Tomato and Green Beans Update

A few days ago I visited the garden to check on the crops. A lot of my tomato seedlings got leggy prior to transplantation so I had to plant them deeply so the wouldn't get blown over in the wind. It's been about two weeks now and the tomatoes seem to be doing fine. The really leggy ones had fallen over a bit but were growing new leaves and thicker stems. I re-staked some of the plants and put cages around them. The plants that were not leggy look really nice. If all goes well, I should be picking tomatoes by late July.

I had a really good germination rate with the green beans and they are growing well now. Some of the leaves have some insect damage or perhaps from other animals as well. I have three rows of beans so hopefully this is enough to overcome any losses from pests.

Planted tomatoes and green beans

On Sunday, 5/6, I planted about 30 tomato plants along with three rows of green bean seeds. Prior to planting, our first task was to eliminate as many of the maple seeds out of the garden as possible. In my part of the country, we have a lot of maple trees which drop their seed pods this time of year. The seeds are embedded in a propeller-like casing which twirls to the ground. My grandfather's garden happens to be right next to 3 maple trees, hence we get a lot of maple seeds.

After clearing the maple seeds, we rototilled one last time then I built furrows for the rows of green beans. The furrowing job wasn't too hard especially with the soil being loose but it was still fairly labor intensive. After that was complete, I planted the bean seeds using a seed planter which automatically digs a planting trench, drops the seed, then covers the trench back over with soil. It wasn't a completely perfect process so I had to go back behind myself to make sure all the seeds were covered with soil. Hopefully in about a week's time the seeds will have begun sprouting.

Next, I transplanted some Roma, Grape, Super Beefsteak, and Endless Summer tomato seedlings. I started all these from seed indoors. The Roma and Grapes were started mid-March and by the time I planted them they had gotten fairly leggy. I planted them deeply and covered a good portion of the stem. I staked the ones that were really bad. Lets hope for the best.

I plan to have some new pictures for my next post. Happy gardening!

My new spot

This year I'm teaming up with my grandpa to help him take care of his garden and plant some stuff of my own. Here you can see the freshly tilled soil...thanks to me for running the tiller. I've never actually measured the plot but I'm thinking approximately 80ft x 40ft.



After I tilled the garden, I transplanted a row of Dwarf Siberian kale that I started from seed. I've really taken a liking to greens plus they are really nutritious. To the right of the kale and in the back is a short row of Swiss Chard that just started to sprout. Unfortunately you can't see from the picture.



The hallmark of the garden for me will be tomatoes. I'll be growing at least a row of Roma tomatoes that we'll use for canning purposes along with another row of beefsteaks and other slicing type tomatoes. I started the Roma's from seed around St. Patrick's Day and they really took off under the lights in a warm part of my basement. I brought them down to my grandpa's and potted them up into larger containers. Hopefully I can hold them off at least another two weeks before they need to be planted. The second picture shows the slicing tomatoes I started from seed which are growing under lights in my basement. These are the Super Beefsteak and Endless Summer varieties.

Update from the yarden...

So just like most places on the east coast, the weather here in Maryland has been very mild this spring. I started lettuce and spinach indoors and transplanted them into the garden sometime in late March. This year I grew Black Seeded Simpson and Red Sails lettuce and Tyee spinach. As of mid-April they are looking very nice in the garden and I've started cutting some for salads.



One of the new things I'm trying this year is potatoes. Just your run of the mill grocery store white and red potatoes. I let two potatoes grow eyes than cut off cubes each with one eye to plant. I planted a row with five pieces and within the past week or so they have all sprouted. Most information sources seem to recommend against using grocery store potatoes but we'll treat this as an experiment and hope for the best.



Another new thing I planted this year are raspberry bushes. I made a raised bed in the corner of my backyard to take up some unused space and planted 3 black raspberry plants. These are actually wild plants that I dug up from a local park. This park is teaming with these plants so I didn't feel like I would be negatively impacting the berry supply in this location. Besides, raspberries readily propagate via their tips so it should all work out. Here you can see the planter box I made along with the raspberry plants with some new green shoots.



I found this article which explains how to identify wild raspberry plants. I also visited this location last summer and was confident that these are indeed black raspberries. This one talks about how to care for wild blackberry plants planted in your garden. If you've never eaten wild raspberries before they truly are a treat. The berries are smaller than store bought berries but much more flavorful. I can't wait for these to start producing.

New Plans

I would say that 2011 was a good learning experience for me garden-wise. The biggest lesson learned was that successful gardening takes a lot of time and attention to be successful, which is not necessarily a bad thing. In 2011, I experimented with growing various salad greens and spinach in my backyard garden and I rented a plot at a local community garden. Both gardens were moderately successful. The big takeaway was to continue growing lettuce, spinach, and other leafy greens in my backyard and to avoid the community garden. I think the community garden would have worked better had I spent more time at the garden and did a better job of preparing the soil.

This year I'm going to plant various lettuce, spinach, and kale in the back yard. In fact, I have some seed trays going in the basement right now. I'm partnering up with my grandpa and will be planting tomatoes, peas, and green beans in his garden. His garden is larger, well established, and well maintained. I will help with the prep work, plant seeds and get seedlings going, and try to help with maintenance about once a week throughout the season. Plus I can bring my family with me while I am there so I won't have to spend as much time away from them. I'm also looking forward to spending more time with my grandpa.

My wife and I really enjoyed canning our tomatoes last year so we are going to continue with that this year as well. I'm hoping to put in about 20 Roma tomato plants to get us a good supply for canning. I'm also putting in green beans and peas which we will use to eat and then freeze the excess.

Spring is fast approaching and with it comes garden season. Can't wait!

What to do with all these cherry tomatoes?

If you grow any type of cherry tomatoes, you're probably like me and end up with a ton of tomatoes. I transplanted two grape tomato plants along with my other tomato plants into my community garden plot in May. Sometime around the end of June or early July, I started picking the tiny morsels. Production through July remained steady and now they seem to be going full bore. Between the two plants I am picking about 4 quarts a week. That's a lot of tomatoes!

My grape tomato plants in early July, with loads of green tomatoes and some red:


After eating as many as you can and giving some away, try making a cherry tomato-based pasta sauce which you can freeze now and use in the winter. The nice thing about this sauce is that you don't have to bother with removing the skins first, just throw the entire tomato into the pot, skin and all.

Check out the recipe on the Art+Food+Life blog.

The recipe calls for cognac but I would substitute red wine instead, more of a preference I guess. Also, if you prefer a smooth, thin sauce you could remove some of the sauce from your pot and pulse it in a blender then add back to the pot to reincorporate.

Enjoy!

Where has the time gone?

Today is August 5th and I just realized that it has been about 2 months since I last posted. Here is a quick update sans pictures.

Backyard
Because of the abundance of shade from two large maple trees it has been and continues to be difficult to grow much in the backyard garden. The exception is that my blackberries performed moderately well and in the spring, leafy greens grew well. As a result, I think I am going to remove my backyard raised bed to free up some space in the backyard and just focus on the blackberries. I'm hoping next year will be even better as it will be the third year for my first plant which should be well established by then. Maybe the two new plants I planted this year will start producing next year.

Community Garden
Gardening at the community garden was a little rocky at first because it was new and we also had a new baby who was born in May. The combination of getting the garden started and caring for the new baby (and our other two sons) was pretty stressful. I also had a few setbacks early on with spring rainstorms and poor drainage. I kept the faith and soldiered on and now we are reaping the benefits.

After I replanted some of our tomatoes and mulched they have done well. We've had a bumper crop of Grape tomatoes. Probably picking two or three quarts a week from only two plants. The Roma tomatoes are also loaded with fruit and are now ripening. The Big Boy and Sunbrites have produced some ripe fruit and there is still more on the plants. I planted two late season tomatoes (Rutgers and Beefmaster) which will provide me some tomatoes in late summer / early fall.

After picking about a combined dozen yellow and zucchini squash, the plants were infested with squash bugs. I couldn't keep up with caring for the plants so they succumbed to the infestation.

The green peppers have performed well and are healthy. They are continuing to produce more blooms and peppers.

The cucumbers started out well but then began to wilt some as the summer heat became intense. They also were under some insect stress, I'm guessing from cucumber beetles. The plants have since rebounded and are now producing more cucumbers.

The watermelon was a little disappointing. The vines became so infested with weeds that I think they were not receiving adequate light. I did a thorough weeding a few weeks ago but I think it was too late. I managed to pick three small watermelons from two plants. The first two tasted pretty good, we'll see about the third.

I tore out the squash and wildflowers and replanted with green beans and broccoli. Both seem to be doing well. I'm hoping to start picking green beans in a few weeks. If all goes well, the broccoli should be ready in mid to late September. I really need to keep an eye on the broccoli though. Last year I had a problem with cabbage worms and I hear harlequin bugs can be bad too.