my little garden

Last year I put my green thumb skills to the test and had 2 little tomato plants- one cheery tomatoes and one big tomatoes.  The cherries did pretty well, and Greg was able to enjoy a few throughout the summer.  But my big tomatoes never go any bigger than a ping-pong ball and never turned red.  Well this year, despite last years semi-failures, I decided to go even further in my gardening adventures.  I bought 2 large tomato plants (Better Boys, to be exact), 1 cherry tomato plant, 2 strawberry plants, and 2 green bell pepper plants.  I also bought a huge wooden planter, made from an old wiskey barrel, to use along with a smaller wooden barrel planter I owned from last year.  Here's how my little garden looked the day I planted everything...

The strawberries have done kinda 'eh.'  They made fruit, but nothing like the "large fruit" the info label on the plant said they would produce.  I don't think I've planted them in the optimal container they need.  I think strawberries need more space.  They have also stopped making fruit for the time being, but after doing some research on the internet, I think they should begin producing again in the early fall.  The cherry tomatoes have done the best so far.  I just picked the 1st two this week, and gave them to Greg to eat. He said they were delicious!  And there are a lot more in the process of growing.  The big tomatoes seem to be doing much better this year.  They are growing bigger than last year's crop, but are still very green, so it'll be a while before they are ready to eat.  I was a little worried about the bell peppers at first. They took a while to begin growing fruit. For a good month or so it was just the leafy plants, but about a week ago, tiny little bell peppers began to spout!  So, I've got my fingers crossed that they will do well!  Here's how things look as of this week...

And speaking of my garden. I don't think I ever posted about the BEAUTIFUL lillies I had in my front yard.  These flowers just popped up the following spring after I bought my house the summer before.  They are were absolutely beautiful! (they're gone now until next spring) And luckily this year, they multiplied!  Oh, I LOVE them :)