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!

Shouldn't GMO Food Be Labeled

What's a GMO?

A GMO (genetically modified organism), also know as a GE (genetically engineered) or transgenic organism, is created by scientists in a laboratory where they insert genes into an organism to create new traits. In the United States, GMOs are not labeled. They are in over 75% of processed supermarket foods in ingredients like soy lecithin, canola, corn syrup, and cotton seed oil.

• Genetic engineering is completely different from traditional breeding. In traditional breeding it is possible to mate a pig with another pig to get a new variety, but is not possible to mate a pig with a potato or a mouse. Even when species that may seem to be closely related do succeed in breeding, the offspring are usually infertile—a horse, for example, can mate with a donkey, but the offspring (a mule) is sterile.
• With genetic engineering, scientists can breach species barriers set up by nature. For example, they have spliced fish genes into tomatoes.
• Other examples of genetic engineering experiments that have already been done include:
• Spider/Goat – taking a gene from a spider that leads to the production of spider web and putting it into goats so the goats can then be milked for the spider web protein.
• Fish/Strawberries – taking a gene from an Arctic flounder and putting it into a strawberry to try to make it frost-resistant.
• Corn/Human – taking a human gene and putting it into corn so that the corn contains human antibodies that attack sperm. The idea is to develop the corn as a plant-gel contraceptive that kills sperm on contact.

GMOs grown in Hawaii?

Hawaii has more experimental field trials of genetic engineering than any other state in the nation. Just a few of the many examples of permits granted for field trials include:

• Corn engineered with human genes (Dow)
• Sugarcane engineered with human genes (Hawai‘i Agriculture Research Center)
• Corn engineered with jellyfish genes (Stanford University)
• Tobacco engineered with lettuce genes (University of Hawai‘i)
• Rice engineered with human genes (Applied Phytologics)
• Corn engineered with hepatitis virus genes (Prodigene)1

What is a gene?

Every plant and animal is made of cells, each of which has a center called a nucleus. Inside every nucleus there are strings of DNA, half of which is normally inherited from the mother and half from the father. Short sequences of DNA are called genes. These genes operate in complex networks that are finely regulated to enable the processes of living organisms to happen in the right place and at the right time.

How is genetic engineering done?

Because living organisms have natural barriers to protect themselves against the introduction of DNA from a different species, genetic engineers have to find ways to force the DNA from one organism into another. These methods include:

• Using viruses or bacteria to "infect" animal or plant cells with the new DNA.
• Using electric shocks to create holes in the membrane covering sperm, and then forcing the new DNA into the sperm through these holes.
• Injecting the new DNA into fertilized eggs with a very fine needle.
• Coating DNA onto tiny metal pellets, and firing it with a special

Is genetic engineering precise?

The technology of genetic engineering is currently very crude. It is not possible to insert a new gene with any accuracy, and the transfer of new genes can disrupt the finely controlled network of DNA in an organism.

Current understanding of the way in which DNA works is extremely limited, and any change to the DNA of an organism at any point can have side effects that are impossible to predict or control. The new gene could, for example, alter chemical reactions within the cell or disturb cell functions. This could lead to instability, the creation of new toxins or allergens, and changes in nutritional value.

For example, when genetically engineered salmon were compared to normal salmon, it was found that the genetic engineering unexpectedly increased the amount of a protein identified as a major food allergen. In another case, Australian researchers reported in November 2005 that after 10 years spent developing a genetically engineered pea they had to abandon project after they found out that the altered peas caused lung inflammation and other adverse effects in mice. "The reaction of the mice…might reflect something that would happen to humans," said deputy chief of CSIRO plant industry T. J. Higgins.

This last paragraph is the most disturbing in my opinion. This entire process of altering the natural order of something as fundamental as food seems borderline deadly.

Why do genetically engineered foods have antibiotic resistant genes in them?

The techniques used to transfer genes have a very low success rate, so the genetic engineers attach "marker genes" that are resistant to antibiotics to help them to find out which cells have taken up the new DNA. These marker genes are resistant to antibiotics that are commonly used in human and veterinary medicine. Some scientists believe that eating GE food containing these marker genes could encourage gut bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance.

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