We have been having a relatively warm spring, so got to gardening a little earlier than usual this year. The bird defenses are already in place so the starts and seedlings will have more protection for longer than we have had before.
Took up the tulip bulbs – composted the ones that produced no flowers, and clipped and saved the bulbs that did. They will be ready for replanting in the fall. Loosened and amended the soil. Added a couple bags of compost to the whole planter and a 1# bag of Walt’s Rainy Pacific NW natural fertilizer, which is a blend of fish meal, crab meal, kelp meal, bone meal, and gypsum. Smells lovely.
This year, I plan to go medieval on the tomatoes, with the hardcore Italian Grandfather style – pinching off all of the sucker stalks so that all of the plant’s energy goes into 1 or 2 major stalks. I didn’t start this early enough last year and the plants got too tangly for the small space.
Here is the playlist so far, so it will be easier to do the Post-Game review in the fall.
Planter #1:
- Orange jazz tomato – Unique, orange beefsteak-type, 10 to 16 ounce, fruits are brushed with yellow stripes. Just a hint of fresh peach sweetness.
- Tigerella tomato – When immature, light green with dark green stripes. When mature the stripes alternate between red and a yellow orange. Two inch fruit have a very tangy flavor.
- Chadwick cherry tomato – Delicious, sweet flavor makes this 1-ounce cherry popular with home gardeners. Large vines set huge yields and are disease resistant.
- Ananas noire (a.k.a. black pineapple) tomato – Multi-colored, smooth fruit (green, yellow and purple mix) weighs about 1½ lbs. The flesh is bright green with deep red streaks. Superb flavor, being both sweet and smoky with a hint of citrus.
- Room for 1 more tomato plant, to be named.
- Lil pump-ke-mon pumpkin
- Casperita pumpkin
Planter #2:
- Carbon tomato – large, rich flavorful, award winning, crack resistant.
- Paul Robeson – distinctive, sweet, and smoky flavor. red-brick color. named in honor of the famous black opera singer, Paul Robeson.
- Rose tomato – An Amish heirloom from Pennsylvania. Large, crack resistant, meaty and dusty rose colored. Flavor is excellent, and is considered by some to rival Brandywine.
- Black Krim – Dark red-purple fruit, rich sweet flavor. An heirloom from Russia with very unique looking, large fruit.
- Violetta bok choy – supposedly light and sweet. Need to figure out how to harvest these.
- Spacemaster cucumber – supposedly good for smaller planters as it does not range as much.
- Room for 2 more cucumber plants, hopefully some lemon cucumbers.
Planter #3:
- Sweet million – small, bright red fruit. Sweet-tasting, good for snacks and salads.
- Sun peach – sister variety to Sun Gold. Not as tangy and acidic, but very sweet with excellent flavor. Deep pink, shiny, vigorous, healthy, high-yielding plants. High resistance to leaf mold and tomato mosaic virus. Resistant to cracking.
Still need to plant the carrots and lettuces, and the sunflowers. Also, the Blue Lake bush beans, whenever we find them.
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