We now have a second raised vegetable bed cheek by jowl with the first. Where the first bed is a rough circle defined by hewn weeping willow logs, the second is a neat rectangle. Yesterday in the midst of a steady monsoony downpour I planted four tomato plants, a dozen kale plants and I sowed seeds: four rows of carrots, four of chard, six of spinach. In between the tomatoes I also transplanted a few corn thinnings from the other vegetable patch. The soil was a rich dark brown. The rain beat out a soft pelting tattoo. Fat earthworms wriggled out as if to smell the rain.
I have a grand total of six tomato plants now. Two "Better Boy", one beef tomato, one Sweet Baby Girl, one Patio and one cherry tomato. One of the Better Boys* has tiny fruit already:
Very excited and reading up on how to protect the fruit. From what I've seen so far BB is indeterminate and will produce deep red, meaty fruit until late in the growing season. It's a VFN variety, which means it is resistant to verticillium wilt, fusarium wilt, and root-knot nematodes. This is what it should look like once it ripens (thanks to Peoria Gardens for the pic):
* Correction: May 21. Just inspected the garden. It's SBG that has the fruit, but BB also has flowers. SBG will yield small, sweet cherry tomatoes in big clusters over a long life. I heard you can have as much as 2 pounds of fruit in one week once the girl gets going. Hurrah!
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