Show & Tell

I got LOTS of awesome things done in the garden today!

First, the cherry tomatoes. I have SIX of them. Yes, that's probably too many, but oh well! Tomatoes are cool.

Today, I took two of the biggest ones and put them into big containers. The taller of the two I protected, taking some bamboo stakes I had previously purchased (to keep the tree shelters flying away, for my in-garden tomatoes) and wrapped cellophane around them. It was just windy and I didn't want to look over and see the poor thing horribly mutilated. I'll removed it once the plant is a bit stronger. The other one seems just fine, likely because it's got some protection from the lip of its container.

Next up are two tomato plants I bought yesterday.

"But wait!" you ask. "Don't you already have FIVE tomato plants planted?"

Yes, indeed I do. Didn't I mention tomato plants are awesome?

These, however, are EXTRA amazing. They're heirloom plants, which is to say, they are grown from old fashioned seeds, kept and bred generation after generation, to differing ends. (Saving and planting seeds from hybrids doesn't work like that; it's like beating a dead horse. The seeds are sterile.)

The closer plant is a Cherokee Purple, which will, hopefully, turn out purple and crazy-shaped fruit. The farther plant is a Green Zebra, which will be a lighter green with darker green stripes running through it. I'm still not sure how I'm going to tell if the fruit is ripe or not. I suppose I'll know once I try eating one!

Also, doesn't that lettuce look lovely? There's one in the bottom corner that didn't want to line up with his friends, apparently.

The peas are also coming along nicely. Nothing grand happening here, I just thought the picture came out nice.

In the corner there, at the top of the picture, is where I just came in from sowing some cucumber seeds. My first try was transplants, which died. Second try, a transplant, also failed. Seeds that I sowed nearly simultaneously, my third attempt, dried up. A handful of seeds that I tried a week later, rotted from too much wet (and chilly) weather, so my fourth attempt also ended badly.

I am nothing if not persistent.

This time I sprouted seeds inside, in a wet paper towel. They took less than 24 hours to germinate (22 hours, if you're counting), so I know that these seeds want to grow, if I can just get them the right conditions. I planted about 8 seeds of lemon cucumber and 8 of normal cucumber, each in their own row so I'll know which is which. Water, warmth, and a quick prayer and hopefully they'll survive. My sleeves are almost out of tricks, after all.

Speaking of failure, several of my onions rotted in the soil (curses! spoiled again!). So, on venturing to the garden centre down the road, I was pleasantly surprised to see onion sets on sale! Way too many than I'll use, but a nice deal nonetheless. And I scored the last bag! I always hear a little evil laugh in my head when that happens: Mwahaha! The onions! They are all mine! *Rubs hands together deviously*

So I planted 8-10 of them. I have 4 that have come up really well, plus 2 that are just starting to come along. So I should have a dozen, at the very least.

Also tried to plant garlic. I had some in my cupboard, and I saw in Crockett's Victory Garden (thanks for the book, Dad!) he says you can just buy garlic from the market and plant the cloves. So... hey, why not, right? I planted 5. Worst case is they'll rot. Or sit there and do nothing. I've got a whole bulb left for fending off vampires, so I should be set.

Let's end with some pictures of my strawberries, shall we? I'll let them speak for themselves.