Tomato..round...???

I am on a roll this Spring!!!!  I just keep killing tomatoes!!
The seeds never sprouted.  Not even that batch of Roma seeds that I even fermented first.  Geez!
I went ahead and planted out the Sutherland's transplants, even though I knew it was too early. And I was correct in thinking that when potting up, I planted them much too deep. When I went to plant the poor little guys, their stems were becoming soft and green, hollow and mostly rotten.  The stems simply collapsed, and nutrients were completely unavailable....a very serious, and obvious mistake.  But it is no longer any mystery what happened!
So yesterday, at Lowe's I bought some new transplants.  The larger potted plants that have been at the nursery for the last month looked very sad and wilted from the cold weather we have been having.  There were so many squash and cucumber falling over in devastation from the cold bitter nights, and damp mornings.  (kinda looked like my tomatoes!).  But I chose what looked to me like freshly delivered 9 cell pack tomato and peppers.  Small, but healthy, and undisturbed so far by the weather.  They had been tightly packed onto the shelves and somewhat sheltered by the other, older plants in the surrounding shelves.  Currently they reside inside, under a grow light, I don't dare put them out, and stress them further.  We are only 2 weeks away from outdoor planting.

Friday, I went out to the good old Waste Center, and guess what?  They are out of compost.  Again!  I came out in March, thinking to beat the rush, and they were out until April.  At the time, the taters were freshly planted, no big deal, I can cover them.  So I return in April, as asked, and the sign says nothing until May.  This is crap! I think that something needs to be done in my own backyard, it is obvious that I cannot rely on the county to help!!! He offered mulch! LOL...to quickly kill my potatoes!  NO thanks!  So I need to act quickly to get the earlies covered.  I am not sure how I will be doing that around the freshly planted freedom's, but I have vowed to try, since I knew it was going to be an awkward planting once half the red norlands rotted.  (that was from not sulfuring the chitted taters, and also, from cutting seed pieces too small without enough eyes to begin compensation and producing enough leaf, from what I left of the tuber)

The funny part is that I understand all these concepts, but for some reason that I can never ascertain, i still insist on learning these lessons the hard way!  I mean, honestly...what business do these two varieties of potatoes have growing in the same bin?  None!  Russets and Reds are totally different in growth rate, habit and height.  not to mention the 1 1/2 month gap between plantings.  I set myself up for this frustration.
I assume that the second bed of Yukon gold will pan out nicely.  All planted together and hopefully they will be producing together...unfortunately, that will be my late crop and it will be a long while before I know how that turns out!!!  Hey, I am still better off than last year.  I bought real seed potatoes and have begun hilling them long before I had last year. I have nixed the straw, as far as a covering material, it will be mulch only...not to mention that I will have two crops, not just one, and have doubled, maybe tripled the amount of plants in about the same square footage...(approximately, because there is a path, but also because of the vertical cubic footage....it kinda balances out).

LEARNING A LOT!!!

I have been wondering about the wisdom of planting peas early....and whether or not, in a cold moist spring like this, you could succession sow them at all.  Same for spinach.  The weather is so sporadic, it is hard to saw where the cut off should be.
It is definitely much too early for warm weather stuff that is direct sown.....All of the Beans, and squash, etc.  has to wait 2-4 more weeks, depending on how well the soil warms when the air does!!!
The Broccoli and Brussels Sprouts are knocked around both by the cats and the birds.  Not to mention that the mint seems to do nothing to repel the cabbage moth! I have gone out and smooshed several tiny caterpillars, which I learned last year, you always miss some!!! And I have picked off and smashed little yellow eggs, that I also assume will be evil little blue green meanies, munching down my plants....yet again!
I hate poisons, so I just keep picking and smooshing, and hoping I am wrong about reincarnation!!!
They are getting taller, and from what I saw of the nursery plants yesterday, they are catching up with them quite well.
The thing is, I am really wishing I had hoops set up.  If half of the 1st bed was hooped, I wouldn't have to worry about the cabbage moth at all.  I could keep them covered for most, if not all of their growth, assuming that the covering allowed light and water to penetrate the barrier and if I were to seal it at the soil line.
Eggplants, I read, are much the same way.  They can apparently be grown under cover for the entire season, and it is actually preferable to in the open .... they are bug magnets!  I read that if there is one colorado potato beetle in the garden it will be on an eggplant.  They seem a fragile and vulnerable choice...(I am working out ways to kill now! HA! But I love a challenge, and if I keep one alive until fruiting, that'd be an accomplishment, and maybe make up for all the tomato manslaughter taking place on my premises this season!!)
So I bought seed...Ha! scared to kill some one else's hard earned transplants! I feel confident in growing the latest batch of tomato, and fairly excited about seeding the eggplant.  I am hoping for warmer days soon.

March: picture update 2 of 2

This is the other side of the potato bin (you could see from views of the Asparagus Bed, in Update 1 of 2). This is seriously ghetto, I know, but it should hold the taters in and allow me to pile some serious amounts of soil on the plants as they grow, which should produce a lot more taters. When I read about it last year, there were experiments being done on the best varieties for this method of planting...and I thought it was the small ones, and not the russets...but I can't remember! I couldn't find the link, but if I do, I will post it. There is another row of potato bins in the works soon....but this is the earlies and my first attempt at building them.

This is just one of the longer sprouts poking out of the soil. They are planted in a tilled bed, rather shallowly, because I will be dumping soil on them as they grow, and they will hopefully produce spuds at this level and above. This is actually the most important part of the potato plant, because this sprout is forming the main stem, that the potatoes grow from (directly above the cut pieces that are planted.) From this level and above, is where the spuds form, so it is important to continue to pile the dirt on and keep the "eyes" reaching for light. I believe, the theory that makes the potato bins work, is by keeping this covered, and reaching for light, you lengthen greatly, the amount of plant that is under the soil, and keep it striving to produce green leaves for food....but as long as it can survive on the nutrients of the planted tuber, it should have the energy to get much larger for me, and produce greater yields...in theory.....that is the way I understand it. For this reason, I will be throwing my bagged humus on them, until I can get a truck load of compost. I am going to try to keep them from getting real leaves by burying them and withholding fertilizer until the last possible moment (when it starts to produce real leaves). And even then, a lower dose of Nitrogen, might be a good idea until later in the season, when it really needs the full canopy and switches it's focus to maturing the tubers it already has produced. It will be very interesting to see how the theory works and what helps it work.... =)

here are some spud links:

potato from ground up

Weekly Update

Well, we did in fact eat those potatoes and they did, in fact, taste very good!! I used a few in mashed potatoes one night, and criss-cross potatoes another night and they were just dandy! :)

I have to admit, I am very pleased with myself on this potato project. I assumed that I would accomplish utter failure, but instead, success!

My main issues on this year's potato growing are my lack of information when I started. I have since read much more on the whats and whys of potatoes. The hilling process and alternative methods. I decided that in Missouri, I don't like the mulch method, because it really didn't lead to more tuber development at all. It harbored slugs as well. It wasn't really enough to support the plants either. So next year, mulch will simply stay mulch and not an alternative to soil.

The quality of the potatoes surprised me. as I scrubbed them down and sliced them in half lengthwise I was taken aback by the utter lack of blemishes. Most garden veggies have SOME blemishes.....but my little taters had none. No scabs, no holes, no black hollows.....just pure white flesh.This is surprising from all that I have read of them, these plants prefer a slightly acid soil, to reduce scabbing and other diseases. I know for a fact that the majority of my garden is right at neutral, and the only sulfuring I did was dusting the cut pieces of seed potato! Maybe next year I may not be so lucky, so I will try to acidify the new plot to some extent, just in case this has all been a wonderful case of beginner's luck!

But, the few spuds that I saved for bakers were of medium size, not tiny but not especially huge. And it was just one of those moments in a budding gardener's life, where you are just plain proud. Good Job! I say, and pat myself on the back! Not too shabby! I am tempted to steal more new potatoes but I still have 5 or 6 lbs. of store bought russets in the pantry and really no need for mine.....I just really, really enjoy digging them up! And I am just happy about the results this time!

Next year, flea beetle control is going to have to be on the top of my list. I have not even attempted control outside of hosing them off, and I guess I figured that they weren't bothering the tubers, so it's no big deal.....BIG MISTAKE!!! They will multiply and travel. I have seen them on the hops, the peppers and tomatoes, and I definitely don't want them chewing my ripe fruits!!! I am thinking hot pepper spray....I will have to check into that soon.

OK, well, I have pictures on the way.....the melons are very tall now, and the tomatoes will be ripening in a week or two (I hope!) So I will update shortly on those photos. The blueberries are about ready to be un-potted and rooting, and the apples will need yet another spray to keep the CAR at bay! Wish me luck....and all the best to all of you!

It grows a little every day!!!

It really seems like the broccoli grows everyday. It just keeps getting more and more Huge!

The tomato plants seem very healthy, all except one plant, that is curling it's leaves all the time, whether there is moisture or not. I am thinking about pulling it out, but I only have 8 plants and that will leave me with 7. It has a few fruits on it,but they seem to have stopped growing, they have been there a week and still are the same size. I have to admit, this plant has looked funny from the beginning. I am going to keep an eye on it a while longer, and then I may decide to pull it. We'll see.

Last night we pulled a tiny potato plant that had turned mostly brown. I think Mick was disappointed in the low volume of harvest, and the toughness of the potato. we pulled 4 decently sized spuds from one rather small plant. It gave me dreams about digging out huge potatoes and harvesting ripe tomato, but unfortunately that was just a dream!

I Know that I am supposed to allow the spuds to cure and let the skins harden for storage. I have my store bought bag of spuds on another shelf, and the home grown ones are lying on a paper towel. I have already tasted one spud from a previous plant I pulled out. It was about the size of the bottom tater above.......but I fried it and that really prevented me from tasting it's actual flavor. With these I would like to maybe just bake them, so we get the full flavor.

I am still wondering (very much) if I have made some critical mistake with fertilization if all my veggies (minus tomato) taste a bit off. Then again, I planted store-bought sprouted spuds, and that is a BIG NO-NO!

I will update, once I have tasted these little guys. I am promising myself I won't dig any more out until they are completely died back ...... and adding that soil late in the season, did nothing. Too little, too late! And I really don't quite get the whole mulch thing, spuds did not continue to grow all the way up the plant and they were always covered with straw, (if not the soil I added later). It helped to harbor slugs, and I had a hell of a time with flea beetles......hmmmmmm!!??!!

So, If I don't end up with a lot of food, I will know why.....but if I didn't have "food for thought" we would know that something went VERY, VERY wrong!

Until Next time! :)

Lessons in the garden....I feel like I am actually learning!

I was so excited to see that there are pretty decently sized potatoes when went to check them last night. I was trying to decide if I should add soil to hill them or if the straw was sufficient. I decided to add soil to every plant once I saw the state of growth. I want more than a few taters per plant, and I felt like the straw was just turning the already weak stalks to mush and harboring slugs closer to the plant than I would like.Since I am hoping to multiply the number of potatoes that we harvest by keeping them hilled well, I thought the best "method" was a combination of methods. I pulled back my straw "hills" and added approximately 5 gallons of soil per hill, maybe more on the larger plants....and replaced the straw. I tried to use the really moist, soggy straw against the soil hills, and the drier, outermost straw further up the plant to support the "hilling".

Some of the spuds looked edible. Like these small ones in the picture they were about the size you would pick out to make baked potatoes for the kids...or for roasts (new potato sized, and some smaller, too).....BEAUTIFUL!!!! I can't describe how excited I was to see these little tubers, I had to run to the house to grab a phone or camera to take a picture! I imagine digging them in a few months, and I am just so proud of my little "grocery store" sprouted potatoes...and everyone says they treat them to prevent sprouting! HA! these had HUGE gangly sprouts!!! Next year I will fork up the moola for seed potatoes, and rotate beds or cover crops to avoid issues with pest and disease...but as for experimental food growing.....I think we're doin' alright!!!

(now lets try garlic again!)

the Asparagus i s doing pretty well. I have noticed some slight yellowing of the ferns but they seem healthy despite this. I am trying a foliar iron feed to help with this and I intend to allow them to dry a bit more between waterings, as I have read this can cause yellowing as well. But I figured the iron wouldn't hurt, and I was spraying the blueberries anyways.....

I have been fertilizing about every other week with a 13-13-13 all purpose. Some of the spears have been coming up so thick that it is very tempting to taste one, but I know that it would risk the health of the crowns so I don't! But it is mouth wateringly tempting. I am thinking about withholding Nitrogen, so I may have to buy a new fertilizer, so the ferns don't get too spindly.

The first picture shows how many spears are forming from one healthy crown. This second picture shows the size of spears that have been coming up. This one is about to loosen and turn into fern......

I can't wait to harvest something from the garden!

Yesterday I noticed a bunch of yellow orange eggs under a potato leaf, and from reading I know that is a Colorado potato beetle larva cluster (most likely), and we smooshed them without prejudice (and without talking a picture). I have also noticed a lot of flea beetle activity on the potatoes as well, I have just not concluded what I will do about it. Other than that, there haven't been a lot of Japanese Beetles, YET....or cabbage worms, like my father in law had on his broccoli. they are crafty little buggers, hiding along the leaf veins and are a bluish green like the broccoli (because that is what they chowed down on!) and that makes them very hard to find!!! I have only found one in my garden and it was a striped one. And I also found one asparagus beetle as well. Any other holes we've found that weren't from caterpillars and flea beetles have likely been due to slugs. Which is starting to become a nuisance. I think I may need some Diatomaceous earth. That or beer bait, but I think I'd rather drink it!

Overall, the garden is doing quite well. I have been working on moving the compost and bins to the other side of the garden. And preparing to plant out fruits. I have spent a lot of time investigating pale green new growth in blueberries. The only conclusion I can come to is that the soil in their pots has a higher PH than it should. This prevents the uptake of important nutrients such as: Nitrogen, Sulfur, Iron , Magnesium and other trace minerals that are important for the proper chlorination of the leaves.....the best and most sure way to solve this is to acidify the soil greatly, and feed with an acid loving plant food, as for azaleas. I will have to mix peat into the planting and test the ph often. I plan to mulch with chopped oak leaves, pine bark and needles. I have heard that commercial growers mayy use leaf testing over soil testing to manage PH and nutrients because the test results fluctuate so much through out the growing seson, it may be more accurate. That is something to check out in the future....once they are planted!

Edit: "Iron is necessary for the formation of chlorophyll, which is responsible for the

green color in plants and necessary for photosynthesis (sugar production in plants).

Any reduction in chlorophyll during the growing season reduces plant growth,

vigor, and tolerance to stress conditions. Plants with reduced vigor from iron

chlorosis are more prone to winter injury, and winter injury may aggravate an iron

chlorosis problem. Weakened plants also are more susceptible to other diseases

and insect infestations." (read from : coloradogarden notes iron chlorosis _)

Garden Tasks Ahead

Well, there is so much to do in the garden that is just waiting on me to get out there....I thought I should make a list so nothing is left undone. I figured what is better than a rainy day to figure out what you want to do?

1. Till and amend soil for strawberry patch. Build bed, plant and mulch. Layer.
2. Clear, and build beds for Blueberry Bushes. Amend soil and acidify. Plant, and mulch.
3. Weed tilled area for cherry to be replanted (if it lives), plant and mulch.
4. Turn compost and begin disassembling and reassembling compost bins.
5. Weed, prune, train and mulch black raspberries. Remove and give away suckers.
6. weed, and contain blackberries. Layer.
7. clear, till and amend soil for red raspberries. Layer.
8. MULCH, MULCH, MULCH, MULCH, MULCH!!!

Those are the major projects......

Here's the scoop on the veggies.

So far it seems the broccoli grows everyday, and the tomatoes are not far behind....

No carrot sprouts yet, but they are notoriously slow germinators, and I used the $.10 seeds, so I am just crossing my fingers.

We have been picking peas everyday, to keep the plants growing...but I have decided that I really do like garden peas, so next year I will plan better. The peas that I am growing were actually meant to be a cover crop, and they germinated so slow that I ended up just letting them stay in place with the potatoes.

We planted some bean vines to fill in the chainlink fence next to the hops and they have spouted and appear to be growing pretty well. But they could also use some compost and straw mulch.

The Potatoes are mostly flowering, and I actually picked a few of the above ground fruits off, because I didn't really know if I should allow the plants to waste energy maturing them. I have never grown potatoes successfully and I am trying each and everything once, just so I will have the expirience under my belt and to give me something to contemplate; successes and failures.

So far, these potates have flea beetles. But they don't seem to be doing too much damage.

I am trying to "hill" the potatoes with straw, because it seemed like a really clever trick, (or so I have read), but that seems to encourage slugs. The smallest of the plants are the ones that seem to be sprouting spuds (yes, I check them.....) But the larger ones do not. I have considered pulling back some of the straw and adding more soil, but I don't really have soil just laying around!

Again, I think next year we will do things a bit more organized. I am very excited about the prospect of homegrown potatoes, as that is a tuber we all love and can use a lot of. Although they are relatively cheap, I still find it really cool to grow my own....well, when I really learn how!!!

There are tons of methods for planting potatoes. I used the straw method. There is also the hill method and a oft overlooked tire method. Whatever works for you.....I am still waiting to see if this is going to "work" for me!!! I hear potatoes grown in straw hills have fewer and smaller tubers, but since I have no comparison, I won't know they are smaller! Besides, they were sprouted store-bought russets anyways!!!

Today I fertilized the Asparagus bed and the tomato/pepper bed. But the rain stopped me from getting much else done......more later!

The Garden Lately

These are my Ever sweet Strawberries, as you can see I am trying to root the runners before planting. And the next pic is the Blueberries; two each of three varieties: Elliot, O'Neal, and Chippewa. They currently reside in a thick mulch of chopped oak leaves until planting. This is also where I found my Giant Worm, if I ever get a chance to post a pick of him, I will.

These are the two "rotational" beds the one with the bird bath is Potato and Peas. The other bed has Tomato in the cages, peppers in between a few of them and broccoli down the front and side. I also seeded carrots in front of that, and cantelopes behind the tomatoes against a fence, but alas, no sprouts! :(

And finally, this is the Asparagus bed. I have been waiting YEARS to plant this. As it takes 3 years minimum to reach harvestable maturity, waiting is the last thing you want do. These are "Jersey Knight" hybrid, male crowns I purchased from Burgess (in Bloomington, IL) I believe it was something like $5 for 10....so I jumped on it. I water it, mulch, feed and weed it like the rest of the garden, and sometime in 2011, I can eat some! :)