Flowering Tomato Plant

I've been doubting my tomato plant to bear fruits recently. It's because according to Mark, tomato plant needs to be planted on the ground, not just on a pot of soil because it needs a lot of soil nutrients to bear fruits, which my pot of soil (it's a huge pot btw) will not be able to supplement. But look what I found today :

It's bearing flowers!

So tiny and beautiful!

I have very little knowledge about plants and this is the first time in my life that I tried growing various herbs and stuff in my balcony, but my hope went up when I saw the flowers. The same excitement I felt when I saw my basil plant growing flowers. That was the beginning of its monstrous growth. So now I'm thinking fruits will come next (keeping my fingers crossed). But whether it bears fruits or not, it's fine with me. I'm happy to see my green plants healthy. They add color to my balcony, and relieves my stress.

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Plants Update : A Month Old Tomato Plant

Only a month and few days had passed, but look at my tomato plant! I never thought I could ever grow something from seeds. My baby tomato makes me feel so proud :). I know it's too early, but I can hardly wait to see it bear fruits!

Tomato leaves up close.

My mint is also growing like crazy! Hello Mojito!

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Harvest time!

I was told by a friend that it's healthy for my herbs to harvest them when they are ready instead of just letting them grow and wither. My basil, for example, has been growing like crazy for the past few weeks. I think its about 3 feet tall now. I only pluck them when I need it. But she said harvesting and trimming them when they are ready will encourage the herb to grow more leaves. And so I did :)!

Sylvia sniffing the aromatic basil leaves.



My parsley that I thought will never grow. Apparently, its development was just slow.



The peppermint also needed some trimming.


So this evening, we might have salad with lotsa basil in it, a dish that requires parsley, and probably a minty refreshment!

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Project : Mini Herb Garden

My mini herb garden project started in December 10, 2010 when I decided I'd like to grow more herbs aside from my beautiful and ever growing basil. I planned to have mint, tarragon, coriander, tomatoes and rosemary. We bought a number of big pots, coriander, rosemary and tomato seeds, 3 small pots of coriander and 2 small pots of parsley.

If you remember, I already have a parsley. But this parsley never dies, nor grows. It's just as is. I thought that planting a few more would encourage it to grow and multiply. Unfortunately, the new plants just died.

The coriander died too after 3 days. I didn't know that coriander is sensitive and gets easily stressed when you transfer it from one pot to another. So basically, buying a coriander pot and transferring it to a another soil is a guaranteed death. It's recommended to plant it from seeds.

During a Saturday market here in Salcedo Village, I found a pot of mint and tarragon. I'm very happy that the 2 of them survived and very very healthy at this time.


Tarragon is not only good for cooking, it's also a great tea!


My little tarragon now is bearing flowers.


Very proud of my pepper mints!

I was disappointed with what happened to my coriander that I kinda got apprehensive in planting the seeds I bought. Aside from I'm a great procrastinator, I also know no shit about planting. But finally, on December 27, I decided to just plant it! I prepared the soil, sprinkled my tomato seeds on one pot and buried it a little bit, and did the same for my coriander seeds.

On January 1, 2011, a miracle of life has manifested! I was very surprised to see that my tomato seeds are budding!


OMG!!!

I was so thrilled! This is the first time I grew something from seeds (except mongo which grows even on damp paper :P ). I wonder if it will grow and eventually bear fruits. Stay tuned!

As for my coriander - I thought it was hopeless. But today, I saw one tiny bud. It's a good sign, isn't it? Very symbolical. Their birth are right at the start of 2011. New beginning :).

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