Deck Garden Journal Week 2

The deck garden has been going really well! We've been consistently watering the plants, which was a little bit of a struggle in years past. With our son being older, I can now tell him that one of his chores in the day is to help keep and take care of the garden on the deck. I will tell him to go inspect the tomatoes and other plants, but also water it when he's out there.

The watering has also been aided by the occasional bit of rain that we get during the day but often at night. I really enjoy when we get some nighttime showers, because that helps cool things off and also gives the plants some much needed sustenance while we are sleeping, so we don't have to water them as heavily in the morning. We still do have to water them in the morning though, because once the sun really comes up, the garden here gets full sun for quite a few hours which is really nice!

I love the look of the plants with some fresh water dripping off them, it really is a fantastic thing. With the tomato plants as well, one of the really cool things about them is they give off such a wonderful smell when they are wet. I think this is because the plant opens up its pores and works to suck in all of the water it can, knowing that it needs the water to make the delicious fruits grow and thrive. We try to focus our watering on the roots because we do have people below us on the decks, but you can't do that if it rains overnight :D so we appreciate when that occurs!

With the garden that we've got going, one of the things I've really started to appreciate is the deck that we've got. The lower decks don't get nearly as much sunlight as we do on ours, so our gardens are really able to thrive and prosper! The people below make due of course, but with the direct sunlight that we get almost 6+ hours a day, that's fantastic for the plants as they are really growing and popping up into their prime for the season. This also means that we have to keep them well watered and well fertilized! The fertilizer is one of the important elements that I didn't do in years past as much as I should have, so we are trying to improve on that this year.

These are all of the wonderful life lessons that we go through all the time, where we do one thing and find out of it works or not. If it doesn't work, then we certainly make steps to improve that!

The peppers are just starting to come out! The plants were starters that we got from the farm in a 6-pack, so they were leaves and stalks but really not much else besides that. We've had them for about 3 weeks now, and they are really starting to prosper! Each of the plants of the 6 have grown quite a few extra leaves since we started them, and they've gotten quite a bit taller. I am going to be adding some more fertilizer to the soil now that the roots are well established in the pot, hoping that will improve the growth rate of the plants as well as the veggies they will be bearing.

I think buying already established plants has been the best for us. Yes it would be great to start all of these from seed, but we do what we can. We don't have the space or the time very often to get all of these started in April or May, because it also requires they grow inside for a while before they can be put outside, given the temperature. The established plants that we've got this year have been wonderful and we didn't get a chance to add any to the options as we wanted to, but I have a day off this week and will be going to the farm to grab some more and see what varieties that we can find! More peppers and tomatoes are likely going to be it, but that's okay with me!