I probably should have said Rob’s garden because all I do is pick herbs to cook with or pinch a thing here and a thing there. However today we had a pivotal moment in the garden – my pot garden.
Our first red tomato! Okay we had two. John ate one and I ate the other and we’re leaving the third until it’s fully ripe for Rob. He wants to wait until it’s as red as can be – much tastier he says.
Now you might not have seen that well enough so here’s a closeup. This was a remarkable event at my house. Since we have no dirt to grow things on, it’s been tough to get excited about a garden. Not any more!
In addition to all the herbs and tomatoes, John asked his father to grow some hot chillies and they’re getting big already!
I think you can eat them while green but I suspect he’ll wait until they turn red. Notice all the crap on the glass pool fence? That’s what happens when you water the pots with a strong spray. 🙂
As you can see, you don’t need a big pot to grow chilli peppers in!
Up above on the little balcony off our bathroom, I tied a cherry tomato plant along the railing and it’s covered with green tomatoes. Hopefully the parrots won’t get them before we do. I think having cats will deter the birds. Fingers crossed.
Finally, Rob cleaned out my huge potbound heap of lemon grass and replanted it and it’s started to come up but we can’t keep one of the cats out of it. She’s eaten the tops of all 4 plants. First thing in the morning, right into the pot where she eats the daily growth. She must know it’s good for her or she’s a stupid cat, either one probably. In the next photo he’s checking his baby lemon grass.
Life is calming down, the weather is getting warm – 30C/86F today and Charlie has been in the pool five times already. Mostly because he ate the squeaker out of his FAVORITE toy and now “baby” is no longer a floater but a sinker. We’ve fished that thing out of the bottom of the pool more times than I can count. It would be easier to buy a new toy than to keep running downstairs. He has a specific bark that says “Baby’s in the pool again!” I just know.
So how’s your week?
My week is good! Weather has been hot (close to 100F) but it’ll cool off over the weekend. Plus we’ve licked our squirrel problem, at least for the moment, so we’re finally enjoying our tomatoes rather than feeding a vast squirrel population. Your garden looks terrific. It’s amazing what you can do with just a few pots, isn’t it? We have raised beds, but I’m thinking next year I may do more pots. That way I can move things into (and out of) the sun when necessary. Fun post – thanks.
There is something about growing your own!!! I totally can tell the difference in the flavor of a home grown tomato, versus a store bought one. Your garden looks gorgeous!!! AND I love how you live by water, how peaceful! Beautiful, Hugs, Terra
I can only imagine the how happy and excited you must have been to see the tomatoes.
Sweet little post here. Love your pretty little garden, and yes, I did notice that you live by the water too…how awesome is that.
Yes, I love living by the water. Boats going by all day give a change of scenery (and someone to yell at or wave to). I was very excited at the first tomato. We’ve had 6 red ones so far and there are several turning orange. Before long it’s not going to be exciting. 🙂
G’day! Nothing like growing your own Maureen, true!
I am in the process of starting and is always exciting to say, “I grew this” and love your first tomato too!
Cheers! Joanne
There is no way I could resist keeping that tom on the vine! It’s so red and round and perfect! I hope you get to enjoy it before the birds or bugs get their mits on it
We’ve all had 2 cherry tomatoes so far. I can feel the vitamins coursing through my veins. 🙂
I love your little garden Maureen. While we have a backyard there really isn’t any room for a garden so I have pots scattered over our patio, much like you. I’ve also had a wonderful little crop of tomatoes that grew from seedlings I found that had sprouted inside a tomato I was going to put into a salad. Nature is amazing!
Wow, I’ve seen sprouts like that but I always tossed them out. 🙂
Your garden is so gorgeous, I don’t need to be a greeny to see that 😀
Keep up the TLC and you will get even more delicious fresh flavour out of it 🙂
Cheers
CCU
I doubt I’d use the word gorgeous but the plants are coming along really well. 🙂
Love your garden. I also grow in large pots…I’m getting more pots for next summer. 🙂 Enjoy the bounty. 🙂
I need bigger pots but John doesn’t enjoy hauling the dirt in big bags. 🙂
Fresh homegrown tomatoes and herbs are the best! My chili plant has currently caught some bug so we are treating her and quarantined her and hoping that she gets better soon. I have harvested quite a few chilis from her but was hoping she would last longer than a month. Take care, BAM
I hope your chili baby is doing much better!
Well done Maureen! Look at that ruby red tomato amongst all of that green! 😀 My week is going well! Had a couple of weeks in Canada and am now off to America!
Wow.. I need a getaway. I could carry your bags. 🙂
Your pot garden looks great! I have had to have a container garden this year because we didn’t have time to build raised beds after we moved into our new home. Hopefully this fall we will get them built and I can have a proper potager this coming year.
I wish I had room for raised beds. I had 16 at our old place (with 5 acres) but we live on a small block near the ocean. Can’t have everything – but I have pots! 🙂
Your garden looks like it is doing so well! Is Charlie too busy with his baby to poke around in the garden? 🙂
He only plays around in the pots if he loses his toys there. He has a habit of tossing them in the air and then trying to catch them. He’s the only pet we’ve ever had that makes his own games. He tosses things in the pool and then dashes around to the other side and jumps in to retrieve them. It’s only a disaster when he tosses in a sinker. 🙂
I think you should change your name to liitle-miss-green-thumb! Wow, this looks so good Maureen. I can’t believe that balcony tomato plant. I think I’d just sit there, admire the view and pluck tomatoes right off the vine for lunch. Sheer heaven 🙂
I will do that this week, Chris. I’ll sit up there with a book and pick the two tomatoes that will be ripe in a day or so. I’ll think of you. 🙂
Summer’s definitely gone here – love growing things… we tried a bit on our balcony in previous years but kind of gave up when all we got was a tiny 3cm aubergine, a few tiny beets, and a couple of microscopic tomatoes, lol! One day though… love having fresh growing herbs nearby though!
ha! ha! I start the garden every spring and then get busy and neglect it. Then my husband gets in there and lectures me! We finally had a good year, and I have to say, our tomatoes went bonkers in the pot and not in the main garden. Go figure!
I know what you mean. We get busy or distracted and weeds take over and then it’s in the too hard basket. 🙂
Me and gardens … not so good. I start out all excited but then the watering, weeding etc gets annoying and I just want them all to go away. Two years ago I bought a lovely tomato plant and after babying that darned plant the whole summer I got a ONE tomato. Which I cut up and threw into a pot of chili with a can of purchased crushed tomatoes cause I do NOT eat raw tomatoes. I did not inherit my parents’ gardening gene. 🙂
Congratulations on your lovely garden and pretty tomatoes. Rob’s looks ripe enough to eat in my opinion but then I’m not the one eating it.
Oh we did eat it. I’m sorry you don’t like raw tomatoes because I think they taste just like summer. 🙂
What a great help to have Rob to keep the garden on track. I can’t believe you already have tomatoes, didn’t it JUST turn spring down there? Your growing season must be at least two months longer than ours. Yes, I’m jealous!
I’ve not seen lemon grass at my nursery, I will keep my eyes open next year. We’re heading into fall and today sounds like it’s going to be the last hot and humid day for a while. I had the worst migraine this morning so I can’t say I will miss this tumultuous weather in the least.
The climate here is exactly what I left when I moved to Australia from Orlando. I can grow all year round. With Rob here maybe I will. I have no idea if he plans to stay. It’s all up in the air at the moment. He’s certainly welcome and I think he wants to. There’s the issue of the wife. 🙂
My tomato plants are about ready to give up the ghost and yours are already producing. I, too, garden in containers but nearly as large a collection as you’ve got going. Yours looks fantastic. I’ve got about a dozen peppers to pick and pickle and that will be pretty much the end of this year’s garden. Just as well, our temperatures are taking a dive tonight and tomorrow.
We don’t get cold here so starting early isn’t a problem. It’s already over 85F during the day and the tomatoes seem quite happy. Pots require regular watering on really hot or really windy days. Good thing we work from home. 🙂
Cute little red tomato!
My dogs have different barks too. Everyone else in the family thinks I’m mad because I keep telling them they’re talking to me. Not in English but I definitely can understand their language. I love all your pots. Many in your situation would use the excuse that with no garden beds they can’t grow a thing but your garden is living proof that you can be a little self-sufficient with a bit of creativity xx
I’m not sure tomatoes and herbs would be considered self-sufficient but it’s wonderful to taste food you’ve just picked. We’re building a new bed and I’m going to grow green beans. I’m all excited. 🙂
Hey what about the bootilicious lady in the garden?!
And the garden looks great too – amazing what you can produce with a little imagination and determination.
We used to have an indoor pool at our old house and she sat alongside some lovely plants. At this house she guards the pots so Charlie doesn’t charge through them looking for his toys.
[laughing] Well, we may be about 900 kms apart, but I’ll have to wait another three months at least to see the first red ~ all of mine is in pots also, hmm, still to be planted this week! About a dozen herbs etc have overwintered so shan’t begin with quite a bare cupboard! So cats like lemongrass: sheesh, one has just moved in close by!! And glad for Lorraine: wondered where she was when my mails got the ‘1 Oct back’ tag 😀 !
How exciting! Congratulations Maureen 🙂
Funny to get excited by a tomato less than the size of a quarter. 🙂
I LOVE your balcony tomatoes. Such a fabulous idea. Unfortunately my furry boys are keen ‘gardeners’ especially if something is in a pot, so after the last few years of literally losing my garden to the dogs, I’m waiting until I have my own backyard (and not a rented backyard) to try again. My week has been work-hectic which is good, but I’m completely exhausted now it is over!
We put the naked lady in front of the pots so Charlie wouldn’t mow them down and so far she’s keeping the pots from going over. One balcony has no animals and the other has the plant tied to the supporting post so I don’t think we’ll have trouble. Remembering to water is the thing that will do us in. 🙂
I love this post! Thank you for sharing xox
It’s not fancy like your garden. 🙂
I love blogs and social media. Now I have spring-summer vicariously all year round through all of my friends down-under. Life is good. 🙂
I hadn’t thought of it like that but you’re right!
wonderful garden… must be very spacious
We have a lot of space for pots but not much dirt for a garden. 🙂
haha I can imagine him barking all stressed out because his favorite toy is down.
Your garden looks better then mine. Seriously I am struggling here with anything. The insects eat it all up and we do spray organic insect repellents… You know cats and dogs chew on lemon grass. must be helping them in their digestion. That is exactly why I don’t have any lemon grass left. My sister in law has one growing near some poky shrub, the animals don’t come there. =D
Well, we got the toy out of the pool and he was happy for a day or so and today “baby” went into the canal and sunk to the bottom. John will take Charlie “shopping” tomorrow. Our pet store allows dogs on leashes to shop. All we have to say is, “Want to go shopping?” He walks up to the toy aisle and sits and stares at baby. Baby has feet and I named it a baby and it’s stuck.
congrats for your garden, actuallty nothing as fresh aa hasvest from your garden…….
Yes and nothing better than walking outside the door and snipping some fresh herbs to add to breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Loved your garden pictures… definitely inspired me to do a lot more next summer
We don’t get cold here so I can grow stuff in pots all year around. In the height of summer it’s tough but even then there are things that will grow.
Nothing is more satisfying than growing your own vegetables!
I think it’s so thrilling to see those little tomatoes emerge from the plant. You said you had a ‘pot garden’ – you don’t mean ….
LOL I wish! 🙂
Those perfect little toms look amazing. Can’t beat home grown 🙂
I haven’t had a lot of luck with pots but this year looks like a bumper crop. 🙂
How nice is the first fresh tomato of the season, then the first strawberry for us. Only thing we have to look forward to at the moment is the game season, which for a cook is a great challenge.
I’ve never cooked game other than the occasional venison mince and that’s not true “game” I don’t think. I look forward to your recipes, David!
Love this post Maureen and the potted vegetable garden. It’s so fulfilling to see the vegetables grown and make it into your dishes. Very therapeutic. Zen like.
I think gardening is very peaceful and soul nurturing. 🙂
Oh how exciting is a red tomato?!? There really isn’t anything much more satisfying than eating something you’ve grown yourself. I love how much you have going in such a small space. Go Rob!
There is something very special about those first fruits and I would have eaten them too. The season is warming up here very slowly but soon the veges and fruits will be abundant.
Maureen, your pot garden looks lush and healthy. I really need to give that a go next year — our yard isn’t conducive to gardening — thank you for the inspiration!
What a garden! It’s amazing what all one can grow in pots! Definitely impressed. I just love your FIL! 🙂
me too. he’s as cute as a bug.
First of all let me you have got a wonderful space,love your blog:)That small garden with those lively pots are such a comforting thing to watch.I can only imagine how great it is to grow our own veggies,even I am waiting for my tomato to grow 🙂
Hi Harini, it’s fun to watch food grow and now that it’s getting warm down here, we’ll see more and more red tomatoes on the vines.
Great growing there on the patio, I’m terrible at gardening on the patio, I always seem to let them burn up. You have a lovely view too and I think I need to come visit you now as Summer is beginning for you right?
LOVE your lady lounging in the garden!!
We bought that at a quirky garden place in Airlie Beach near the Great Barrier Reef years ago. It weighs a ton but I shipped her home. 🙂 She’s been with us ever since.