Update on Marigold Tomatoes

 Well I thought it was time to give everyone a quick update on my Marigold Tomatoes.  You remember the tomatoes I thought were Marigolds and planted as a border in my raised beds.  Well, I had to thin them to just four plants instead of ten.  I probably should have thin them to three but they look to be doing well.  I staked twine down into the soil then spiraled the twine up the tomato plant attaching it to the top of the Squash Arch to act as support.  Then as it grows I just twirl it around the twine.  Because they are on the inside of the Squash Arch they really don't get much wind which is good because this isn't what I'd call a real sturdy support system for the tomatoes.  However, it is working pretty good!



I was pleasantly surprised that the Marigolds Tomatoes are Roma's of some sort.  One can only have so many cherry tomato plants.  I've been pretty impressed with how well these Marigold Tomatoes are turning out.  

Livin' on the edge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nqcL0mjMjw - Livin' On the Edge


I am pretty fortunate, I live on the edge.  The edge of the city that is.  Less than a ½ mile from my house is  Bauer Berry Farm, only Bauers do more than just berries.  They do corn too!  So what that means is that I don’t do strawberries in my backyard, I go pick them down the road.  I don’t do Blueberries; I go pick them down the road.  I don’t grow corn in my backyard, I go down the road.  They start picking corn at 6 am and start selling it at 9:30 am, and us locals all know it and they are often sold out by 11 am. 


Now a couple of days ago made my pot of coffee and instead of going out to weed, I went down the road. 

I was in line by 7 am and the first car in line.  By the time the gates opened at 8 am there was a line of 40-50 cars.  In a half hour I picked 23 pound for $48.  Traveled the half mile back home and started cleaning a prepping to make Strawberry Jam, Jalapeño Strawberry Jam and Balsamic Strawberry Jam.  Next week I will be back at Bauer's Berry Farm to pick blueberries.  By the end of July, I’ll be all over their sweet corn. 

Here is the recipe for Balsamic Strawberry Jam (my favorite)
5 c crushed strawberries
3 ½ cups of sugar

6 tbls of Balsamic Vinegar

1 tbls of butter

1 packet unsweetened fruit pectin

 Instruction

• Stem an crush strawberries
• Heat strawberries, sugar and pectin in a large pot to boiling.  Boil 30 seconds, stirring constantly
• Remove from heat and skim off foam.
• Stir in butter and balsamic vinegar 
• Ladle quickly in to prepared jars.  Wipe off lids and seal tightly.   
• Put in boiling water bath for 5 minutes  
• Remove jars and cool.  

Ps here Bauer Berry Farm web site - http://bauerberry.pointsoftouch.com/

Eat local!  

Zucchini in the front yard!

Zucchini is one of those plants that just keeps giving and giving.  In recent years I've had problems with cucumber beetles and spent hours on beetle hunts without much success.  This year I decided to use a different tactic.  While reading this winter about edible landscaping a benefit that really caught my attention was Biodiversity.  Huh?  I know kind of a fancy word for saying confusing garden pest, in this case the cucumber beetle, by inter planting with the things they love with the things they won't touch.  In other words no more rows, which when you think about it is providing the cucumber beetle a fast food freeway.

I have my cucumber plants in two different beds.  One hill is surrounded by Broccoli, Nasturiums, Calendula and French Marigolds.  The other hill is surrounded by Dill, Calendula and French Marigolds.  The one surrounded by the Broccoli is doing better but it could be a sunlight issues as well as that bed gets about hour more of sun.

My Zucchini I put in the front yard.  In mixed in with a Red Weigela, Snowball Viburnum up closer to the house and between Stella de Oro Daylillies.  Now I do have Rainbow Swiss Chard,  and Asiatic Lillies in that same bed.  Everything growing like rock stars.  My mother (the lady who taught me how to garden) was over the other day and as she came in the house wanted to know what my new bush was with all the yellow flowers on it.  When I told her it was a Zucchini plant, she had to go back outside to take another look.

One of the best things about having the Zucchini right next to the front door and garage is you walk by it all the time.  So you are constantly checking for more squash.  It is coming in now in abundance!  The nice thing is I haven't let any of them get to the size of a tree branch, so it just keeps on producing and producing!

Are you a Garden Putz?

I consider myself a Garden Putz. Some think that putz’s are idiots or is a worthless person. I am neither. I rather believe that a Garden Putz is someone who is bit like Puck, a mythological mischievous nature sprite. We laugh loudly in our gardens. We putter around moving at pace that lets us enjoy the song of the birds. We notice the hum of the dragon flies and the buzz of the bees. A dewy spider’s web is always left undisturbed as we know its value. We shrug our shoulders at our mistakes and reveille in a blossom blooming. We get quite a bit done at a putter or rather nature’s pace.

The Winter Sowing Method

While this is a method I have used and highly recomend I cannot take credit for the logistics of how it works or creating the method. A kindred spirit named Trudi and her web site are how I discovered how to do this. It seems crazzy at times but it WORKS. I encourage you to try it. You can use the method for fall crops as well.Winter Sowing

Self watering container tomato update

This growth is 20 days from planting, May 27th to June 16th. We added a stake to support the vine. 
The tomato grew faster after I suckered the branches. The bottom frame is when it was planted. The two pepper plants are not growing as fast and I blame that on the cool temperatures we have been having.

Marigold? Nope more Tomatoes!

Gardening is always a learning experience.  Gardeners are adventurous and always looking for something better while hedging their bets on the stuff they know will work.  Well this winter I decided to try Winter Sowing with a lot of encouragement from Meredith Sow Digging it.  However, if my tomatoes don't produce and everything else was a bumper crop, I consider the year a failure.  So I hedged my bets and started some inside as well.  Just to be clear I planted 15 different varieties, and I used ALL my seeds.  

Well, once Jim had my raised beds done he started gripping about the number of milk jugs.  He's most common a comment was "Are you growing a garden or milk jugs?"  So I started thinning jugs.  As most gardeners know thinning is when you go through and pull the little stuff to give room for the healthier plants.  Several of the tomato jugs did not sprout.  So I dumped them in the beds.  I'm not going to waste that good dirt either.  :) 

Fast forward to about a week ago, everything is planted, and the sun came out....Well, it did twice for a couple of minutes.  I'm out putzing in the garden and notice a clump of Marigolds.  Now, I have a gallon bag of Marigold seeds and thought, "Oh, the bag must have spilled."  Now Marigolds are golden flowers that keep bugs away and grow like weeds.  So, I just plucked them out the middle of the garden.  Then I used my handy dandy planting tool, my index finger and made a hole for the seedlings along a border and to fill in a blank spot.  In my opinion the black dirt is a background color for different shades of green that are in your garden.

Now, fast forward a week later and the sun isn't actually shining but it the best we had the last couple of days so I'm out in the garden putzing again.  I was fussing around the Marigolds and am thinking... "Wow, they really took off.  They must have been a tall variety."  I pull up the leaves and look down at the stem and immediately realize....Those are not Marigolds they are more Tomatoes!" Now I still have 48 potted tomatoes on a table that I've been kind of trying to selling.  Ok, that's what I'm telling Jim at least.  Let's be honest, I'm giving those babies away.  I was so proud of myself that I had gotten down to just 48 left.  Well, I couldn't just pull those Marigold Tomatoes and put them in the compost heap.  Nope, I potted them up too.  Not all of them.  But I'm back up to about 60 Tomatoes.  I have Surprise Tomatoes (I haven't a clue as to what type they are) and now Marigold Tomatoes.  If you need tomatoes come see me!  In the meantime after I laugh at myself about the Tomatoes I thought were Marigolds, I'm thinking I shouldn't start so many next year.  And I need to label better!