Saturday, 3-May-2014, the potager

Hmm, yes, well, I never did finish the post about the seeds I started in February or so. But since they all fried in our makeshift coldframe when the weather was unexpectedly warm, it hardly matters. And we let the potager really go over the winter, so there's no mulch at all. Ed mowed a few days ago, so things are down to ground level, and he moved the line for the tomatoes to the other side, so they'll have so new-to-them ground this year.

The wild strawberries are going great and trying to escape their allotted space as we try to contain them. Who will win? We munch a few whenever we visit.

Given our lack of plants for potting, Ed bought some tomatoes, an eggplant, and a pot of fava beans at a shop. I mail-ordered some organic tomatoes, but it was already too late to get what I wanted; instead I got three batches of five of potluck tomatoes. Planted thusly today:

• On the southeast end pole that supports the tomato wire, fève d' Aguadulce, three plants in the pot at that space.
• At the end of the angled support next to that, a tomato Voluptuoso F1.
• Next to that, a grafted tomato Supersteak. (I didn't know that tomatoes were grafted; something to learn about.)
• Next to that, a grafted tomato Corazan F1.
• Then the mail-ordered tomatoes (assuming that they are in the box in the same order as the label was printed), working on the same line back towards the strawberries. From the first box:
• rose de berne (round and pink, biggish)
• green grappe (I bet that's supposed to be green grape)
• marmande (a tomato local to Aquitaine apparently)
• beefsteak (big and red)
• andine cornue (the skinny Andean tomato)
From the second box:
• ananas (a yellow tomato)
• cerise (cherry tomato, of course)
• beefsteak
• gardener's delight (a cherry tomato)
The last tomato from the second box, russe, looked puny. (Should be big and red.) There was no more room on that row, so I turned around and put it next to a fence stake on the southish, near the end of the line of tomatoes.

• Starting at the southeast side of that fence side, by each of the first three fence stakes, I buried three seeds of haricots (sans fil), Cordon Bleu). 
• At the fourth stake came the punny Russe tomato.
• At the fifth fence stake, I planted three seeds of fèves, De Séville.

• Above the stake with the storebought fèves, I started a second row of veg, planting the storebought eggplant/aubergine, Bonica F1, 
• Next to that, I planted a "hill" with three seeds of zucchini/courgette, Verte non coureuse d/Italie. (Can that really be the variety name?)
• At the other end of that row, I planted three seeds of a winter squash Sweet Dumpling (Patidou), which are supposed to be small fruit orange-brown flesh and skin ribbed white and dark green. (I'm really looking for an acorn squash sort of thing, but these don't seem to exist any more.)
• There's a big gap in the middle for who know what.
   
• Along the opposite long fence side, at each stake, starting from the northeast corner, I planted the third box of tomatoes (a twin to the second one):
  • ananas
  • cerise
  • beefsteak
  • gardener's delight
  • russe (this one healthier looking)

Now we'll see how it all goes.