Plant Extravaganza

We are in the process of getting the garden and our planting boxes in order, and I’m learning a lot, which isn’t saying much when you know nothing, but it’s something. We went to the local plant sale held by the town Garden Club, and I was a little disappointed in their vegetable plant selection. They had a lot of decorative and aesthetic stuff, but not much in the way of veggies. There were some tomatoes, which was what we had come for, but otherwise, I had to go elsewhere.

It was a beautiful day, however, and it was nice to be outside. We some friends, and I got to confer with the resident plant guru (or at least one of them), CS. She runs a CSA and knows everything about everything regarding plants. I got a 10 minute lesson on planting tomatoes, and she confirmed what everyone else has been telling me: wait to plant tomatoes, though she said it was probably okay to put them into the ground now. There are still a few potential cool nights coming up.

We ended up getting a couple of tomato plants, and the kids got something called an elephant ear. Can you guess which one that is? I wanted more tomatoes, so visited CS’s farm stand down the road and picked up more plants. I want to plant mainly canning tomatoes, along with some good eating tomatoes, but not the funky heirlooms that everyone raves about. Just your standard beefsteak variety will do for me. Being the sucker for a sales pitch that I am, I also agreed to get a small cherry tomato plant, which I was trying avoid.

So far, so good. I’m kind of excited at the prospect of having fresh tomatoes this summer, but it’s still early, and it’s best not to count your chickens before they hatch, especially in light of the problems we’ve encountered in years past.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.