The Fruits of My Labor: Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Strawberries

All is not lost in my garden. I tend to focus on a lot of problems in my journey toward being a gardener, including the persistent flea beetles and my struggling bell peppers, but I am having some wins.

For example, my Christmas Grape tomatoes are doing as well already as they did last year, in the same location in the garden. Here's the first ripening tomato! I plan to eat it soon!

And my beefsteak tomato is doing better than last year's attempt.

Strawberry Plant in Bloom

My strawberry plant is flowering. That's about it, but I love blooms because they signal the flower is growing and liking something about what I've done!

Planting Strawberries in a Hanging Planter

We finally planted strawberries. I know it's a little late to do so, but we really wanted to use strawberries in a hanging planter this year, knowing that we (read: I) are not good at keeping flowers in hanging planters alive. Somehow edibles are more my forte.

My original plan was to get alpine strawberries, which are a small and tasty variety that is good for container plants. They didn't have those, so we went for a bushy variety of strawberry, the Tristan, which should suit the hanging planter well. It will also provide some pretty flowers.

First I put rocks in the bottom of the planter I bought the other day at Lowe's. I do this with all my containers to allow for better drainage.