My Tomatoes Are Delicious

Things are finally coming to fruition in the garden and I'm loving it.  My tomatoes are delicious, and they are much bigger than last years.  It must be that calcium boost that I've been giving them.  I've learned by lesson with the pickling cukes.  I must check the vines daily to avoid another mutiny.  The Roma vines are loaded.  I'll be making sauce as soon as I can harvest enough for a few batches.  In the mean time, I see a batch of salsa in my future. 

I don't know what's up with the cucumber up front.  They've grown all shapes, sizes and colors this year.  This is a slicer, so I'll be using it in a salad this week-end. 

My beefsteaks are monsters!  I've been enjoying them on BLTs, but the Paul Robeson is the bomb!  They will be on my all-time favorite list for sure and will have a place in the garden every year.  The tomato on the right up front, is a Hillbilly, which started in my native West Virginia.  Haven't tasted it yet, so I'll keep you posted on what I think about them.  Still waiting for my pink Brandywines to ripen and the Better Boy.  Until than, I'll continue to enjoy the Paul Robeson and Beefsteaks.  Yum, Yum!

I'm off to make a batch of dill pickles.  Stay tuned for that post! 

Staking Indeterminate Tomatoes

I decided to add more support to my tomato cages.  They're pretty study, but I didn't feel confident they would hold indeterminate tomato plants. The Amish Paste plants put them to the test last year. They didn't fall over, but there was a strain placed on the cages.  They worked perfectly for the determinate tomatoes, but I must also admit the heirlooms are going to hit the ground if I don't provide more stability.

I was actually displeased with the price that I paid for the cages at Tractor Supply last season, but when I look back on it they were worth it. Because of the price, I decided to keep the cages and just drive 2 t-post beside them and attach the cages with twist ties.

I hoping the t-posts will hold them.  I was thinking about purchasing a roll of concrete mesh, but weighed the pros and cons.  The t-posts were attached in 10 minutes.  I would have to cut the concrete mesh and put the cages together.  The tomato cages I currently have are stackable, and I can store the t-posts behind the compost bins.  I would have to disassemble the concrete mesh to store them,  and where I don't know.  If I decide to extend the garden next year, I will use the cages for hybrids and invest in cattle panel for the heirlooms.  I'll stake the panel with the extra t-posts.  I hope my idea works.  Have you used t-posts to anchor your cages?

Other happenings, the squash have covered the first rung of the bamboo trellis and lots of blooms are forming.  The zuchinni is looking good on the other side.  I gathered a few great recipes to use for the squash and zuchinni. 

My peas are finally coming up.  I'm late planting them.  These are Wando, and they're suppose to be heat tolerate and great for freezing.  If successful, I get to have the entire harvest to myself.  I'm the only person in the household who loves peas!  I'm hoping my little granddaughter, Zarriah, will take after her grandmother and will enjoy them for her baby food.  If so, I'll plant another crop for fall harvest. 

Veggie Plants are Blooming

Last week-end I headed out to cut bamboo for my pole beans and squash/zucchini.  My brother has a yard full of bamboo, and offered a few pieces for my garden.  

We cut 7 foot pieces for my pole beans and tied them at the top with twine, and about 10 pieces of various sizes for my other vining veggies.   I planted Blue Lake pole and bush beans and several bush Wax beans in this area.  All are coming up nicely. 

This is the squash trellis I made.  It's amazing how a pole can look straight while you're in one position, and totally off when you're in another.  That will teach me to wait until I have help.  I'll straighten it out tomorrow when I have another set of eyes, lol.

I found this fabulous old peach orchard ladder and decided to put it the garden this year.  It contains my $2.00 clearance daisy from Lowes.  I have more bush beans and Roma tomatoes under it.  I'll pot up a few plants to place on the other steps of the ladder this week-end.  I have just about everything in,  I need to add a few more cukes, dill, red onions and some additional flowers.  Can't wait to make pickles this year.   

My peppers are flowering.  I planted 15 chili, cayenne, Hungarian, jalapeno and  2 sweet.  I have 2 pink Brandy Wine, 1 Hillbilly, 2 Paul Robeson, 1 Beefsteak, and 1 German Johnson that survived.  Didn't do well with my tomato germination, hopefully next year I will be more successful.  I was truly hoping for a few Cherokee Purple.  I searched the local garden centers, and none carried Cherokee Purple for replacements.  Heirlooms are rare in most garden centers in my area.  Not sure where I went wrong.  I think next year, I won't attempt to transplant them as early.  I'll wait until their stronger.     

I'm hoping that my cages will hold the heirlooms.  How do you cage your tomatoes?  I may add a few of the bamboo poles for reinforcement this week-end.  If they get as heavy as the Amish Paste did last year, I'll need it.   What's in your garden this year? 

Garden's Tilled

I'll finally seeing some growth with my veggie plants.  I've transplanted quite a few and so far they're all doing great.  The exception is sweet peppers.  I only had two germinate, and they are struggling.  Not sure what the problem is with these little darlings, but I was successful and have transplanted many into bigger pots.   I kept a lot of my veggie/flower pots over the years. They have finally come in handy.  Here's a list of what I've transplanted so far:

3 Squash
5 Zucchini  (Hopefully, I can give a few of these away)
3 Cayenne
3 Chili
1 Hungarian Wax
2 Jalapeno
3 Cherokee Purple
2 Box Car Willie
1 Hillbilly
2 German Johnson
2 Kaki Coing
1 Crimson Watermelon
3 Sugar Baby Watermelon
2 Pumpkin

I saved my drinking cups for some of the plants and glad I did.  I had a few that were leggy, and wanted to plant them deep.  I used one of my hot glue guns to punch holes in the bottom of the cups.  It worked great. 

I have several flats that contain Brandy Wine, Paul Robeson and more hot peppers.  They have germinated, so I'm hoping to transplant them in the next week. I'll be adding Romas, green beans, and red onions to the garden as well. 

We finally got the garden tilled today.  We didn't make it as large as I wanted.  I ended up with a 25 x 25 instead of the 25 x 30 that I was hoping for.  We'll see how it works out.  The dirt is so fluffy.  It's like powder.  I'm hoping that I will not have to do much amending.  I'll have a soil analysis done later in the week.  Last year, I only added a light fertilizer.  I'm hoping that my compost that has been cooking for the past year will be enough this season. 

I need to figure out how I'm going to cage my tomatoes.  How do you cage your Heirlooms?  I may follow your lead. 

Spring Has Arrived

Spring has arrived and I'm so excited.  I'm going to attempt to germinate my veggie seeds this year.  I've decided to try heirloom tomatoes.  Here's a few of my tomato packets that I've been admiring all day.  They're just like a big chocolate candy bar to me, at least that's the effect they're having on me.  I'm salivating just thinking about plucking a fresh tomato this summer and slicing it with a little mayo and pepper.  I can't get enough of them.

I so enjoyed the tomatoes that I canned for soup and chili this winter.  They were as fresh and delicious as they were last summer.  I decided to plant Hillbilly, German Johnson, Cherokee Purple, Paul Robeson, Kaki Coing (a bonus pack),  and Roma tomatoes.  Pole beans, squash, cucumber (slicers & pickling), zucchini, Sugar Baby water melon, and lots of peppers this year.  

I'll start my seedlings this week-end.  Since this will be my first year at this endeavor, I'm hoping that I'll be successful.  I didn't buy a heating mat, I decided to use my baseboard heaters for germination.   I can regulate the temperature with the heaters or use the top of my fridge.  I'll let you know if it works for me.  I did buy a 4 foot grow light.  Not sure if I will use it or if I will set up a table and just use the light from my kitchen door.  Research has shown that if I turn the plants so they don't reach for the light, I should be okay. 

What are you planting this year?  How do you germinate your seeds?  I'm a novice gardener, so any tips would be appreciated.