It’s time. I’m gettin’ into gardening. Have I grown anything ever? Nope. Do I simply adore the taste of a garden-fresh tomato? 100%. So, as is my custom, I’m going to attempt to document the journey—to include all the successes, failures, and hopefully delicious moments along the way.
I don’t know what I’ll do with this “series” long-term. (Hopefully) if this whole gardening thing works out, I’ll have semi-routine posts about this sorta thing—but what format they will come in is TBD. Maybe they’ll just be regular “posts” (as this one is), or a recurring section in my “Captain’s Log”. Or maybe it’ll deserve its own collection type some time into the future. Rather than obsess over that now, I’m just going to make this post and see what it all grows into! (See what I did there? 🤭)
Gear Up
I’ve never had a garden before, and besides having a house plant here and there over the years, I’ve not really “grown” much of anything in my life. As such, at t=0 I didn’t have much gear to speak of—and as we all know of course, ya gotta have the right gear! So I picked up a few things from the hardware store. Here’s my new loadout…
- Garden Trowel
- Gardening Gloves
- Potting Soil (more on what I’m planting in this soon)
- Plant Cage (here’s a hint though…)
The Garden
My back yard is a bit of a mess and quite “in-flux” right now with the ongoing screened-porch build. There is a spot I’ve identified as a potentially ideal location for a “garden” in the future, but as of right now, it’s just not ready for terraforming garden-forming.
Instead, I will be using an existing planting area to house a few things for this season. It’s a good way for me to get a little practice in and can commit to something more long-term later this year or next “season” entirely. Here’s what that space looks like now. I need to dig up what’s there and get it ready for what I plan to plant!
What’s interesting, is there’s some chives and oregano already growing there. I suppose I can thank the previous owners of this house. Not sure whether I’ll keep those herbs there or just remove them to make way for what’s new.
Tomatoes! 🍅
Story time: I was a “Navy brat” growing up, and as such, lived in various places up and down the East Coast during my childhood. One constant throughout that time was visiting my grandparents (and other relatives) who lived in South Carolina (specifically, Charleston). I have very fond memories of those times. One standout element of those visits was always the food. My grandma made a lot of things that I only really ever had there–field peas, banana pudding, pound cake, this very particular sweet tea, her pancakes, etc… But one of my favorite things was always the tomatoes and cucumbers, fresh from the garden. You cannot get tomatoes like those at the store. In my experience, I can’t even get tomatoes that good at a farmers market around here. It’s not just nostalgia talkin’ either. I’ve recently had one of grandma’s tomatoes and it holds up. They’re delicious & entirely unmatched.
I like to eat just sliced tomatoes, with a bit of salt and pepper on them. I also like them on a BLT. Unsatisfied with my options at the store, I’ve long thought about growing my own. Up until recently, it wasn’t really an option for me as I didn’t have a place to grow them. However, since moving into a new place, I now have some space for a garden! So, the other day, I finally decided to get into it.
Turns out, I know nothing about gardening. I didn’t even really know much about tomatoes, aside from the fact that I like to eat them and the varieties at the store are kinda weak-sauce. So I started doin’ a bit of research and came across this article discussing the best tomato varieties. Ultimately, I decided to pick up some Cherokee Purple plants from the store.
Here they are in all their li’l sprouty splendor!
I’d love to blast out and immediately plant these babies, but from what I’ve read, maybe it’s not that simple? I’m still learning here, but I think I have a few things to consider before transplanting them to the chosen garden bed. First, I may need to harden them up a bit to get them ready for the outside world. Second, the forecast is pretty dreadful for tomatoes—who like water, but maybe not this much.
I’m goin’ to move these outside for a few hours each day to get them ready, but keep them inside to spare them from some of the heavier rain that I might be expecting.
In a week or so I’ll be back to chat prepping the space, installing the cages and transplanting. See ya! 👋
Planted!
Update! (5/16): They’re in!
Look at how beautiful it is! 🥹
Now to water, and maintain. I’ll check back in when I have something noteworthy to report!