August 2007

Weekend Update 2007-08-26

 They're finally starting to ripen, upside-down and all! Looking delicious, and watered regularly. There area about 36 ripening fruits, total. Much less than even the smallest Matt's Wild Cherry plants.

   On the left, there's one Matt's Wild Cherry in a Folger's container, which has about 56 fruits total. The 3 gallon container has approximately 225, and more flowers blooming. My intentions as of this date is to have two containerized Matt's Wild Cherry plants next year, in 5 to 10 gallon containers, and also thinking of using them as Japanese Tomato Ring toppers.

  The 19" Japanese Tomato Ring continues to be the leader in production, with it's rogue squash topping it off. The seeds have either come from last years cast-offs with their "promiscuos habits" as Emma says from the Alternative Kitchen Garden Podcast, or they rode in with some of my "imported manure". Either way, they're not causing any harm at the moment to the tomatoes. If they do, they'll be dispatched as the one in the asparagus patch was.

The tally so far is:
19" JTR = 6.75 lbs
29" JTR = 4.56 lbs
Containers = 1.28 lbs
Garden = 1.84 lbs
Total = 15.36 lbs of tomatoes, so far from the whole garden.

Ok, so it's not as amazing as my "Ernest" expression might lead you to believe, but it's still pretty good, and the tomatoes have been delicious.

I'm beginning to plan and get seeds together for next year, as well as my fall garden and my indoor experiments so I can wile away the winter with some green after the Christmas tree has been put out for the blueberries.

Weekend Update 2007-08-20 Cool Weather and Odd Compost Gleanings

 It's over five feet long, producing cute little tomatoes and very thirsty. Nothing has ripened yet from here, though.

 The Japanese Tomato Rings, on the other hand - have been producing very well. Seems I have two different type of squash I'd never grown before in the top of the JTR, as seen below:

The Yellow squash I'd never grown before, though they do taste good. Could be a seed from a hybrid, I'll have to look back in my seed catalogs to see if my yellow squash were F1 hybrids. The acorn squash (I'm guessing) has never been grown or even bought/forgotten/tossed into the compost heap that I remember, so it'll be interesting to see if the fruits mature and what they become. I have a couple of others that are growing in the older of the two compost heaps, and one that made it into my asparagus - which will be removed one way or another - since it's shading out my favorite veggie.

After looking over what's planted where, it seems I'd planted the black prince in the garden, and the roma around the 19"JTR. So much for using popsicle markers, next time I'll use different color pots... and markers... and maybe a tag or two.

Meanwhile my other tomato newbie: Matt's Wild Cherry are popping up like crazy. They're the perfect size for Barbies and Bookcover Boys the world over. I have one plant in a small Folgers Coffee container that's stayed rather small, another in the garden that's a little larger, and one in a 5 gallon planter that's out of control. All taste great. I added about one can of coca-cola to one watering for each plant (one can per plant) and 2 liters to the JTR's. Turns out you don't need to use the soda, it's the sugar that other beneficial organizms utilize, as well as the tomato plant itself. I would not recommend pouring a can of coke right on the plant, or even on the roots, but pour a diluted solution around the plants directly into the JTR should be fine, though). from http://www.backyardgardener.com/tomato/experts.html "...Tony Kienitz, author of The Year I Ate My Yard, suggests spreading a half pound bag of sugar over the garden and covering it with a thick layer of organic compost. He says the sugar kicks all the beneficial soil microbes into high gear, which then help control the damaging nematodes. Likewise, try drenching the area you intend to plant with a solution of one-half cup sugar in one gallon of water. Other sources say the sugar dries the nematodes out. ..."
Also found a link regarding using coke along with dish soap at http://www.citynews.ca/blogs/frankieflowers_2423.aspx along with some other home recipes worth a perusal.

That's all for now, hopefully next weekend update will be on the weekend. We're getting up to the beginning of the school year at work, so that's where most of my energy's going, but grateful to have a family that loves the garden as much as I do to come home to.

Post Vacation Update

 It almost died, because I hadn't given instructions as to how to water it, but it's back and continues to produce little green tomatoes! Vacation was good for me, the rest of the garden fared well too, despite some major wind storms.

 The Japanese Tomato Rings are outproducing everything else - the container tomatoes, the upside down tomatoes and the regular garden tomatoes. the roma's are turning red every other day, and the others are following close behind.

 The pumpkin is starting to produce inside the JTR as well, and I intend to keep it down to one fruit. The ripening tomatoes have green shoulders, making me think that these are actually the "Black Prince" tomatoes. Next year, I'll devote one ring to each variety, so I won't have this issue again.