Variety Does Us In

If there are conservative gardeners, I've yet to meet one. We are especially extravagant when it comes to starting seeds in pots.

We are not responsible for over-planting. The real culprit is variety. If I were going to have just one kind of tomato, probably six would be plenty. However, there are always new ones to try, plus the reliable hybrids like Jet Star. Then there was an heirloom beefsteak, Kellogg's Breakfast, apparently nothing to do with the cereals. I planted some of those because I could not find Big Bite seeds anywhere.

Buying Rutgers tomato seed in bulk made it hard to be restrained. At Planter's Seeds, I got enough seeds to plant about an acre, for $1.50. If they should turn out to be the best tomatoes for canning, I will be glad I only limited myself to a dozen transplants. Money well spent when a can of tomatoes costs nearly a dollar.

That explains how I managed to have 35 tomato plants. My daughter Isabelle, who is every bit as reckless as her mother when it comes to gardening, has promised to grow some Juliet cherry tomatoes for me. In return, I will give her some of my Gardener's Delight cherry tomatoes.

Izzy came over recently bearing a lot of cut-up seed potatoes. She explained the incredible abundance by telling me the hardware store only offered five pound bags. She found three varieties that looked especially good. It was only after she began cutting them into sections that she realized variety had once again tipped the scale from reasonable to overwhelming. Thinking quickly, she sent out a memo to everyone in her large office building that she had some to give away. Plenty, in fact.

The grandkids helped me plant the small quantity of potatoes, which have come up already. I'm almost out of room in the tiered garden. The strawberry bed is hogging a lot of space. I already have the new plants waiting for the soil to dry out in another spot. I intend to till under the old ones, which have crowded themselves and allowed dandelions, red clover and dock to move in. But first the kids will have to pick this season's berries.

From a logistics point of view, what was I thinking to start all those tomatoes? Not to mention the eighteen peppers I transplanted yesterday. The good news is I can look forward to California Wonder, Chinese Giant, Pepperoncini and Anaheim Chili peppers. Izzy is growing the Fooled You Jalapenos for us. I will take lots of plants over there in a box, like a gift of kittens.

Remote Progress

So far, my efforts to make the remote garden work have only been to mow the fescue. Several heavy rains have made any sort of tilling out of the question. Meanwhile, the June-like
temperatures in the eighties are making the tomatoes grow as if they must bear fruit soon. The situation is what makes gardening so exciting.

I only grow one variety of broccoli, Packman. A modest eight plants, they are doing well despite the unseasonable heat.

Also thriving are the nineteen cabbages. I would have planted less of them had it not been for wanting purple, Bravo, Copenhagen Market and Ferry's Round Dutch varieties. New to try this year are a mid-season variety, Glory of Enkhuizen. Who could resist a delicious cabbage named after a coastal town in Holland? I can't pronounce it, so I call it Glory.

Also hardening off on the three porches are about four dozen flower plants.