Shindy’s 2022 Container Garden: SPRING!

Ah! The planting season kinda snuck up on us in Brooklyn, New York City this year. I was itching to begin planting in April but the cool weather was persisting with temperatures consistently below the 50^omark. However as of today, June 9, a lot has happened and it’s just so much fun to chronicle.

Last week while watering my “babies” I was encouraging them and telling them what a wonderful job they were doing, when my 21 year old daughter declared “OK so mom’s talking to her plants – time for me to back away slowly!”

I am amazed that I have already been able to harvest and use produce from the garden. Below are a few delicious surprises.

Strawberries:

A little strawberry bush about 5 years old decided to show up this year! The berries are small but sugary sweet! I hardly pay attention to this bush, expecting very little of it since it barely yielded in the past, but voila! I am munching on today’s pickings as we speak.

Malabar Spinach:

Planted early from seedlings, this sweet, tender variety yielded lots. I was not able to get it to continue yielding after I harvested the first two rounds of leaves but hey, who’s complaining?

Early Purchases

First trip to the wonderful Brooklyn Terminal Market with my dear friend Fadya.

Early Harvests: Backyard to Table

Backyard

Table

Cheddar Scones with Pepperjack Cheese and Backyard Dill

Homegrown Strawberries with Cottage Cheese

Guyanese Style Dhal and Rice with Fried Snapper and Homegrown Spinach

Green onions adding flavor to pumpkin and shrimp

Surprises

Lettuce: See these beauties? I did not plant a single one. They were seeded from last year’s lettuce in the drawers above this one.

I found a dried little tomato sac from last year that had sprouted. I thought… “lemme see what happens if I just plant the entire thing“. Here’s what we have so far.

Garden Pink (diathanus plumarius). When I planted these flowers last year I had no idea they were perennials. What a lovely surprise!

From Seeds

Bora and Okra

Planted from Saved Seeds

Mixed Salad Greens and Onions

Planted from New Seeds and Bulbs

What’s New

Animal Husbandry/Integrated Pest Management

Practicing a lil’ animal husbandry as part of my Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy 😁 . I got a jar of baby praying mantids from my friend Amy after I complained to her that I was having a problem with aphids and leafminer flies. In addition, I harvested 3 unsuspecting ladybugs from someone’s unkempt front yard while walking my dog in the neighborhood. The battle against pests is real 😅. I’m rooting for these little predators! So far I’ve had the 🐞 for 7 days and the praying mantids for 5 days and going strong 💪🏾 😁😁😁.

I released some of the praying mantids in the open with my chocolate mint and dill herb. The other praying mantids and the ladybugs are in beds that are meshed to reduce pests. As of this posting, the “free” praying mantids are still hanging around. My hope is that they will grow up big and healthy, then five or ten will be permanent residents in my garden… To be continued…