Now I am drowning in tomatoes

Now that most of the tomato sprouts I still have in cups have been rescued from near death, I spent time over the last weekend trying to find space to fit in whatever was still unplanted. I found homes for the sedem and lavender plants from Kate and Maya in the front of the lawn with the lilies, cosmos and irises. Ollie sent over some marsh mallows which he believes can survive without full sun (one can hope), and a variation of the green ground cover plant which is darker than the type that came with the house. I hope it will add a nice accent. I moved some evening primroses away from the day lilies which had covered them up completely. I shoved basil and hot peppers and tomatoes wherever I could find a spot. I replaced some tomato or basil plants that looked runty with a stronger sprouts still waiting for planting. Three varieties of iris, and one of my peonies are blooming, and one more of each are due to open anytime now. The columbines are huge and still in full flower. The one I bought from Alan's plant sale last year is actually two plants intertwined, so some of the flowers are violet and some are pale pink/white. It looks beautiful. One of the plants I got from Laure is a yellow anemone which surprised me because it looked like a big buttercup plant. I did some research and discovered that buttercups are a variation of anemone. It is growing next to my patch of milkweeds so it has a nice wildflower feel.

The slugs are back, as well as a big population of snails. The pansies I got from Iulia have been totally devoured. We put down more slug-b-gone. I see holes in my violets, peppers, and lettuce which I recognize. I found two slugs under a patch of hay when I checked. I am going to buy some beer. Some cheap stuff for the slugs, maybe some good stuff for me.

I did some weeding in the back yard too on Sunday, and starting finding all the volunteers and surprises which popped out of my layer of compost.

Wood sorrel, potatoes and raspberries

I discovered six potato plants which I transplanted into their own section between the raspberries and the cucumber pagoda. I found some savory growing in the bathtub too (I did not think it was a perennial, maybe some seeds were left behind?)  I also found huge patches of tiny plants which looked suspiciously familiar. I looked close and found that I have tomato sprouts popping up in huge clusters. I realized that when we ground the tomatoes up last fall for sauce, I dumped the seeds and skins into the compost. We chopped up around 1000 tomatoes. That makes for a lot of seeds. Apparently, many of them did not break down in the compost over the winter. Next year I think I will boil the tomato seeds before composting them. I am leaving them grow for a bit, and then  I need to decide what to do with them. They are everywhere! I still have 30 or so sprouts in cups which I have no space for. I have donated sprouts to the garden boxes of both of the day centres where I work, and to any friends and neighbours who said they wanted basil or tomatoes. Any of my readers in Montreal who would like some wonderful tomato plants, let me know! Josh doesn't recommend eating the sprouts (they are nightshades, after all), which is my favorite method of ridding ourselves of excess sunflower and basil sprouts. I am still getting over my aversion to ripping out weeds. I feel dedicated to my tomatoes and just awkward about tomato-cide. Sigh.

Garlic scapes and mushrooms

Three mushrooms came up in the middle of my periwinkle. He thinks that they are agaricus augustus. Anyways, he promised me that they were edible. Two were too mature to eat, and I popped them back under patches of hay to make more mushrooms next year. One became the main ingredient in Orianne's mushroom omelet for dinner. I checked with Josh twice just to be sure I would not poison my youngest child. She said it was delicious and seems to be unharmed by her dinner. I have since had a few more pop up, which Josh said I picked too early (can't win!) which are pictured on the right. We did not plant these, they just popped up.  I tossed some baby arugula (super potent), orpine leaves, wood sorrel, baby oak lettuce, basil leaves and lamb's quarters into tonight's salad. It was an explosion of flavours! I know I never made good my promise to share recipes in one of my winter posts, so I will try to sneak some in as I go.

Yellow iris from Jack and Amy

Claude finally made it over with a huge bottle of hydrogen peroxide to spray on all our peppers and tomatoes to rid them of the bacteria problem. Now that my entire crop of last year's infected tomatoes sprouted without the benefit of my dipping the seeds in hydrogen peroxide, I am pleased to be able to give my garden "the cure". It won't harm anything but the bacteria, according to Claude. He also promised to help us access a cheaper source of slug-b-gone, which he says is the most effective,

Some variety of tiny irises from Alex Z's garden

affordable and non-destructive way to deal with the slimy buggers. My father-in-law suggests catching them and marketing them as "escargot de campagne" (I suspect the first person to market escargot in garlic butter was a frustrated gardener). I suppose he also gave Josh the results of the soil samples, but I forgot to ask, so I will have to post about that another day. I have not had time to take photos, but will get to the irises and peonies soon so there will be photos added to this post soon. (Done!)

Oh, I had a reply from Chloe about the spiky blue flowers. She says they are called centaurea, and Olga was right in her suggestion that they are related to thistles and cornflowers according to my internet search. They are thriving quite happily with minimal sun despite the internet recommendation of full sun. I see a future with many patches of these guys because they seem to want to spread. Chloe says if I cut them after they bloom they will come back for a second run. I am game to try. My forget-me-nots are going to seed, I will try to spread the seeds where I want them as per Ollie's suggestion, unless I get too busy and forget.