I have been bitten by the gardening bug again!
We didn't think we had a spot for a garden at our new house, because there is a huge tree in the backyard which shades it too much to grow vegetables and herbs. But alongside the driveway, in a sunnier spot, there were these huge, unsightly, overgrown azalea bushes that Nathan tackled last weekend, and now I have a really nice sized garden plot.
Today, the kids and I bought a bunch of things to plant, even though we haven't finished prepping the soil: tomatoes, zucchini, crookneck squash, orange peppers, cayenne peppers, basil, Greek oregano, mint, chives, English lavender, and more. I also have a lot of seed packets that I've saved from years past. I don't know if the seeds are any good anymore, so I am going to start them in little pots and see if anything grows. I have everything from green and orange striped cherry tomatoes (which, bummer, didn't produce any fruit last year) to a variety of flowers. Our entire yard is a blank page right now, because, like much of the house, it wasn't maintained well by the elderly previous owner. So we are pulling everything out and starting from scratch, which is proving to be more fun than I originally thought. It's a lot of work for Nathan, though!
I love growing tomatoes. Not only is a garden fresh tomato just far and away more tasty than what you can get at the grocery store, but--and I think this is what is most exciting for me--there is such a huge variety. You can grow huge slicing tomatoes, paste (Roma) tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, pear tomatoes, and more. And they come in so many colors! I think I've mentioned before that, one day, I'd love to have a garden big enough to grow tomatoes of every color. Well, I realized this afternoon that if my little plot is sunny enough, I will be pretty close this year. So far, I've got: red, pink, yellow, orange, green/orange striped, and black.
If only I hadn't given all my tomato cages to our neighbor when we moved!
:)
3 comments:
Grow those tomatoes, Lauren, and know that I will gladly help you eat them! I have actually thought about trying to grow some in a container on the pool deck. Any helpful hints?
Yes--buy "determinate" varieties, not "indeterminate." (It should tell you on the tag.) They only grow to a certain size, whereas indeterminates don't stop growing until they die, get diseased, or you pull them up. Also, buy an enormous pot--much larger than you think you would ever need. It might be a good idea to check the spacing requirements (usually about 3') and buy a pot that size. Then just make sure they get lots of sun!
If your tomato plants have flowers, but no fruit, you can use a q-tip to pollinate the plants yourself. If you have bees, you won't need to worry about this though. Good luck!
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