My Dollar Tree Garden August Update: Tomatoes, Raccoons and One Very Determined Mole

It’s officially tomato season in the Pacific Northwest and I am beyond thrilled to report that my Dollar Tree roma and cherry tomato seeds are not only huge but they are producing actual fruit! I know! We’ve had a number of hiccups along the way, as you know, mostly from being brand new to gardening and new to this house. Sunlight, shade, and a few unexpected critters have thrown us some curveballs but honestly? We’re still standing and so are the tomatoes. Let’s chat about it!

A quick thank you before we dive in. Thank you for letting me have an entire series dedicated to gardening this year. I know it’s not my usual content but I genuinely get so excited to share these adventures and it lifts my spirits more than I can explain. Carving out time to write about this garden has been such a gift during a hard stretch. So thank you, truly, for always reading and showing up. ❤️‍🩹

Table of Contents

Dollar Tree Vegetable Seeds: What’s Growing

August is absolutely killing the tomato game and we could not be more excited about it.

We have four tomato plants that survived and three of them are not just growing but actively producing tomatoes right now! My only problem is I have absolutely no idea which ones are cherry tomatoes and which are roma. I genuinely cannot wait to find out. They are growing fast and slow at the exact same time, which feels very on brand for gardening. The plants themselves have thick, strong stems and they are honestly so beautiful and fragrant. I love them.

We did lose our zucchini plants to slugs despite the bed being full of marigolds and radishes, and the watermelons didn’t make it either. But there is one lone zucchini in the back of the garden, growing in partial shade, that is absolutely refusing to give up. I respect that so much. The sweet peppers didn’t survive but we do have a lone cucumber starter that is trying its absolute hardest and I am rooting for it with everything I have. 🥒

Nursery Starters: What’s on the Way Out

The lettuce is completely out of control and I mean that in the best and most overwhelming way. We simply could not keep up with it and next year I’ll know not to plant quite so many. In my defense I really would have loved a third galvanized garden bed!

The strawberries have been a little sour and watery this year which is completely normal for first and second year plants. Next year I’m expecting sweeter berries and I’m adding a layer of straw which I definitely should have done this year. Next year is our year for strawberries. 🍓

The best news? The lettuce has started to flower and I’m now waiting for the seeds so I can harvest them. My goal is to never have to buy lettuce starters again. Homegrown seeds from homegrown plants feels like such a win.

Predators

We have a bit of a situation happening in our backyard. 😄

As you know I built a cage around the strawberry bed because our resident army of squirrels will steal anything they can get their hands on. I am watching those tomatoes like a hawk.

But the squirrels are not the only visitors. We’ve been graced by a mama raccoon and her two babies who have been caught on the back camera looking absolutely adorable and causing absolute chaos. They knock over everything while hunting for food and water… including my peppermint and basil plants. Cute? Incredibly. A menace? Also yes.

And then there is the mole. This mole has been with us for months, has tunneled through my entire pollinator section, and has the audacity to keep going. He is such a punk. The biggest punk. I truly cannot believe his audacity. In a way, I respect his consistency. 😑

Surviving Pollinators

Here is genuinely my favorite update of the whole post: I gave up on my Dollar Tree pollinator seeds a while ago and assumed nothing had worked. And then flowers started coming up everywhere and I have no idea what any of them are because I forgot to label them and I fear they moved because I planted them on a bit of an incline. 🌸

I know there are sweet Williams, echinacea, and cosmos in there but they’re still too small to identify. It’s like a mystery garden and… I’m kind of obsessed with it.

The echinacea starters I bought are thriving along the fence, leaning dramatically toward the sun, which is very relatable energy honestly. The cat mint near the back bed is doing better than expected and quietly growing on me. The lilac is still alive which feels like a miracle and I’m choosing to be hopeful about it making it through to next year.

All in all, this garden has surprised me this year. We lost things, we grew things, we got outsmarted by a mole. But those tomatoes are coming in and I am so proud of them and of us for sticking with it through all of it. 🍅

Thank you so much for reading along on this whole journey, friends. Next post is going to be a fun one because I’ll be chatting about yarn and the Seattle fiber festival Shanna and I went to!

Wishing your garden all the best.

xoxo