spring fever

Every year around this time, when the snow finally melts and we get a couple teaser days of tolerable temperatures and sun, I start to construct this magnificent fantasy garden in my head. This year is no different. After some serious on-line shopping, this fantasy garden moved from my head to my bank card.

This imaginary Eden is the source of my love/hate relationship with gardening. In early spring I always forget how much work it is and how my garden never seems to achieve the pinnacle of production I had envisioned. Well, I suppose the optimist in me has won out again, because this year I've really gone and done it. I ordered 50 strawberry plants, 4 blueberry bushes, 3 rhubarb plants, 25 asparagus plants, and 8 different varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

Ah, tomatoes. My garden nemesis. Last year had to be the absolute worst year ever because of all the wet weather. Fungus took over and I had virtually nothing to show for all 12 plants. Last year I tried a couple heirloom varieties in addition to my old favorite, Brandywine. These oldies but goodies can be tricky and I never seem to have the stamina to keep them healthy and fight off the blight. 

A notable heirloom variety I tried was the Cherokee Purple. One of these fruits will sell for $6 at my farmers' market, so naturally I wanted to grow them myself. The plant started out great, setting the first fruits of all other plants in my garden. One tomato got huge and was almost ready to pick when... we left for a week of vacation! After vacation, disease set in and it all went downhill fast. So what ended up being the ONLY Cherokee Purple to appear in my garden last year was snagged by my mother in law who was graciously tending our garden while we were out of town. Sigh...

Well I'm determined that this year will be different and I'll have a stunning crop of tomatoes. I couldn't resist ordering the "Mortgage Lifter" (the creator of the variety apparently paid off his mortgage by selling the popular seeds). Mmm... I can almost taste the tomato sandwiches, caprese salads, and bruschetta already.