I have so many plants!

2024-05-26

When I was around 10 years old, I grew a bean plant from a seed starting kit marketed towards children. I was quite excited by how big it had gotten over time. Eventually, my cat ate and destroyed the plant. I was absolutely devastated. My mother had an impressive garden when I was a teenager. It was going quite well when her boyfriend at the time had a manic episode and decided to rip every plant from the ground and literally eat patches of the soil. We didn’t have a garden again after that.

I am now 27 years old, coming on 28. In early April, I began gardening. I started basil with a seed starting kit I bought at the Dollar Tree down the road. I was shocked to see any sign of life. Once the basil had gotten bigger in its cramped little container, I attempted to transplant all of them and left one in the container. I’m glad I left the one in the container; the rest died outside. The one I left is doing great. It smells amazing. This was not the last time I killed countless seedlings, but as of last week, I have learned my lesson at this point.

I now have more plants than I know what to do with. I have countless peppers, tomatoes, and a corn crop going outside that is doing quite well. I’ve been fashioning containers out of cans, not sure if it would work well or not, but it has. I later confirmed that these would be acceptable growing conditions thanks to the “Pepper in a Can” challenge that is popular on Facebook. People attempt to grow a pepper in a can from seed to fruition between the months of February and September every year. Judging is based on how many reactions each plant gets. My internet pal Lori and I are currently doing a year 0 with porting Pepper in a Can to the “Fediverse.” I think it’s going to be fun, and we have a few people joining in already. My challenge peppers are doing well. I’m participating on both Facebook and Fedi.

What I’ve learned so far from growing plants is patience, and the ability to accept loss. Some plants die for whatever reason. I still get a bit upset when I have some seedlings die out from transplanting to larger containers or what have you, but it’s gotten easier. A small comfort is the hope that as I become more seasoned in this craft, agriculture, that plant death will happen less often. Patience has been far harder to tackle. I check my seed starting containers, often cans or solo cups, to see if anything new has happened; I check them all throughout the day. Sometimes I’m surprised and something has actually happened in the middle of the day, but ultimately, I have to wait. I also must wait to transplant plants until they’re big enough. I also need to wait to “harden them off” before they receive full sun. I live in the desert so regardless of waiting I think I also need to invest in some shade.

The corn crop is doing great so far. I had initially sowed some of this “double red sweet corn” a few weeks prior to this post but they didn’t take. That was entirely my fault. I believe I forgot to water them for a few days. When I tried again, I dug shallow trenches and filled them with gardening soil. I’ve been making sure to properly water the plants as well. It turns out that plants need water to survive. Who knew. I’m hoping I can get this corn to fruition because I’m really excited about it. I think it would make for a really pretty ramen topper considering it’s entirely red.

This tomato plant is doing really well too. It’s a beefsteak tomato. Beefsteak is apparently the largest variety of tomato according to Wikipedia. I don’t know much about different varieties of plant so you’ll have to take their word for it. On the day I’m writing this, I’ve added a “companion” seedling to this tomato’s container. It’s basil. I have so many basil seedlings still and apparently basil is a good “companion” plant for tomatoes and peppers. It keeps insects away and I guess does something beneficial at the soil level. I’m hoping it works out because I like the idea of growing plants together to benefit them. I’m looking forward to tomatoes for things like shakshouka. Also, Ivan Orkin is famous for putting roasted tomatoes in his ramen so I think I might even try that.

Basil. The basil that has been with me since the start of this journey is going strong. I’m looking forward to using it for things like the Buldak carbonara and caprese salads. It’ll probably find other uses, I’m sure. Thank you, basil.

I have so many pepper plants. I’m growing serrano, habanero, cayenne, and sweet. I’m not sure which is which in some cases. I’m sure I’ll find out before too long. This serrano in particular is doing quite well. I’m going to try letting all of these become red instead of the usual green you see in supermarkets because apparently the flavor is a lot better that way. Yay for peppers!

I also have two cucumber plants that seem to be doing well. These guys are funny because they get dramatically droopy if their water gets too low but perk right back up within minutes once you water them. These are a pickling variety and I’m also growing dill in hopes of making sour pickles. I’m planning on sowing more cucumbers soon.

I’m also attempting green onions again. I had some sprouts that were doing well until I unfortunately killed them by bringing them outside too quickly. Again, patience is a key factor with this stuff it seems. I’m going to keep these ones indoors for a few months before doing anything dramatic like exposing them to the deadly rays of the Sonoran sun. Or maybe, I will keep them inside forever. I’m experimenting and learning a lot so a lot of these plants will likely stay indoors. Green onions are great for ramen, yakisoba, chashu, and just about anything else, so I hope they do well.

Overall, despite the heartbreak over lost plants, I’m having a lot of fun gardening. It’s been very grounding and a great source of stress relief while I go through school. I recommend it!

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