Now we can plant! But first, we’ve got to decide what to include in the garden. I’d gone to Lowes and bought a bunch of seed packets several weeks ago and I brought those out to figure out the garden plan. Tomatoes and peppers would be purchased as plants to give them a fair head start. Here’s the plan (I even used fancy graph paper!):
So, I had seeds, but needed the actual plants. Off to Country Boys! We wound up with the following plants:
- Mr. Stripey Tomato
- Hillbilly Tomato
- German Johnson Tomato
- Sun Gold Cherry Tomato
- Zucchini
- Fairytale Eggplant
- Cubanelle Pepper
- Cayenne Pepper
- Holy Mole Pepper
- Serrano Pepper
- Yellow Bell Pepper
- Burpless Bush Cucumber
- Variegated Pesto Basil
- Golden Thyme
The tomatoes are all heirloom varieties. Cost was $1.39/plant ($3.49/each for the two herbs)
Now, we’ll lay them out in their squares to make any necessary adjustments before planting. Seeds going in are:
- Romaine Lettuce
- Arugula
- Spinach
- Cilantro
- Swiss Chard
- Kale
- Brussels Sprouts
- Oregano
- Kaleidescope Carrots
- Garlic Chives
- Salad Radish
- Beet Mix (Candy Cane, Red, Golden)
- Zinnia
- Nasturtium
- Sunflower
- Marigold
Looks good to me! Now to get everything into the ground. I can’t believe I didn’t take pictures of my hands while this was happening. I was filthy because the seeds were very tiny in some cases and I had to have bare hands to pick them up individually. It was a ton of fun though! Finished beds:
A word about planting the tomatoes…
I read about planting the tomatoes in a trench so that the fuzzy part of the stems would grow roots and the plant would be stronger. This sounded good to me. Strong plants are healthy plants, right?
So – I crimped off all of the lower leaves of the plants, leaving just the tops. Then I dug a trench in those squares and planted them with just the tops out at the rear of the bed. That’s where we’re going to put the tomato towers (next week!) for them to grow up on. Take a look:
Two of them planted in their bed…
Watered everything after it went in.
Now we wait! So excited!
