Testing My Green Thumb

So .. every year or so, I get this bug .. to garden .. to grow my own plants and veggies ... and every year they turn into little sprout-lings ... then I get distracted .. find something else to "Craft" and they die off ... leaving nothing to show for but an empty container of dirt and some gardening hopes down the drain. Well - here we are again .. in that "phase" .. I'm GONNA grow stuff and eventually my husband and I will eat what has been grown. I will admit, I've done a little more research this time, taking count of what grows best in what kind of light / shade / container. About 18 days ago I started Sugar Snap Peas, Sweet Basil, and Jelly Bean Tomatoes (photo coming soon) - they have sprouted and they are still alive :)

These seeds were started in a window sill on the west side of the house. After the sprouts broke the soil, they were reaching for the sun .. So i moved them outside to our front porch for now, there is partial sun/shade, yet still enough roof so they dont drown when it storms.

Now, I started another small batch of the Snap Peas and started them in a different window - on the south side of the house, more sun and I think I have discovered that seeds need to start in that window .. look at the thickness of the sprout and stem at only 5 days, it's not reaching as much for the sun since it's already there :)

Also, learning from the first bath, I've placed chop sticks in the containers so the vines have somewhere to attach to.

I also got a little creative in planting seeds, knowing all it would do is "waste" some dirt - better than wasting money when I throw bad food away ... so anyways .. I was making a stir fry the other night with mini bell peppers I purchased from one of those "LARGE" super stores in the area and figured, what the heck .. let me throw some of the seeds in the dirt and see what happens ... well growth happened!

After about 8 days or so there was nothing poking out of the dirt .. but I held on .. giving them a chance .. and look at them now! At 14 days I'm realizing I probably shouldnt have put so many seeds in that little container - hehe ... Looks like I'll be replanting them somewhere else in a little bit :) - but i'm quite excited that they did sprout ... I'm not looking for prize winning veggies ... just something that would taste good in salads and to cook with. I do understand that there are some veggies that are purchased in the stores that are hybrids and they end up not tasting what you had previously ... either way, it's not much of a loss, so why not try it out? :)

After seeing the progressing results of the bell peppers, I figured what the heck tonight, and planted some of the eggplant seeds from the eggplant I bought today and made eggplant parmigiana this evening.

During my online searching and blog reading, I found out about container gardening - using 2-liter bottles specifically and turning them into SIPs - (Sub Irrigating Planter). Below is my first one, with the eggplant seeds just under the surface of the soil.

One last thing that I have growing here at the house for now is some green onions. I had found out that if you snip the green onion off just above the white bulb, and stick the roots in water, that green onion will continue to grow and just keep growing until you snip again ... I "never" have to buy green onions again!

Once I prove to myself that I can stick with this and have some results, I do plan to start a salad container garden with lettuces and such ... :)

Do you garden? Have any suggestions of the types of veggies that are fairly tolerant to our Florida sun and weather - and semi-Green thumbs? Any information would be greatly appreciated :)