Sad, sad garden

Things are not going as well as I'd hoped in my little garden. Hornworms attacked my tomato and ate half of the biggest (which was about the size of my thumb). I still have these two little ones (about the size of my thumbnail) and I hope they will continue to grow. I have an upside down hanging tomato as well, which is getting a little leggy and has never had a blossom on it. I am not feeling terribly optimistic about getting anything there.

I also have eggplant. This and all my other plants have been attacked by what I think are aphids. I can't really see them. At first I thought it was back splash from watering, but back splash doesn't put little holes in your leaves. I've sprayed the leaves of this and all the other plants quite thoroughly with insecticidal soap, but if you skip a couple of days, they're right back in there, munching away...

The white things on the dirt are slices of cucumber. I've read that they help keep away all kinds of pests. We'll see. I also have pots of marigolds between each vegetable container, but I'm not sure they're doing much.

These are yellow straightneck squash. The ones in the big container haven't really grown much in the past week. The ones in the too-small container are going great guns, but I haven't seen any blossoms yet.

These are cucumbers. I thought putting slices of cucumber in with the cucumber might be a little redundant, but who knows? This plant looks so sad. It's been attacked over and over by aphids, and yet it's still hanging in there. Even producing little flowers. No fruit yet, but maybe...

I thought I'd have to replace the sad cukes, so I got these. Sad Cukes haven't died yet though, so maybe I'll just keep these going where they are for now.

This is one of two successful sprouts of my heritage Datil Pepper seedlings that I got from Pure Florida. It hasn't really grown much since being potted, but I'm hoping that some sunlight, a little fertilizer and a spray of insecticidal soap will give it a chance.



What's left of my herbs... The oregano and cilantro died a quick death, but so far the rosemary and basil seem to be hanging in there. I think I need to move this "window" box though. Both of them are leaning pretty hard towards the light now.

I was really hoping to have a nice little organic container garden this year, but it's not really working out well. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. They aren't growing well, they are constantly under siege and my best efforts just don't seem to be helping. If and when I ever get a squash or tomato off of one of these plants, it will be one of the most expensive vegetables ever.

I may have to rethink doing this again next year. It makes me sad.