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.
Part of the challenge of gardening on an urban lot is tucking in as many veggies as possible in whatever spots are available to you! This area, roughly 9’x3′ of useable growing space, has been my compost area for several years. Using the “slow method”, I had three separate piles going at all times. But due to limited space, I decided that the slow method wasn’t giving me maximum results and took up valuable dirt space that could be used for growing edibles. So, last year I chopped down a shrubby useless tree-thing (you can see the stump being used as a hose holder), shoveled out 5 wheelbarrows of awesome compost into my garden beds, and planted some veggies.
Then life happened. Do you see the back fence? On the opposite side of the fence is where the air conditioner lives. After 42 years, our air conditioner went out. Pretty good life-span for an ac unit, especially here in Central California where we get several weeks of triple digit days during the summer months. So, the fence came out and the ac crew trampled my lovely kale, grape tomatoes, chives, and even the beans climbing up the fence, back into compost. But, losing a few kale plants was a small price to pay for having air conditioning!
So, I got the area cleaned out and re-planted a few weeks ago. I did cheat and planted a few dozen bean seeds along the fence but I doubt they come up. February is too cold for seed germination. So I will be planting the climbing areas in earnest in another month or so. I was smart and bought my purple beans early this year. Last year I waited too long and had to plant regular green beans. They tasted great but I missed half of them because they hid so well among the leaves! In the past, I’ve always kept my own bean seed but due to life interfering with my gardening ambitions, I haven’t been able to save any for a few years. So, I’m starting fresh this year!
I also have to confess to buying kale and brussel sprouts starts from the nursery. I did start several dozen kale seeds that I had saved from last year. They were growing great until they weren’t. I watered them one day and the next, slugageddon! One of the drawbacks to living where we have fairly mild winters is that a gardener is doing battle with the slimy hoards 12 months out of the year. Sigh, so instead of being self-reliant, I supported our local economy, which is also a very good thing! LOL
2/12/19 All planted! Kale, Brussel Sprouts, Chives, and a few bean seeds against the fence.
Two weeks later, and all is growing well, except the beans! LOL It’s hard to see, but I’m using weed eater cord for the beans to climb. We had two spools from our now defunct weed eater that wouldn’t fit into our new one. Waste not, want not, right? Today’s pictures below:
2/25/29 The brussel sprouts have grown a few inches and are really loving all the rain we’ve gotten in the past two weeks. But I should probably put some more Sluggo out . . .
2/25/19 The kale, chives, and weeds are really taking off. Even though we’ve had some light frost, this area of the yard is fairly protected. In another two weeks, I should be able to start using a few kale leaves in our salads.
Update 3/12/2019
The beans are up! Wow, it’s too early but they don’t seem to have been held back by recent frost and heavy rains! Depending on which chart you use, our last frost date is anywhere between February 20 and April 12. Personally, in my adult gardening life, I can’t remember a frost after March, so chances are good that these beans just might make it! If not, I can replant! I should also note that this is in a fairly small, sheltered corner of the yard.
The kale have many more sets of leaves!
Egyptian walking onion babies that I rescued from the lawn and tucked into this section.
