Murder in the Garden

I have always been proud of my Green Thumb. Planting a seed and watching it grow is a spiritual experience for me and I have successfully grown everything from Artichokes to Zucchini. Over the last few years, because of the California water shortage, my gardening days faded like dried out plantings in the fall. However, this year my soul desperately needed reviving so I decided to plant a small garden of tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and basil.

I bought two raised self-watering planters, organic soil and expensive organic plants from our local nursery instead of the big stores thinking I would have reap a larger crop. Exception was the seeds I purchased at the Dollar Tree. I actually bought two, peppers and basil, but the peppers never sprouted. Surprisingly the basil did well and I planted it with the other more expensive greens.

First mistake was that I planted the week of the big summer heat wave. We’re talking close to 110 in the San Fernando Valley. I watered both morning and night but the heat was too much for my seedlings and most perished.  I tried so hard and as I clipped dried up leaves from my brave baby plants, this atheist said a few prayers to the garden goddess.

Wish I could report that prayers worked. Not. The only plant that has thrived is the little basil plant. Go figure. Looks like we are going to have delicious Caprese salad this summer, curtesy of Whole Foods and Dollar Tree.