Meet the Friends!

Ok- as promised- here are the New Friends that I have acquired.

Now- to some of you- it may seem odd that I name my plants, but it is something that I have always done, and I think that it adds a sense of responsibility to it all, and once you name something it makes you want to try harder at keeping them alive.
I have a few other Friends, but since they have not yet been planted, those will wait for later.

Here we have "Chuck" the Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato. This guy was named for my boss "Chuck" who is a Cherry Tomato fiend and who is anxiously awaiting harvest time.


Over here is my Roma Tomato who I named "Furio". I needed a good strong Italian name to go along with the "Roma" of it all, and if you've seen "The Sopranos" you know that Furio is a good strong fella to take after. Furio will be providing Tomatoes for homemade pasta sauce.


Ahh... the 3 Amigos. Cilantro is a big player in our house- Mr SuperChicken will eat it on anything- Pizza, Salad, Sandwiches, salsa... you name it. It is also a huge fave of our 5 birds. When I walked thru the house with the little plants my birds got quite excited thinking I was bringing them a treat. I really hope that these guys make it and save me the trouble of buying 2 or 3 bunches of them a week.


Over here are the Basil and Chive Plants. The Chives are just regular Chives- not garlic or any of those varieties. I am unsure what I will be naming them... but I think that I will be calling the Chives "Clive" (random side note: If you have not seen the BMW Short films "the Hire" staring Clive Owen- you have GOT to see them! they are great! watch my Fave HERE -also staring is Madonna and produced by Guy Ritchie- I laugh so hard each time I watch it! best 6 mins of video ever!)
Anyway- back to the plants-
The basil is a Sweet basil- nothing fancy or exotic- if you want a great article about exotic and tasty Basil's you can easily grow- visit here to buy the magazine- or you read about a few of them that I found here. No Name for them yet either- but I will get there.

And last but not least is the Strawberry Plant I named "Chandler" (with berries attached!) This is actually a "Chandler" Variety of strawberry-which in this case is a "Everbearing" plant (some "named" types can be bred to be a different "bearer")- Meaning that during the growing season that I can expect a bundle here and there thru the months of the little guys- getting bigger and bigger as the plant matures. If you want to read about the various type of strawberry plants (June-bearing, Everbearing, and Day Neutral and what it all means for you and your plants) Visit here for some good basic info. But being a huge fan of the TV show "Friends" how could I pass up the opportunity to name it after one of them?

But with the magic they can grow now days- you could end up with a "Chandler" that is a June bearing, or a everbearing or so on- so be sure you PAY ATTENTION when buying strawberry plants. You would not want to think you are going to get a bunch of little guys all summer and end up with 20 huge berries in June and see nothing until the next year.

If you are wondering why there are towels under the plant- that is because with strawberries you need to keep the fruit up off the ground to keep it from getting bruised or rotten (hence the name STRAWberry- because it is used to be grown on a bed of straw) but until I get some straw or ground cover fabric, towels it is- which as a side note seems to hold moisture into the ground quite well without staying wet themselves. But I do not want to leave them there to attract bugs- so I will need to get some straw soon.

I also have a few more friends to share with you- but that will have to wait until next time.