Thx so much for continuing the garden thread in 2021
@Trifele I was definitely over-ambitious last year, but I am benefitting nicely this year.
Tomatoes
I have six mystery tomatoes (from the compost pile that I transferred into big pots), three of them already producing like crazy and the other three looking like they will soon.
The two Roma tomatoes I picked up as plantlings from the nursery are in full production too - we've just had our first batch of tomato sauce.
The cherry tomatoes are disappearing into Mr. R's lunch bags and the weekend omelets.
Unless I can get a hold of Seminole tomato seeds I'm already done - or - maybe I'll try one of the wild varieties I ordered seeds for last year.
Ten tomato plants for two people... a good thing all six of the African Blue Basil bushes are in full bloom buzzing with bees.
I definitely got caught up in the garden fever last year.
This year I'm concentrating on completing the many left-over projects, undoing what didn't work last year and tweaking my garden plans.
Next week will be my seed week - veggies and flowers. Tons of clean-up, weeding and cutting...
My first Kale - Russian Red, is absolutely beautiful, decorative blue and also some purplish leaves, very tasty in soup and salads.
Hopefully it will last into May.
Now I just need to figure out how to make Kale Chips.
All the herbs that I seeded in autumn are half-grown now and looking happy. Most are in pots, but several are living in the garden for the first time which is amazing. Looking forward to my own Chamomile tea harvest.
One of the rare medicinal plants practically naturalized in my garden, so I took some babies with the intention to maybe sell them later.
We love celery. I am already harvesting celery leaves for my soups and roasts - first time grown from seed, I'm impressed - everybody survived, I'll have enough for all year. I'll sow the rest of my celery seeds during fall gardening.
All the dill seeds are coming up too - from the seeds that I saved last year and planted in late January.
More nasturtiums, zinnias, and lettuce to be planted next week. One can never have enough nasturtiums or zinnias:).
Both my lemon verbena are sprouting new leaves and the lemon balm survived in the ground for the first time.
A (new to me) creeping Rosemary variety I planted in late summer turned out to have an intense flavor and wonder of wonders seems to like its spot.
A rooted cutting of my old Rosemary is struggling along a bit, maybe I should have planted it in a pot first.
Experiments
A new more delicate-looking fern leafed Parsley variety - easy to grow, looks attractive - now all I have to do is taste test:).
Mandarin scented (lemon) balm - didn't make it, but somehow I now have a minty lemon balm:).
I will be trying out some strange and hopefully wonderfully weird seeds again - overall I had a 70/30 success rate last year - not bad.
Successes
My two new plant additions two blue Salvias (will be five-foot tall and wide) and two Australian Mint Bushes were a fantastic choice - heat lovers extraordinaire. The dwarf Moringa from seed is doing well, I'm thinking of leaving it in the pot so I can move it around the garden.
Failures
I killed a few things, cucumbers and melons always get eaten by UFOs and I was very sad that all three of my flowering tree seedlings died of a wasting disease. One day they looked fine and the next they started to dwindle away to nothing.
I'm done with cucumbers and melons forever - boo!
A couple of things never showed up at all - but who knows maybe they will pop up one day this spring.
Oh and the Papaya harvest is sweet and ongoing.
Hang in there in the frozen Tundra of the North - spring is just around the corner - HAPPY GARDENING everyone!