Tomato insanity

Garden update:  We started an early spring garden, as we usually do if the weather permits.  We planted broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, carrots (three kinds), red and yellow beets, three kinds of peas, lettuces of various kinds, swiss chard, three kinds of onions, spinach, onions and leeks.  I think that is all.  No.  I forgot, also turnips and radishes.  It has all done well.  We have eaten the first batch of broccoli, lots of lettuce, radishes, bok choy.  Peas are just about to come on.  We had a great salad yesterday and today with five kinds of lettuce, radishes, chives and greens from the garden.  We also had a good asparagus crop this year.  That is a perrenial crop, not something we plant every year, but we have about 50 feet of asparagas established in the back.

These are the potatoes and a bed of carrots beets and spinach.  I planted four kinds of potatoes.  Yukon gold, kenebec (brown), pontiac red, some purple potatoes I saw at J & L and thought I would try, and then I had a little more room so I planted some potatoes we had in storage from last year that were starting to sprout.  Not sure the variety.  Potatoes are growing very well, as you can see.  We are just now using the last of our onions and potatoes that we grew and stored from last year. 

                                                                         Onions.

Now this is where the insanity comes in.  We have planted 53 tomato plants.  Honest.  We didn't mean to, really, it just happened.  We couldn't stop.  Someone please make us stop!  Please!

These are the varieties and the number of plants:

Speckled Roman  8
Opalka  8
Big Beef  10
Bib Mamma  8
Big Daddy 1
San Marzano 1
Parks Whopper 3
Juliette 6
Heirloom 6
Goliath 3

How could this happen, you ask.  Well, this year I decided to start some tomatoes from seed indoors.  I have tried in the past and never got very good results.  They were weak and spindly and never seemed to do well.  So, not really thinking my home started ones would work out, I also ordered some plants from a couple of garden stores.  I wanted to try some new varieties.  I like to try ones that you cannot buy at Home Depot, if you know what I mean.  But the plants that I started did quite well, actually.  The Speckled Roman, Opalka and Heirlooms are all ones that I started and I got more of them than I had thought.  Then we "had" to order some Big Beefs and Bid Mamas because those are two varieties that have won us blue ribbons at the State Fair for a couple years running.  Then some neighbors gave us some Parks Whoppers, then Eva thought if we are going to have that many, we may as well have some more Juliettes, since they are really good.  You can all say it now to us:  all together:  "you are nuts!"

I do not know what we will do with all the tomatoes.  Eva says she is going to sell them at the Bountiful farmers market. 

Oh, and just in case I forget to mention it, we also planted 48 pepper plants.  Really.

Japapeno  9
Cayenne long 10
Mini belle 8
Golden treasure 5
ancho  3
golden giants 3
yum yum 5
Big Daddy 2
Hot red 3

Same deal.  I started some from seeds (cayenne long, jalapenos and mini belle) and they did really well.  Others we ordered or picked up or whatever. 

We also started some celery.  No one grows it because it is hard to do and the results are not nearly as good as the celery you buy, but we can't resist.  We started the seeds indoors and transplanted them and we have 22 celery plants, 12 of a variety called "Utah" (really--you never knew Utah was known for its celery, but it actually is) and 10 of a variety called "golden."

So I may need to join some kind of 12 step program for compulsive gardeners.  Maybe you all need to stage an intervention or something. 

I will keep you informed about how the tomatoes and peppers do and more importantly, what we do with them. And my state of sanity, which is at present obviously in question.

Finally, our yard has looked particularly nice this Spring.  Thought I would share: 

Iris have been particularly good this year.