I attended a transplant trade this weekend. I arrived at the trade with two trays of plants and returned home with only one. Success! I exercised a lot of restraint this time around and did not succumb to any descriptions of beautiful tomatoes I do not have the space to grow. Although, I did end up with far too many violets and a bunch of strawberries I don’t really need but can find space for in my community garden plot.

It just so happens that I returned home from the trade to discover that the starlings had clipped all of the strawberry plants in my windowbox down to the soil line. They’ve also significantly clipped off the succulents in my succulent boxes (I was going to photograph and show you this year’s boxes, too) as well as some tomatoes. They’re probably out there right now (I can hear their menacing peeps) snipping away at the seedlings I’m hardening off.

And stealing from the elderly. I also hear they eat babies.

Clockwise from top left: Lily of the valley (I ended up with two), wild strawberry, ‘Gezahnte’ tomato, violets (okay, I took home two of these), more wild strawberries, ‘Queen Anne Pocket’ melon with 2 pink fingerling potatoes on top, and unknown flower (from Sorrelina).

I’m most excited about the ‘Gezahnte’ tomato, a gift from Sorrelina who knows I am always on the look out for the most unusual tomatoes. However, in looking through catalogs, I am not sure if this is ‘Gezahnte’, a ruffled paste, or ‘Gezahnte Buhrerkeel’ a ruffled, fluted tomato similar to ‘Zapotec Pink Pleated’. Either way they both look interesting.