August 31, 2010

tomato sauce

I made a great big batch of red sauce this week. It simmered all afternoon. Mostly tomatoes from my parents garden. Also a few from my garden and some from my Piccadilly Farm CSA distribution. I added to the sauce a couple grated summer squash, carrots, garlic and onions. It smells fantastic! Tomato varieties are: Mortgage Lifter, Box Car Willy, Pink Beauty, New Girl, Big Beef, Oxheart Red, Giant Belgium, Cherokee Purple, and Brandywine. Also two fantastic varieties of plum tomatoes: San Marzano Gigante 3 and Opalka. I’d like to…

August 30, 2010

a new mulch for my vegetable beds

One of my projects this weekend was to weed and mulch my side yard vegetable beds. Weeding the beds was a big job as I’ve neglected them recently. I removed two wheel barrows full to my compost bins. Most weeds had grown up in the paths between the beds. After weeding, I spread mulch. A new product for me: Coast of Maine hay and straw mulch. Its finely chopped and sterilized and they say it doesn’t have weed seeds. Its spreads very nicely and one bag covers lots of ground.…

August 16, 2010

tomatoes on the window sill

A sure way to tell its August! Tomatoes on the window sill. I’m gradually getting tomatoes from my shady garden. About one every other day. I beat the squirrels by picking them as they start to turn color and letting them fully ripen inside. I prefer to do this anyway, even without squirrel competition. Doesn’t seem right to have ripe tomatoes hanging on the vines. It risks them getting overripe without me noticing and lets the vine put energy into the rest of the fruits. When I went up to…

July 28, 2010

squirrel eats tomato

I’ve figured out why I have so few tomatoes this year. Unfortunately, I could put up chicken wire to keep a rabbit out, but there’s not much that will keep a squirrel out of the garden. The poor squirrel was sad to drop his pretty tomato from the fence post. After the last photo above, he went down, out of my sight and I suppose found it and finished it off.

July 23, 2010

late blight alert

I was disappointed to hear that late blight has been spotted in Massachusetts (links below) this week. On Tuesday, it was found on tomatoes in a field in Hadley MA (Hampshire County, western MA). Tests are being done to figure out where it came from. Its also been found this year in a garden in Maine, and on commercial potatoes in Wisconsin. I have been looking at tomatoes and potatoes in our plots and have yet to see any late blight. UMASS late blight siteCornell late blight site.

July 11, 2010

my first ripe tomato

My first ripe tomato was today. A nice little sungold cherry. I didn’t get a good photo of it. This is about 2 weeks earlier than I usually get my first tomato.

July 11, 2010

tomatoes

Here are some other photos of tomatoes plants that I took at our community garden. With this hot dry weather, mulch helps. I like the paper shreds someone is using. In the second photo, strings are tied to the base of the plant.

July 10, 2010

tomato supports – where to tie the twine

I’m not really sure where the bottom of the string is tied in this type of tomato support, which I am using for the second year. Last year I tied to stem of the plant. This year, I tied the twine to a pole weighted down by a brick. Works well so far. Does anyone recommend another method? My plants are tiny this year. 🙁 Not enough sun. I won’t grow tomatoes in these beds again – until a tree or two comes down.

June 20, 2010

baby tomatoes

Finally! Little baby tomatoes on the vines! These are Beaver Lodge plants. A new ultra early variety that I have never grown before.

May 24, 2010

tomato supports

There are several good options for supporting tomatoes. If you have lots of space, want to minimize your work, and aren’t too worried about the fungal pests that will come if we have another wet summer, you probably want to use the standard round metal tomato supports. With these, you don’t need to do any work – just push them in around the plants and let the vines grow how they will. These will keep the plants off the ground so you can walk around them and pick the fruits…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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