The Garden of Misfit Plants

Every year I seem to have an unconventional garden set-up. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that I don't actually have a garden where I live. Why a landlord would decide to pave over any empty space in the backyard I will never understand, but the only option it has left me with is to find garden space elsewhere. Luckily, the Cornercopia Student Organic Farm that I am an intern at this summer offers it's interns a 10ft x 12ft plot to do with what they wish. Jackpot. After figuring out how to work the tiller, weeding out the plot and raking it flat, I was good to go. I had a few things of my own (mostly tomatoes and a lonely zuchetta plant) to put in the plot, but those only took up a small portion of the space I had at my disposal. 

My zuchetta plant which I started from seed is doing rather well.

This is where my orphaned plant garden began. Working on a farm, you often don't plant every single transplant that you grow out in the greenhouses. Usually it's a matter of growing too many transplants and not having enough space in the field for all of them. I've always had a soft spot for plants that aren't doing so great. I always feel so bad for them and just want to give them a fighting chance, instead of just watching them waste away in unwatered pots. This was the case with a good number of the plants I acquired. The basil, peppers and calendula were all leftover plants that were eventually going to get composted. 

One of the orphaned sweet peppers.

The other plants were the runts of their respective trays. Most of the melon plants were large and had several of their true leaves on them. The runts, however, barely had one or two true leaves, as you can see in the picture below. 

One of the runts of the Sweet Dakota Rose watermelon litter.

The last plants are brassicas that somehow ended up sprouting in the pepper plant flats and no one really knows what they are (my guess is they're broccoli). I popped them out of their adopted flats and put them in my plot just to see what they'd do.

So, in list form, my garden currently has:
-Tomatoes (5 plants, varieties can be found here)
-Sweet Peppers (4 plants)
-King Arthur Sweet Peppers (3 plants)
-Unidentified Brassicas (2 plants)
-Sweet Dakota Rose Watermelon (2 plants)
-Muskmelon (1 plant)
-Zuchetta (1 plant)
-Basil (5 plants)
-Calendula (5 plants)

I have a few more of my own Roma tomato plants and a pepper plant to add to the mix, but we'll see if I end up adding anything more to the mix. I'm glad that I have the opportunity to garden again this summer, no matter how unconventional it is. I'm also happy I can satisfy my inner nurturer that just wants to save as many orphaned plants as I can. I never want anything to go to waste in gardening, plants included. I never thought I would grow melons or brassicas this summer, but these misfit plants definitely changed my mind. I just hope all of them end up making it!