Garden take two

A draft from 5/22:  Today I planted my garden!  Let's hope season number two is more fruitful than season number one.  The soil was super easy to work with due to the fact that we've had a few inches of rain in the last two weeks.  I picked my lettuce, weeded, turned everything over except my peas, added some compost, and started planting.

I planted several heirloom tomato varieties from beefsteak to cherry to pear sized, a few early girl tomatoes and cherry tomatoes (non-heirloom).  I could eat a bowl of tomatoes a day, so I'm hoping this year my garden plus my CSA keep me content.

I also planted some wacky peppers, some sweet reds, purple, white, yellow, and greens, three from Dave's trip to Kansas, and two as gifts from a neighbor.  I'm excited to see how they turn out!

I have an entire row of basil.  I'm worried that they won't grow into the big bushy basil plants I'm used to, but if they do, I'm going to be swimming in pesto and caprese salads.  Yum!

Lastly, I have a new little spot that is a bit rocky.  I'm not so sure what to throw in there, but I might try some cucumbers for the hell of it.

We also have a small swath that we let overgrow with mint, which grows like a weed here naturally.  Tea time!

With the exception of the peppers, I grew all of these from seed starting several weeks ago.  I'm going to see if they make it through the week.  If not, I'll have to go buy some greenhouse-grown tomato plants that are stronger than mine.

I have not yet planted my patio tub-garden.  My back is too sore to work on that today, I think.  I've got some bush cherry tomatoes, more basil, herbs already started, and cucs to plant in my tubs.  Tomorrow is another day! 

Beyond gardening, I've decided to learn how to make cheese this summer.  I've made the most basic cheese, paneer, but I hope to try mozzarella next.  Then, once my tomatoes get going, I'll be drowning in caprese salads!

Update on 6/3:  My patio garden is doing well.  I have gobs of bush tomato plants.

All tomatoes except for beans in the white bin and herbs off to the right.  We've been collecting pots for a while now, they seem to collect near our garbage can and on the sides of roads with "FREE" signs on them.  There's several more not pictured here. 

 My tomato starters in my actual garden died while we were in the desert.  In fact, the peppers don't look too good either.  I should have put a note on the garden to have someone water it, but I actually think it was two other factors that killed them:  1.  I didn't plant the tomatoes properly.  The starters had weak stems and I should have buried them right up to their leaves.  2.  It was windy and the stems all snapped in the wind against the hard crust on the soil.  

I ran to Harlequin Gardens here in Boulder and got some awesome tomato starters from them!  I also couldn't resist a tomatillo plant.  I can't even remember all of the varieties I bought, but about 6 different kinds of heirloom tomatoes total.  I planted them yesterday, nice and deep.  The woman told me to cut off all of the branches except at the top and plant it as deep as I could, that all the little hairs on the stem will become roots!  I am super excited to watch them grow!

My pea plants are looking good!  My CSA starts in a week!

6/6 update:  I have flea beetles eating my tomato plant leaves!  After some online reading, I did 3 things:  fertilized (they don't like the smell of chicken poo, who does, really?), put down one of my spider sticky traps to catch as many as possible, and then watered the leaves with a chili sauce, cayenne pepper, water mixture.   Yeah, I'm desperate here.