Heirloom Seedlings

 

These tomatoes and pumpkin starts turned out pretty nice. I had enough to pass out to family and friends. (This is just a few of them)

The ones that I kept for myself did terribly. The ones that I gave to friends did not grow or produce well. The ones that I gave to my sister grew and produced like monsters.

The first mistake that I made was to put them in terrible soil. I had put all the compost from my bins into the soil first. I had turned the soil a few times. I had added a few bags of purchased organic garden soil. I added coffee grounds, an organic fertilizer and worm castings before I planted. But soil needs time to be amended and I didn't realize just how bad and depleted the ground really was. Next spring I will have better soil. I'll also add some calcium and fish in the hole before I plant. A woman down the road told me that she adds a dead fish down by the roots and always has great tomatoes. Ive read about it. I'll do it.

An early warm spring fooled me. We had a spurt of great weather and I went crazy with planting things. The tomatoes went in way too soon. When the weather turned windy and chilly, these became stunted. They didn't have a chance in hell to become great producers. But I limped them along all summer and I did get a few tomatoes. What a waste of water and effort though. I learned things. I learned. I'll wait until May next time. I'll start the seedlings later.

I also planted them too close together. I knew this wasn't good. but they did ok up at Sam and Earl's last summer. So I went ahead and did it. Bad Move.

It was not a hot summer. They needed more heat. It was too windy. And I also don't think that they got enough sun. I'll plant them in different places next year. I also may put some of them in Smart Pots and see how they do.

As for my friends, they had neither the time nor the initiative to learn how to grow a vegetable. But it might move them forward for next year. At least they didn't die!

As for my sister, she lives in Napa - very hot in the summer. She had a walled in, protected garden and the soil had been amended for several years with chicken and rabbit manure. Her tomatoes went insane. Her peppers and eggplants were monsters. I would like to live in Napa. But here I am........................I will add some aged manure this winter.

I had lots of rogue tomatoes again this year, and I let them grow wild. Those did fabulously. I had cherry tomatoes again and the neighbors ate them to their hearts content.

To be continued next year.

My Garden At Sam and Earl's house

Sam and I are doing a kind of trade right now. I give him sewing lessons - or make pillows - or pull weeds and I get to grow vegetables and herbs in one of the garden plots that he made..

I had a great crop of radishes but then I decided to plant cucumbers and squash once those got all eaten up. At first I thought that I was going to lose the squash starts because they were not looking so good, but then they snapped out of it. I also planted two more tomato plants. The two that I have growing now are an Early Girl - and I forget which one the other is. One is a determinate and the other an indeterminate. They are full of foliage and very lush. Ive got a few little tomatoes coming on and some blossoms. But it seems like they are too perfect looking. I don't trust this. Because I killed my last tomatoes last year. They just failed.

First of all, last year they were in 5 gallon containers, had inconsistent water, and were not getting enough sun. They just didn't produce much. When mushrooms started growing in the soil, I freaked out and tossed them all into a compost pile.  I know now that mushrooms growing in the soil was a good thing - but the poor plants were not doing well any way. It was hopeless. And now, of all the crazy things, Ive got little baby tomato plants growing all over the place. I guess there were a few fruits on the plants that got massacred and those seeds got spread around somehow. Birds, wind..........who knows.  Nature is strange at best and I obviously didn't kill them dead enough...............

So these current tomatoes that Ive got growing up at Sam and Earl's are in soil that has been amended and mulched. They look fabulous and I cant believe that I haven't killed them. I don't have a car yet, so I kind of just get my starts where I can get them  - these came from Home Depot. I'm not promoting Home Depot at all. I'm just letting you know where they came from if that makes a difference to you. I would rather have purchased them from an organic nursery, but we just have to do what we have to do, don't we. I'm sure they are just fine. So hopefully they will continue to be healthy plants with lots of produce! Perhaps living next to a bee hive helps them grow better. I don't trust myself with container growing, but I do have a container garden over by my house right now with varying stages of growth. More will be blogged about that later.

Ive also got a row of lettuce and carrots growing in the ground. Ive been eating lots of salads now and I swear that this lettuce tastes better than any lettuce Ive eaten from a store.

In the plot next to mine, we planted 4 tomatoes for Sam and Earl - and pole beans. I'm sure they all came from a local nursery as Sam is a gardener by trade and very concerned with organics and the environment as well. With any luck, we will have tomatoes and zucchinis coming out of our ears.

There is that mama jay again protecting her nest.