Thursday, May 17, 2012

First Harvest of 2012


Spring temps are finally stabilizing around Boston, and even though we have had a lot of rain I can't help get excited for the warm temperatures ahead and another year of backyard gardening.

Like last year, I plan to head to Russell's after volunteering at the graduation for the college where I work this weekend to pick up veggie plants and flowers.  However, I still have to finalize my garden plan and figure out what to buy this year. I already ordered and received three grafted, heirloom tomato plants from Burpee.  The two San Marzano that I had last year produced incredibly well, so I went with them again. My third plant is a different variety than last year, a Red Brandywine.

I have made the decision not to grow tomatillos again, even though I loved the salsa they produced.  The two plants I had last year just took over and were hard to keep up with.  I was able to can a lot of the salsa and enjoyed it throughout the winter.  However, I have been told that tomatillo seeds are pretty hearty and can over-winter, so I am watching to see if any pop up in the beds.  There are few sprouting plants that I have not yet confirmed their identity, so I will need to do some research to find out what they are.

I bought a few pea seedlings at Home Depot in April on a whim because I had not yet sown my sugar snap pea seeds.  However, these plants are not doing very well.  They are only about a foot tall (about double the size), but at the same time, already producing flowers...and peas!  This was Wednesday night's  harvest...three peas...and cilantro (I love an 'excuse' to make salsa.)




My thyme plant over wintered very well, and much better than my rosemary, which I have declared dead.







Next up...strawberries!  My plants multiplied quite a bit and I am excited for even more strawberries this year.


 5/16/2012

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