My Dollar Tree Garden: September Update, Tomato Season and End of Year Surprises

WE HAVE TOMATOES!! I couldn’t help myself, friends. I am so beyond excited for this month’s Dollar Tree Garden update because, well, what a hilarious first year of gardening this has been. Let’s get into it!

This series started in April with the wild idea to use Dollar Tree seeds to build our backyard garden. We have two galvanized beds in mostly full sun, one filled with strawberries and the other hosting our lettuce starters, plus a makeshift bed in the back with partial sun. That back bed was a bit of a dud and it’s getting relocated next year. Along the fence line, where I now know gets almost no sun, I planted loads of pollinator seeds that are either just showing up now or not at all. Lesson learned! We also have a number of pots growing plants from seeds and herbs.

Table of Contents

Dollar Tree Vegetable Seeds: Autumn Thriving

Okay let’s celebrate TOMATOES again because they deserve it!! I’ve now officially figured out which plant is which after they got mixed up during transplanting. As a reminder, I didn’t do a great job of hardening off my seedlings this spring. We had a very cold and rainy season and I was too impatient, which meant a lot of my seedlings died or got stunted. One tomato plant is still stunted despite being in full sun and I’m going to have to pull it unfortunately.

That said, we currently have approximately 20 green tomatoes growing and one that turned orange just this morning. I keep worrying it’s too late in the season but it really isn’t. In Seattle our harvest can run all the way into late September. 🍅

We also have what appears to be either a zucchini or a cucumber growing in a pot, another victim of the shuffle. Strangely this one is thriving in a container when every single seedling I started in the ground died a week after transplanting. Gardening is truly humbling.

Here’s the final scorecard on our Dollar Tree seeds:

11 Sweet Pepper starters – all died (turns out these only thrive at 70 degrees and above)
3 Cherry Tomatoes – 2 are going strong! ✅
3 Roma Tomatoes – 1 is producing abundantly ✅
7 Sugar Snap Peas – did great, planting triple next year ✅
1 Lone Sweet Watermelon – this poor guy never stood a chance 😢

The Starters: What’s Getting Pulled & What’s Going Strong

All of our lettuce bolted but I was able to collect loads of seeds and I’m already attempting to grow some indoors. I’m really proud of how this one went. We harvested from April through August with very few issues and I’m hoping to keep growing lettuce until the first frost.

The strawberry vines are completely out of control and need cutting back every single week. One started growing roots so I planted it alongside the others but I have no idea what variety it is, which will be a fun surprise next year. We’re thinking about pulling everything out and investing in a bigger bed because managing so many plants in a small space was genuinely difficult. The fruit wasn’t very sweet this year since it was their first season but the second year plants did great and we’re still getting fruit now. We just need about 20 more plants to keep up with our actual consumption. 😄

Saving Seeds and What We’re Planting Next

I’ve also learned to ave seeds this year and I’m rather proud of this tiny skill. As mentioned I’ve already saved a ton of lettuce seeds. I waited for the flower heads to dry out completely and then gently rub them between my fingers over a bowl. It’s honestly very satisfying. We’ll see if they’ve dried enough to work.

Dill is very easy to gather and there’s SO many seeds! I love how much of a wonderful pollinator they were this year, especially to the strawberry flowers. I’m storing these in envelops until spring where I hope we’ll get even more then we did this year. A lot of pests don’t like dill so it was great around the border of the beds with our marigolds.

Speaking of seeds, I’m trying to grow kale, spinach, and carrots from my Dollar Tree stash from April. Both are cool weather crops so I’m hoping to get an early start. Fingers crossed we get some seedlings soon! My goal is to never have to buy seeds again but the Dollar Tree was pretty successful for it’s first year.

Pollinators

I planted so many Dollar Tree pollinator seeds and very few grew, which I’m putting down entirely to user error. I either planted too early or chose spots that didn’t get enough sun. Next year I’m starting them all indoors.

The good news: I grew some calendulas from seed, my marigolds thrived all season long, and the Echinacea from the nursery did beautifully. Small wins! 🌸

Herbs

This is honestly my favorite section to report on. So many of my herbs are in their second or third year and really showing off for it. My chocolate mint got so out of control it needed a bigger pot and I’m hoping the same for the Moroccan mint next year. I’ve already started drying both for winter tea and I cannot wait to drink them in January. The lemon balm is doing well and I’m hoping to see it really take off next year.

My thyme and Greek sage grew back beautifully and have been wonderful in soups and salads all season. There is nothing better than grabbing fresh herbs right from the back door. Next year I want to expand this section significantly and grow enough to give as gifts.

And I successfully grew basil from scratch, not once but three times! All three are surviving well. One has a persistent bug eating the leaves but hopefully more ladybugs next year will sort that out.

Even though the Miss Honey garden of my dreams didn’t fully materialize this year, I am so hopeful for next year. I’m planning to start prep work much earlier, invest in a grow light for seedlings, and apply everything I learned from this very humbling and very wonderful first season.

I should have one more update before the garden goes dormant so stay tuned! And thank you for following along with this series all year. It has genuinely brought me so much joy to share it with you. 💕

What are you planning to grow next year? Is your garden still going strong? Let me know in the comments below!