Garden Miscellaneous - May 2026

I bought two tomato plants around the corner. Or, two corners, like if I were to walk halfway around the block.  A woman had grown them from Baker Creek seeds and was selling them for $2 each.  I got my favorite, the reliable Sungold and a Pantano Romanesco, which they say has flesh "rich, flavorful, and juicy."

I also have a volunteer Sungold from last year's plant.  I had a larger one a while back, but a late freeze got it.  Nice shadow!  No one really needs more than one Sungold, but I didn't know this was going to show up.

My June-bearing strawberries are a little earlier than last year, but only by a few weeks.  They taste nothing like the kind you buy in stores!

There's a little Chinese elm that came up in a pocket of a terra-cotta pot.  It's a few years old now.  I just let it be.

Purple tansy is blooming in the compost pile.  I tossed the old plants in there years ago and get volunteers each spring.   I like how the flowers uncurl. Bumblebees love this plant.

I grew this pale pink Russell Lupine from seed many years ago. It's a short-lived perennial.  I also have a blue one grown at the same time, and my older purple one died last year.  It's at it's prime this year, lots of spikes, called racemes.  They are very easy to grow from seed.

I think Monday I'll post some of the little creepy crawlies I've seen in the garden lately, the spiders and insects.