Gardening Challenge Update

It was absolutely gorgeous this weekend. It was hot and sunny and perfect for being outdoors. I took advantage of the spring weather and caught up on some of my gardening projects.
I have managed to dwindle my thirty-two tomato plants down to eight. I gave the majority of the extra plants away to friends, family, and coworkers. I was so happy to finally plant my six favorite plants in the backyard. I am planting Speckled Roma, Green Zebra, Yellow Cherry, Italian Market Wonder, Purple Cherokee and Brandywine. They are huge and if you look closely some of them are already developing some flowers.

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I am also growing two additional vegetables, Eggplant and Cucumber. The cucumber already looks better than last year. Last year’s cucumber was a complete failure the few fruit I had were small and deformed.

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My leafy greens are also doing well. I recommend the Correnta spinach as it keeps growing and it doesn’t show any signs of bolting. I also started Black Seeded Simpson lettuce and more Four Seasons Lettuce. I should have a big summer salad in no time. I am especially excited about the Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce as it is a loose leaf lettuce that will continue to produce more leaves.

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Ofcourse you can’t have a garden without Basil. I can’t wait to have some fresh pesto. This is the one project I wasn’t able to finish. I have so many basil plants I’m not quite sure where I should put them. I managed to plant a few in the ground and now I’m trying to figure out where else I can place them.

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11 responses to “Gardening Challenge Update”

  1. Jenny Avatar

    Oh, that all sounds so lovely. (I’m so jealous.) Yay for tomato flowers! I really like the leaves on that purple basil.

  2. andrea Avatar

    I agree, it all looks so wonderful! I doubt I’ll have the time to plant a garden this year and it makes me sad. Top it off with the fact that summer won’t begin here until, hmmmm, August, and that makes for not a lot of time to garden.

    The basil looks scrumptious! I adore making fresh basil too!

  3. Lotus Avatar

    There’s nothing like a home grown tomato to spoil you away from supermarket ones. You’re gonna have some great blt fixin’s 🙂

  4. Angie Avatar

    Looking good!

  5. cindee Avatar

    Wow you are starting early on your veggie garden. I am in Redding and we had frost here last night. My brother lives in Davis and is a big tomato grower too! We usually wait till the first of April to plant here in Redding. I enjoyed seeing your pictures!

  6. Sabina Avatar

    I really need to step up my efforts after seeing your progress – your garden looks wonderful!!

  7. Kirsty Avatar

    Oh my gosh- I’m in awe of your fabbo green fingers!
    Thanks for commenting over on my window box- I love those boxes too, I have a load of them as bookcases stacked at teh back of my desk. I’m just venturing into the outdoors with them…

  8. Elaine Avatar

    Such healthy seedlings. I’m very impressed and inspired. You’ve made me eager to start sowing seeds today.

  9. nkristis Avatar

    Thanks everybody!

    Andrea: That’s too bad, hopefully you get a break from the cold weather soon.

    Jenny: Thanks, I think the purple is pretty too but it’s starting to struggle since I planted it. I’m not sure what to do with it.

    Lotus: I agree now that I’ve had homegrown tomatoes I can’t go back.

    Cindee: Redding certainly gets some wild and crazy weather. It’s been really tame here so I started a few weeks early. I think our last frost date is mid-March but we havn’t had a frost in a while.

    Thanks Kirsty and Elaine!

  10. James Avatar

    The wife & I planted basil this year and ours looks very similar to that. We are going to plant a lot throughout our patio also to keep mosquitoes out!

    Also – great pictures and we love your blog.

  11. nkristis Avatar

    Thanks James it’s great to hear from you. A porch full of basil sounds amazing. It must smell great. I didn’t realize that it keeps the mosquitos away now I like it even more.

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