How to pick your tomatoes January 31, 2013

Since I LOVE tomatoes so much and am trying to grow all of my own plants this year, I am becoming a bit of an expert on the subject.  I want to pass on some of what I have learned, so here are some things you should know when choosing tomatoes for your garden.
First off you need to know what the terms “determinate” and “indeterminate” mean.  Determinate tomato vines grow to a size, determined by their ancestors.  This is usually 2-4 feet tall.  All of their tomatoes will ripen at about the same time, giving a nice crop for canning all at once.  They are sometimes called bush tomatoes because they stay a small bush unlike indeterminate varieties.  Indeterminate tomatoes will keep growing and producing fruit until the cold kills them in the fall.  If your area has a long growing season you can harvest tomatoes from the same plant for months and months.  They will need some sort of trellis to hold them up, unless you have the space to allow them to vine along the ground.  They look really cool when grown in hanging baskets and allowed to vine over the sides too.  People usually remove any extra side branches and grow one main vine, which can grow to over 20 feet in length.  Old heirloom varieties are usually indeterminate and most modern varieties (including hybrids) are usually determinate.  There are some exceptions to this rule so if you are unsure read the label or ask the seed dealer or nurseryman for help.  Sometimes you will see a tomato variety described as “semideterminate” and those will usually get about 6 feet tall and require some trellising or a good cage, but nothing as elaborate as the indeterminate varieties.
There is nothing wrong with choosing hybrid plants or seed as long as you do not care about saving your own seed.  Seeds saved from hybrid tomatoes will not usually produce plants similar to the parent plant and may grow into a plant with little fruit or have some other problem.  A hybrid is not a GMO.  I could, and maybe should, write a whole other post on that subject alone but for now I’m just going to tell you to google it.  I would like to try saving my own seeds so I am growing heirlooms this year.
Another thing to keep in mind is climate tolerance.  Tomatoes are a warm weather plant but certain varieties are more tolerant of cold or fluctuating temperatures than others.  If you have hot days and cold nights, a short growing season, or just want to get some tomatoes extra early or extra late look for varieties like Glacier and Gregory’s Altai, normally describer as cool climate or extra early.  Some catalogs will have a seperate section just for these more cold tolerant varieties.  There are also early, midseason, and late varieties.  If you have a short growing season you do not want to get late season plants that are going to need 3 months to start producing fruit so make sure you buy a type that is appropriate for your growing season. 
There are also tomatoes known for making paste out of and also for drying purposes.  A couple of well known examples are Roma and Amish Paste.  If you want to make your own paste and sauce or give drying a try, starting with the right tomato for the job will help your chances of having good results.
There are also cherry tomatoes to be considered.  In my opinion every gardener should have atleast one cherry tomato plant.  These rarely make it into the house with me around.  Just like larger tomatoes, there are determinate and indeterminate varieties.  The heirloom, open-pollinated varieties are usually indeterminate varieties but there are exceptions.  If you want an heirloom cherry tomato for your patio or hanging basket, give Whippersnapper a try.
Once you have made it this far in the selection process there is still one VERY IMPORTANT thing to consider and that is disease resistance.  Some varieties will have a cluster of letters after their name.  These letters stand for the diseases that variety is known to be resistant to.  The Roma VFN is an example of this.

I suck at remembering what all the letters mean so here is the cheat sheet.

Beyond this you may want to consider the mature color of the fruit or other special properties.  This shouldn’t be your first consideration but hey, who wouldn’t want a rainbow of delicious fruit to impress the neighbors and draw attention at the farmer’s market?
This is really just the basics here but I hope it helps you navigate your way through the seed catalogs and nursery plants with a little less confusion.

First peach blossom January 30, 2013

I had a feeling after the warm weather the last couple days that I would find this and actually came over here just to check. I was right and here it is. My very first peach blossom. I’m sure more will open soon but for now it is just one flower on my florida king peach.

Pecan update

I have to make it quick but here are my foraged pecans. My dog got into them and now their are only 20. I have them in a pot outside with damp peat and I am jsut waiting on them to do their thing. I hope it works but this is a first attempt so who knows.

Tomato transplanting

Since I started these little guys 2 months before they can be planted outside they may require transplanting one more time before going in their garden beds. Their roots were just starting to escape the peat pods and most are getting their first true leaves. At this point they begin to use soil nutrients and will appreciate fertilizer and soil amendments. Since they will be growing at my property I decided to use soil from there in the mix for their new pots. I added about 1 part peat per 2 parts soil and mixed in some fish fertilizer (2-2-2) and bone meal (6-9-0) to the mix along with a little lime and a couple of crumbled egg shells. The nitrogen from bone meal is insoluble and will slowly become available to the plants. The nitrogen in the fish fertilizer is mostly soluble and will be available to my seedlings immediately. For those who do not know nitrogen is the first number of the 3 numbers on fertilizer labels. Phosphate is the second number on the label and is very important for baby plants. The fish fertilizer also has potash which is the third number on the label. This nutrient isn’t found in bone meal so it has a 0. Bonemeal does have calcium though, which is not represented in the typical 3 numbers on the label. The bone meal I am using is 7 percent calcium. If tomatoes do not have enough calcium you will have problems with blossom end rot, among other things. The egg shells and lime are also to provide calcium. Lime is also used to lower soil ph. I haven’t taken my soil sample into the Clemson extension office for testing yet but I know it is a bit acidic and so is peat. Still I used it sparingly in the mix. I will get my soil sample in sometime this weeks and once I have the results back I will be amending the area of the future planting beds according to the recomendations from Clemson University.

bone meal label

fish fertilizer label

lovely mix for my baby tomatoes

organic peat moss to help with drainage and moisture retention

My propery has a natural layer of peat but I bought some just for starting seeds since the stuff in the bag is nice and clean and digging enough for all of my seed starting needs and cleaning it up enough to use would be a bit more of a chore than I have time for at this point. I would like to invest in enough terracotta to do all of my seed starting and transplanting, or learn more about making soil blocks but for now I am using commercially available seed starter pots that come in a tray. I will be able to reuse them a few times, but eventually these will end up in a landfill. Doint things on a budget require compromise sometimes though and I know it.

I also bought labels you can write on. To save money and have less waste I labeled each group of seedling instead of labeling every plant. I would have just stuck to my lists but with multiple trays I think I would have ended up confusing things.

For now I kept the soil level at the same height as the top of the peat pods. Tomatoes are one of the few plants that you can burry deeper when transplanting, but there is no need for that at this point in things. I am not thinning them yet either because I want to be able to save the thinnings and they are too tender to withstand that much handling at this point in their growth. That’s all for now, unless I give a pecan update before getting ready for work. It will have to be a quick one but I think I just might…

Meet Jerry January 29, 2013

Jerry is a 35 year old African Land Tortise. He weighs oover 200 pounds and is still growing. They live over a hundred years. Jerry is part of a rescue group visiting from North Carolina. He is one of 6 on tour at this time. I saw him at the hardware store in Ravenel, SC. He and his friends will be there taking donations the rest of the day before heading toward Edisto tomorrow. If you are in the area stop by and check him out. Donations are accepted, appreciated, and help fund further rescues. The 6 on tour help fund care for over 30 animals. Even if you can’t make a donation stop in and learn about this wonderful prehistoric, living fosil of a creature. I learned today that unlike turtles tortise can not swim because they are too heavy. Who knew??? The man who raised Jerry from an egg, that’s who.

Florida King Peach tree ready for spring January 27, 2013

This is one of the trees I just transplanted and it seems to have taken the move ok. I am glad for the more wintery (for the Charleston, SC area anyway) weather we have had over the last week or so. I have been really worried that it will bloom and then be frozen, ruining any chances of me being able to eat a homegrown florida king peach this summer. Check out the buds on this thing.

I hope it either holds off a while longer or that spring is early without any major frosts. The last couple winters have been quite mild and a couple weeks ago it was in the 70’s most of the week. Some of my fruits need more chill hours so I hope it stays cool for a while longer or their buds will be immature and unable to produce fruit this year. Wish me luck. I am truely at the mercy of mother nature on this one.

First strawberry plants

I am sort of suprized to see this already but here it is. One of my little strawberry crowns has sent up a lovely set of leaves. I didn’t expect to see anything this quickly.

Diversity

I like to make planting areas as diverse as possible and enjoy planting flowers together with my veggies and fruits. This picture shows an early spear of asparagus, a blackberry bush, australian peas, bee balm, and the base of my plum tree in the background. I have also scattered everything from radish seeds to tulip bulbs in this area. The squirels seem to appreciate the tulips and have certainly done their best to keep the soil loose here. I don’t think I will bother with tulips here in the future.

Yay potatoes

Last week I found onions starts, seed potatoes, and bare root strawberries for sale so I bought a little bit of everything.  I came home with 3 types of onion starts(210 baby onions total), 20 each of 3 types of strawberry plants, and 3lbs each of 2 types of seed potatoes.  The strawberry plants and onion starts I planted on the same day I moved the last 2 peach trees.  The potatoes however have to have a bit of prep work before planting.
I started the process by first leaving them in a bucket with inoculated, damp peat overnight to establish beneficial bacteria and fungus on the surface of the potato skin.  The following day I cut them into chunks, leaving a minimum of 2 nice eyes per section.  Then I spread them out all over the table to dry, allowing the cut parts to harden up some.  Having good bacteria already in place should help keep the bad bacteria that can rot the potato away.  Today I planted them, and for a change I actually remembered to take pictures step by step so here they are.

laying out a boundry with swamp magnolia

laying down a THIN layer of newspaper and spacing the potatoes out on it

I covered it with a little bit of peat, dug from where my driveway will be

milipede found while digging peat

over the peat I places sticks that should help keep digging critters from digging here (Ihope)

after that I added a layer of pine needles and leaf litter

finally I coved it all with top soil from the future driveway.

I made quite a messy little hole today and it will get worse as I add more soil to the top of my potatoes. I just can't justify driving on such lovely soil.

Why I write EVERYTHING down January 26, 2013

Have you ever planted something and then forgotten what it was or forgotten where you planted it.  Could you tell the difference between these seedlings if they weren’t labeled?

I know I sure can’t.  This is why I write everything down.  As I plant things I either map, label, or list it.  Here is my paper from the day I planted my cool weather tray and warm weather (mostly tomatoes) tray.

It has listed the type, specific variety, and number of plants of that type.  This is the back of some unimportant mail I got and when finished serving this purpose it can still be recycled or fed to the worms.  It is certainly nothing fancy but it does the trick.  If it were not for this list I would be lost.  I consider blogging something as good as writing something down on paper.  The point is to document what you are planting so later on you know what it is.  From there it is easy to look up any more specific information you may need. 

Trying to make tomatoes happy

This is the warm tray with the cucumbers and okra already moved into larger pots. The closest peat pods have peppers, which are just now germinating. The rest is tomatoes which for the most part germinated within a few days of being planted. The caro rich and marmande super were slower to germinate than the rest but are finally coming up now. The weather has been quite cool for the last week or so and my tomatoes have been stuck indoors. Even next to a window there is just not enough light for these full sun summer veggies so my little tomato stems were all turning purple. On older plants this could be a sign of lacking nutrients but since these do not have any true leafs yet I knew something else had to be stressing them out. After a little research I learned that lack of light or lack of warmth can cause the stems to turn purple. I decided to go back to using a heat mat and also to go buy a grow light.

I have had it for several days now and most of the purple has gone away. The new growth on the stems is green like it should be. I gave them some very diluted fish fertilizer as well, just to be sure. In addition to turning purple a lack of light can cause spindly plants with weak stems. For about the price of a few tomato plants at a nursery (about $12) I have helped all of these little tomatoes to thrive one more. It needs to be quite close to the plants so for now I am just setting the ends of the light on the edge of a taller tray and a tub of oxyclean. Nothing fancy here but it works and that is all I care about.

Finally found: true free range eggs January 25, 2013

Another great local food find is something I have been looking for since I found out how different the government’s idea of a “free range” hen is from my idea. When I saw their sign I had to turn around. As I drove past the gates and up the rough driveway I became excited. There were a few hens in the pastures and a few in the driveway. At long last true free range hens roaming about pecking around and generally acting like chickens are supposed to be. This family farm has been around for several generations and I am happy to support them. I havenKt been to their website but it is on the label from the egg carton so here it is : http://www.cordrays.com. go check it out and if you’re local go check them out.

Cast iron skillet method for cooking rabbit

This rabbit was raised by Blue Chips Farm Inc of Fountain Inn, SC. And bought by me from a lady with a habd painted sign by the road advertising everything from rabbit and bison to gator meat and bait worms. I do not recall the woman’s name but the place is on Tom Pike Lane in Summerville, SC for anyone who wants to stop by. Since I have been living in the city it has been a long while since I raised any rabbits of my own so my memory was a little rusty on just how to cook one. I decided to go with a simple recipe, just rabbit with some salt and pepper in my trust little cast iron skillet. I started it off on the stove top with a little coconut oil and cooked it just enough to brown a little. From there it went into the oven for about 45 minutes on 350. Note that this isn’t even half of a rabbit since I am cooking for one. The same method could easily be used for more, just use a bigger pan so it isn’t crammed together. Ideally you do not want them touching. You could use this method without the cast iron skillet by starting off in a fry pan and finishing it in a shallow baking dish. I like my cast iron because it is less cleaning for me since it is all in one pan that is incredibly nonstick when propperly seasoned. In fact there is seldom any need to wash the pan, just wipe clean or rinse with warm water. If you do use water DO NOT use soap and DO dry the pan immediately by putting it on a hot burner or in the oven with a dab of seasoning oil. I have found flax seed oil to work even better than the lard I grew up using . Leave it on the heat until the oil is smoking just a little and then pick it up with a hot pad and swirl the oil up onto the sides of the pan. Put the pan back onto the heat for a minute or two and then turn it off. After doing this you should be back to nonstick perfection again. I really recommend just wiping the pan out though. For those of you going ” omg, the germs” trust me, they do not survive being heated up and it hasn’t killed me or even made me sick. Given that this was the standard thing for a long time and before that people cooked on rocks and such I am quite confident that i am doing no harm and maybe even some good by using these methods.

What a fungi

I bet you don’t see many gardeners bragging about how well their mold is growing but that is exactly what I am here to do today. I innoculated this peat with soluble mycorrhizae (available from bountifulgardens.com ) and also mixed in a small amount of vegetable and tomato granular fertilizer from Jobe’s Organics. This fertilizer is 2-7-4 and has a wide range of beneficial fungus and bacteria in it. It has a little bit of all purposse fish fertilizer (2-2-2) from “Alaska”. I found this and the Jobe’s both at Lowes and both are labeled for organic agriculture. My original purpose for making up this mix was to have a good mix for moving seedling into when the peat pods were getting too small. So far only the cucumbers and okra had to be moved. Since I put the mix into a tray of 18 pots and only needed 9 for seedlings I decided to use some of the pots to start citrus seeds. This left me with just 2 empty pots. The beneficial bacteria and fungus live on dead plant matter, which is exactly what peat is. I wasn’t sure how it would go without any plants but it seems to be doing great all on its own. Now I can use bits of this to innoculate other soil. I have never been so happy to see mold growing in a pot before in my life. These beneficials are what brings soil to life. They help fend off harmful fungus and and bacteria and also add to the plants root system, helping the plant take up more water and nutrients. This makes them more drought tolerant and disease resistant as well as increasing growth and production. This is my first year using soil inoculant but I can already tell the difference, especially in the roots of young seedlings and cuttings. I especially recommend the soluble mycorrhizae from Bountiful Gardens. It was cheap and it does wonders for root growth.

I finally replanted the last two January 24, 2013

I have been moving plants ever since finding out that I had been working on the wrong plot of land but had taken a break since being bitten by my sister -in-law’s dog on christmas and then catching my hubby being scuzzy and moving out. Last weekend I stopped by to check all of the plants and noticed these 2 peach trees about ready to break dormancy. I knew I needed to get a move on and get them moved or it would cause them a major setback. Today I finally got out there and got them moved. They kind of blend into the background of the picture but here they are in their new home. For company I planted onions, garlic, strawberries, a “blue girl” rose, mint, beebalm, and a variety of wild flower seeds and flowering bulbs. I also scattered come white clover, red clover, and red wheat seeds. Now comes the patience part….

Foraged pecan January 21, 2013

Last October while at rUNDEAD doing massages and watching people race while being chased by zombies, I noticed ungathered pecans littering the ground. Being the type that I am, I couldn’t help collecting some of the soggy nuts into a side compartment of my purse where they have been ever since. I finally thought about them and decided to crack one open to see if they are good. I found this one to be nicely filled and the nut was slightly sweet and almost creamy. I think I will try to germinate the rest of them. My little property could have one or two trees and I’m sure I can find homes for any extras. I just counted and their are 23 more pecans, but I’m sure not all of them are good. I will have to read up on the proper steps to get them growing and post more later.

Warm weather veggie tray January 19, 2013

This is the tray of warm weather veggies I started earlier in the week. I have been a little worried about the less than ideal coonditions. I know seeds for warm weather crops often rot if the soil isn’t warm enough but putting the tray on a heating pad at night seems to be doing the trick. The warm weather is gone for now so they are stuck inside until it warms up some. We used to have tomatoes volunteer to grow sometimes but this is the first time I have actually started them from seeds. I have 12 different types of tomato as well as 3 types of peppers and some cucumber and okra. The seeds are all organic heirloom varieties from Bountiful Gardens and e-bay. The tomato varieties are: Graham’s Good Keeper Big Rainbow Brandywine Caro Rich Marmande Evergreen Cherokee Purple Beefsteak Rutgers Roma Large Red Cherry Chadwick’s Cherry The last 2 are cherry tomatoes (in case it isn’t obvious enough just from their names) but the rest are big. Some of these I am not at all familiar with and my internet is limited to my phone which has a poor connection most of the time out here in the sticks. I will try to come edit this later or maybe just make a whole other post about the differences in the tomatoes. I have a couple more types I left in the fridge when moving, including my Giant Italian Tree Tomatoes. I will have to get these before planting the next round of seedlings. The peppers in this tray are: Jimmy Nardello’s Sweet Italian Peppers California Wonder Sweet Bell and Early Jalapeno Hot Pepper. In my next set of seeds I plan to start some Sweet Baby Bell Peppers as well. They will be from my own seed saving efforts so I just hope the seeds are good. Also in this tray are Clemson Spineless Okra which is supposed to be one of the best in the world. I have had okra many ways since coming to the south and I have to let you know, I do NOT like okra one bit. I would not have planted any if it weren’t for the family who’s yard I am camped out in. The man of the house seemed almost offended when I said I don’t like okra and seems quite certain that if I had it how he makes it I will like okra. I started 3 little peat pods of the stuff and I guarantee the plants will go in the ground here, not on my plot. I figure love plays a part in gardening and if the okra died under my care it wound be from lack of love for them….as I said before I don’t even like them. I had one row left in the tray and decided to use some of the “cucumber mix” seeds from Bountiful Gardens to fill them since I wanted to keep the entire tray planted in warm weather crops. The reason for this goes.back to what I said earlier about the seeds germinating. Warm weather crops need warm soil to germinate. Cool weather crops on the other hand need cool soil. If it is too warm they will not germinate. Anyway the cucumbers are a little random since I do not know what types they are. I suppose I will see when they produce. Since my main gardening objective this year is to provide as much of my own food as possible and I do not need a million and one cucumbers of one kind all at once buying one seed packet with multiple varieties should work great. I half expected the different types to be dyed because the packet of “tomato mix” seeds did come dyed by type. That is where the first 6 varieties of tomatoes I listed came from. I got 4 to 8 seeds of 6 varieties all in one packet. One of my reasons for this is because I want to try a variety and see what does best and tastes best to me. Tomatoes are a love of mine but something tells me I will have plenty to share. I planted 2 tomato seeds (and did the same with most of the other seeds too) in each little peat pod. This gives a better chance of each one having a good strong seed. If more than one comes up you can often separate them out when you transplant them if you are careful or just thin them by pulling out the weaker looking seedling. With some plants you can just let them be and they will do fine. For example if 2 swiss chard come up in the same pod I will just let them live like that. Tomatoes get big and are heavy feeders so it really is best to thin them. I will write more later but typing on my phone is killing me.

Citrus twins January 17, 2013

Good gardening weather January 14, 2013

Today is so warm and lovely that I decided to drag out all of the seeds, trays, flats, peat pots, etc and get some stuff started. I am starting both cool and hot weather plants. They will be the last of the cool and the first of the hot. Since it is so nice I set the dragonfruit cuttings and grapefruit seedlings out as well. I plan on bringing in everything except the tray of peatpots started with cool weather veggies and the tray with potting soil and lettuces in it. The one tray has tomatoes, peppers, okra, and cucumbers in it and will not only need to come inside but be set on a heat mat since I have been snuggling with my dog at night instead or turning on the furnace. I have been keeping the dragonfuits inside until now. They could have gone out yesterday for sure but when I am busy I neglect such things. Some of the cuttungs have roots escaping the bottom of their flat so I know it iis nearing time for their first transplanting even though only one actually shows any signs of new growth on top. I am happy to see good root growth and will plan to start giving some appropriate fertilizer after I get them transplanted. I will be asking more about them at the Lowcountry Fruit Growers Society meeting this Sunday coming up to make sure I am doing the right thing. I’m off to work as soon as I get cleaned up.

Ruby red grapefruit babies

2 of the “Ruby Red” seeds I planted a month or so ago are showing signs of life. I was starting to get skeptical.