I’m probably really going to regret how I handled my first balcony container gardening experience. In typical (at least as of late) Erin fashion I planned to research and review and plan out every minute detail but then I procrastinated and avoided and then suddenly woke up on Saturday morning and declared that today was going to be plant buying day!
So off to Home Depot I zipped with CK tagging along to carry the heavy bags of organic potting soil. While probably not the best place for me to shop for plants and accessories it was really all I could manage at this late stage in the game. Fortunately they did have some really cute pots! Which I then proceed to color coordinate to the type of tomato I planted. This means that grape tomatoes are in the purple pot, cherry tomatoes are in the red pot, and regular tomatoes (which in my mind I think of as being “big”) are in the blue pot. Those tomatoes simply had to settle for a little alliteration action.
My biggest worry and one that I’m actually terrified of googling is the fact that the tomato plants I bought on this whirlwind and impulsive shopping trip were quite large and already had flowers and tiny tomatoes sprouting on them. I have a nagging feeling this is not normal plant behavior for so early in the season and therefore not a good thing at all.
Am I wrong? Every night when I step out onto the balcony to water the plants I feel a sense of horror movie like foreboding. In my rational mind I know that the worst thing that can happen is that the little green imps will fall off and the tomato plant will die and nothing will bloom. Unfortunately, my level of anxiety about the silly things leads me to believe that perhaps pod people are going to hatch from the plants and take over Somerville. Hmm…I think I just inadvertently created the next Syfy Saturday night movie plot: Cherry Tomato Warriors From Mars!
Thankfully I have no such qualms about the basil plants. They’re happy, healthy, and growing in abundance just waiting to sacrifice themselves to the culinary good fight in the form of pesto and pizza topping.
The rosemary is holding its own as well, but the parsley could use a little perking up. The killer thunderstorms we had on Sunday afternoon really took their toll on this poor little herb. Hopefully he regains his strength soon or I fear there will have to be a parsley do-over.
Let’s put my personal container gardening anxieties aside for a moment to discuss Dexter’s new obsession: the balcony. I finally allowed him and Watson to go outside for the first time. Watson primly and very slowly and carefully skirted about the perimeter of our walkway area while Dexter made a beeline for freedom. He thoroughly enjoyed his outdoor excursion but eventually I got sick of corralling his fuzzy derriere while I was attempting to shovel dirt into pots and ruining my manicure in the process. So I put the cats back inside. Dexter then promptly threw a fit and repeatedly jumped at the door trying to get back out. I swear … having cats is exactly how I imagine having a toddler must be.
So gardening friends, tell me the cold hard truth that I’m too afraid to look up. Did I totally screw up my experiment by buying possibly mutant tomato plants or do you think I’ll be OK in the end? Next year I’m seriously going to invite Pam and Adrienne over (as they both really seem to know what they’re doing) for a pre-planting summit and truly develop a gardening game plan.
