It's been awhile since I've shared any garden photos. I was, to be honest, a little embarrassed, as I'm such an amateur and I've never tried to grow anything in a wet, cool climate before. I hadn't realized how much I counted on the hot Chicago summers to plump up the tomatoes and spread the basil leaves wide. It's been a cold and rainy summer so far and therefore my plants are progressing slowly, but they are still growing.
However, the 80 or so tomato and herb seeds I sowed in early April have made steady progress. The only flat failures were the melons and sweet marjoram (both started out well but died within the first few weeks of being repotted). I was able to give away dozens of herb and tomato seedlings, and as my parsley and coriander continue to flourish I've been dividing those up and sharing them, as well. The mint suddenly developed some sort of leaf disease, but I repotted it, cut off the sickly leaves and it seems to be making a recovery.
The sweet marjoram died, but at least one of my other herb plants have survived and are doing well. Here we have two sage plants (front left), a parsley plant (under shelf), coriander (top of shelf) and a mint plant (large pot). The tall plant in the front and center is a verbena variety that a friend gave me in exchange for some tomato and basil plants I shared with her.
Then there are my beloved tomato plants. I planted 40 tomato seeds in a seed tray (of four different varieties) ... or so I thought. I somehow ended up with 41 tomato seedlings, 17 of which are now in this back garden corner. The others are being grown in gardens throughout Nottingham, as I gave many away.
