Sometime around April. I think it was, I saw a small vine growing in one of my raised beds. Being of a curious nature, I let it alone. Well, vines have a way of taking over any space they occupy and this vine went to town on me. But still, I could not bring myself to remove it. I was getting curious as to what it might produce.
The weeks wore on and then one afternoon while I was watering I saw a little melon buried in among the vine leaves. I kept an eye on this guy for the better part of two months. As time went on, it became apparent to me that this was a cantaloupe. I remembered that some where in my seed inventory there were some Ambrosia seeds. One or more of them must have been dumped into the bed by mistake.
Well, today I had the distinct pleasure of harvesting one. It wasn’t very big mind you (4 3/4 dia.), but that was more than made up for by the heavenly flavor! That’s one of the things that is so great about this hobby. Sure there are the occasional failures, but boy-oh-boy, every once in a while you get a tasty surprise.
Banana peppers live, in my mind anyway, somewhere between the sweet and hot variety. That’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned and that’s why I grow them every year. How many Scoville units are we talking? Oh, about 500 or so, making them just this side of warm.
Also, because of their unique shape, they are great for use on my outdoor grill. In the picture here, I grilled a pepper that has been stuffed with taco flavored hamburger. This was then placed next to a fresh salad and potato with most of the ingredients coming from the garden! Simple, yet delicious.
My only caution for newbie gardeners is that growing them from seed can take just about forever. (This is why I often will open up my wallet and let a few moths out in order to buy a few transplants at the local garden center). I’m always glad I did because this plant, which originated in South American rainforests, likes to take its sweet time and that’s a commodity that is in short supply for many northern gardeners.
Once a transplant is up and growing you will find they can be very productive. I find that just a few plants of each variety produce more than enough for my modest needs. Any extra peppers that I have are chopped up and then placed into a vacuum baggie, These are then placed into the deep freezer for use later in the fall in dishes like chili. (I’ve found this to be very cost effective for me as peppers over the wintertime can get fairly expensive).
My crop of Genovese basil is now reaching maturity at the end of July. This aromatic herb is something I use a lot of in cooking. I add it to anything that contains tomatoes, especially homemade spaghetti sauce , a recipe given to me by a fellow blogger.
Preserving the harvest is relatively easy, especially during the hot days of summer. I just strip off the leaves and then place them on large tray on top of paper towels. They are then left in the sun to dry, a process that usually takes just a day. (I try and keep an eye on them especially if I know that there are storms lurking about. It’s very common down here in southwest Missouri to have them popup out of nowhere). More than once I’ve had a batch or two ruined by shower that snuck up on me!
After the leaves have dried, I then take them into the kitchen where I give them a shot in the microwave. (This is done on high for just a minute or so to insure that the moisture has been completely removed). I then let them sit for a bit before crumpling them up by had into small flakes. These are placed into an airtight jar for use later on. By doing this, I will have plenty of this herb for use over the fall and winter months.
OK, so it’s the end of July and everyone’s feeling the heat of summer. And, if your garden is at all like mine, it may be a tad overgrown. It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s just too hot to spend much time weeding and such. I generally dart outside just long enough to give everything a drink and then run back in for air conditioned comfort.
But, take heart! One of the best times to garden is right around the corner. This is especially true of cool loving crops like radishes, Brussels sprouts and romaine lettuce. If you plant these out eight weeks prior to the first average frost, you can achieve great results. This is due to the fact that both seed and small transplants will germinate and grow well in the warm soils during the remaining warm weeks and then, as it gets cooler, will really take off. Some of my best harvest have been during this time period!
Ask you might guess, success is all in how well you time everything. So, here are a few hints to perhaps help anyone who’s interested along. Start with a chart that shows the average first date of frost for your particular local. I’m located in the south end of zone 6 and so can expect Jack Frost on or after October the 29th. There is a nifty map can help you figure out your particular target date.
Once you have that firmly in mind, you can begin to make plans on what it is you want to plant and when. If you are going with romaine transplants and you live in SW Missouri as I do you can wait until the beginning of September to place them in the ground. If you are going with seed, then try for mid August. Note however that if the temperatures are above the mid eighties, then you will need to shade the ground. Lettuce, as a rule like cooler ground temperatures in order to germinate. The same is true of the other cole crops to one extent or the other so do a little research.
Now, if you have a cold frame, then you are really in the cat birds seat. Please check out my series of blogs concerning this subject. I was able to maintain a fresh stream of lettuce not only through the fall months, but even in the very early spring by using these to the greatest effect. Note that do not even need to make a very large structure either. In my video on ‘Building a Cold Frame’ I will show you how.
I recently received a note from two gardening bloggers named Minji and Keith. They maintain a great blog called ‘Thyme to Garden Now’. Apparently these folks originated in California and have relocated to Indianapolis, IN. They are now in their first year of what I hope becomes a life long hobby.
The blog itself is very informative with looks full of useful information. I was impressed at the creativeness of the indoor grow box they made from an Armoire. (I think my ancestors would turn over in their graves at the though of such a fine piece of furniture being used in this manner). Yet, I have to admit that it is one beautiful grow box.
Please, stop over at their site and check them out.
In a previous blog, I wrote about some of the benefits of trench composting. A process in which kitchen scraps are dumped into a shallow trench and covered with dirt to speed up the breakdown process. What I did not gleam from my web sources was just how long it took for the breakdown to occur. I surmised also that factors like the composition of the scraps and the size would come into play. (I figured an egg shell would take quite some time where as cantaloupe rinds might decompose much more quickly. I also felt that scraps that were cut up into small pieces might decompose more quickly).
So, I decided it might be fun to try a simple experiment whereby I would dig a small trench and then divide it in half with a piece of clear glass. After filling in one side, it would give me a viewing window on all the strata of soil from the top down to where the scraps were buried. My initial guess was that the scraps would take about two weeks to completely break down. Now, this was a pretty simple setup to be sure and I wondered about local dogs digging the whole thing up. So, as insurance, I covered the area with a bit of chicken wire.
I began the experiment on Tuesday, July 27, 2010. The weather on this date was hot with the afternoon temperatures in the mid nineties. I took a container of scraps that weighed 1766 grams (about 3 ¾ pounds) and dumped it into a trench area that measured about 12 by 14 and which was 8 inches deep. Now, prior to this I also made sure to cut all the scraps into uniform sizes. Included were the following items, coffee grounds, egg shells, celery, orange peels, old bananas and other assorted odds and ends. (There was no meat present anywhere for this experiment).
Day 1 - As you can see in the picture, the scraps made a tidy little pile about 2 inches deep. Over this was placed about 6 inches of soil that originally came from the hole. The view through the glass was not very good. After getting my pictures, I made sure to cover the open area on the other side of the glass with a small board so it would be dark. Then, I placed a piece of chicken wire over that. Thusly, day one was concluded. I decided to come back to this spot one week from now to uncover and record the degree of decomposition.
Day 2 - I went out to check my little experiment only to find the area had been dug up sometime overnight. Undeterred, I added another batch of scraps (2068 grams) to the bottom of the trench and covered this with soil. I then replaced the board and weighted it down with a heavy pot. I also dispensed with the glass pane at this time. You can't really see anything with this set up. I'll rethink that concept. So, the experiment continues.
Day 7 - A week has passed but the weather outside is so hot I have put off my inspection for another day or so. Hey it was 103!
Day 8 - I went over to the spot where the scraps were buried and dug down with a trowel. Nope, not broken down. So, I recovered the area and will check in another week.
Day 19 - Wow! I checked the hole and there was nothing except brown dirt and one measly piece of brown eggshell. The weather has been in the nineties most of this time and so the soil is very active. But, this was shocking to me.I also noticed that the soil looked a lot more healthy. Gotta keep this up!
One quiet evening recently, I was laying in bed listening to the katydids, an insect that makes a very unique sound that is soothing in its repetition. A sound sure to put me right to sleep were it not for another sound off in the distance. The occasional ‘boom’ that indicated a storm was approaching and that soon the quiet of my night would be shattered with the flash of lightening, crack of thunder followed by the inevitable downpour.
That’s exactly what happened, but thankfully like most summer storms, this one was of short duration and soon had moved off to do its thing over someone else’s head. Yet, as things once again quieted down for the evening with just a slight dripping sound coming off the eves, sleep would not come. I had started to think about all the elements a summer rainstorm brings to living plants. I mean I knew that rain was a good thing, but I knew from reading that there were other aspects that were also beneficial. Take lightening for instance.
Lightening is a rather cool, or should I say, a very hot deal. The temperature inside a large bolt can reach 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit which is six times hotter than the surface of the sun. That’s hot enough to cause some interesting chemical reactions in the atmosphere when and where it occurs. One of these involves nitrogen. Normally, the nitrogen found in the air is very stable and non-reactive. Converting it to other chemical compounds requires considerable energy. A lightning bolt provides more than enough to do the job, causing some nitrogen and oxygen in the air to form nitrogen oxides which are very beneficial to the growth of plants. In fact, you might be surprised to learn that rainfall adds about 10 pounds of nitrogen to the soil per acre per year. The nitrogen oxides and ammonium that are washed to earth are formed during electrical storms like the one that just occurred over my home. The nitrogen is then available through various metabolic pathways to the plants so that they might grow and produce food. If you garden, like I do, then that is a very important thing.
So, the next time a thunderstorm passes overhead, be thankful for the nitrogen that is raining down right along with the water. Blogger's note: No, that drawing up there was not done by me. I hired a five year old to do it.
My fellow gardeners and not a few books I’ve read over time all have extolled the virtues of saving seed from each year’s harvest. They cite how cost effective this approach is and how it is one way to preserve heirloom strains. OK, but there are some challenges!
While saving seed may save a few dollars it does not always work with hybrid seeds and that is generally the most of what I plant in my garden. Second, I have spent no small amount of time getting the soil in my raised beds in shape. (I started out years ago with what was essentially river bottom muck and then, over time along with the addition of amendments, have increased both the soil fertility and tilth). Come spring, I want to be sure that I have the best seed possible to plant. I’m not sure what I’ll get if I go with seed recovered from a previous year’s crop, especially if I used hybrid seeds. OK, so that was then. Now is now, and since as I will soon be working on articles concerning self sufficiency and survival, I thought I would give the seed saving thing a go.
My first candidate this season was the seeds from a Long Red Cayenne pepper. This plant was grown from seed purchase from Burpee Seed. I noted that the package made no mention of the word ‘hybrid’ so I’ll assume that the seed will produce true to the variety.
I waited until the pepper was ripe before harvesting both it and the seeds it contained. One of the uncertainties in my mind is whether or not the seed is viable. (I guess I could test germinate some, but pepper seeds take forever and who has the time)? Once harvested you must then make sure to dry them properly and seal them away from moisture and excess heat until next season. That generally means putting them into airtight baggies stored in the bottom of the fridge. I am planning on doing this for other veggies including; green beans, cucumbers and tomatoes. See you all in a few!
Happens also to be one of the best tasting on the planet! But alas, not only are the fruits ugly, they are also typically very few in numbers per plant. My two BW's for the 2010 season have produced a grand total of just one tomato so far this year! Adding to my sorrows, this bad girl is also slow to mature. Hey! Even the leaves look more like a potato plant than anything else. Talk about having the odds stacked against you! So, why do I bother trying to grow it?
I grow this member of the Nightshade Family as faithfully as I can every year because even just one ripe tomato, sliced on a plate with a little salt and pepper is a small taste of culinary heaven. The true taste is very hard to describe unless you’ve actually eaten one. (That will not happen around my house. I guard each fruit like it was the Holy Grail). No, not really, but I will tell you this. The sensation of eating one of these is one of a burst of sweetness with a slightly scandalous acidic bite. (Think of the best tomato you’ve ever had, multiply that by two and you have a good idea). I could never even think of making a BLT with one! This princess demands center stage!
Adding such a great taste to the mystery that surrounds its origin not to mention the challenge that growing it demands... well, you have a combo that garden purists like myself crave. It’s an addiction thing.
Burpee Seed mentions this variety of tomato as far back as 1886 in their seed catalog. However, there seems no good lineage before that. (The story that this tomato is of Amish origin is apparently a myth as there is no concrete evidence to the fact).
The bottom line; you will almost never find this tomato in a grocery store or even a roadside produce stand. You must take up the challenge, as I did so long ago, and grow your own.
For many years now, I’ve maintained a compost pile in the back of my house. The bin itself is nothing more than a plastic garbage can with holes punched in the bottom and sides. I’ve dutifully added kitchen scraps (no meat) that were collected in a small container by the sink for over ten years now and can attest to the effectiveness of such a system. It works pretty well as long as you make sure to add plenty of high carbon material like stray and a little bit of dirt each time you dump in the raw vegetables et al. However, things can go wrong pretty quickly if you’re not careful. If the holes become plugged, for instance, too much water can accumulate that will result in anaerobic conditions. This means you compost will putrefy rather than breakdown and that can result is some really bad smells. So, I got to wondering if there might be a better way.
One day, I had a bucket full of scraps and rather than throw them into the bin, I elected to dig a trench and place the scraps into the hole. It was then filled and the soil was mixed thoroughly with a shovel and then watered. I came back every few days to check the progress and was amazed when after just a week had passed that much of the material had disappeared. In its place were some of the biggest earthworms I’ve ever seen. Some approached half a foot in length! Thusly encouraged, I have begun a program of taking spare spaces in one of my four by eight foot raised beds and filling in trenches spaced about a foot apart to see if this system would work. I am hoping to increase the soil fertility and humus content while getting rid of all those scraps! Now before anyone goes running out doors to bury their scraps I want to you to read up this technique know as trench composting. One article I found does a pretty food job of summing the process up. It called ‘Why You Should Compost in Trenches’.
One evening just prior to dinner time, I came across a small package of Banquet’s Spaghetti and Meatballs while searching in the freezer. I nuked this in the microwave and have to admit it tasted pretty darn good. As I was eating, though, I happened to glance at the box that this meal came in and was a little shocked to find the salt level at 650 milligrams! (That’s about half the salt I have been allowing myself on a given day as part of a low sodium diet). It did explain, to some extent, why this meal tasted so good. Salt is to the human body what heroine is to a junky! We are programmed from the get go to crave salt on a visceral level! Salt is so important to our bodies that it is one of the four stimuli our taste buds respond favorably to. (The other three being sweet, sour, and bitter). Cooks have known for hundreds of years that you can take almost any kind of bland food, add a little salt and it tastes great. That’s one of the reason’s companies like Banquet of ConAgra Foods like to add so much to their products!
To add environmental insult to the sodium injury, I’m also stuck with throwing out a cardboard box, plastic film and tray. Their combined weight at 52 grams is one quarter of the weight of the food (255 grams) they contain and their final destination is the land fill. Somethings just not right here.
Next, my curiosity now aroused, I took it upon my self to read the list of ingredients (click on image above). As you can see, the list is rather impressive as it contains a lot of what I have to assume are preservatives. There’s even some fish byproducts in there somewhere. That was a surprise! I got to wondering what the list would look like if I prepared the same thing myself. And so, that is exactly what I did!
Here are the ingredients I used to duplicate this recipe:
50 grams meatballs (4 small)
112 grams of spaghetti pasta
47 grams spaghetti sauce with mushroom bits
1 dash fake salt (potassium chloride)
1 dash black pepper
The homemade spaghetti sauce contained 1.9 mg of sodium per gram for a total of 95 milligrams. The meatballs contained about 45 mg for a total of 140 mg. That plus the fact that I used fake salt really held the sodium to more saner levels. The important thing is that I was able to avoid many the preservatives while saving some money to boot.
My next effort will be to make up a batch of this and then place serving portions into vacuum bags for use later on. That will be a separate blog.Now if I could just figure out a use for that plastic tray!
On any of my many hikes through a local forest, it is not unusual to spot a mushroom or two, especially when walking near a stream. I’ve always had a fondness for eating them but have to admit to feeling a bit nervous about the wild ones. I generally content myself to buying my spore-bearing fungus at the local grocery store and so more than likely have missed some really good eating. I say this because aficionados of culinary fungi tell me that there is nothing better than the fresh, wild kind.Yet, after a little research, I found this to be in question.
First off, does it even make sense to go to all the bother? I suppose that you could go out and buy a book on the subject like '100 Edible Mushrooms’ to insure what you eat is safe, but consider this little known fact. Of the thousands of mushrooms found in North America, only about 5 percent are edible. Only about 5 percent are poisonous, too. The rest, however, taste like crap.. So, the answer for me is to stick with the ones I can get from the local grocery.
June felt more like July or August in most of Missouri, rainfall was also on the meager side with my rain gauge measuring only about 1.69 inches.
Pat Guinan, a climatologist with the Missouri University Agriculture Program stated that June temperatures throughout the state were four to six degrees above average, making it the hottest June on record since 1957. Here in Forsyth, I measured a mean temperature of 78F. which was four degrees hotter than average.
On addition, the lack of adaquate rainfall for many parts of southern Missouri boded ill for many crops including potatoes, rice and cotton. Some farmers are reporting that they are losing crops due to extreme heat with no rain. Only those with good irrigation systems are making do. Some areas have gone more than a month without a drop of rain. Here in Forsyth, I measured 1.69 inches of rain against an average of 4.3 inches (the average June rainfall for West Plains).
In my simple mans book of definitions, a heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather, which is always accompanied by high humidity. That definition is not to be confused with the ‘Heat Index’ which is a measure of just how hot it feels when the actual temperature and the humidity are combined. At the other extreme, you have ‘Wind Chill’ which is what you really wish for when it gets this hot.
What makes the high temps combined with high humidity so dangerous to mammals is the fact that highly saturated air makes it very difficult for the body to get a sweat going so as to effectively evaporate and hence cool it down. (Heat produced by normal metabolism just keeps going up and when you hit the hundred plus degree range you can quickly become comatose).
Now according to the scientists here are some effects to watch for at various heat index ranges:
80 – 90 F. Caution. Fatigue is possible if you are working outdoors.
90 – 105 F. – Extreme caution. Continue activity could result in heat stroke.
105 – 130 F. – Danger. Heat exhaustion likely. Continued activity not advised.
> 130 F. – Extreme danger! Working outdoors will result in heat stroke.
So, right now the Weather Service is calling for heat indexes of between 110 and 115 F. At 11 AM here in Forsyth Missouri, the temperature outdoors is at 87F with a relative humidity of 80%! This is bad enough, but it will get worst when we hit 95F in the afternoon hours.
When it gets like this, it’s best to hang out indoors with the AC going. If you do not have AC, hit the mall or check into a motel. Also, make sure to take care of your dogs and cats as they can also succumb to high temperatures.
Every year, about this time in July, I've had to resign myself to the loss of produce courtesy of the deer that frequent the area. (For a long time, I could not figure out what was eating my tomato plants down to the ground. Then, one morning at dawn, I caught a lone deer in the act). From that time on, it’s become a ritual to try and outsmart them with me generally losing the battle.
This year, I decided against the employment of commercial anti-deer preparations or even homemade pepper sprays. No, this year I would put up a simple rope fence around the area. You can barely see it in the picture. Surprisingly, so far it appears to be working. The simplistic contraption consists of a few aluminum pipes pounded into the ground with a bit of rope strung between them. Simple, primitive and rather stupid are just some of the comments made by neighbors. My answer, “Hey, if it works!” I’ll do a follow up blog in a week or so!
UPDATE: A two weeks later this oh so flimsy defense is still holding them off!
Arrrg! Could it be that the deer have returned! Any gardener’s truest nightmare. At least I think they have. Last night you see, one or more animals (most likely of the Family Cervidae) visited my raised beds and then selectively ate some of my tomatoes and bean plants. This happened a day after I had sighted deer in the area, so it was rather easy to put two and two together.
So, what to do? I thought briefly about sitting up overnight on my balcony (which overlooks the garden), my trusty shotgun at my side with maybe a couple of six packs to help keep me alert, but finally nixed the idea. With my luck, a neighbor would pick just that evening to take a stroll at three in the morning. I, now in a drunken stupor, would jerk awake and then bag him good. I could imagine myself explaining to local police why I should not be charged with manslaughter! No, that approach was out. I needed something more innocuous (and safe for all concerned).
That’s when I came up with the idea of a ‘rope alarm system’ (patent pending). It involved a rope suspended between metal poles that would form a perimeter around the beds. The end of the rope would be hooked up to the small bell in my bedroom. (I think I remember seeing this setup in some old WWII movie)! I figured any marauding deer would stumble into the rope barrier, and in doing so, would ring the bell. Then, at the sound of which (ding dong), I would quickly wake up, grab my loaded BB gun and apply a bit of painful justice to the rump of the aforementioned bounder. I didn’t want to hurt them you understand, I just wanted deliver a message that these garden vittles belong to yours truly. (As you have probably figured out, this kind of thinking is solely a guy thing. Actually, it’s more of a dumb guy thing than anything else).
I guess that sometime around 2AM, that old bell rang. She kept on ringing too, but I was in a deep slumber and dead to the world (courtesy of Budweiser) and so slept blissfully on. Unfortunately, my sister who was sleeping in the next room is a light sleeper and rose up in a rather bad mood. I was brought out of my slumber after she hit me over the head with my BB gun. The deer (and yes it was a deer) had in the meantime become tangled up in the rope and now in a panic was dragging the whole shebang down the lawn toward the woods. Miraculously, the bell was still attached to the rope. It had been ripped from my bedroom wall, pulled through the screened door and was now trailing about twenty feet behind the poor beast. Looking back, I noted that for every few steps he took, the bell would clang loudly. (One could have gotten the impression that perhaps the bell itself was a bit panicked). What was certain was that the more the bell clanged the more panicked the animal got…and vice versa.
For my part, I was encouraged, in no uncertain terms, to run outside after that dad burn bell. I just was able to put some sandals on and then launched myself down the hallway and thence out the back door. Standing in the darkness, I could just make out the sound of the bell somewhere off in the woods. It would clang a couple of times then stop for a bit. Then the sound was repeated. I crept cautiously into the woods, about ten feet or so, and now found myself in complete darkness and of failing resolve. I was about to turn back for home when, BAM! A lightening bolt lit up the sky striking some where close by. (Had I needed to urinate, I would have done so right on that spot). As it was, my heart stopped for a second and in the ensuing silence, I could just make out that old bell now sounding for all it was worth, rapidly fading off into the distance.
As I came back into the house, wet to the bone from the cloudburst, I made myself a promise not to pursue a patent after all.
One of the benefits of growing your own vegetables are the savings realized when you don’t have to spend money for them at the local grocery store. This works especially well in the summer months and less so at other times of the year unless you maintain a cold frame or have the ability (foresight) to can or freeze some of the harvest for later use.
Back in March of this year, I thought it might be interesting to track the costs of some of the veggies I also like to grow at home. It was a real kick to know this early spring that while romaine lettuce was going for a buck and a half a pound, I was helping myself to the home grown variety raised in cold frames. The vegetables I decided to track were: broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, green beans, iceberg lettuce, romaine, bell peppers and russet potatoes. All these are items that have been grown in my modest raised beds at home. Following is the record as of this date:
Right now (mid July), most of my lettuce has bolted but that is of no real concern as I have a good ongoing harvest of carrots, tomatoes, peppers, onions and cucumbers to grace my salad bowl with. One concern I have is that now, as harvests are coming in from all over the country, the commercial prices have not really declined. This does not perhaps bode well for what might happen in the fall. Well, stay tuned.
As someone who loves vegetable, I don’t feel you truly have a complete summer garden unless there are a few cucumber plants tucked in there somewhere. It’s not that I love eating cucumbers so much as I enjoy their explosive growth. One day their tiny like in the picture and the next they’re ready for the salad bowl. The problem is when one is ready, it seems a whole bunch are also. I can remember many a time when I would carry a basket full over to neighbor’s homes only to be turned away because they also had a surplus.
This ability to grow is no surprise if you know that cucumbers are a member of the squash family. Their cultivation goes way back in time. The Roman Emperor Tiberius had a cucumber served on his table daily during summer and even during the winter. This was accomplished by means of raised beds made in frames upon wheels. Cucumber that were grown in them were moved and exposed to the full heat of the sun; while, in winter, they were withdrawn, and placed under the protection of frames glazed with mirror stone. He must have really liked the taste, I guess.
One way that I enjoy this member of the Cucurbitaceae family is to take equal parts of vinegar and water with a little sugar in a sealable plastic container into which go thin slices of cucumber and white onion. This is allowed to sit in the fridge for a week or more and then is eaten. This taste is pretty good and is improved if you sprinkle a little salt and pepper on them. This is also a good method to preserve them as I know of people who will make up gallon batches for use all summer.
I can now only wish I had an early July report on my first tomato of the growing season, but alas that is not the case. No, my first nibble of the fruit of the nightshade family was courtesy of a friend who also shares my first name. Dan-the-man, lives up the hill from me in the city limits of Forsyth Missouri and while I pretend to work at gardening, he actually enjoys it. And that shows! That was the certainly the case this year as he offered me a tomato whose variety was unknown to me but whose taste was everything I could have hoped for. Thanks Dan! You are the garden man! That was one great mater!
At least down here in the southwest corner they do! Pictured here are two transplants I purchased at a local grocery store. I purchased and transplanted them on May 22nd. As of today you can see that they’ve produced some pretty handsome sized fruit. Note that the other two of the four I purchased were placed out back in my raised beds and they are not nearly as far along. This location that seems to work one of my two cold frames out front that also happen to face south. These are close to a tree that provides some shade during the hottest part of the day. Right next to these are a couple of Better Boy tomato plants that are also heavy with fruit at this time. Makes you wonder if the nightshade family does like a little bit of ‘shade’.
OK, so I dug a hole. You have to admit it is a pretty nice hole and gosh darn it anyway, digging holes is something that comes right natural to both men and dogs. Doesn’t it?
This particular hole now measures roughly 16 x 16 x 5 inches deep and will get 2 x 6 lumber sides. I also plan on placing a weed mat along the bottom. The combo will help prevent the crabgrass from getting in.
So why did I dig this thing? Well, I thought this would be a great location to plant an ornamental grass of some kind. Also, I want to remove some more sod in this corner and cover it with gravel. This will give me the benefit of a little landscaping while also eliminating just that much more grass that I have to mow.
