It's garden day!

[nonelvis]

It's a little early to start planting – the frost-free date in my zone isn't until the end of the month – but I'm putting in peas tomorrow morning and figured I might as well go buy some seedlings today, even if I won't put them in for another week or two yet. (I always plant ahead of the frost-free date, since our growing season is short enough as it is, and so far, knock wood, haven't lost any plants yet.)

This year's haul:



I got the usual stuff: tomatoes (black, yellow pear, and Sungold cherry tomatoes, plus some heirloom variety that looked interesting); marigolds to plant among the tomatoes; pickling cucumbers; a Cubanelle pepper; basil (Thai, lemon, and globe); and curly parsley. Also, since the neighbor's giant tree came down last year, I now have more sun in the herb and flower garden, so I'm bringing back rosemary and lemon verbena in the hope that they do better this year than they have before.

But the real stars of the show, the seedlings I couldn't find anywhere last year, are these two little guys:



Those two plants in the center with the vaguely heart-shaped leaves? OKRA, BABY. (Specifically, Clemson Spineless, in case you wanted to know.) If I'm very lucky, it'll be hot and sunny enough this summer that I'll have plenty of pods to fry or pickle.

And finally, the marigolds, just because I think they're pretty:

Comments

[gritsinmisery.livejournal.com]

I know from my mother's house what happens when you put mint in the ground. I presume basil has the same bad habit?

[nonelvis]

The mint and the basil will mate with each other if you're not careful. Really, it happened to me one year.

[gritsinmisery.livejournal.com]

Innnnnnteresting. I guess the leaves are about the same shape; maybe I should go look up the Latin when I get a little more awake.

My mum kept peppermint and spearmint in the same patch. She said the spearmint was harder to grow... maybe it was cross-pollinating w/ the peppermint and the "pepper" genes won. I guess basil genes can hold their own, then.