Deadlines be damned

Sometimes I’ve just got to garden. I played hooky for a couple of hours this week and got my two raised vegetable beds weeded (not an inconsequential job), turned the soil deeply, and planted Italian flat-leaf parsley, basil, strawberries, and tomatoes.

These are Sweet 100 cherry tomato seedlings. I’ve been less-than-thrilled with the spiral tomato stakes I’ve used the last few years. They simply don’t support the tomato plants, so now I’m trying some simple wrought-iron trellises I bought on a 40-percent-off sale at the local Jo-Ann Fabrics store, of all places. I’ll reuse them this winter when I grow many more snow or sugar-snap peas than I did this year.

This is a Sequoia strawberry seedling. I’m trying a new location for strawberries this year. I’ve planted them around the base of my world’s-happiest sage plant. I previously grew strawberries nearby, in a bed that’s graced with a lovely orange tree, but the plants have been anemic at best, even though they originally loved the location. Refreshing that bed with new plants didn’t help, so this year, the new plants are in one of my vegetable beds.

Tags: gardening, tomato, tomatoes, cherry tomato, Sweet 100, cherry tomatoes, strawberry, Sequoia strawberry