Tomatoes, Some Veggies, and Seeds are in the Ground – 2008 Garden Update #3
In my last garden update, the fabulous nephews filled the growboxes with soil and dug out flowers to prepare a place where I wanted tomatoes along a fence. This week I’ve been buying plants and seeds like crazy. Before I show you what’s planted, first I need advice about the two plants in my planting tray above which were marked Black Beauty Eggplant. When I got them home that I realized they don’t look like any eggplant I’ve seen. There was a whole shelf of these, all marked “eggplant” but I’m suspicious because I’ve had a few mystery plants that didn’t turn out to be what they were supposed to be. Gardeners, please weigh in, could this possibly be eggplant, or is it a mis-marked squash plant of some type?
Because my garden area has overhead sprinklers, I’ve long wanted to move the tomatoes away from the other vegetables. Now I have a long row of tomatoes planted along a fence/garage. There are 4 Romas for slow roasted tomatoes, 2 Celebrity, and one each Lemon Boy, Mr. Stripey, Husky Cherry Red, Mortgage Lifter, and Brandywine. I see a lot of tomato sandwiches in my future.
The long narrow herb boxes are now all planted with herbs and seeds except for basil plants, which I’m saving for warmer weather. The boxes have Greek Oregano, Purple Sage, Italian Oregano, Bergarten Sage, Marjoram, Italian Parsley, Rosemary, French Tarragon, Curly Parsley, Silver Thyme, Green Onion (seeds) and Basil (seeds.) Yes, I do realize I’m planting them rather close together, but what I’m going for here is masses of herbs in a box. (There are more herbs along a fence which I’ll talk about later.)
I planted two clumps of these bush-type cucumbers, which I’m hoping won’t spread out too much.
I’m going to add some type of sweet mini-peppers too, but so far I have two plants of these sweet bell peppers which will turn red when they ripen.
Finally, a rather boring photo but one box will be entirely planted with seeds, a new experience for me. So far I have French Breakfast Radishes, Bright Lights Chard, Rainbow Carrots, Red Russian Kale, and Arugula. I’m planting it so that some of the quick growing plants (such as radishes and arugula) will get pulled out and leave room for bigger all season plants (like chard.) There’s room for a couple more types of greens, any suggestions?You can use this link to see all 2008 Garden Updates.
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13 Comments on “Tomatoes, Some Veggies, and Seeds are in the Ground – 2008 Garden Update #3”
Thanks Kalyn…I’m trying to do the heritage seed, 100% organic thing this year so I have Brandywine, Cherokee purple and Aunt Ruby’s green tomatoes started.
They have all gotten very leggie…my fingers are crossed.
Your garden looks good. Hope I can have a good display, too!
Kalyn, I just found your blog and I love it. I’m an organic gardener in West-Central texas and an avid cook of “South-Beachish” (aka healthy) food. I think those are Black Beauty Zucchini plants rather than Black Beauty eggplants.
Kalyn, your garden looks lovely, and those leaves look like a member of the squash family to me, too. If it’s too cold, frost blankets do wonders.
Dana: I’m a seed starter, too. Thin stems mean they’re not getting enough light so they become “leggy”. You may want to stake them, too.
Dana, I always buy tomato plants, so I don’t know what would cause the stems to be thin.
I wish I could say I have seeds in the ground! It will be at least three weeks before we can do that here in Toronto!
I do have my seedlings started though. I’m finding my tomato plants aren’t developing very strong stems…any advice?
Kalyn,
I’m not sure where you are, but I can tell you that in North Texas (Dallas) I ended up with arugula out in my yard when it went to seed and I didn’t notice it. I think it may be second only to mint in its spreading capabilities.
AFA greens, how about some spinach and/or a nice green or red leaf lettuce? I had really good luck with both when I was gardening.
It looks more like a squash plant, I have eggplants, Japanese and Black beauty, one main stalk with oval type leaves.
Lydia, I’ve had overhead sprinklers for years even tough most gardening experts don’t recommend them. (I considered switching them for the boxes, but I have flowers and herbs along the edge of my garden that also get water from the overhead sprinklers.) I truly haven’t had trouble with them, other than the fact that more weeds grow because all the ground gets watered. Of course, remember that Utah has very dry air, so there’s no danger of mildew or anything like that.
The reason I wanted to move the tomatoes was because my whole garden is on one sprinkler station, and the tomatoes need a lot less water, especially later in the season. Now the tomatoes are on a station with a strip of lawn, so they’ll be getting much less water there.
Seanachi, not sure about that but there’s a Black Beauty Eggplant too. I’m afraid this is not eggplant though.
Anonymous, Bok Choy is a great idea. Lettuce goes to seed very quickly for me because my garden is in a very hot spot (arugula too.)
Nika, if I didn’t have a fence on three sides of the garden I’d have to wait a few more weeks too. Fingers crossed as it is!
Dianne, I was afraid of that. Wish I knew what it was! I’ll probably just toss it rather than waste garden space on something that I don’t know what it will be.
You’re right…That doesn’t really look like any eggplant I’ve seen either. It looks more squash or cucumber like…
Looks beautiful! We can not plant until after May 15th .. we are looking at a night temp this next week of 29F .. bleh.
How about some bok choy and “cut and come again” lettuce. Cook’s Garden has great seeds. You can keep cutting the arugula instead of pulling too. At least until it bolts.
I believe black beauty is a type of zucchini, actually.
How do the overhead sprinklers work for you? I’ve put in soaker hoses through part of my garden. They seem to work well, until some critter starts to gnaw on them. Looking forward to watching the progress of your garden over the season — it’s inspiring!