Gardening in May - Parsley, Sage, and Heirloom Tomatoes

Last May, I bought a garden sage to see if it could pay for itself as an

essential ingredient in our bean dish. The ten-leaf seedling has since turned

into an aromatic silver-green bush of dozens of up-shooting branches thriving

in a 10gal pot. It has yielded over 1000 leaves, most of which have been dried

and stored up. According to the Web, the culinary sage has three to four years

of high productivity. So I'm expecting the total harvest to top 8000 leaves,

i.e., if I take good care of the herb.

 

After the earlier caterpillar attacks (see a previous post), I have stayed

alert. Winter was peaceful, however, and early spring, the plant spurted. At the

tip of each branch first appeared two minute leaflets as if holding each other. 

In a few days, they would fork out into young leaves to reveal a new pair at the

fresh tip. In a week, the first pair would have maxed out in size and ready for

harvesting.

 

I was not the only one who paid attention. The other day, as I was hovering over

the plant, I noticed a pair of young leaves hugging. That was wierd, I thought,

as they should have grown apart at their size. Curious, I pulled them open and

saw within a tiny green larva already wiggling and chomping. Following the same

cue, I foiled two more similar attempts from the enemy.

 

My parsley has been a different story. The first pot early 2020 did so well

that I added another four by Jan. Together, they gave abundant fresh leaves for

my weekly pasta and I took it for granted.

 

They had no pests until recently an army of aphids descended. The tiny green

foot soldiers claimed territories by sheer numbers until they sheathed whole

plants. Although annoying, they did not destroy the herb and could be rinsed

away.

 

A few days of sudden jump in temperature, however, sent signals to the parsley

and, like last year's cilantro, they bolted. Unsightly thick trunks formed and 

the leaves and branches hardened. There was nothing I could do but to replace

them with new ones. This time, I was going to have them indoors to avoid bolting

and maybe to grow garlic in the same pots to repel aphids.

 

By far, 13 heirloom tomatoes from last year's seeds have flourished in three 

20gal pots. One thing I could've done better was to leave more room between the

seeds when sowing to avoid hurting the roots when it's time to separate the

seedlings. So far, they have grown big and strong regardless and been flowering

since the end of Apr. With the picture of their juicy plump yellow fruits in mind,

I set up cages and enjoyed watering them and taking off sucker leaves almost

daily. I never remember having to worry about tomato pests. Let's hope the good

luck continue.

[7grizzly]

回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : Thank you, 暖冬, for reading and commenting. I lost patience on cilantro too. They seem not the easiest to grow but very eager to bolt. Thanks for the warning on tomato-loving caterpillars. I'll watch out for them. Happy Mother's Day!

[暖冬cool夏]

I learn the word "bolt" here, and like the use of "fork out into young leaves".
I bought the cilantro seeds and only a few spouted and grow well. The cilantro is so cheap that I ended up simply buying from the market, letting the cilantro in my garden grow tall and flower. Three of them are flowering now:)
By the way, green caterpillar love tomato leaves. Be watchful as the weather is getting hot. Good luck and enjoy!