The portable garden this week: 19 May 2022

Exciting news this week. The tomato plants finally arrived after weeks and weeks of waiting. This was a collection I ordered from a magazine, but now they are here, we think we might have got them cheaper elsewhere. Much cheaper.

The image below shows how big the plug plants are when compared to a regular-sized stylus. They really are tiny, and they came in a cardboard envelope, not even a small box.

I watered them straight away and left them on the draining board, but as soon as the poet got home from work, he planted them out into the growbags. I would have done it, but I’ve been up to my eyeballs with work this week, including working a ghost shift last night.

They look so lost, but they seemed to enjoy the drop of rain we had right after they were planted. (Those weeds in the gravel, by the way, have defied the weed killer that’s been put down twice.)

From top to bottom, we have Cherry Sungold, Gardener’s Delight, and Moneymaker. Either the Gardener’s Delights or the Moneymakers were supposed to be beef tomatoes, but as we already had to wait a long time for delivery, perhaps the beef toms didn’t arrive and a replacement was sent, which is their prerogative.

Next time, we’ll either grow from seed or buy them locally. At least that way we’ll get what we expect, at a time when we want, and perhaps for a more affordable price.

Due to one thing and another, the only other job that was done this week was earthing up the potatoes. This was done on the same day as the tomatoes, but already, one day later, they were poking through again. The above picture was taken 2 days after earthing up…

So that’s all from us for this week. How’s your garden growing?

2 thoughts on “The portable garden this week: 19 May 2022

  1. Oh, those poor little things! I hope they rally and thrive and grow up to be somebody!

    I had great success with Moneymakers on the Cape, but they weren’t very big. A little bigger than a grape tomato, not as big as a beefsteak. But they were delicious and produced a LOT. My favorite variety was Tom Thumb, which were small, but produced lots of yummy tomatoes, but I haven’t found that variety for while.

    Gardner’s Dream grew, but never blossomed or bore fruit on Cape. They took up a lot of space without earning their keep. Sungolds are terrific.

    Enjoy!

    1. We will take good care of them!

      We should have a cherry, a regular and a beef, so it looks like they’ve sent us another cherry. I didn’t realise Moneymakers were dinky ones. I thought they were regulars. Unless one of them is a plum… then we have a cherry, a plum and a regular.

      The best success we ever had was with cherry tomatoes in hanging baskets, companion-planted with marigolds, can’t remember the variety. We got tons and tons of the things. I think Tom Thumb are among are previously grown, and I also remember a tumbler. I think that one did well too.

      I don’t usually like cordons, as they tend to take over, especially in a greenhouse. But if we get enough, I can see home-made tomato ketchup in our future!

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