Being optimistic has its downside, of course. One can hope for good and still anticipate the bad. I had tall hopes for my short plants in April. I sort of thought that by now, two months later, those plants would be lush and juicy and bearing at least the promise of fruit. Ha! I was mistaken.
OK, here's the rundown. The tomatoes, which I got when they were about ten inches high, are now four feet high. they are rangy but they still have lots of blossoms. One has about 15 small tomatoes which will hopefully turn into big tomatoes. One has even taller stalks and only two tomatoes. One has yellow leaves at the bottom. The other doesn't. They both got exactly the same treatment. I expected more tomatoes but I am going to be very, very happy if I just get a few home-grown tomatoes. Like more than one. Or three.
Beans: I ended up transplanting two into bigger pots and they are doing fine. I have eaten four beans off them so far, raw, and they are delicious. Maybe I will get another dozen by the end of their lives. Two are languishing in the ground, maybe bad soil, maybe too much water or too little. Their leaves are turning yellow and yet they are trying to produce a bean or two. One died. The last one in the six-pack is doing as well as the ones in the pots, even though it is in the ground, in a corner of the yard, pretty much ignored except for some water now and then.
Peas: the peas were planted from seeds, thanks to Judy and Pat, and they are very cute. Their little tendrils are winding around the elaborate cat's cradle trellis I made for them out of kite string. They are fun to watch and even if I get no peas, I am still happy with them.
Basil and arugula: three arugulas went into the ground, three in a pot. The ones in the ground were great, they got big, are still producing lots of peppery leaves. The ones in the pots probably became root-bound, didn't do as well. The basil, on the other hand, didn't care about being root-bound (in pots as well) and did very well. Lots of basil, still producing although the plants are looking a little sketchy right now. However, since you can buy a huge bunch of basil at any farmers market for a dollar, I am not sure it makes monetary sense to grow it. Still, it grew, didn't die, and that is a small victory.
Cilantro: my one cilantro plant is now about 4 feet tall. It produced a lot of herb but in the hot Santa Rosa sun, it bolted quickly and went to seed, so I didn't get a lot of use out of it. But still, it looks dramatic and it didn't die.
Lettuce: the local nursery was selling all their vegetable six-packs for half off, so I just planted some lettuces. They seem to be doing well and if I get just three servings of salad out of them it will have been worth the discounted investment. Of course, it's early, those leaves are very tender and I could come out one morning and find them decimated by snails or birds, so the jury is out on the lettuce production until later this summer.
There is one squash plant with one squash on it and a couple of other zucchini's that I grew from seed that are still rather small. It's only mid-June and I have hopes that these plants will continue to grow and possibly produce some zukes by September or October. But who knows? They could die, like some of the flowers I planted. It's all been a big experiment. Given the amount of water it takes and given how expensive water is here in SR, I would have been better off financially just buying fresh produce from the SR farmers market but it was worth trying, at least once. It's sort of zen-like to spend 15 minutes after work watering the little suckers and I like that part. I remember my Dad standing outside on the front lawn, beer in hand, watering the lawn before dinner, ten minutes of quiet time. I think of him every time I water my puny plants, and for that I am grateful.
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