Tomato fertilization: crazy talk?

A little early to be talking about this, but when there is a vegetable garden involved, tomatoes invariably come to mind (if you don't like tomatoes, BLASPHEMY! ;)

Anyways, the first year I ever grew tomatoes was embarassing.  I didn't quite understand the concept of pinching off the suckers/off shoots/axis shoots, and ended up with a BARE tomato stem with a mere 3 leaves per tomato plant.  So stupid...

The year after that (and learning to be smarter, I did real research) I planted my tomato seedlings to their first axis and gave them a cute foil ring around the base and just below the surface of the stem to prevent dreaded cut worms (which I have never encounter, yea!)  Prior to planting the tomato seedlings though, I placed a whole uncracked raw egg at the bottom of the hole.

I read in theory, there's sulfur in the egg and nutrients such as calcium in it that will make your tomato grow well.  I admit, the tomatoes went GANGBUSTERS that year (though anything compared to my first year might be considered awesome).

I would like to add that after I pulled up my tomatoes at the end of the season my dog got VERY interested in the hole the tomato was in and as it turned out, at least one egg was still uncracked and chilling just fine where I first placed it so many months ago.

Of course until my dog decided she wanted to eat it.

Then the egg cracked and the smell proved that no, not fresh anymore ;P  Ick.

Anyways, as I continue to read and learn about gardening (because it never stops?!) I keep running into all sorts of random thoughts and ideas as to how best to fertilize or give your tomato plants a good start. 

A recent tip was to add hair to the hole you're planting your tomatoes in, because of the "trace amounts of sulfur" in your hair (your hair does smell sulfur-y when it's burnt).  Unless you've been saving your hair... (which I do... I always figured that it was compostable anyways and it's so easy to save when it's in your  brush or on the shower floor, sorry for that image, I know some of you are squeamish about hair), but I also can only assume my dog's fur/hair would work in the same concept and considering the way she sheds, it's great to find the dog is still finding ways to pay her way in this house!

If only she was a reliable hole digger...

Another tip was to use leftover raw fish parts/bones to bury in with your tomato plant.  You think cats like fish? Well so does my dog.  Actually, she LOVES fish. She ended up having to be quarantined from the yard for some weeks after that. 

Anyone else have any interesting or bizarre "How to fertilize your tomato plants?" ideas/tips that I might be unaware of?  (compost tea, and seaweed excepting)  It's interesting to see what our tomato-phile loving culture does to make the best and most delicious 'maters!

Garden ornamental eating epiphany!

I recently got a coupon from Home Depot, as I'm part of their "Garden Club" or "Home Improver club" (or maybe that's the Lowe's version?) or whatever they want to call or lump it in with now.

(Oh, and also not affiliated or whatnot with them, I'm just stating a fact and am not special in any way and it's easy to be a part of this "club")

Back to the point, the coupon is for a buy one, get one free houseplant.  I have plenty of house plants I think and in the winter that explodes because some of the edibles become houseplants, so obviously I was trying to think of houseplants of potential (especially ones that hang to save space because horizontal space is precious here).

I had a duh moment and remembered that I've always wanted to try fuchsia, because the flowers can be spectacular, it's commonly hung and finally YOU CAN EAT THE BERRIES.  And make JAM!

The only tricky part that I've heard is that some of the berries are significantly better than others and finding the variety that is tasty can be hard as big box stores tend to carry houseplants for show, rather than for actual use.

Double petal/flower fuchsia are what's often seen in the stores I know and I hear that the large showy flowers can cut down on fruit production, so that's a minus.  Also I find that many of the big box places don't always list the Latin name of the plants, so I don't know if I'll find any of the suggested fuchsia varieties below if I can't figure out their true identity:

-Fuchsia corymbiflora
-Fuchsia excorticata aka Kotukutuku
-Fuchsia splendens  and cultivar 'Karl Hartweg'
-Fuchsia boliviana 'Alba'
-Fuchsia regia
-Fuchsia venusta
-Fuchsia procumbens
-Fuchsia magellanica and cultivars 'Globosa' and 'Tresco'

While researching, I've also found that the F. magellanica is potentially hardy in this area! Some places say zones 7+ and others 6+.  Either way, here in zone 7a, if I

The coupon expires mid-March and I am also uncertain if they'll have plants like that even out yet.  Crud.  Maybe it would be better to just order online for certain?

Another silly epiphany I have was bamboo!

Down here it can grow pretty rampant and I know that some people have difficulty controlling it.  Someone I know controls her's by kicking the bamboo shoots multiple times each time they pop up and that controls them well enough.  I luckily reminded her that you can totally eat bamboo shoots and we did end up cooking them up with some soy sauce and sesame oil, which was excellent.

So, why the heck did I not think about growing bamboo before?!  (well, I was worried it would get out of control...I can eat it, and it would be an accessible resource for gardening!  I am such an idiot, why didn't I start this earlier?!  Adding to my list... "see if I can trade for bamboo this year..."

If anyone in the area has some of the either above, tasty fuchsia and bamboo (all young shoots are edible, is what I've read), please tell me if I'd be able to trade for it.  Grand plans this year, grand plans! :)

Quick Blotanical update

Just a quick update to all of those from Blotanical who have commented that they are unable to add/favorite and etc. my blog.

Stuart's help desk has informed me that there was an error with my RSS feeder updating to Blotanical, and it is now fixed, so feel free to add/comment/favorite me on Blotanical and thank you once again for visiting!b

Chilis! (for when it's not Chilly)

As you may have noticed, if you've frequented my blog before, I have a thing for chili peppers.  More the spicy and ornamental kind, though I do like the sweet bell ones too, the versatility and variety of the spicier versions (the ancestor of the sweet bell types types, btw) really excites me.

I've been slowly building up (and killing) my stock of ornamental and regular chili peppers.  Peppers are quite perennial if you live in the right locations or can offer good cover/shelter/conditions when unseasonable times arrive.

I had a jalapeno growing well for 2 years straight producing fruits in the winter for my use (it loved me I think) until I've begun playing aphid invaders and the aphid squish game this winter.  My calico, tricolore garda and black pearl chili plants have been attacked and luckily they've all fruited and set seed and I've saved seed of them for re-starting if need be, there's nothing like having a mature, well established plant.  One established plant of each variety I'd like to add because I have a tendency to not want to get rid of a cool plant and then it takes up space... but then some lucky person can have my cast off!

The reason for this post however is to address a recent Herb Companion article on Chili Rellenos, because plants and food for me go hand in hand nearly always.

I have tried in the past to grow poblano/ancho/mole chilis for the past few years will little success, partially due to bad locations, another time because swallowtail butterfly caterpillars decided that they wanted to snack on it. (I suppose it was near the dill and parsley plants...)

I've only been successful in growing 2 of the peppers (really sad) and once I discovered that my local Mexican mart sells them dried for the obscene cheap, I said "screw it" and decided to just buy them in the bags as they last forever.

This recipe reminded me of the joys of fresh poblano chilies again and as I don't usually plan in advance what I'm going to eat, and instead wing it, or just run out into the garden to see what's good, I would love to be able to have on hand fresh poblanos (and I guess have some ready in the freezer as was done in the article)  I might attempt to grow these again.

Since I don't want to pay for seeds (as usual) I still have dried poblanos in the pantry, I will attempt to grow them from the seeds in the dried ones from the bag.  I hope it works!  With luck, I can dig up a good plant before the winter and keep it inside (where with luck it will keep giving me more fruits) and make deliciousness in the winter too! Woot! (and not have to re-grow the plant again next spring).

Hmmm... as usual, where am I putting this....? (You see, there is a problem with having planned your garden ahead!)

Taking the Tomatoes to the next level

The tomatoes are growing so fast! (Surprise there...)

It's soon coming to the point where I will need to graduate them and their fast growing selves from egg carton holes to TOILET PAPER ROLL TUBE POTS!

 

Big step for these guys.  I contemplated shoving the whole kibosh (seedling with egg carton cutout) into the toilet paper roll tube, but as I have yet to meet a not hardy tomato seedling, I'm just yanking the seedling out of the paper egg carton and carefully moving it into a more vertically soil rich environment of the toilet roll tube.

Such an easy cheap little pot until I move them to spacious digs such as the NEWSPAPER pot, but I'm try to keep them at bay for as long as possible as the garden-garden outside needs time to fill up.

These toilet roll tube pots are so simple.  Take one toilet paper roll tube and cut 4 little snips at one end equidistant from each other:

Bend into each other until they hold and are flat and will stay relatively upright when filled w/dirt and a plant.

Voila! (Viola!):

Instant drainage too is pretty sweet.

Their roots will grow nice and deep in this for a while and I'll let them get a bit "tube pot bound" before their next move.

Garden To do Overload (but hopefully not going to need to reload)

As I've mentioned in the past I want my garden to knock me out this year and have grand plan(t)s.

Unfortunately I am the type that likes to knock nearly everything out all out once, as with gardens, maintenance is a forever to-do, therefore let's get the mains stuff done once in one concentrated go.  A shot in the arm in getting things done because my garden therapy eventually is to meander around the garden in my bog boots and sun hat, with a beer in hand, watch plants grow, eradicate a weed here and there.  Maybe frantically water when the weather gets a bit too hot and I suppose train or attach things to trellis/stakes when the time comes.

I want all the real hard work done in a weekend (or two...) or it'll be BLITZJARDINING time!

As the weather looks to be good this weekend, starting today,  here is what I want to accomplish:

GARDEN PLANS:
-move recycled gazebo frame to be trellis in beds
-spray paint gazebo trellis to avoid rust
-make LOTS more aluminum can garden tags
-string off areas of garden for good sectioning
-weed garden path
-turn food compost bin
-re-string all nail fence trellis (may need to buy more twine)
-CLEAN SUNROOM aka sunroom that dreams to be a potting shed
-clean, sharpen and oil garden tools (make a good place for them in sunroom)
-try to create a PERMANENT place inside sunroom for wheelbarrow
-do something else w/weird student desk in sunroom
-fit a plastic rubbermaid container in sinkhole of potting bench made from someone's old laminate kitchen countertop.
-get more bamboo and branch trimmings for cage/trellising material
-ID a mystery plant in garden



-clear/clean up garden work:
    -move random organic debris to composter/compost area or trash
    -recycle or trash unneeded plant pots or trays
    -move all dropped pine needles to a good spot for easy use
    -remove dead plants/plant bits still hanging around
    -take down old trellis string along fence

-move/replant:
    -inappropriately placed herbs (esp those that get watered on accident by neighbors)
    -pitcher plants
    -lamium
    -black eyed susans
    -extra canna bulbs
    -indian strawberry (to garden path? &/or side path?)
    -lemongrass plants
    -lambsears
    -mother of thousands

-use newspaper to:
    -make newspaper pots for transplants
    -shred for cheap mulch
    -smother weeds in the garden path

-take cuttings of:
    -hibiscus
    -tea plant

-plant:
    -vegetables
        -seeds:
            -asian veg
            -beets
            -carrots
            -cabbage
            -collards
            -kale
            -lettuces
            -mustards
            -green onions
            -peas
           
        -seedlings/transplants:
            -chards
            -tomatoes
            -tomatillos
            -peppers
            -sunchokes! (in a small raised bed for permanent plants)
    -herbs:
        -basil
        -salad burnet
        -sorrel
        -borage
        -lovage
        -chervil
        -horseradish! (in a bucket)
   
    -flowers:
        -hollyhocks
        -bachelor's buttons
        -cosmos
        -morning glories
        -cardinal vine
        -hyacinth vine
        -sunflowers
        -zinnias
        -nasturtiums
        -marigolds
        -bells of ireland


Garden barters/purchases needed:
    -espazote herb (for beans, as we're semi veg)

-PROJECTS (not to be completed this weekend):
    -have plants hanging off waterbarrel to hide it (make look attractive)
    -make more moss garden/graffiti stuff
    -make another rain barrel?
    -use beer/wine bottles to create path/edging
    -get bathouse up
    -make 6 birdhouses
    -make mason bee houses
    -make cold frame
    -work on making a good all season garden

Hirsute-riffic plants

I have a confession to make:  I like hairy plants!

It's not meant to sound salacious, but hairy plants are awesome in their furriness.  It feel like they're diverging from their normal evolution.  A plant that yearns to be mammal, like my dog yearns to be human, have opposable thumbs and sit at the dinner table holding shiny things that shove food into her mouth.

Hairy plants are the closest thing to a pet that a person can have that you won't have close of an emotional bond to and feel guilty about if they decide to kick the bucket out of neglect from your silly self.

You just want to name a plant when it has fur.  Like this one is called Dotty:

My lambsears are unoriginal in their given name: Super Lamb-tastic (I have 4 patches of this stuff and they all are called the same thing.  It's like a hive collective mentality.  Borgs anyone?):

The Cuban Oregano I am dubbing to be Libre:

Even tomatoes are a little hairy when they get bigger, but as there are so many varieties and those names are interesting already, I'll let them keep those given names. (Random fact, did you know that tomatoes might be considered carnivorous?)

While velvet-y plants (lambsears are hairy and velvety to me... I think the gray color is closer to hair in my mind) are equally cool as hairy ones, but the velvet-y plants  just make me think of cloth and drapery. And I hate drapery.  Perhaps this is why I probably let my buck apiece violets die in my cold sunroom over the winter.  That and I always can never get them to rebloom and they just make me feel grandmotherly.  Nothing against grandmothers! (I love mine a lot!) But the idea of ever  being one is just weird.

I need more hairy plants, ones that will keep me warm for the upcoming winter!  I keep my house thermostat set so low... maybe this would be an ideal, green way to insulate a house!  Hirsute Plant Jungle House!  Are there any living hairy viney plants that would be ideal to be a scarf?  They have those wooly pouch plant holder things, purses with plants in them, why not a scarf?

A purple wandering Jew plant I have (Tradescantia pallida purpurea?)  is a nice color, doesn't need to much room for roots:

... I wonder if it's crochet-able?

Gibberellin overload? Lessons in Tomatillo seedlings...

So, the tomatillo seedlings.  They seem happy.  Almost a little too happy.  Or just supermodel leggy, which makes no sense because I KNOW they're getting adequate light.  Everyone else seems happy and NORMAL in the mini greenhaus.

The tomatillos on the other hand... what the heck?

(pardon for dirty side of greenhaus... too small to get my camera in there properly to show the legginess)

I think I might be needing to transplant/re-pot these sooner than I thought.

I'm really hoping (and assuming) just like tomatoes they're a hardy bunch and will take well to being moved around and yanked out of their little soil-y home because, Immagonnahaveto.

Funny how everything seems to take so long to get started, and once it does, there's a feeling of "SLOW DOWN! PLEASE"

Like I tell my husband when I go garden crazy in the spring and seem manic in the garden, "MOTHER NATURE! I CAN'T STOP HER!  I have to plant, NOW!"

By now you're probably wondering, "When's she going to get to that weird thing in her subject heading?  Gibb-a-what?"

Gibberellin is this super spiffy thing in nature that has never left my head since I heard about it in a high school biology class.  (That and cane toads).  Anyways, gibberellin, besides being a fun word to say is a plant hormone that is involved in development.  It's involved in the aptly dubbed "foolish seedling" disease.  You can read the linked wiki article, but the main point is ridiculous plant growth in the seedling stage that causes it to be tall and thin and thus delicate and easily breakable at an early stage.

I  don't really think my tomatillo has this issue, but I just think of gibberellin every time I have seedlings that act this way or I see tall skinny people or my patience wears thin...

That's my bit of science trivia for today!

Hope all is well in your gardens and that you're babies aren't growing up too quick!

Ze Seeds! Ze Seeds! A garden fantasy.

The seeds have actually been sprouted up for a few days now, but my have they made progress!

They seem quite happy in my mini greenhouse and I will be sad almost when the greenhouse is empty.  I'll be an empty mini-greenhouser "Oh how they grow up so fast!"  Wait. Stop.  This is too close to the idea of myself propagating, aka having children.  I still have a good 5-6 years before my eggs start totally dropping off!  There's so much to do, so many vegetables I need to grow to can little jars of pureed stuff I need to make in preparation for that time...  But seriously, biological clock is NOT ticking despite all the links my mom sends me about babies.

There's nothing more hopeful than seeing seeds germinate.  The swell of the soil by an impatient little plant cracking open its piece of earth.  I can totally empathize.  Even the part where it is unceremoniously taken from its comfy bit of land and transferred to larger and larger pieces of land UNTIL IT CANNOT BE PAMPERED ANY FURTHER AND MUST COMPETE!

Oh the world can be such a harsh place.   But, only the strong can survive in Persephone's garden :P  I can forsee my children to probably not be so forgiving to me as a parent...

The tomatillo seeds have been amazing!  One night there was nothing and the next, 5 seedlings pop up, all straight and "Hello there!"


I'm a little concerned that maybe they plants will be getting a wee big in the year and I will just have to plant them out earlier than I expect... maybe late March? Mid April?  Eh, a cheap bottle cloche and/or sheet will do the trick if need be.

I am going to PACK this garden tight this year and really go seriously French Intensive.

The tomatoes will probably be tucked in with the all sorts of lettuces and root vegetables growing this year as they'll grow well above them.  The tomatillos could sprawl (like the tomatoes I suppose, but why possibly promote waste and disease and encourage pests?

The goal this year was to not only have high quality and quantity of crops, but also "make it
 prettier."  "Prettier," is a concept a little more foreign to me, but with this past winter, I have been seriously tired and have been craving color, bees, birds and a place that's more.. approachable.  It was mostly attractive before I think, but I'm really looking for something to knock my socks off.

Tall order eh?

Well, we all can have our fantasies.

Death of a Hand Pruner. (Nah, going to ressurect it!)

OH MY G---! WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

(a)  Some how, I have murdered my pruners
(b)  The pruners, uh, had an "accident"
(c)  I like my metal with ketchup.  Delicious!

Just kidding.  Last year I got my fancy schmancy expensive Felco pruners during a New Orleans trip that was garden glorious and the next week I ended up using them, accidentally put them down on the grass, got distracted and realized later that night I had forgotten to put them back.

For 2 DAYS/NIGHTS I scoured the yard, with flashlight, literally going every square foot with my feet and eyes (so I thought) looking for the blasted BRIGHT RED handles of my new pruners.  But alas, they were: THE RUSTED.

I kept blaming myself and haranguing my stupidity as I had formed a budget of sorts/worrying about money as usual that I didn't go out to buy a sharpener.   So I set the pruners aside in a DRY place and figured I'd get back to them.

Now it's nearly spring and things are just waiting to get snipped/pruned/cut.  I want to get snippy!

I have other pruners, some plastic, some lame, but I really want to use my Felcos and also this is a good opportunity to learn how to sharpen them.

Oh, quick explanation about the photo above too:  I was trying to get rust off initially with straight vinegar and out of respect for my poor husband's nose (he's very sensitive) I decided to switch to ketchup (I've heard it works well on rust) and figure that reminders of hotdogs and tomato-y summer would be much more pleasant.


Later I wiped off the ketchup, ran some water over it and dipped it in rubbing alcohol to completely dry out the metal so no nasty water is available to rust them.

Then scrubbed away rust with different coarseness sandpapers to shine it up as I didn't have steel wool on hand.

On to the sharpening:
I used a sharpie permanent marker to mark the edge of the blades so when I sharpen, if the mark goes away, I know I'm going at the correct angle with my sharpening stone.  I didn't want to spend the $40 on a sharpener felco offers online or the money to send my pruners to Felco to sharpen.

Sadly there is no local store here that has good small  diamond file sharpeners of varying grades that I needed, so I had to use this huge stone (about 2"x5") making it somewhat difficult to get the inside well.  It was only about $5-$6 though and has a coarse and fine side, so I figure it will have to do and will work well on all the other larger tools making it versatile.

Here and there I greased the pruners with with vegetable oil (as it's non-toxic) though motor oil is acceptable I know, but I'd rather not deal with that stuff.  I also had to oil the stone to keep dust from flying everywhere and keep the stone in shape and not become ineffective (is what it said on the package).  The stone soaked up oil like nothing else and I think the entire thing took up a FULL CUP of vegetable oil before it started looking even remotely greasy.  Next time I might just dunk it in a cup of oil rather than attempting to slather it on.

If I am smart, I take into account advice I've heard where it's recommended to fill a bucket with sand and motor oil (though I really really wonder if I could just use vegetable, if it didn't go rancid... and even if it did, it's not as though I'm eating it...) so that the sand will clean off your tools and the oil will lubricate them every time you place your tools in the bucket, making tool maintenance infinitely simpler than how I've been going about it.

Here we are, shiny and sharp!

Clean, sharp(er) cuts now.

 (top stick is of prior to sharpening, bottom stick is post sharpening)

I should have taken a pic of the originally terrible state that they were in but I was too ashamed! (and forgot to)

I love the sound of sharp hand pruners, a "sh-wish-sh-wish!" 

More pruner cleaning/sharpening info:
http://gardening.about.com/od/toolschool/ig/How-to-Clean---Sharpen-Pruners/What-You-ll-Need.htm
http://www.infobarrel.com/Sharpening_Hand_Pruners
http://www.felcostore.com/maintenance.jsp#2
Sharpening Pruners - Fine Gardening Article