Welcome to the 2009 Growing Season!
It is hard to believe it is already April of 2009 and yet that’s exactly what the calendar tells me is the case. I am indeed in a new home in Atlanta, Georgia and aside from the ungodly pollen count early on this year and temperatures that continued to dip down into the freezing zone as recently as two days ago, I am in love with this city.
A few weeks ago my partner and I spent a weekend getting some of the yard ready for Spring by prepping a new planting bed in the front yard and along one side of the house. We also bought a few tomato seedlings since my move and travel schedule made it impossible to start seeds myself in January. Because of the previously mentioned freeze issues, those plants have been in temporary housing for the past three weeks though I hope to have them in the ground over Easter weekend if the Farmer’s Almanac agrees (I still haven’t opened it this year).
The image above is of one of the tomato plants, a Patio tomato that will reside this year on our back deck. As you can see it is already beginning to bloom and I am hopeful that this is a harbinger of the good things to come with this year’s gardening endeavors! Also on the list (so far) of tomato seedlings that have come to live at My Earth Garden this season are a Big Boy, a Better Boy and an heirloom Mr. Stripey tomato plant. I am a huge fan of heirloom tomato plants so I do hope to have at least two more heirlooms in the garden this year, possibly even in hanging planters, but I’ve found them a bit difficult to find around town so far.
With a long list of what I hope to have in the ground in the next few weeks I’m sure I’ll have to make a few alterations to the list but I am confident that I’ll be able to have a respectable garden (by my standards) with some extra work and a bit of this Georgia clay under my fingernails.
If you are in the Atlanta area and have any tips or links to great local websites, be sure to let me know. Here’s to a great and fruitful 2009 growing season!