I did think of a witty pun for the title earlier in the day but I’ve forgotten it by now. That’s the way it goes.

I got my garden off to a bit of a late start this year, and grasshoppers took care of my carefully planted on time basil, so we’re off to a bit of a slow start. I have a bed of gorgeous sunflowers with Purple King Beans growing up them. The sunflowers are Evening Sun, and although I planted them a bit late too, one of them is absolutely powering ahead. I think it would be 3 metres tall by now and has just developed flower buds all over. I want to save the seeds from that one, so I’m hoping that the local birds who have discovered the sunflowers don’t take them all.

The other garden bed is Tropic tomatoes, carrots and basil. I had to buy basil after my original planting was destroyed by grasshoppers. I really need to make pesto – we have a pasta dish that we love (Bacon and Pumpkin Pesto Pasta) which doesn’t taste nearly as good with store bought pesto. My plans for spring is to do at least half a bed of basil so we’ll have enough for a good supply. I pulled up the first carrot earlier in the week, and I’m waiting for the first tomato. There was a promising looking one earlier but it was eaten by bugs (a recurring theme in my garden) so I’m still waiting. I haven’t grown Tropic tomatoes before.

The third bed holds some spindly tomato plants that are the ones I thinned out from the other bed and an eggplant bush that grew itself. We want to have a permanent bed for asparagus and maybe rhubarb, so that bed needs revamping before that happens.

I also want to establish a herb garden somewhere but I’m still trying to figure out the best spot in the garden for it. Perhaps I could tuck in herbs around the asparagus plants.