What's growing in your garden?

I have a huge area in my front yard that gets full sun most or all day. Plus, it gets hot here, so we wanted drought-tolerant plants. And, I'm an amateur gardener, so I wanted plants that were easy to care for; all I do is pull weeds and clip or pull off dead leaves and flowers. Within the last few months I've planted several new plants that are looking beautiful now!! Here are my current favorites:

Verbascum chaixii

Garden update after moving

I brought five plants with me when we moved: basil, Romaine lettuce, green bell pepper, zucchini, and squash. The zucchini and squash seem to be slowly withering, while the others are thriving.

Anyone have any suggestions for the squash and zucchini? I took off the dead stuff yesterday and shook out the leaves, carefully. I also rinsed the leaves down on the top and backsides. I'm afraid they really might just need more space, but I can't plant them yet, unless our homebuilder would let me... The basil looks a little withered in the picture, but it just got water, so it was thirsty.

Garden Update Week #4

My plants have been growing so well!! Here's my lettuce:

The original lettuce is growing tall, and the one in the pot is growing fabulously. I don't think the others are getting enough sun. Here's my zucchini:

It's had four blooms on it, so I'm very excited for the fruit it will give us! Here's the squash:

A couple weekends ago I replanted the squash and zucchini into five-gallon metal paint buckets, and since then the squash has taken off! It looks like it will flower soon. I love the metal paint buckets because they look cute and they were under $3 each! My husband just punched three holes in the bottom of each one with a hammer and a screwdriver. Why buckets? We're moving soon, and I really wanted to take my plants with me. When I re-planted, I added a little 10-10-10 fertilizer, as suggested by Omar, and fertilized the rest of the plants in the yard also.

When I re-planted a couple weekends ago, I also planted green bell pepper seeds. I have kept it in the house though in a bay window in the dining room. Finally, this week I noticed a tiny green sprout!

I also grow green onions in clear jars in the bay window. All you have to do is change the water each day. I had no luck growing them from seeds in the yard.

A couple weekends ago, I also bought a large sweet basil plant and re-planted it in a metal bucket too. I have yet to take the time to use it in any of my cooking, but I have plans to make my own pesto in the future. In fact, I recently pinned a recipe for pesto to my Pinterest recipes. Check it out!

Lastly, here are a couple roses that bloomed recently. They're so beautiful, I had to share!

Garden Update: Week 2

My lettuce sprouts have been growing magnificently!

This week I harvested about six more leaves from the lettuce that's already been growing awhile. It seems to be growing more and more healthy.

My zucchini is looking fabulous! It has grown a lot this past week.

However, the squash isn't growing as well. I was told that maybe the roots are getting wrapped around each other, and I may have to pull it out and take care of that.

What are you growing? What do you suggest I grow that's easy and doesn't need full sun all day?

First Garden Update!

So sorry it's been awhile since I posted! Craziness! I do work part-time, care for my child full-time, and help with all the household chores, so blogging becomes a last priority quite often. This past Saturday, I planted a new batch of Romaine lettuce seeds, and to my astonishment, I already noticed green seedlings popping up!! I'm so excited!! Here's a look at my garden:

Can you see the little green sprouts?! I planted some in a pot and others in the ground, for comparison.

Thank you, Suzy for starting this squash plant for me!!

And again, I thank Suzy for starting this plant for me!!

The following two photos are of my first lettuce seeds planted. I planted them in mid-February and have already harvested from the plant a couple times. I was having serious problems with rolly-pollies eating my lettuce, but I found a solution! I was in Lowe's looking at bug killers, and one of them said "contains Lemongrass: a natural insecticide." So I thought, "What if I just use Lemongrass essential oil mixed in water as my bug killer?" So, that's what I've done, and it works! I barely ever have bite marks out of my lettuce now!!

 

I also have rosemary, but I just cut it back a ton because it got scorched by the recent heat wave. There's still green on it, so I'm hopeful it will grow back nicely again as long as it's watered well. Additionally, I'm growing green onions, but not on the patio. More on that in another post though.

What's in your garden? Or do you have aspirations to grow a garden?