The Perennial Tomato?

Winter didn’t hold this tomato back!

Bronchitis has really set me back this year. My garden is progressing but at a snail’s pace. I spent a few minutes this morning, which is all I had energy for, cleaning up a small area of the raised beds. I went to pull up what I thought was a dead tomato and found life! The beds are on the South side of the house against a stucco wall. And while we had a really wet winter, I didn’t think of it as being particularly mild. Apparently it was!

A winter-hardy tomato being relocated!

I think this may be an Early Girl from the nursery, which I planted late in the season after my heirloom roma tomatoes developed a blight and had to be pulled out. And while Early Girls are not the tastiest, biggest, or sauciest tomatoes available, they are blight resistant, which is the only reason to reach for a hybrid, in my opinion. I would love to do my part in the world of the home gardener and help develop a blight resistant heirloom but when your planting areas are measured in inches instead of acres, you can only do what you can do. In any event, this plant is my experiment! I planted it fairly deep – about 8″ – covering up the the bottom sets of leaves and only leaving a few sets higher up above ground. We’ll see what happens!

My “perennial” tomato experiment – surrounded by an army of garlic chives I thinned from another bed!

Update:

My “perennial” tomato produced for another full season. It turned out to be a cherry tomato and, like most cherry tomatoes, was quite prolific! Unfortunately, it didn’t make it through this past winter. I carefully examined it for signs of life before pulling it out in late April 2020.

3/8/2019

What plans I had . . .

I just needed to get through a particularly grueling work week. Did it, yay! Got up the next morning, went off to my one obligation of the day, came home an hour later with a throbbing headache. Things went downhill from there. Fever, chills, chest congestion, you know, all the fun stuff. Bronchitis. Good times.

Spent 5 days trying not to drown in phlegm, watching old movies, and being absolutely worthless. I was so looking forward to getting a few things done in the garden but didn’t happen at all. The one thing I did harvest regularly and enjoy was my mint. Mint is wonderful for things like nasal congestion, headaches, and muscle spasms – all things I got to experience! I normally use peppermint for this purpose but it is only March and my peppermint is still mostly dormant. It’s just now starting to send out leaves. But for some reason, my spearmint, planted in the same area, never went dormant this year. So, lots and lots of spearmint tea loaded with local honey was consumed this week. It helped immensely with the sore throat and helped clear my sinuses. I think I still prefer the taste of peppermint but for medicinal purposes, the spearmint did just fine!

Naughty Spearmint attempting world domination.

Peppermint – peaking out through last years crab grass! Not quite enough, yet, to get me through a bout of bronchitis.

First Iris of 2018

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My first iris of the year popped out on Friday the 13th.  They seem a bit behind this year compared to my neighbors.  Hopefully the late bloomers will once again conspire with my roses to create a gaudy flash of color in the yard! (Guest appearance by Jesse the cat)

Why an Online Journal?

I’m not the most organized of individuals.  Sometimes I feel like a juggler with far too many spinning plates in the air: mom, caregiver to elderly parents, teacher, musician, avid reader, and then there’s my gardening interest. Okay, gardening passion.  Okay, OKAY, gardening  addiction!  I love to be out in the yard growing things.  But it’s not necessarily about the kale, which is not my favorite vegetable but it grows really well and it’s extremely nutritious so I plant and eat it.

Gardening allows me a bit of alone time.  I can plug into a podcast or play some music and mindlessly weed the cabbages.  But on other days, I can  mindfully work out a personal issue while dead heading the roses.  Gardening is my “me” time.  And of course, my garden will often reflect just how little me time I sometimes get.

This isn’t one of those immaculately kept garden blogs or gardens. This is here so that I can track my favorite recipes or look back to see what month did I plant my bush beans last year.  When I post pictures, you’ll probably be able to spot a few weeds and if I’ve done my job, they are edible weeds!  This is here because I’ve posted thousands of posts on various boards only to have them disappear and I’ve had to start my research over.

So, welcome to my messy mind, my messy journal, and my wonderfully messy and edible garden!