Sage Plants

Sage #1, grown at home. The oldest leaves are turning yellow, and the plant doesn't have as many leaves overall as the plant grown at my friend's house. The friend's house/my home difference isn't as pronounced with the sage as with the basil, however. I feel like I'm back in elementary school doing a science experiment with this dual location thing.


Sage #2, grown at friend's house

The leaves all seem kind of small to me. My gardening book does not recommend starting sage from seed. I think that's ridiculous. All sage has to start from a seed at some point. Why shouldn't I be the one to do it?


Sage #2, grown at friend's house


This is the sage plant that used to be at home and since taking it to FH it's really flourished. It's a little asymmetrical but it's growing.



The newest leaves on my curling leaf sage plant are very soft and furry and a softer shade of green. This is how I think of sage. The older leaves are bumpy and have always been that way even before they got sick. Does sage not produce furry leaves until later in life, or if the leaves start out that way when they are young and then get bumpy?

I read somewhere that starting your own sage from seed was a bad idea. So far, I don't think that's true--the plants are doing fine.

Sad Tomato Seedlings

Seedlings that refused to grow. Almost all are from my mix of three kinds of heirloom seeds.


This is not what a healthy, strong tomato plant should look like after 2.5 months.





These seedlings probably did not get enough water or sunlight, but they might have also come from bad seeds. I planted all of these from saved seeds, and my friend reports that her tomato plants from the same batch of saved seeds also did not grow well. Next year, I'll buy seeds.

Plant root systems

I had no idea such a tiny seedling could have such an extensive root system. I think it partially grew so much because I underwatered the plants and the roots were forced to grow to seek out a source of water. I'm not totally sure this is accurate, though.



Both of these are tomato seedlings.

The Alien: A Cherry Tomato Plant

8/2/06: Big tomato plant, nicknamed The Alien, has been dying slowly but steadily for the past month. The leaves turn yellow from the tips inward and then wilt. Eventually, the entire branch wilts. The first sign that a particular branch is going to wilt is that the stems start curving in unnatural ways. At the end the whole branch is a sickly yellowish brown. This morning I found powdery mildew on one of the newer bottom leaves that was resting in the soil and probably exposed to too much moisture. I removed the leaf, but past experience shows that other parts of my plant are probably already infected with powdery mildew and just aren't showing it yet. In spite of all the branches that have been dying off, surprisingly, new branches and leaves have been growing from the base of the plant and they're bright green and quite healthy looking. Lately they've been turning a darker green though, perhaps too green. This plant has flowered extensively but every single cluster of flowers has a) shriveled up and fallen off in a clump or b) the flowers have fallen off individually. I haven't gotten a single tomato from this plant, which is sad. Currently, the upper branches and leaves and flowers still look healthy, but I know that nothing is likely to come of it. I'm going to do some research on blossom drop. I also did some research in my gardening books on what's wrong with the plant but I couldn't figure it out. It doesn't seem to be an insect problem. I believe it is a bacterial infection. But how did it get sick?

Update: As it become apparent that the new growth at the bottom was also doomed to die, I decided to spare myself the continued misery and end this plant's life.


Earlier stages of The Alien's life