Fruits of our Labor

Hot and steamy date nights can lead to a bundle of joy nine months later. Only our hot & steamy date nights on Friday & Saturday will produce a bundle of joy much sooner.

Friends and family, we're having a garden.

I'm so excited. On Friday night, we rented a rototiller and tore up our whole back lawn & garden. Ken did the rototilling; I pulled up the grass pieces. Then we leveled the once bumpy ground. By the end of Friday, we were sweaty with a blank canvas of a yard with which to work.

On Satuday, Ken & I returned the rototiller, picked up a cubic yard of top soil & decided on the look of gravel we wanted for the paths. Then, I outlined where the paths would go. Where the beds will be. Then I dug. And dug. And leveled. And dug. And put down weed-cloth. And installed the beginnings of an irrigation system (so I wouldn't have to disrupt the gravel path later). The path totalled 85 feet in length X 2 feet 7 inches wide. 3 inches of gravel deep. By the end of Saturday, things were all ready for the 2 cubic yards of gravel that we would get the following day.

But on Sunday they were closed. Nuts. Project temporarily halted. So instead of the beeeauuutiful paths I was hoping for come Sunday night, we have weighed-down weed cloth. Kinely is so confused on what's going on although he does love to smell the upturned dirt -- there are worms in there and apparently worms smell very interesting. I've also been running around with my arms up trying to chase the robins away from eating the soil-improving worms. No wonder Kinley is confused.

So instead of laying gravel yesterday, Ken went with me to the veggie plant sale. Behold the start of the bounty:

Romaine lettuce (4), broccoli (6), a red & a chocolate bell pepper, eggplant, brussel sprouts, a yellow and a green zucchini, and lots and lots of our favorite, TOMATOES (can see pictures and read descriptions for all of them here). We realized last year that we can dry & freeze the tomatoes for awesome sauce in the winter, so we added on a few extra plants for more yield:

1. Siletz - Determinate, 52d, 4-5 ft spacing, Excellent flavor. Medium to large fruit. Best in full sun; Deep-red slicers 10-12 oz. Yield well even in cool weather. Good acid taste and excellent interior fruit quality for an early tomato.
2. Sungold - Indeterminate 57d 4-5 ft spacing Small orange gold cherry tomato. Very sweet. Best in full sun
3. Sugar Lump - Cherry Indeterminate 65d Aka Gardener's Delight. Big yield of sugar sweet tomatoes. Crack resistant fruit that is 3/4-1.5 inches in diameter and arranged in clusters of 6-12.
4. Super Sweet 100 Indeterminate 65 hughe multiple-branched clusters of 1/2 inch very sweet fruit with high vitamin C. Mouth-watering flavor. Vigorous vines bear abundantly until frost and need staking.
5. Pik Red - Determinate 72d 3-4 ft spacing Reliable; great flavor, large fruit. Full sun. 6-7 oz, smooth meaty fruit. Almost solid interiors. Sturdy vines are dwarfed in size but have high yield. Good for growing in containers
6. Big Beef - Indeterminate 73d 4-5 ft spacing Rich flavor; large; high-disease resistance; 1994 all america selections award. Hybrid. Large yields, 10-12 oz. Smooth tomatoes with old-time flavor.
7. Amish Paste Indeterminate 74d Height to 5 ft Heirloom paste tomato; full sun; 8 oz oblong oxheart fruits that are solid with outstandingly good, sweet flavor.
8. Old German Indeterminate 75d 4 ft high Heirloom from mennonites; one of the best for slicing; full sun; Bicolored variety featuring large yellow fruit with streaks of red throughout starting on the blossom end. Fruit often weighs more than a pound and has lucious, sweet flavor.
9. Plum Dandy Determinate 76d Large roma type with high yield; full sun
10. Yellow Pear - Indeterminate 78 5-6 ft spacing Yellow Cherry; low acid; old-fashioned; best in full sun
11. Aunt Ruby's German Green - Indeterminate 80d 4-5 ft spacing Heirloom; green beefsteak, green flesh wutg a tint of yellow and pink blush underneath. Sweet flavor, yet spicy and quite delicious. Fruit weighs 12-16 oz and has the smoothest shape of any large green tomato. Best in full sun
12. Black - Indeterminate 80d Compact plants bear wonderfully rich, dark-mahogany-brown tomatoes that average 4 oz. Fruit is smooth and elongated with pointed tip. Delicious blend of sugar and acid and a distinctive complex flavor that is to be savored. One of the best-tasting black tomatoes. Russian heirloom. This variety is what some gardeners grew as Black Prince years ago
13. Mortgage Lifter - Indeterminate 85d Old pink variety still in demand. Well-shaped, meaty with few seeds.
14. Yellow Brandywine - Indeterminate 90d 5-6 ft spacing Large, semi-irregular fruit of exceptional quality, creamy texture and delicious flavor. Fruit size is 12-24 oz. Extremely rich tasting tomato; Heirloom.
15. Nebraska Wedding - Determinate 97d Height to 3 feet Full sun; heirloom. Deep orange. Globe shaped

We kept them inside yesterday since it was so cold. We'll plant them once the paths and beds are finished. However we did decide on our favorites (based on what we've never planted before, what seems most exciting, etc.:

Ken's Top Three Most Exciting Plants for this Seaon: brussel sprouts, eggplant & Nebraska Wedding tomato
Lisa's Top Three Most Exciting Plants for this Season: Old German tomato, Amish paste tomato & eggplant (it has giant leaves & we've never grown eggplant before).

Still on my wish list to get for this season: Opalka paste tomato (for making tomato sauce), Magical Michael Basil (amazing last year; we picked that sucker clean), mint (picked that sucker clean too).

Can't wait.

Mom & Dad, I'll take pictures of your grandplants soon. They grow up so fast and before you know it they'll have babies of their own.*


* Ah, I crack myself up.