Toodling right along

Every year I say I'll be so much more diligent. Every year. And yet every year I fall behind, plan poorly, do a fraction of what I wanted to. Ah well. I didn't plant all the tomato varieties I intended to, but I have a decent selection. Here's what the community garden looks like. My swanky new 20' x 25' plot.

The garden plot

8 varieties of paste tomatoes. I made a lot of spaghetti sauce last year. I was very happy with the Amish paste, they're a local heirloom and they do very well in the community garden. Everyone talks up San Marzanos as the pinnacle of sauce tomatoes, so those were well represented as well. Plus a Roma. My Roma seeds were old and didn't germinate well. I wanted to include them for comparison if nothing else.

The rest:

• Cherokee purple - delicious if not prolific
• Brandywine
• Rutgers
• 4th of July - Their main virtue is supposed to be that they produce early, but I got them in late. Still, they've always done well for me.
• Plum Regal
• Indigo Rose - Supposed to be dark purple!
• Speckled Roman

Poor Tigerella didn't make the cut this year - didn't have seeds. Too bad, they'll be back though.

At home I'm doing cherry tomatoes. Right now I have four kinds in the dirt.

• Black Cherry - love the look and taste
• Sungold - Delicious and VERY prolific
• Yellow Pear - Adds another color to the mix, supposed to be prolific.
• Red Cherry large fruited - they always do well for me

First Sungold, plant is thriving on the front patio.

Totally dropped the ball on peppers this year. Not even growing jalapenos! I do have three kinds.

• Capt Joe E. Parker - A New Mexico type
• Long Cayenne
• Capperino - A small round type suitable for stuffing

Yeah, definitely dropped the ball. Ah well. 

Eggplants were even worse, only ONE came up of the 16 or so I planted. Husk cherries were a total zero. Not one sprouted. Too bad, those were sweet and tasty, would have loved to make some jam or a pie or something. Maybe try harder on those next year.

My cucumber setup from the last post has not kept the weeds out. Top of the chore list is weeding that patch. Only a few came up.

Also planted green beans. Not many sprouted, and some critter has been at them. Initially thought it was a groundhog but now I'm thinking it might have been deer. Leaving the back light on, maybe they'll be afraid to come in that close to the house.

One nice surprise, last year's dill seeded itself. I found 3 nice plants in some two gallon buckets I had it in last year. Those are huge, but a bit spindly. Further investigation turned up about 10 tiny volunteers springing up amongst the cherry tomato plants in the fenced in garden in the back yard. Which gets me excited for pickling. Set up some more cuke seeds on wet paper towels, I need more of them if I want to be awash in cukes for pickling. Although a smidge late to start.