Spring Planting, 2012

The weather would have allowed for an early planting this year, but I waited until Easter anyway. The reason may partly lie with work, which has kept me knotted up more than usual, or superstition, as I feared the early warmth was cozying up just to lull us all into a false state of fuzziness just to surprise us with a late-spring frost. But nothing doing. The ground has been thawed for more than a month and nothing will freeze it now--freakish weather aside.

I have tried two different transplants this year. The first is to take my vinca major and transplant it to the mailbox area. It flowers purple in the Spring and seems to take in any soil, so it will make nice ground cover around my mailbox. The second was to take my silver edge thyme and transplant it to the north of my gravel walk. I ultimately want to plant other hearty herbs in a makeshift row there, just to further push back my lawn. The silver edge thyme is so hardy and creeps so wonderfully that I couldn't resist setting it there.

Tomato plants: I planted seven different tomato plants. The big difference from last year to this is that I am no longer cramming my tomato plants into the planters. They will now each occupy their own space. From east to west, the plants are as follows:

Sweet Olive
Orange Blossom
Cherokee Purple
Sunny Boy
Cherokee Purple
Mortgage Lifters
Juane Flamee

So, the row of five starts with Orange Blossom and ends with Mortgage Lifters. I'm trying a variety of heirloom and hybrid seeds, purely speculatively and based on what caught my fancy at the Oakhurst Community Gardens.

Maia's Plot, the rows, and the planter

For peppers, I've planted jalepenos and Tequila Sunset sweet. They are in the back row up of Maia's Plot. I also planted a "Barbarella" eggplant, primarily because it claimed to have beautiful fruit, in the front row. I have plenty of space available there for cucumbers, once I can find any.

The picture is kind of weak, but it gives you an idea of where everything is--if you can make out the tomato cages, everything else kind of falls into line.

In the back, I have planted Apple Mint (where the basil used to be) and Peppermint (in a pot), and I'm waiting to see if the mint in the other pot comes back.

I will fertilize every two weeks. I'm still unclear about how much fertilizer I need to be using for each plant, but I will simply record what I do, faithfully here.