Dreyer Farms = Heaven

We went to get my tomato seedlings last night! Dreyer Farms was even more exciting than I had imagined with many, many more varieties of heirloom tomatoes and vegetables to choose from than they led on to on their website. Tonight I'll be planting my healthy looking Mortgage Lifter and Box Car Willie plants. I also picked up a Brown Berry Cherry as recommended by Mr. Dreyer when I requested "an unusual cherry with high yields that I can trellis." It too is an heirloom variety and replaced my other choice (Mr. Stripey) when I found out it was not a cherry. For the center of the plot I chose a small white eggplant with purple stripes. I seem to have lost the tag for that one. There's a four pack mix of mild hot peppers including Jalapeno, Mexibell, Poblano, and Garden Salsa that will be planted in containers by our apartment. Finally I chose a trio of herbs for even more container planting: French Thyme, Arp Rosemary, and Hidcote Lavender.

They probably had 60 varieties of tomatoes, 20 eggplants, 20 peppers, 10 thymes, 10 oreganos, and just about enough of everything to make my head spin. We didn't even have time to look beyond the vegetables. Josh saw a sign pointing towards fruit trees and vining plants. It's a big place and they know what they're doing. The staff was friendly and helpful and passionate about plants. What fun!

Pictures tomorrow, I promise.

More Marigolds Than I Know What to Do With

You can't tell from the photo I took this morning, but my plot has about 25 baby marigolds in places that are not going to be good for marigolds. I need to make room for three tomato plants and hopefully a Thai eggplant plant. Where should I put all these little soon-to-be-flowers? I've already got a slew growing in the foreground in front of the plot. They could stand some thinning out, too. As you may recall from garden images in the past, this particular marigold variety approaches bush-sized proportions by August. I am happy to share the plot with two or three at the most so some are going to have to be relocated.

Everything else is doing well. I thinned out a bunch of pea "shoots" (more like plants) and plan on sauteing them in butter for dinner. We've been enjoying lots of lettuce. The radishes are getting too hot and just threatening to bolt. The spinach actually looks like baby spinach now but I'm holding out for bigger leaves. The beet tops are close to being edible. The last cabbage now looks like it might make a head! Wouldn't that be exciting.

I know I made a big deal about having to wait to buy my tomato seedlings until May and now it's May and I haven't gone yet. We had planned on going last night but Josh had to work late and the trip has been put off until tomorrow night. At this point, it looks like I'll be getting Mr. Stripey for my prolific cherry/small tomato fix, Box Car Willie for loads of classic red tomatoes, and either Mortgage Lifter or Pineapple. Mortgage Lifter is the pink variety I enjoyed growing last year. It has a classic tomato taste and produced a moderate yield. Pineapple is one of those deeply lobed heirlooms that's a mix of yellow and red. It all depends on what they have, how they look, and what information the staff can give me at Dreyer Farms.