Forgive me gardeners for I have sinned. It is has been 35 days since my last confession.
Today I picked two tomatoes from the cheat plant that I bought at the end of March. They are of good size and almost ripe. They are generally not that great tasting but still better than stored bought crap. I haven’t tried them yet.
The first sin I committed with this plant was I took it out of its pot, with its own cage and planted it in my much larger post filled with fresh new dirt for the most part. Everything was going fine. We were getting plenty of rain. Six to eight fruits appeared and grew quickly. I forget what kind of crappy hybrid this year’s cheat plant is, but it grows clusters of tomatoes kind of like the photo above. Remember, I have no cell phone or functioning digital camera, so the photos here are never mine. Plus if it were my plant the bottom leaves would be yellow and dead from the damn fungus.
This is particularly perplexing because the cheat plant’s benefit is that is a hybrid (GMO) that is bred to be hardier than heirloom varietals. And because the fungus comes from the dirt, and this plant was put in a pot with most, perhaps all, fresh dirt. Usually, in this situation, these plants look like hell and produce fruit in small quantities anyway.
The other sin, and this one is worse, is that I planted it in the huge pot at the end of my front doorstep. That is where the sungolds go. The good news is that I found some sun golds at Kroger this week and planted one today. It’s not in a prime location though. I should probably buy another one. I like to throw them in all my summer dishes.
My plants for 35 days ago are all alive, and showing no signs of distress. They also show very little growth. I don’t think we have had enough sun lately. It seems to rain all the time. It hasn’t gotten above 70 in the last couple of days. It’s 65 and raining right now. I still have one plant from that sale, the most expensive one, which is some kind of flower with white blooms if I recall correctly that needs planting.
I am hoping that the yellow “brandywine” is not a brandywine at all and the yellow pear I thought I was buying.
I spent about 15 minutes “gardening” today before I had to quit because I was out of breath and my back was killing me. I need to do some sort of cardio training for gardening season. Sitting on my ass all day has made me beyond out of shape and into “needs physical therapy to return to normal activities” status.
My peppers are either doing nothing or have a single bloom. I also planted rutabaga. I do not know how rutabaga growing works. Any ideas? I love rutabaga. Also, I planted lettuce. How does that work. It looks ready to eat to me. Do I just snip it and eat it? Will it keep growing more leaves? Also does anyone know what to do with “basil lettuce”? Or maybe it is lettuce basil?”
So what is going on in your garden?
Fighting the urge to Duke it out right about now. Saving that for July when Jersey owns the garden state title. Meanwhile, the weeds are growing like weeds. XO
Cut or tear off the outer lettuce leaves. It will continue to produce leaves and not go to seed (for a while) if you do so.
Our local garden club has a sale at the town festival, and one guy sprouted hundreds of heirloom toms and peps. Including the notorious “peter pepper”, which caused hubbub and tsking. The flat was relegated to a corner.
Anyway, I got more heirloom plants which now need to be planted. The garden shop has a boatload of herb plants, which is where all extra cash is going. 16 varieties of lavender is giving me palpitations.
The rain in Missouri, as well as the cold, is retarding growth on everything.
I love your gardening updates.
This is the plan for tomorrow. I apparently took baking soda to this plant already. I tend to take drastic steps when more restrained ones are called for. #StoryOfMyLife
Anyway. Here’s good advice to stop this from happening in the first place. Listen to the instructions at the end about testing.
It’s been raining pretty much non-stop for a while where I am too. I planted a peony and some hollyhocks last year and they’re coming up nicely. I forced some sunflower seeds inside and they’re also doing well; they’ll go in the ground the first week of June. I’m excited to try some zucchini and tomatoes this year. To get ready for digging and shit I’d been good about doing YouTube yoga videos for like a week, but it’s hard to continually do things that are good for you. T_T
Just so you know three of my favorite people (that includes you) are in constant moderation due to the apostrophe in your name. I’m trying to fix it.
I planted my tomatoes 3 weeks ago. It’s been a late start here on the Central Coast of CA due to the heavy rains. I find when I use Dr Ian’s blood meal they tend to thrive better. Has anyone used that before? Used it last year near my pumpkins to get rid of the insane moles that eat everything, but then then the pumpkins went off and started growing like crazy. Then used it for all my other veggies which liked it a lot. Is swear by it.
My mom used blood meal and fish emulsion. And aged horse manure. I compost together an evil concoction of leftover veg from the fridge, chicken poop/leftover feed/newspaper, and soil. I toss it in a bucket with a lid, roll it around and when the veg are broken down I top-dress.
I have been reading a LOT about organic methods and have seen “if the soil is strong there won’t be bugs or diseases”. That is this year’s goal, strong soil.
Because I love tomatoes in a senseless and incoherent way.
I have been obsessed with my dirt for years. Unfortunately once fungus gets in it, you are basically fucked. I have spent hundreds of dollars over the years bringing in clean dirt to no avail.
I googled Dr Ian’s blood meal and all I found was a whole bunch of links to a weight loss doctor and this post.
I wonder if it’s the same thing as Uncle Ian’s Mole & Gopher, Deer, Rabbit & Squirrel Repellent, which is 89% blood meal and 11% peppers.
Tamara, your gardening posts are my favorite thing in the world. Nothing makes me quite so happy as imagining my dream garden and everything that I’d have in it. One day…
We can’t plant anything in the ground until the 3rd week of this month because of danger of a late frost. We do have a hotbed that we plant lettuce in so we can get an early start on eating out of the gardens! We planted a spicy Mesclun mix, had some “volunteer” spinach come up in the hotbed from last year, and of course my arugula. I cannot get enough of that, if I had my way the entire hotbed would be full of arugula. We have 3 gardens, each is at least 30′ x 75′. We grow and can everything up with plenty to munch on in the summer! It’s a busy time for me, I’ve grown to appreciate “harvest time” and am glad when it’s over and done with for the season. Then by December I’m usually ready to play in the dirt again but have to wait a few months. It’s a vicious cycle I tell ya! (but I love it).
I planted gerber daisies. It’s the only thing I don’t kill. Also I plant them near the outside vent from the dryer and the warm air makes the grow all year. They just get some lint from clothes on them sometimes,
Tamara, I’m smiling because I bought a nice size cherry tomato plant at Home Depot over a month ago that was already in a huge pot with the climber thingy. I’ve kept it in the same container and give it plenty of tlc. It must have over 30 tomatoes at various stages of growth. Some are finally turning red & they are delicious. Although someone else did all of the hard work, it was well worth the $16 bucks. I enjoy going outside and pinching a nice ? Just about every morning. Small things make me happy. Omg, my basil plant is the bomb. Lol So delicious in my wheat pasta?
I have planted two Earthboxes – one with strawberries, one with lettuces. Can’t eat all they produce – my dog hustles home when I say “Want a strawberry?” and we root around together to pick a few treats! I live near the water and don’t have land for a garden – so these boxes are perfect. Once they are planted, you just add water each day. So easy! And the soil can be re-used for about 3 years (after top soil with fertilizer scraped off). The boxes are expensive online, but the Earthbox inventor (now in assisted living) has a nursery about an hour from my home. A large box with dirt,fertilizer, plastic cover, tomato stakes, (a kit) cost about $60 after tax, and lasts forever. Amateurs should check this out….idiot proof with great production!!! My friend who introduced me to these drops gallon zip locks of cherry tomatoes off to all of her friends and still has too many.
Thank you for sharing this!
Yea! My favorite posts are the tomato posts. I’m going to plant seeds this weekend, which means today. Damn when will I find the time for that? I’m a bit behind schedule but that they way it goes sometimes. I do try for the heirloom seed packets. Sometimes they grow well other times not so much. Many days without sun and any unusual coolness tend to shut the plants off. Patience sometimes bring them back.
Y’all are a step (or full staircase) ahead of me. In St. Louis we’ve had heavy rain all Spring, so my plants are doing fantastic. Because? They’re still at the store! Love to hear about your gardening adventures T and everyone else’s.
I love the tomato posts! I’ve been reading this blog for a long time and this is my first time posting.
Here in the UK we don’t usually plant tomatoes out until June. I’ve started about 18 plants from seed and they are Italian plum tomatoes. I grow them to make sauces which I freeze and eat for the whole year.
I’ve also got two patty pan squash plants and a zucchini plant which produces round zucchinis (called One Ball).
We had record breaking rain in our area; 4 ft worth since October. Thankfully I love a rainy night, I love a rainy night.
I found that fungus would come back even with fresh soil and compost but then I read that you have to sanitize the pot before you plant again! Have read that spraying mouthwash on the pot, let it dry and then rinse before doing the planting is pretty sufficient.
And I’ve had really good success with Compost Tea, sprayed on the leaves and added to the soil at various times thru the season not only curbed it but also made for amazingly healthy plants. The trick is finding a good garden store that makes this. They give it to you in gallon jugs that you have to use within 12-24 hours. Usually at an organic, grass roots kind of shop.
I’m growing heirloom Sungolds and Blue Bumblebee (?) tomatoes this year, can’t wait! Love that you’re doing this post again 🙂
I admit I have been lazy this spring when it comes to the garden. When I saw your post I immediately went to go tie up the tomatoes and weeded. So many more weeds to pull. I need to spend next weekend in the garden
Too cold for tomatoes here still. I can’t plant those until Memorial Day. I have had good success putting powdered milk in the hole when I plant the tomatoes. Something about the calcium helps ward off the black rot.
Powdered milk – fascinating. Will have to try that. I put Epsom salts in the soil, for the magnesium but this is worth adding. I had great success banishing a red mite infestation on a tropical plant using buttermilk sprayed all over the plant so this sounds like a great thing to try in the soil!
Your grapevine is amazing.