First Momotaro

The first Momotaro.

First Black Krim

It fell off early as it is still not completely ripe so it'll go on the kitchen window ledge to ripen.

Ode to the most pernicious false garlic

When I first started with my community garden plot, I had no idea I would meet a most pernicious plant.

The Latin name for false garlic is Nothoscordum sp. I have not figured the species name, and I've seen gracile, inodorum, borbonicum Kunth. I see they have been recently moved to the Amaryllidaceae Family, after being in the Liliaceae Family. Here in the community gardens, I counter the colloquial usage of 'nut grass' is wrong as 'nut grass' is an entirely different plant.

I find false garlic to be most defiant. Cover them with mulch, newspaper or plastic, and that doesn't stop them. They have an amazing ability to grow through or around any ground covering.

Here's a most innocent looking shot of false garlic.

The only fail-safe way of getting rid of them is to weed them carefully and to get every single bulblet/seed out of the ground. Exhibiting an amazing adaptation for survival, the false garlic, when mature, produces a bulb which is a living seed bomb, a mass of bulblets, each bulblet ready to take on the world.

Weeding false garlic requires tools, good eyesight, and extra patience. A shovel is imperative since the bulb can be quite deep, sometimes deeper than a foot down. I estimate the bulb is about as deep as the plant is tall. Early on, I used to miss the bulb because I didn't dig deep enough.

Should even one of these seed/bulblet persists, they will come back.

If you miss getting rid of the plant, false garlic has another strategy to continue on. The flower umbel eventually turns into a seed delivery vehicle. Once again, each seed is ready to take on the world.

Some say the seeds should not even be placed in the compost bin.

Not surprisingly, I still have false garlic, even with years of diligent weeding. Fortunately, they do die back in the summer but that is merely a false retreat. They will be back next year.

Tomato update

Let's see. I have green Momotaro.

These Momotaros grew in a bunch.

I have green Sungold.

I have green Black Krim.

I finally have Pineapple tomato blooms. These are blooming later than all others. Very photogenic, I might add.

I spied a small Pineapple tomato. The first!

Lastly, the Sungold on the balcony in a pot seem to be ripening already. We have had a few, and they are delicious.

The gift of sweet peas

Each year, I make sure I plant sweet peas in one small corner of my plot. It is a rare treat each year to bring the flowers home because they smell so wonderfully. As you all know, the blooms don't last much longer than two days, and I find they just aren't available to buy.

So once a year, I am thrilled with the gift of sweet peas.