The view from the nursery

It was only after I had nearly decapitated (and nearly was close enough) the Sweet 100 tomato baby that was destined for the Topsy-Turvy (what's one more year of dismal 'mater production?) and torn in half the basil plant as I was releasing it from the bondage of its 4-inch growth pot, that I realized what all the noise had been the last two afternoons as I journeyed home from the garden nurseries.

It was my plants, those poor creatures captured in the back of the vehicle, crying. Sobbing, really. Knowing that their fate was sealed, that at least one of them wouldn't be living up to its full potential. And, in my garden, maybe very few.

As it is, the remainder, those that are currently ensconced in new homes or hanging from new hooks (whew! they're saying, she didn't touch us!), are probably thinking that if one or two of them had to give their life, it was just as well it was the vegetables.

I've got news for them. I'm going after more...

The tomato hornworm

While watering my largest and healthiest (so I thought) tomato plant, I noticed there was an abundance of suckers growing. I shut the water off and started to trim the plant. Only the first sucker I touched was, well, soft. And round. And LARGE.

Meet the tomato hornworm. He's a very bad fellow, as a closer examination of my once lush plant revealed. He had been consuming fresh tender little tomato leaves for some time. He didn't get to be 4 inches long overnight!

The caterpillar of the five-spotted hawk moth, he would eventually grow out of his bad habit of eating my tomatoes, but I certainly wasn't going to allow him to continue.

Many years ago, our dill crop was being devastated by caterpillars. I caught one, placed it in a holey-lidded jar and we raised, to our pleasant surprise, a spicebush swallowtail butterfly. Still not a nice fellow when in caterpillar stage, but at least pretty.

Not so the hawk moth. But an educational experience like this doesn't come along just any time, so I snipped him off the plant, put him in a jar with tomato leaves, and took him to the grandchildren. Should he do his magic and turn into a moth, I advised my son to destroy the evidence, lest the eggs laid this summer turn around and damage the tomato plants next spring.

Then I went to inspect my plants again for more of the nefarious fellows. Didn't find any but I'm being very vigilant now.

A better view of the Topsy-Turvy

YESSS!!!!! Isn't it gorgeous?

The $50 tomato

Tomato number two, another Better Boy, has come off the vine and into the kitchen. Peeled and sliced it--whew! finally!--tasted like a tomato!

We have loads of green tomatoes all of which will undoubtedly ripen within 24 hours of each other. I'm thinking... bruschetta?

Tomato updates, May 22

Our Topsy-Turvy tomato plant is doing well:



It has tomatoes:


Our bag tomatoes are getting large:


Complete with tomatoes!

Tomato updates

The tomato in the Topsy-Turvy, three weeks in. Variety: Celebrity. There are blooms.



The tomatoes in the tomato bags:



The Better Boy, in the back, is doing, uh, better. It's also planted in Miracle-Gro soil while the Big Boy is planted in another brand, the name of which escapes me. Varietal difference or soil? Hmmm.

The $100 tomato

Ah, 'tis spring, and a young (or any other age) gardener's fancy turns to tomatoes. Beautiful, red, just-picked tomatoes. Fresh from the garden. So many tomatoes you have to give them away.

Sigh. Alas, those days have been behind us since we gave up large bed gardening a few years ago. I've planted in the flower beds only to have less than stellar (as in no tomatoes) results.

But, not to be stumped--and of late failure is our middle name where vegetable gardening is concerned--we are trying again.

Try number 1: The Tomato Grow Bag. Offered by Gardener's Supply Co and only $13.50 each if you buy two or more (and why not?), we snagged these beauties in January. A couple weeks ago I got a garden-itch and scratched it with two tomato plants, one per bag. Did not realize that it would take over two 2-cu-ft bags of potting soil to fill them. They're about $10/per, give or take because I did buy the good stuff. So far, they look good. One is even blooming.

Try number 2: The Topsy-Turvy Bag. If we have difficulty growing them upright, why not try hanging from a plant hanger on the patio. Why not indeed? I already had the potting soil (see above). Bought a tomato plant, hardened it off next to the others and it's been looking fine. Until I went to plant it this morning and it was dried out. It went in anyway. And getting the Topsy full is no walk in the park. I had to hang it first! That meant a ladder. Up and down, up and down, filling it with soil. I dragged the hose over to water and will eventually get my nerve up and go see if the plant perked up.

Let's see: grow bags (plus shipping), Topsy, soil, plants: first tomato off the vine? Maybe only $80.

My garden enthusiasm goes pfft!

I've fought the good fight since April, when my ambitions always boil over and I plant, plant, plant. But even with a sprinkler system and a mild (relatively speaking since we have had rain) summer, my plants are looking as pooped as I feel.

I've given up on my tomato plants. I used to grow such grand tomatoes, and if I ever wish to do so again, I must rethink my strategy. Selfish things must want their own bed and not to share with the flowers. Last year they did grace me with an abundance of fall green tomatoes which I turned into mincemeat, but this year, that's not looking like such a hot prospect.

I've babied three pot plants, in full circle of a sprinkler head, but still they've laid down on me and died. I will not resurrect them again. Pfft! They're outtahere.

The caladiums are sad, but not dead. No supplemental care for them since they'll either revive for a fall showing or go pfft! themselves. Anyway, they don't return each spring. I'm nicer to things that return.

Such as the lantana. I've actually considered trying to eradicate some it, since it, above all other things, has decided to thrive and overgrow. The same can be said of the mint. I've the sneakiest suspicion that even trying my best, nothing will get rid of these two scourges of the back yard.

Lantana, anyone? I can tie it up with mint.

Garden goals

As the weather warms--and finally seems bent on staying that way--the urge to get among the weeds and empty flower beds has driven me outside. I've replenished the front porch flower pots with the same things as last year because I liked them so well: gerber daisies and million bells. Under the pergola in the back I've hung multiple hanging baskets with bright pinks and yellows and scattered morning glory and cosmo seeds in the attempt to be surprised if they actually come up.

The climbing white rose is in full, fuller, fullest shattering white bloom and the knock-out roses are already knock-outs. I've placed three tomato plants where they were fairly (un)successful last year and noted that there are three tomato volunteers. Don't have a clue what they might be: if hybrid, do they revert back to a parent? Do they even bear? They are, however, safe from plucking.

It all sounds so rosy, doesn't it? But some time in the near future, I shall have to remember these halcyon first bloom days and remember that I'm actually setting goals this year.

1. We put in expensive landscape lighting. I have to keep everything trimmed around the lights, or, why have it. This means the lantana cannot be given free rein. As to the mint... chop, chop, chop!

2. Fertilize. It took over 30 minutes last year to run the hose with the Miracle-Gro attachment to everything just in the back yard. I have, ahem, more this year.

3. Weed patrol. Thirty minutes a day and I still wouldn't be out of the woods, but really, pull, pull, pull!

4. Know when to quit buying. I think about now.