Holy Tomatoes!

How are your summer gardens so far? I don’t have a lot of room but I have six tomato (heirlooms) plants along the east side of the house. I have an upside down tomato garden that has two zucchini plants in the top of it. I abandoned the upside down deal for the tomatoes this year because there just didn’t seem to be enough room to support four plants. The problem with these utgs is that they don’t have enough containment area for the soil.  In catalogue pictures they depict the garden loaded with tomatoes along with herbs growing in the top.  I have retrofitted taller sides in the past to accommodate greater soil volume but the garden tends to get a little top heavy, and keep in mind, this is only in support of four plants. This year it’s host to two zucchini plants and they are doing well. The height of the garden makes it easier to tend. 

This season the tomatoes are happy in the ground. I started them all from seeds (organic) and it’s amazing how much hardier all these plants are compared to hybrids of the past. The tomatoes are green and about three inches around, the plants are nearly as tall as me (over six feet). I’ve already harvested (if I may be so bold) one zucchini, and two summer squash, the taste is amazing! What a difference compared to the plastic stuff in the supermarket. I also have three basil plants with the biggest leaves I’ve ever seen, I’ve already begun freezing leaves for the winter. I had about twenty radish plants (red) that were planted early in May, they enjoy the cooler weather, wow, talk about spicy hot! They were awesome and the first I’d ever planted. The great thing about them though is after the tomato plants die off, I can plant another crop of radish for a fall harvest.

The bees don’t seem to be as plentiful this year and I had a little trouble with the zucchini and squash pollination . I’d read somewhere that you can pollinate by hand using a q-tip or small artist’s brush, I tried it and it does work well. I made the mistake of watering the squash a little too much in the beginning, they do better with a little less water, every three or four days seems to be working. Also I’ve mulched the beds with grass clippings to retain moisture and keep the weeds down, that seems to work well. I added crushed egg shells to the soil this year to boost calcium, and the plants, (squash, zucchini) seem to really like that, also a little lime.

I can’t wait to bite into that first warm tomato though, that will be the proverbial icing on the cake!

Good luck with the gardens and bon appetite!