wall-o-water tomatoes

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Today I checked on my four tomato plants in Wall-o-Water protectors. The Ulra early Beaverlodge seedling is nearly emerging from the top of the unit and has two clusters of many blossoms. Half are budded and half in full bloom. I shook them – pretending to be bee-like – hopefully getting them to self pollinate. The Cherokee Purple and Box Car Willy seedlings look good, though no blossoms, not as big, and a bit of mold in some spots. The protectors seem to trap too much moisture around the plant.…
 
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tomato buds on May 1

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I checked inside my Wall-O-Water today and my ultra early Beaver Lodge tomato has buds. On May 1! Amazing. The standard timing is 30 days from flower of fruit so I still have a while to wait, but so far so good. I’d really like to beat my previous record of July 31.
 
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tomatoes set out with wall-o-water

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Today in the 80* heat, I set out four of my super early tomato seedlings. They have grown into such nice little plants. I planted one Cherokee Purple, one Box Car Willie and two Ultra Early Beaver Lodge plants. I set-up Wall-O-Water plant protectors for the first time. Not so bad to set up. But I had a few problems. First, I don’t normally space tomato plants out as much as is needed to fit the wall-o-water’s. I realized this after planting the whole row of plants and I had…
 
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Wall-O-Water

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My new Wall-O-Water tomatoes shelters arrived yesterday. I’m hoping to get them set up very soon. The direction say to set them up, then wait 1 week, then put the tomatoes in. Don’t know if I have that much patience. And since I have too many early tomatoes (7 seedlings), I think I’ll try planting one a day starting right away. My regular tomato planting time is next week – 6 weeks before my last frost.
 
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tomatoes

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Tomato seeds should be planted 6 weeks before the last frost. I planted these 4 weeks early to see if I can get tomatoes earlier this year. Plus I’m trying the variety Beaver Lodge – an ultra early (50 days). These early planted plants will need to be planted into big pots before transplanting out to the garden and will be heavy to carry in and out as they harden off. Plus, when I tried early tomatoes last year, I still got my first ripe fruits at the same time…
 
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Gretta’s late blight advice

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At the Seed Swap last weekend, Gretta (a local farmer, Shared Harvest CSA) talked with us about Late Blight. Her advice is to compost or dig in the tomatoes but make sure you remove all potatoes. The potatoes are the potential for spreading spores next year. Late Blight can overwinter in live plants (i.e. the potato tubers). – DON’T let ANY undug potatoes sprout next year.– Plant low crops in your old potato bed, so you can see and remove any sprouts.– Try to dig ALL your potatoes this fall.…
 
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late blight again – the topic that just won’t go away

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As I clean up for next year, the Late Blight topic is coming up again. To bag and dispose or to compost? There are two different camps out there: Composters: HortBlogGardener’s Corner (Interesting last comment here where they recommend leaving the tomato plants to overwinter in the field as is so they will self-sow.) Disposers:Maryland Cooperative ExtensionDave’s GardenCornell University Extension I hate the idea of bagging and disposing, but I am in this camp. It is impossible to predict what our winter weather will be and harder yet to predict…
 
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tomatoes

 
 
A sad day – I removed half of the blighted tomatoes in my home garden (hopefully I’ll get to the rest tomorrow) and actually bought tomatoes (!!) from the Farmers Market. I was pleased to see they are only $2/lb now. Tomorrow I plan to make another batch of red sauce. My last batch is being consumed very fast. This new batch will go into an eggplant Parmesan and some lasagna.
 
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tomato survey at Mother Earth News

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Mother Earth News is inviting tomato growers to take their new Top Tomato Varieties online survey. Their goal is to combine everyone’s tomato-growing experience and advice into an article for Mother Earth News, with emphasis on the best varieties for different regional growing conditions. All gardeners who grow tomatoes are invited to take the 4-minute survey. Just click on: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=e1HH0dD96LHer4kqCFZFpQ_3d_3d. You can see the summary of all results here. Findings are planned for the February-March 2010 issue.
 
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Kathy Martin
This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy thinks the garden is his, even though I do all the work. We're located near Boston, in USDA zone 6. I have bees, chickens, fruit trees and berry bushes, too. I use all sustainable organic methods and strive to grow all of my family's vegetables myself. -Kathy


weeks and counting until my last spring frost

What I planted recently

Jan 21
thyme, lettuce, escarole

Feb 21
celery, celeriac, parsley, leeks

March 11
cabbage, kale, arugula



What I'm planting soon

April 1
peppers, eggplants, marigolds, beets

April 12
tomatoes, basil, sunflowers

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My garden this week

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17 years of archives!

Check out the food pantry farm I helped to start up:

Aurelia's Garden

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Skippy’s vegetable of the month – Egyptian walking onions!

“I envision a day when every city and town has front and back yards, community gardens and growing spaces, nurtured into life by neighbors who are no longer strangers, but friends who delight in the edible rewards offered from a garden they discovered together.” – Greg Peterson

"What can happen to a seed is a miracle."

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