The Burnt Umber Thumb: Update

It has been awhile, almost a month since my last update. There wasn't much activity to report. I didn't acquire anything new, and I made sure I watered everything I had regularly.

I would like to put the Campari tomato plants outside at some point. From what I understand, they don't like frost. Or that frost doesn't like them and tries to kill them. Memorial Day weekend is traditionally the first weekend past the danger of frost here in New England. That's the magic date stuck in my head, anyway. This year, we had our last frost on the morning of Memorial Day. Good thing I have been somewhat lazy and procrastinated moving anything from my kitchen table garden.

And then the last few days reached 90+ degrees, which is probably also not good for many plants.

The basil I bought March 29 has turned brown and withered. I don't know how long it is supposed to last. I think maybe it didn't get enough water. Or too much. I seem to be mistaken in my notion that basil is one of the easier herbs to grow. I was able to use some of it for cooking before it died, so all was not lost.

The Campari tomato plant from my original experiment is still alive. It has really long stems and seems like what some might call "leggy." It is more than 5 months old now and still shows no signs of producing tomatoes. I don't know how long it takes to reach that point. I saw a tip online about using chopsticks to prop up tomato plants, so I used some disposable chopsticks from the local Chinese restaurant to make a teepee-shaped structure inside the pot. With luck, the plant will grow around the homemade trellis.

The Campari tomato plants from the second round at the end of March are still alive, but haven't grown much. I'm not sure what is up with that. Perhaps they need a new location - more sun, I would assume. I think I heard somewhere that tomatoes love sun. And water.

The parsley and peppermint I bought May 7 are still doing all right. I took off the leaves that were yellowing and browning, and the rest looks fine.

The jade I got from a cutting from someone at work back in February is still alive. I can see a little new growth, which I take as a good sign. Other than that, it isn't doing much. I don't know how fast jade plants grow.

The celery root end I planted in early March is getting long and leafy. I don't know at what point, if ever, it will resemble the celery purchased in stores. The celery in stores is tall and all clumped together. My celery is falling all over the place. I don't know if farmers train celery to stay together for easier packaging or if it tends to grow that way if it gets the proper amount of water and sunlight.