Usually, I don’t start thinking about my garden for at least another month or two. This year through its already shaping up to be a hot one. Down here it’s already swimming weather for the locals. I was hoping this year to go a bit bigger. That, however, is not going to be the case. Instead, I’m going to focus more on yield and hopefully have more success than failure. Last year was a mixed bag outside of my giant tomato plant.

I am starting the year already with a failure. I ended up getting some cilantro a little too early and it’s already dead. Perhaps it was not watered enough or as some people say they are a bit tricky. I was warned not too long ago to pick up a couple of them “just in case.” Well, I did not. Now they are out of stock at my local store and I don’t feel like looking for one with how things are going.

With that said I acquired a few starter plants over a week. The above screenshot is a couple of things I got.

I also scrubbed and empty all my old planets. While the parsley was still hanging in it was starting to go rather white. I ended up getting a different kind of parsley as well this year and I’m not looking to test fate of tasting bitter parsley once the old one goes. As such out with the old.

BeefMaster Tomato

Last year I ended up getting a Beefsteak tomato plant which grew eight feet tall. This year I wanted to stay in that branding but went with something a little different. Beefmaster tomatoes look crazy and well I want something giant so here is hoping.

They are supposed to be decent in my area with a lot of others having great success. All I can say is they look somewhat like a red squish when you look some of them up online with how they plumb up and get lines around them. Not quite sure how “true” the photos of people needing to use two hands to hold one of them suckers is but I like the sounds of that. Anything that bigger than a cherry tomato is success sometimes for me!

Mine has already had four flowers on it in just this past week alone. I have been removing them up to this point. I want to let it grow and not spend energy trying to produce so early on.

I also this year pruned mine up a bit and buried it much cheaper into the larger potter I have. I made sure to get the tomato cage and a stick for the middle in right away. If this Beefmaster is going get massive well I’m getting ready now!

Red And Green Pepper

This year I’m also not as daring in trying to plant both the red and green pepper in the same planter to try and save some room. I learned my lessons last year with ants taking them both out after invading the single planter I had them in.

It’s already looking like ants will end up being a huge battle this year. With it being so warm this year they seem to have come out in colonies to welcome in my new freshly planted plants. Getting a flamethrower is still on my mind! I’m sure I’ll be going to war with them soon enough.

Outside of keeping an extra cage on hand if the tomato needs it. I used my other cage for the green pepper. I’m hoping just a stake will be enough for the red pepper. I also got them in right away this year instead of waiting. I did not want to break any branches this year messing around after the fact.

Herbs

This year I want to have some tasty fun with my herbs so I got Mortar and Pestle ready to go. I did not use it much last year. Between the parsley, dill, cilantro, and some other stuff I’m going be growing this year it should be fun. I also made sure I was stocked up on olive oil.

Since I used my Mortar and Pestle so little last year. I thought I would go through the process of seasoning and getting it ready for use which I did not do last time. I ground up some rice grains into a fine powered a few times over. Until they stop turning a greyish color from the granite. After that, I seasoned it with some olive oil and species.

As you can see in the above photo I also have a specie rack. Several species and herbs in there are starting to get old. Hopefully this year I’ll be cleaning out the more commonly used ones and dehydrating my own and reusing the nicely named container I have. If not I’ll end up buying some new ones.

I ended up going with a different kind of parsley this year than I’m going be attempting to grow from seed. Hoping both works out and I try some taste testing to see what the difference is and what I prefer to cook with.

I also have a couple of bunching onion I’m trying to grow from seed. Instead of trying to grow them in a starting container this year, I put them in their own planters. They did not seem to like being transplanted after the fact last year. Here is hoping something does not come along and eat it this year.

As far as everything else it’s in a starting tray. I did not get any photos of that. Which with my luck of growing anything from a seed being zero that might as well be the case. Hopefully next month I’ll have something more to show on that end.

Jalapeno

Last year I ended up getting a Jalapeno quite late in the year. While I loved how Tabasco pepper looked I did not enjoy eating them. As a result this year I’m back to growing a Jalapeno plant again. For whatever reason, hot peppers seem to grow decently for me better than most things.

I at least know these I’ll eat and enjoy a bunch of different foods. My only issue in the past was the massive quantity I end up growing! I won’t be able to do much trading this year with them if that ends up being the case. Perhaps I’ll find more dishes I will enjoy them in.

Final Thoughts

That wraps things up for me in getting set up. While I was considering getting a Lemon Tree quite a few months back or something around the sort. That is not going to be the case this year. Perhaps next year I’ll go wild with a bigger garden and toss in a tree as well.

I hope everything has been growing great. May I be the first one with a failure of a dead planet already. Looking forward to seeing what others have been up to.

Information

Photos were taken and content was written by @Enjar.

@Simplymike runs a monthly community garden journal challenge which you can find here if you are interested.