Putting in the Edibles

Spring gardening is a great opportunity to look back at what did or didn't work last year and adjust accordingly. For example, I really liked how much color variety I was able to incorporate into last summer's recipes by growing tomatoes in three colors. This year, I'm trying the same for basil (on the left), with traditional sweet basil, a variegated basil called "Pesto Perpetuo" and African Blue Basil. In the pot on the right are chives and cilantro.

Another adjustment: Last year, I used the fresh dill so often that I killed the plant, so this year, I planted twice as much (lower right, next to the Italian flat-leaf parsley). Something that's staying the same as last year: I potted two miniature "Ballad" sunflowers because the goldfinches loved them last summer.When it came to tomatoes, I wanted to adjust a few things this year, but how I dealt with the soil (adding manure and compost) wasn't one of them -- that seemed to work perfectly.
I also stuck with last year's technique of putting a whole raw egg in the bottom of the planting hole.
However, an early season wind storm last year made me realize that each tomato plant needs its own trellis. I lost of lot of tomato plant branches -- most of which had started to set fruit -- last year because of the wind. This year, each plant gets its own bamboo teepee: tall ones for the two Brandywines (I can't get enough of them!) and smaller ones for the two "mini" tomatoes, black cherry and yellow pear (for the multi-color effect in salads).

I'm also planning to ring the tomato beds with alyssum this year. No reason not to have the ornamentals in with the edibles! Plus, I can't get enough alyssum, so this year, I'm planning to buy a flat of it and have it edge all the beds. Stay tuned!