Katie, Katie, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?
You guys, I have breaking news! After only 10 days, we already have major progress in our garden. That is very unexpected, since I thought I would have to wait until closer to summer. I was obsessively checking the plants, as I do each morning and evening (I’m really obsessed.) I was looking over the cherry tomato plant in the hodgepodge garden, and holy crapballs (as Bethanny from The Real Housewives of New York would say), we had a baby tomato! Although Bethanny wouldn’t say “crap”balls, she would actually say something more colorful, but since my parents and grandmother read this blog, I will stick with crapballs, which they probably won’t care for either. And omg, I just realized that I have revealed in a public forum that I watch The Real Housewives. Oy vey, well, I guess now you know I’m not that classy broad that you once thought I was.
So back to my tomato. It’s there, a cute, precious, itty bitty, green tomato, about the size of a pea. It has given me such hope that I will actually get something out of this garden! Everything is looking good and hopeful, except the cucumbers, which are being eaten by an evil force of nature not yet identified. I have bought an organic spray that has peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, and other lovely smelling things that I wonder might attract rather than repel pests. I am still learning how to spray, not too little, not too much. Last time it was too much and some of the leaves were a bit spotty and limp but they seem to be recovering. The cucumbers are in the ground and seem to be taking one for the team, as the pests must be lazy and don’t much want to climb into the containers. I may transplant the ones that are doing the best and sacrifice the others and use them as decoys. Also, we have placed shallow containers of beer to rid our garden of slugs. So far, it is working and my son counted 26 drunk dead slugs. That’s right, Slugs, YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME???? You may enter my garden, but you will Never. Leave. And yeah, that’s right, so sue me, slugs WERE harmed in the writing of this blog. Too bad for me, guess PETA won’t be asking me to pose for a nude ad campaign anytime soon! And we really could’ve used the money.
Check out the latest pictures:
Day 1, April 18
Day 10, April 28
Baby cherry tomato, in the center, sorry it's so blurry!
R.I.P.Slugs: After the Rave in the tupperware dish...slug and mosquitoes now see what life in the fast lane leads to... now we're experimenting to see if they prefer Corona or 3 year old Coors Light...Scott questioning my judgement on using Corona for slug bait is well-deserved!
Until next time! Check out my recipe for Cinnamon Biscuits and Citrus Mint Iced Tea at http://foodiemama.com/Breakfast-Recipes/Cinnamon-Biscuits-and-Citrus-Mint-Iced-Tea.html.
Take care of yourself and each other,
Katie
“You like potato, I like potahto, you like tomato, I like tomahto, potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto, let’s call the whole thing off!” the Harry Connick, Jr. version, When Harry Met Sally
Alex: My husband is texting me about whether he should wear dark or light colored boots.
Bethanny: Tell him he’s in the midst of a deep homosexual panic.
–The Real Housewives of New York City, Bravo, check your local listings, you know you want to watch it like the train wreck it is
Growing Green 
A couple of Christmas’s (spelling??) I was given some body wash that was organic but I hated the way it smelled – very like eucalyptus. I diluted it and used to to spray the catapillers that appeared on my vegetable plants.
As far as I could tell on the label it was harmless to humans, but it certainly got rid of the caterpillers.
You might like to try this (but don’t buy any shower gel/body wash especially, just if you happen to have some.)
Hey-This cracked me up! We found out that our homemade beer did have one use—-slug killer!