After my semi-successful attempts at herb gardening in Boston apartments, a California backyard has created my first opportunity to garden. This year it's all about my first tomatoes and herbs. All of the organic plants are from Sweetwater Organics in Sebastopol, CA. I picked them up as part of a 2/$5 deal at Whole Foods.
Herbs: Basil; Chives (organic); Thyme (organic); Parsley (organic); and Rosemary (organic)
Tomatoes: Bush Champion (early-season, organic), Sun Gold (cherry, organic), Pineapple (late-season, bi-color beefsteak heirloom)
I went all out with the organic theme and used organic soil and organic fertilizer. I'm a little skeptical that I can keep the plants pest-free on my own, so I've been inspecting for anything scary looking and subjecting them to a good finger-squishing or toe-stomping. If the folks at Stone Soup Farms could hand-pick potato beetle larvae, surely, I can keep my own backyard creepy crawlies away.
And after almost five years of watching infomercials, I bought two Topsy Turvy tomato planters (not to be mistaken for the knock-off Upsy-Downsy planter). The two larger tomato varieties are in the planters, mostly because the thought of having to cage/stake the plants as they grew made me less excited about gardening. So far so good with the planters. They don't look completely ridiculous and the plants seem to be doing okay. We'll see what happens once I can actually taste the fruits of my labor.
