Garden Update, Part 2

Thought of the Day... Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables. They probably get jet-lagged, just like people. ~Elizabeth Berry

OK so that isn’t the greatest Thought of the Day, but given I planted a bunch of tomato plants today I won’t need tomatoes shipped to me in late July or August.

Last year I had my garden in containers on the patio. You can read about that in my First Garden post.

This year, I decided to move it out into the yard. I needed to make it so Hubby could easily get around it with the lawn mower. So instead of just putting the containers on the grass, I put down weed blocking sheeting.

I bought the plants a few weeks ago, but it has been raining so much I couldn’t get out to plant them in the containers. The whole process took several hours and I didn’t take any pictures during the work, but will show you what I had at the end of today’s work.

I created a panorama so you could see it all together...

This photo explains what each plant is (or will be for those that aren’t in the ground yet.

I took measurements and will post weekly progress. I sure hope Mother Nature starts cooperating and gives us some SUN... they need it.

This is one of the Sun Gold tomatoes (they’re orange cherry size and sooo tasty).

This year I decided to plant a couple of larger sized tomatoes instead of just cherry size.

This one is a Brandywine Heirloom... (duh... the tag is there... sorry)

... and this is a Bush Early Girl... (again, the tag is there)

I’m eager to see if moving them out into the yard makes a difference in growth. I will post weekly updates (or whenever something exciting happens).

Garden Update, Part 1

Thought of the Day...Weather means more when you have a garden. There's nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans. ~Marcelene Cox
Do you remember in my Summer is just around the corner post the basil I bought basil at Trader Joe’s?
It looked great... right?....

...Well, I moved it outside and now it doesn’t look so hot... it got a bit cold... OK, I should have brought it indoors... but something started nibbling on it! (WARNING... this next few statements might make you squeamish... so feel free to jump to next paragraph! Earwigs... I hate them! I had six of them on my kitchen counter! YUCK!!! How do I prevent them from getting into my herb garden?! ICK!!! I really feel like I need a shower now! ICK!)
...Whew! Now that that is over... on to some more exciting news...
If you recall from my CSA Hanging Baskets post I have a hanging Tumbling Tomato and Spacemaster Cucumber plants.
On May 14th they looked like this...

...and this morning (June 1st) they look like this...

At that angle you can’t see the real subject of the photo... so let me zoom in...

...still can’t see them? Let me zoom in more and circle them for you...

Yep, that’s right... I have TWO tomatoes and it’s only been TWO weeks!

Summer I know you’re coming... YIPPEEE!

CSA Hanging Baskets

Thought of the Day... “The garden is the poor man's apothecary.” -German Proverb

Last week in my Summer is just around the corner post I mentioned buying into a CSA (community supported agriculture) program.

As part of the program this year they have a Greenhouse Share add-on. What this means is that we could potted plants that they have nurtured in the greenhouse. Our choices were Tumbler Tomato, Spacemaster Cucumber, Herb Collection and Premium Flower baskets.

I decided since I have my own perennial herb garden and in-house basil starts (remember I talked about them in my Basil Almond Pesto post) that I didn’t need to buy their herb collection.

Well... I received my baskets... the flowers are sooooo pretty!

We have year-round Anna’s hummingbirds, they’re loving it already.

This is the Tumbler Tomato basket... as you can see it’s already flowering...

... and this is the Spacemaster Cucumber

The pots for the tomato and cucumber are different sizes. Here they are side-by-side so you can see the difference...

Last year was the first year I’d had a garden. I chose to do container garden. I planted 10 tomato plants and two cucumbers. I planted seven Sun Gold and three Sweet 100s.

The Sun Gold are orange and ooooohhhhh soooo good! They were sweeter than the Sweet 100s. I plan on planting Sun Gold and Sweet 100s again this year. As well as roma and a larger tomato and also baby bell peppers.

Last year the cucumbers didn’t do too well. I am going to plant another plant in the container in addition to this Spacemaster.

As I get things planted, I will continue to share.

Lots and lots of tomatoes

May 16, 2010: This post is a “back-dated” post. I originally wrote this in an email to family because I hadn’t started blogging. Some of the things mentioned most likely will come up in my blog posts, so I thought I would post them.

Look at all the yummy tomatoes!

Cucumber harvest

May 16, 2010: This post is a “back-dated” post. I originally wrote this in an email to family because I hadn’t started blogging. Some of the things mentioned most likely will come up in my blog posts, so I thought I would post them.

This cucumber is shaped really strange...

Garden progess

May 16, 2010: This post is a “back-dated” post. I originally wrote this in an email to family because I hadn’t started blogging. Some of the things mentioned most likely will come up in my blog posts, so I thought I would post them.

First Harvest

May 16, 2010: This post is a “back-dated” post. I originally wrote this in an email to family because I hadn’t started blogging. Some of the things mentioned most likely will come up in my blog posts, so I thought I would post them.

I picked my first tomatoes and cucumber today.

Sun Gold

WOW! Freshly picked tastes AWESOME!!!

Yummmmy!

These are the Sweet 100s

First crop almost ready

May 16, 2010: This post is a “back-dated” post. I originally wrote this in an email to family because I hadn’t started blogging. Some of the things mentioned most likely will come up in my blog posts, so I thought I would post them.

My first tomato is now orange (Sun Gold).

Lots of little green tomatoes and I have several baby cucumbers, too.

As you can see everything is growing tall...

First Garden

May 16, 2010: This post is a “back-dated” post. I originally wrote this in an email to family because I hadn’t started blogging. Some of the things mentioned most likely will come up in my blog posts, so I thought I would post them.

I bought tomatoes in 4 inch pots on Tue, May 26 from Bi-Mart. I watered the pots each morning. I finally got them and two cucumber pots planted in the larger patio pots on Friday night, June 5 (at 9-10pm - in the dark because it hat been really hot that day). The tomato plants had blooms on them when I planted them.

I went out this morning and have a tomato already!!!!

Two weeks and three days from planting - could have had it yesterday, but didn't check them. I only found it today because I was tying the tall stems to the green poles.

WOW!! This is exciting.