Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

tomato plants

Back To The Garden?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Last Saturday I ended up in a speed tomato planting race against the incoming rain and thunderstorms. Weather hit a sunny 90 degrees on Friday and then dropped like a rock to 66 degrees with incoming rain the next morning.

Taking my time Saturday I checked the  Doppler radar at 9:38 a.m. and saw a blob of green, yellow and red moving my way. Tossed on my garden clothes and proceeded to weed, remove old potting soil, put in new potting soil, plant three tomato plants, add their cages, plus change the burned out garage light bulbs all before the storm hit. A quick fifty-five minutes flat. I did get misted on and a cool draft down my back.

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First tomato in, a favorite yellow pear. Planted two each. I use plastic painter buckets with three holes drilled in the bottom sides. They were pink, but they’ve faded in the sun. Yes, that is a purple tomato cage.   

 

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Normally I use Sweet Cherry 100s, but am trying this yellow cherry tomato hybrid since the Sweet 100s were not in sight in the store. Notice the yellow blooms in back? Yellow tomato cage to coordinate! 
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The mint is growing by leaps and bounds since I planted it. Love the aroma.
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Farmer Bun is already surrounded by blooms from the Fairy rose and blooms from a plant where I saw a hummingbird drink ing. You can rock it with a container garden.
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Of course Spec Ops Cat wanted to come outside and help me, but since he doesn’t do rain or mist he stayed inside and supervised. Smart cat!

Got a garden? Let’s grow!

 

What Flower is Your Grandmother?

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by Kimberly A. Cook          (Twitter@   WarriorTales)

Walked into the grocery store on the way home from the day job last night to get three things. Walked out with the three things plus three carnation plants and three tomato plants and one small pink flamingo with flapping wings to go in a potted plant. I’m a sucker for Spring flowers and odd yard art!

Gift plant from my Mom when I was under the weather. LOVE the color of the blooms. Must get more potting soil....
Gift plant from my Mom when I was under the weather. Celosia Intenz. LOVE the color of the blooms. Must get more potting soil….

Now I had specifically told myself not to buy any tomato plants until Mother’s Day, the best time to put them in the soil. Even though I had spied the coveted yellow pear tomato plants at the store last weekend, I did not purchase last time. They’ll be more I told myself. But when I sauntered by the same plant display last night and didn’t see the yellow pear tomato plants, I panicked. THEY bought them all!

Wait one. They’d just rearranged the plant display. They were shuffled to the middle. Retailers are tricky that way. Not taking any chances I scooped two yellow pear tomato plants up and added one sweet cherry 100 for good measure. I prefer to grow the baby tomatoes; easier to cut in half for salads and I think I have a huge crop when I see all the produce on the vines.

While sniffing the carnation plants at the garden center, the clerk asked if I needed help. “Found the carnations,” I said. “Carnations always remind me of my grandmother,” I told her. “Pansies and fuchsias remind me of mine,” she replied. Even flowers have stories and memories. Scent and smell are powerful things. So I bought the carnations of course.

Now I have to buy potting soil to get these gems planted before the big rains come later this week. I usually don’t plant before Mother’s Day, cold soil and all, but with this warm early Spring, perhaps I can get away with it. Gardening is an adventure!

Got tomato plants? Got carnation plants? Got potting soil?