From the Archives

Welcome to the Jungle

I spent a couple of hours yesterday transplanting tomatoes, yet again. Every tomato is now in its third and final pot. In a little over a week, weather permitting, all of my babies will be moved into their new homes in the garden. The tomato seeding season has been more successful by far than last year, but it wasn’t without its issues. Once again, my evil tomato-plant-munching cat, Mouse, laid waste to a few of my darlings, despite our best efforts to blockade the plants from her. So, R.I.P. ‘Yellow Pear’ plant #3, ‘Early Girl’ plant #2, and to my sole ‘Japanese Black Trifele’ plant, which I was looking forward to tasting for the very first time. I only wish cats could feel guilt…

seedshelvesmay09 But even with the casualties, the tomatoes are looking great, and so are the peppers, eggplants, lemon thyme, sage, ‘Genovese’ basil, and a bunch of annuals that I started this year with the hopes of filling empty space in the newly expanded front gardens. The success is due to two things: the great seed starting shelf that my husband built to replace my old bench setup, and the small, portable greenhouse we bought from Growers Supply. As we ran out of room in the basement, under the lights, we moved the annuals out to the greenhouse. The tomatoes were the only things that stayed inside. We all have priorities in life, right? This summer, mine is tomatoes.

In the little greenhouse, you can see that I’m still seeding some things. On the top level are the soil blocks that I planted up yesterday with ‘Waltham’ butternut squash, ‘Cinderella’ pumpkins, ‘Black Beauty’ zucchini, and ‘Lemon’ and ‘Straight Eight’ cucumbers. Of course, these are all things that can easily be direct sown, and most years I do just that. But, I like the sense of control (because of course, the idea of “control” in the garden is only an illusion) I get with sowing in the blocks and then planting sturdy little plants into the garden after our last frost date. Also, I like playing with my soil block maker.

greenhousemay09 On the next level down are a bunch of annuals and herbs that I recently planted. On the two shelves below are more annuals. I usually don’t grow many annuals, but I have a lot more space to fill this year, and since I’m not allowed to have a vegetable garden in my front yard (according to our city’s code enforcement office’s website) I guess I have to plant something out there. Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t be growing a few tasty goodies on the porch. Right now I’ve got a couple containers planted with mesclun, beets, and chard on the plant stand my husband built. Take that, city code enforcers!

So, that’s pretty much it for now. I’m at that point in spring where I’m just trying to keep all of the plants happy until they can be planted in the garden. It’s getting crowded, and I’m getting tired already of lugging 20+ tomato plants outside in the morning and back inside at night to get them hardened off.

Oh, yeah. And there are some flowers blooming, too What’s going on in your garden?

11 comments

11 comments to “Welcome to the Jungle”

Dee/reddirtramblings, May 4th, 2009 at 6:52 am:

All of your seedlings look happy and healthy. Mine didn’t look half that good when I placed them in the ground. ~~Dee

Colleen Vanderlinden, May 4th, 2009 at 6:56 am:

Hi Dee!
Thanks–they seem pretty happy. But I am looking forward to having them all planted out! Thanks for stopping by!

Kylee from Our Little Acre, May 4th, 2009 at 7:45 am:

Jungle, indeed! But everything looks great. I didn’t start a single thing inside this year. Those darn houseplants (175+) kept me busy enough. LOL

Blackswampgirl Kim, May 4th, 2009 at 10:30 am:

Looking great, Colleen! I’ve grown that ‘Black Beauty’ zucchini before and really liked it. Sorry to hear about your black tomato, though… but yeah, cats feel no guilt. Ever! lol.

I like your “take that, city!” approach. I’m thinking that if you group things appropriately/decoratively, nobody will ever really know that you’re growing a whole packetful of beets, for example. Mwahahahaha!

Colleen Vanderlinden, May 4th, 2009 at 12:00 pm:

Kylee– 175+ houseplants?? And here I was all excited that I’m up to my all-time record of eleven houseplants Thanks for stopping by!

Hi Kim! Yeah, cats are impossible that way. That’s the plan. We’ll have some pots of annuals and stuff up there too, so I’m guessing no one will even notice. I’ve kind of taken the “take that!” approach with a few things, including my composting. Still itching to test the “no backyard chickens” law, but I’m thinking I’ll leave that one alone

Laura, May 4th, 2009 at 12:22 pm:

I caught my son’s cat trying to eat my tomato seedlings; a couple of sprays from the water bottle and she has left them alone!

Carol, May Dreams Gardens, May 4th, 2009 at 3:25 pm:

Your seedlings all like great, especially the tomatoes. Mine are so-so. I showed my tomato plants this post to show them what they are supposed to look like.

Colleen Vanderlinden, May 4th, 2009 at 6:05 pm:

Hi Laura—Ah, if only I’d caught her in the act! A spray bottle would have worked beautifully!

Carol–I wonder if that works? Do keep me updated

Leslee, May 4th, 2009 at 11:59 pm:

I am more of flower gardener.. I am hoping in the years to come I will be able to make the time to grow plants from seed .. way cool. Your tulips look so much better than mine..rabbits got a hold of many of mine this year

Colleen Vanderlinden, May 5th, 2009 at 5:49 am:

Hi Leslee! We don’t have many rabbits around here, though a couple of years ago we had one that ate every single parsley plant I planted right down to the ground.

Growing from seed is so much fun–I hope you do get a chance to try it! Thanks for stopping by!

Chookie, May 7th, 2009 at 1:06 am:

No vegetables out the front, eh? Well, that doesn’t stop you from growing herbs there.

I wonder would they recognise Tuscan Kale as a vegetable, or Rainbow Chard? Asparagus. Jerusalem artichokes. Hmm. Am I bad?

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From the Archives

Welcome to the Jungle

11 comments

11 comments to “Welcome to the Jungle”

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