In spite of the close to 100-degree heat in which I was hunched over to pick these little lovelies, I’m thrilled to have this beautiful bounty.
And, given the current tomato scare, I’m so pleased to have my own little orbs to eat! I think my dinner tonight will be a lovely spinach salad with tomatoes and cucumbers.
What’s ready to pick in your veggie garden today?
…but Toad Lilies and Mexican Flame Vines ARE coming up! These are two plants I wasn’t sure I would see again after this winter, but I’m so happy that they have little green sprouts peeking up out of the ground.
I especially love the toad lilies — they are among my favorites and someone did eat some of them last fall, so I wasn’t sure I would ever see these expensive little plants again. (Someone wild, not my rascally dogs on this one!)
The Flame Vine went in last summer, so it hadn’t overwintered here yet, and while it is supposed to be a perennial, you just never know, do you?!
This is where the Mexican Flame Vine will grow up!
These are those experimental daffodils that I planted in January because I hadn’t gotten around to them at Thanksgiving. I hope they make it, it’s supposed to be 90 F tomorrow — think it will stunt their growth?
And, since it’s going to be 90 F tomorrow, I plan to do my grocery shopping and a little work in the morning and RUSH home to plant all these guys in my garden. Below I have strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and collards. There is a stray sedum in there to put into the rock pathway, too.
Then, I am hoping to put the Thornless Mexican Lime tree and rose bush into pots and put the Japanese Red Maple into the ground. Whew…I’m tired already!
Ah. It’s the little gifts that make this schizophrenic hobby so rewarding. I posted a few days ago about sightings of Jasmine blooms throughout my neighborhood. Well, I’m thrilled to report that I have my own flowers in the back yard. I found about 5 of them today. (I’ve been searching daily for about a week!) The Jasmines are getting much too big and unwieldy, but I love them — their arching grace, their strength and stamina and their bright, beautiful blooms.
I found these tomatoes today. You’ll never believe where! In the fall, I happened upon a volunteer tomato stalk growing right up amidst my duranta — far, far away from the vegetable garden where his friends were living! I assume a bird or a human eating outside (or, now that I think of it — a DOG!!!!) left a seed somewhere that found its way to this tiny spot of earth. Walking by, I saw the glint of red – well, not really red — maybe coral(!) and found these two little ones. No sign of the tomato plant – I assume it died in the freeze last week, but these two must have survived. Unbelievable! What a lovely little treasure.
Here’s a tough photo of my seedlings. Thus far, I’ve seen Empress of India Nasturtium (Tropaeolum Majus), Pomodoro Tomatoes (Lycopersicom Lycopersicum) from Italy and California Wonder Orange Peppers (Capsicum Annum). They shot up there today, and will have to be transplanted tomorrow because they are hitting their little heads on the ceiling. So, I’ll liberate them from their headaches tomorrow and put them in peat pots. I’m thrilled to be able to put them into the two glass cloches that I ordered for myself last week with the Christmas gift card my dear husband gave me to Gardeners’ Supply Company, http://www.gardeners.com I’ve always wanted some — and now I even have something to put in them! Look for pictures of the cloches next time.
P.S. Pat me on the back! I figured out how to put a link into my blog text for the first time!!!!!! Whoo hoo. I am SUCH a techno-newbie – but not afraid to try. I am so in awe of all the other beautiful and sophisticated blogs out there — thanks for inspiring me to try.
Or, Alive and Dead. My flat-leaf parsley just couldn’t be happier with this brisk, winter-like weather we’re having. It’s so big, I’ve taken to bringing cuttings in to put in a glass in the kitchen just because it’s green and alive from the garden.
The other photo is the pile of tomato vines that I pulled up last weekend. The rest of the garden is a big mess, and needs to have grass dug out of it and earth turned before I can put my lettuce and radishes in. And, with my tendinitis, that means it will have to wait until I have someone come in and do it because it’s just too much for my arms to handle.
But, I did pick 4 tomatoes and they are ripening in the family room window. You can even see some half-dead ones in the pile there. I don’t think they’re going to be any good – they look a little speckle-dy (that’s the technical garden term!) and are very hard, so I am not holding my breath. But, hey, it’s weird Austin weather and conditions, so who knows? I’ll keep you posted!
After our wet and wonderfully cooler early summer months, it’s time to water again. Unfortunately, I got distracted this week and neglected some plants in planters and, lo and behold, they are strangling in the heat! After apologizing profusely (and a nice dousing of H-2-O), they are coming back to normal. But I did feel them giving me dirty looks when I walked by this morning…
My Dad sent me to a great website this morning – it was like garden eye candy! It’s http://www.tomatobob.com and it’s full of vegetables and heirloom tomatoes. It’s got me fantasizing about next year’s tomato crop — or, maybe even the second summer crop here in balmy Texas. We’ve so enjoyed my Cherokee Purple Heirloom tomatoes this year – they are just delicious. I think one of the things I like about planting heirlooms is the history entwined in their roots and vines. It’s somehow gratifying to think, that in all the hustle and bustle and modern convenience of our lives today, we can still till the soil and plant the same healthy foods our ancestors enjoyed hundreds of years ago.
Happy planting!