Well, all my baby plants are now in the ground, and most of them
are doing quite well.
I say most because five of the tomatoes my boyfriend and I
planted
– the ones that gave me such hope for the future of the garden –
are looking pretty peaked.
Well, all my baby plants are now in the ground, and most of them are doing quite well.
I say most because five of the tomatoes my boyfriend and I planted – the ones that gave me such hope for the future of the garden – are looking pretty peaked.
Now, the tomato we planted in a container is humming right along, even getting promising little flowers. And we did find another little tomato plant that popped up from some seeds we planted last year or the year before – bringing our total of tomato plants to eight.
But the five we stuck directly in the ground, sadly, took a turn for the worse three days after we planted them, prompting one of my coworkers to exclaim “You really are a terrible gardener!”
For some reason, their leaves turned brown and papery, and the plants haven’t done much in the way of growing.
Now, helpful reader Andrea Sommer of Tres Pinos, had sent me, as a joke, garden columnist Keith Muraoka’s column on tomatoes that ran in this section last week.
While it didn’t address the particular problem afflicting my tomatoes, it did give good advice for planting and taking care of them. Unfortunately, none of the gardening books I have seem to address my tomato problem, either. It’s a mystery, and I blame the soil, for lack of a better culprit.
But our other plants are doing quite well, and some – our oregano and an anaheim chile – have even perked up after having a tough time last week.
I also think I’ve discovered the secret of getting seeds to germinate: Plant them and then forget about them for one to two years, and they’ll pop up when you least expect it. Last year and the year before, I was quite disappointed that only a handful of all the dozens of seeds I had planted grew.
This year, however, those old seeds are sending up new shoots. Not only have we gotten two new tomato plants from seeds planted at least a year ago, we’ve also got about five new seedlings that have popped up around our tomatoes.
They’re still pretty new, so I’m not sure exactly what they are, but my guess is either cucumbers or squash. I hope they’re not squash, because I already planted two baby squashes, and seven of those plants would leave us buried under a mound of crookneck.
Although if they’re cucumbers, I’ll still have to find lots and lots of people willing to partake of our bounty.
Then again, they could be weeds. We’ve got a number of little weeds popping up in our plot, and the occasional nasturtium attempts to re-establish a foothold, but I’ve been nipping that in the bud – I refuse to let those plants choke the life out of my poor baby vegetables. I can do that just fine myself.
If you have any tips, questions or comments, send them in and we’ll share them with readers.
