plants yielded a whole 5 berries and then stopped bearing. the spinach grew, but didn't yield enough for a single salad. One of my 4x4 boxes is for some reason killing everything that comes up in it except for 3 or 4 small red leaf lettuce heads (I think I have ants). I've replanted 3 times to no avail. But the other box is quite lush. Not everything I planted has thrived, but my 2 tomato plants- after much adjusting and coaxing, studying and tending, are finally bearing. I counted 15 tomatoes in various stages of growth this morning. I am so impatient to eat them!! I must be content to coo over them for now. My cauliflower plants are big and happy... I have no clue when to expect heads on them. My red pepper plants are lush, but one blossoms and never bears fruit, the other never even blossoms. My cilantro/coriander is lovely. My peppermint is great. My random pumpkin seed planting in the patio pot has turned into a beautiful vine with a few big blossoms on it. Hopefully we will have pumpkins. On the fail list: cucumbers, cabbage, brussels sprouts, carrots, 2 species of lettuce, zucchini, basil, oregano and green onion. Luckily I have little window pots of basil and oregano inside that are slowly growing, and I've re-planted a few things (again) to see if they'll like a wetter month than last. I would very willingly be one who tears up all the lawn and plants a huge garden in my whole yard, but I feel I need to prove I can help something thrive well in this desert before I did something so drastic as massacre the yard it has taken me nearly seven years to learn not to kill. My black thumb is lowly turning shades of mossy brown.