Tomatoes: Where Are the Best Plants?

Has anyone tried the Tomato Tree? There aren't many details about how it grows, but the web site says it grows to 8 ft.  The video shows plants that appear to be "trees," but I think they're just staked extensively.  I can see how that would get to 8 ft in a summer.  Lotta hype about tomatoes.

I didn't have any luck with tomatoes last year.  I used my Topsy Turvy -- the first year it produced a fair amount, but last year it produced nothin'.  The plants were the issue, I believe.  And while I'm all about buying quality plants this year, I won't buy from the same source.

Plant sale fundraisers are great as long as you get healthy plants.  We've purchased hundreds of dollars worth of plants from the one at my son's school in the past 5 years or so.  But I can't do that anymore.  The plants offered are supposed to be from the area's best supplier, but we've had some non-productive and non-growing ones in recent years.  The first blooms fade, and that's it.  Or the tomatoes just don't grow.  Or the ivy dries up and becomes a bird nest.  Times and finances are in their own state of topsy turvy around here, so my choices need to be more practical.

What's your best source for garden plants in the Omaha area?  Where are the best tomato plants?
 

Winter Garden: You Can't Get Garden From Ice

It's 5 degrees with a wind chill of -15 this morning.  We've still got several inches of last weekend's storm on the ground.  It's difficult to get into the gardening spirit when the ground is rock hard. And yet, it's the perfect time to get started on some cold-hardy seedlings inside for planting in a little while outside.

Part of my "gardening" right now, in the middle of February, is the decision process on how and where to grow my food plants. For my veg garden, I use the square-foot method, in my 1' x 1' x 1' pots. (They currently host the three pine seedlings in the garage / on the driveway.) I've checked that I have enough ingredients for soil replenishment; that's ready to go.


Since my square foot pots have taken a beating the last few years, I'm considering getting a Mini Grow Bed from Gardener's Supply.  It's a 18" x 3' x 10" raised bed, a great size for modified square foot gardening.  I'm thinking the rigid rabbit screening would still be manageable on this size.  Get free shipping at Gardener's Supply company on orders over $75! Expires 3/8/12.


I'd love to plant some broccoli this year, and if I start the seeds in the next week or two, I can plant them in time for a young harvest before it gets too hot.  While seeds are showing up in the stores now (even the grocery store produce departments!), a good place to get better quality seeds is Burpee. They have such a variety of seeds, and new eco-friendly self-watering seed-starting kits. For a couple more weeks, get $5 off Orders of $30 or more with code FSA12, thru 2/29 at Burpee.com.



I also used a Topsy Turvy for tomatoes last year, and had some success with the growth, but not with the fruit. Rabbits will continue to be a problem, so hanging the plant out of reach may still be the best solution. A new source of plant will probably be helpful.

Oh, the dreaming.  Planning, practicing "visualization," and hoping for an early thaw this spring!

What are you doing this week in your garden?

Lettuce For My Dinner

Dinner tonight included a salad made with lettuce from my garden! 

It was soooo good!  Some went on top of Buffalo chicken burgers, and the rest went into a nice, cool salad with cherry tomatoes and feta.

Hopefully, the lettuce will continue to produce.  Wish I'd had my own tomatoes for the salad.  My tomatoes are still small and green.  This was a nice treat.

Can You Fry An Egg on Grass?

It's been so hot here.  Thursday we reached 99, although one bank sign showed 102.  The night before, it thunderstormed, bringing a good rain.  By the end of the day, things were parched.  DH's lawn sprinklers were on the fritz, and didn't turn on, so the lawn bore a good brunt.  Not for not trying.

Because they didn't turn on automatically, the lawn got a little yellowy.  DH mowed it (high, of course -- the lawn, that is), and turned on the sprinklers to "test," 10 minutes per zone.  They went on.  And they turned off without our knowing, and didn't turn on again in the morning.  And so on.

But today -- TADA!!  DH discovered the wires on the control panel weren't quite connected right.  I suspect foul play.  DH suspects they just loosened over 7 years.  Whatever.  The lawn still got yellow, and fireworks are legal now.  Just what I hoped to avoid.  It'll take a few days of good watering to eliminate the fire hazard.  Fingers crossed.

My beloved second son was supposed to be watering my garden plants each morning and evening until the sprinklers started to kick in.  The sprinklers are positioned to hit the pots just so.  Hmm.  Well.  It may take more water.  I'm just starting to see big leaves on the lettuce.

That's one of my square foot pots.  Utilitarian.  These are two plants of leaf lettuce that have taken this long to get this big.  The whole pot was planted.  After the pretty pic, I put a cage around the top of the pot to keeps the stupid rabbits out of it.  Doesn't look like they've chewed anything here yet, but better safe than sorry.  And I'll be personally overseeing the irrigation from now on.



Looks like summer's heat is here to stay.  The 4th of July weekend should be nice, but midweek will likely be in the 90s again.  We may need to venture to the pool one evening.  And pull out the solar oven!

Update on the SFG

My square foot garden survived the "straight line winds" and is starting to show a little promise.  I don't want to show you pics because they're a bit depressing.  To me, anyway.

The bush beans are doing well.  They get plenty of rain and human watering, bloomed, and are getting little beanlets on them.

I laugh at my green onions.  It almost looks like grass seed that was tossed on "rocky soil" and didn't take off.  I'm hoping the onion part below the soil is coming through for me.

The leaf lettuce -- HA!  I planted 8, and 2 started to come up.  So I scratched the rest of the SF pot, and planted 6 more.  About 5 plants are trying to grow, and are about 2" across.

And the carrots were no-shows, so I replanted 9, and 4 are trying to grow. 

The tomato in the Topsy Turvy looks healthy!  It's grown more than the ones down the street have, and I'm encouraged by that.  The plants are getting heavier, and starting to straighten down.  I've heard the problem with this kind of planter is that sometimes the branches split when they fall down.  I'm praying.

Seriously, it's late June already.  We've had warm, sunny weather for the most part (okay, 4 days of high-90s in there).  Plenty of water, but not too much.  The soil was the 3-part mix recommended, and I have no weeds.

What should I have done differently?

Beans and 'Maters

We've got beans! And we've got tomatoes!

I planted the beans on April 27, and they sprouted within a week. All but one are about 4" tall right now! These are green bush beans, planted according to the square foot method. The pots are about 1 cubic foot.

I also planted carrots on April 16, and lettuce on April 17. But they're barely coming in now, so I think the cold got 'em. I plan on replanting those containers this week. Green onions went in on April 24, and they're having issues, too.

The Topsy Turvy I got for a few bucks on clearance was put into service on Mother's Day. It was really easy to use, but I wish I'd thought to rig the rope before I filled the container. (The effects of my unfortunate concussion remain, although I am getting better, thanks.) The plant is growing "up" (I've heard they do that to counter gravity), and away from the sunlight, which I find strange. I think it'll straighten out as fruit grows, and will remain out of the reach of predators.

In retrospect, I think next time I'll wait to plant the carrots, lettuce and onions an extra week. The charts from MySquareFootGarden.com do clearly state they're guidelines only. There's still time to get some nice vegs from my pots.

However, in all fairness, I can't blame the plants. I'm blaming the dang rabbits again this year.

We don't have as many, thank goodness! But the ones we have are vengeful things. Due to circumstances beyond my control, at least seven babies were killed on our property. Hawks, dogs, whatever. We cleaned them up and sprayed rabbit repellant, but Momma or Daddy keeps coming back to dig.

The other day, we discovered they had chosen my newly-planted patio pot to try to burrow a warren. Are you kidding me?! This is only 2.5 feet high. After destroying everything except the vinca and the garlic chives (yep, they won't die), the rodent dug straight from the middle to the side.

I guess it got annoyed when it hit resin, because the hole was abandoned and in no condition to be a permanent home. I was ticked. I'll have to get new flowers and herbs, but in the meantime, I put hardware cloth around the pot, and sprayed the heck out of it.

Can you believe I saw that rabbit yesterday, inching up to the top of the pot? Stupid rabbits. I'm considering allowing #1 to get that airsoft gun, after all.

Square Foot Gardening 9/10

One of the most frugal forms of enjoyment comes from gardening, in my opinion. If you get past the allergy seasons, and learn how to deal with the heat and wind, you're good to go. The joy of helping something grow to a beautiful prayer with your own hands is awesome. But the learning part is the real Thrill.

Have you heard of Square Foot Gardening? The concept: put more plants in one square foot than in three linear feet; garden more easily, with less waste, weeds and effort. The system uses homemade raised beds with a soil mix, and provides crop rotation/replanting through a season. Small, simple, a cinch.

Years ago I tried square foot gardening, but didn't do well (various factors). I've recently learned there's an even easier, new SFG method, and I've been researching success stories in our area. I've only found one really good local example on the Internet. But I have seen, through fences and wind-fallen fences, that there are many square foot gardens throughout Omaha. The method is super easy, and the SFGs I spy are flourishing. Where are the blogs, folks?

The past few summers, I grew tomatoes in two pots that just happen to be 1 cubic foot (if you're geometrically challenged, that's a square foot, one foot deep). Last year I had buckets of toms! This year, they did not do well. Out of four plants, one Better Boy did not fruit, its partner bore one tomato, and the other two bore a total of maybe 10 very small fruits. Disappointing! I found a Topsy Turvy on clearance, so I plan to use that next year for the tomatoes, freeing up my square-foot pots (I actually have four).

I thought about planting a late summer/fall SFG crop, but it was too late already. So I have my sights set on a winter of planning, and a spring of planting. I found a fabulous site that sends weekly emails on what you should be doing in your SFG based on your location. My Square Foot Garden has a huge amount of information, written well, with videos, diagrams, and lots of helpful tips. This is just a starting point, of course. My own trials and errors will play a big part in the success (hopefully) of next year's crops.

I'm just going to try four pots (plus the tomatoes in the hangy thingy) next year. Since I know what my fam will eat, and will not eat, I pretty much know what to try to grow: lettuce, carrots, onions, potatoes, to start in the spring. Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, I continue to dream of an outdoor garden/living space that's allergen free. A girl can dream!