Soul Patch buds

I received my order of tomato seeds last week.  Tomatoes are my favorite vegetable (or fruit, depending on which school of thought you belong to) to grow.  Tomatoes to me are what wool is to others.  I am always amazed at how a tiny seedling planted in the right soil can grow to well over 6' producing tubs of globes bursting with a flavor that is pure ambrosia.  The offerings at the local grocery store pale miserably in comparison.  If you've ever grown your own tomatoes you know of what I speak.  If you haven't, I want you to go out and buy a package of seeds and give it a try; I guarantee you will not be disappointed. 

After I opened the envelopes and amassed my little pile, my excitement soon gave way to frantic thoughts of where the heck am I going to plant all these?  Was I a tad overzealous? Only time will tell.

Last year, and with great restraint, I only planted 25 plants.  Some heirloom varieties but mostly cherry types as these seem to be everyone's favorite.  With my plans to try and sell some of my produce this year I reasoned that a nice little pint of mixed tomatoes would be visually appealing and, hopefully, I can make a name for myself with my offerings.

We've had some beautiful days here the last week and I spent one of them outside planting the tomatoes for this year.  In all, 156 seeds/potential plants sown.  I know, that's crazy!  While I would LOVE to roto-till and plant the entire backyard, I've decided that there is no way I can tend to that many plants nor do I have the space for them (hell, I haven't even plotted out the garden yet).  So depending on how many seed starts I get I will be donating some plants to friends.

Planted for 2013 are:

- Chocolate Cherry (Veseys);

- Mosaic Mix (Veseys);

- Sugary (Veseys)

- Black from Tula (TomatoFest);

- Lillian's Yellow Heirloom (TomatoFest);

- Azoychka (TomatoFest);

- German Gold (TomatoFest);

- Black Zebra (Sunshine Farm);

- Chiapis Wild (Annapolis Seeds);

- Black Krim (Annapolis Seeds);

- Cherokee Purple (Annapolis Seeds);

- Costoluta Genovese (Annapolis Seeds);

- Black Cherry (Annapolis Seeds). 

Lastly, my garlic that I planted in the fall is up!!!!!.  All 16 cloves planted are poking out of the dirt!.  I was so worried that I had planted too late and none of them would survive the winter.  When we settled on PEI Itchy's husband, Deli "J", kindly gave me 2 bulbs from his stock.  They are a hardneck variety and grow to about 4' tall.  The bulbs themselves are a nice size and the flavor is akin to that of homegrown tomatoes.  Each year since my garlic plot has increased by a few more plants; although, not as many as I would like as I have a few work colleagues that have the uncanny ability to appear at harvest time.

2012 garlic plot. Garlic is super-easy to grow, and it adds height and "curly" contrast to your garden.