Author: Kim

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Tomatoes!

Today’s planting is all about tomatoes. There are so many varieties! I have chosen to grow four different ones this year – two from last year (Plum Regal and SunGold) and two new ones to me (Red Rief Heart and Amish Paste). The photo below shows most of them planted, but I added a few more after and some basil seeds so there were not empty cells 🙂 I could have left them empty… I just don’t like to do that and I want to see if my older basil seeds are still viable. One can never have too much basil!

I only had a few seeds left from the SunGold’s (Veseys) so I picked up another package today (Annapolis Seed Company). We really enjoyed the variety last year so we’ll see which of these we prefer or if there is a difference.

Indeterminate vs determinate

You can read and watch a lot of content online about the different types of tomatoes. The SunGolds are an indeterminate cherry tomato plant which I grow up strings on a trellis. The Red Rief Heart and the Amish Paste are also indeterminate and I will be growing them up strings and on a trellis. Indeterminates continue to grow until the frost kills them in the fall. They will continue to set fruit throughout the season. Determinate tomatoes on the other hand grow a height (usually around 3 ft tall depending on the variety), set fruit and then are done. This is the category of the Plum Regals I am growing. They produced a lovely Roma tomato last year. I encourage you to learn what type of tomato plant you are growing so that you can stake it appropriately and get the best yield possible. You stake and prune each type a bit differently. A google search will provide you all the info you need. Next Level Gardening is a great resource about tomatoes.

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For the Birds…

I haven’t been able to get a photo of them today, but the Cedar Waxwings are busy in my yard today. They are cleaning the berries off the barberry bush as they do each spring. I noticed them on the edge of a garden cart and it took a minute to figure out what they were doing. Apparently there was some rain water in the recesses so it was the watering hole while at the berry buffet!

I enjoy watching the birds very much. In addition to the waxwings, there have been yellow finches, chickadees, nuthatches, grackles, and blue jays around the yard today. They are beautiful and a reminder to notice the little things. We, like them, are taken care of and we can appreciate each moment.

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Nope… not good at waiting…

I bought a few more seeds – just ones to try and see how it goes: Rosemary and Parsley. Both are finicky to grow from seed apparently but why not give it a try. I will be tending lots of other seeds over the coming seeks so we’ll see what happens.

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It is so hard to wait!

With the lovely weather last week it is even harder to wait to get things going for the garden. But I must be patient or things will be going too early and I will need to keep seedlings alive a long time in the house before I can plant them out. But waiting is so hard!

I figured last year that The Old Farmer’s Almanac had been around a long time so it may be a good place to start. I really like their garden planner and am continuing to use it this year.

I made myself a calendar based on The Old Farmer’s Almanac site. I counted backwards from the last frost date and using sticky notes (I use them for so many things in my life) I made a plan of when to start seeds. A couple of weeks ago I started onions and leeks. This weekend I started some of my pepper seeds – three varieties: Yum Yum, Just Sweet, and Inca Red Drop. I also planted some lavender seeds. I didn’t have much luck with them last year and they take a long time to germinate so we will see.

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Starting a new adventure…

So it was recommended to me to start a blog about my garden adventures. We’ll see how it goes. I like to keep lots of notes anyway so I thought why not give this a try. This photo is from last year after building the new raised beds. More on that in another post perhaps.

There are so many things to learn about gardening. So much information out there. The important thing to me is to learn and give it a try. It is a neat feeling to see something you have grown. And if it is edible that is even more of a great feeling!

So let’s start this adventure!