Living with Maniacs: The Little Garden that Grew

One thing that amazes me is that our garden, even though it is on our balcony, is STILL producing peppers and tomatoes. The weather in Crete is ideal for having a garden all year. A dream come true for me.

I brought seeds with me from the United States to, hopefully, grow some of my favorite vegetables in Crete. There were successes and failures. Ilias and I worked very hard to make each plant grow but, some seemed not to enjoy the sun, sea air, and the dry climate. On the other hand, some of the seeds took off and grew bigger than I have ever seen in the States. Oops! I hope it does not start an invasion….

Here are some of our successes.

Marigolds, oh Marigolds!

These are two plants. One packets of seeds filled many pots, made flowers for months, and they grew to monster sizes. I collected and saved a HALF GALLON of marigold seeds for next year. They seems to love the Cretan sun.

(Taken October 2nd)

The Cherry tomatoes were beyond my expectations. They grew over 7ft tall and produced not once, but twice! It is October now and I believe we will have tomatoes well into November. I am very happy with my American seeds because the plant seemed to resist a serious bug problem that destroyed most other tomato plants in Crete.

This is a potted tomato that hangs off our balcony. (Taken October 2nd)

Brandywine tomatoes and Basil ready to give us it’s seeds.

Most surprising were the peppers. Some of the plants grew nearly five feet tall. We have Serrano, cayenne, cubanelle, red, chili… The list goes on and on. The peppers seem to love the climate. The Cretans do not eat spicy food, so we have the peppers all to ourselves. Hee Hee!

We originally bought the mint to make mojitos, but it is more of a decorative plant now. We make new plants from the runners by placing them in a pot of dirt and then setting a rock on top of it. It is always nice to give a little mint plant as a gift to those who visit us.