Late Blight Strikes Tomatoes

This has been the rainiest summer I can remember. People keep joking "we're finally getting our summer" now that the temps have actually hit 90 degrees in the 2nd week of August. I recorded 8.66 inches of rain in July and it has continued to rain in August ( 2.68 inches as of 8/22/09 ) with Hurricane Bill sweeping by on Saturday.

All of that rain has brought a devastating Late Blight to most every farm & garden in the Northeast. I found an article on the NY Times website:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/dining/29toma.html


I've never seen such healthy tomato plants die off so quickly. These are the tomatoes that are on the outside of the greenhouse. They were green 7 days ago. All I tell myself is 'at least I'm not alone' -this is region wide devastation.
The only tomatoes that were not effected are inside the greenhouse.
Meanwhile...
The Sunflowers are just starting to open up as of August 22. Their lower leaves also seem to be effected by the rains. The photo below is pretty neat in my opinion, of a sunflower on the verge of opening.


This sunflower is an heirloom variety called Ling's Gray Stripe. I hope to save seeds to re-offer in the 2010 SSE yearbook.
One crop is doing great despite the blight; my Purple Broccoli is very happy!

I'm glad I planted a bunch of broccoli & cauliflower this year. Note to self: I need to plant at least 100 Cukes to pickle (I only did 30 plants this year)and I wish I had some yellow summer squash. Why I didn't get to it, I don't know-Silly mistake.

Now onto the orchard. The apples are doing great with the exception of I did not do a critical organic spray during the silver-tip stage in early spring. In fact, with all the rain basically occurring every 2 days, I did not spray at all.

So these apples will be true organic with absolutely no spraying in 2009. Talk about old school.

The blight was bad, but I still managed to get a few tomato varieties saved for seed. They are in the fermentation stage as I type this. Next entry will show photos of this years start of tomato seed saving.

:)

July Happenings

I could have swore that I made a July entry back on July 4th - but I guess that's how summer flies by.

A lot has happened since the tomatoes were set out in June. My main focus has been on the idea I had of a non-staking, tie-up system for the tomatoes. This has occupied much of my time. Digging holes for support posts, running wire through the posts, tying-up tomatoes as I go, and now I'm finishing the whole project with guy wires & turnbuckles to support those supports!

All of my hard work with the supports was well worth it. It's great to have an idea brought into the real world.

Below is a photo of my father standing in the row of the now HUGE tomato plants! I had to do a second winding of each of these plants last weekend (July 19th) because they have grown so fast in the past few weeks.

I must make mention that this has been a very wet, rainy summer so far. In fact, my weather station verified that it rained 15 out of 30 days in June, 2009. As for July, it has rained 15 out of 26 days - total rain for July so far stands at 6.25 inches (but we have thunderstorms in the forcast for tonight, so that number will grow soon).

Once in a while the sun was out and the skies were blue, as in the photo below of my Borage flowers.

The Borage flowers re-seed themselves year after year. I take note of where they appear each season and till around them. The leaves and flowers taste like mild cucumber with the flowers ranging from deep blue to violet and occasionally white. This photo was taken on Sunday, July 12, 2009. That was before all of the trouble began....

The furry bastard is back! If you want a better look at him, check the blog entry from September 22, 2008 for a good close up. I kinda didn't mind the ground hog / wood chuck, in 2008 because he only ate a few things in the gardens like broccoli and some bean plants. But this year he's gotten into everything - even the tomatoes! The tomato photo below is one of about 30 that the ground hog ate the tops off of...

Here's my lovely Borage flowers - nothing but a stump of a stalk. This is what is left of the plant originally pictured above the ground hog. Only good news is that new leaves are appearing and I may get more flowers as long as the fat furry rat doesn't attack it again! He got into my prized Charlevoix Beans too by crawling under the fence I put around them. He got a piece of nearly all of the 300 plants. Amazingly, these too are growing new leaves and there are many white blossoms appearing on the abused plants.

I now have an electric fence defense! Many folks say I should get a .22 and shoot the ground hog, but I couldn't do that. The little bastard has a right to live and eat what ever he can. I've decided to outsmart him, not shoot him. The beans are safe, but the rest of the gardens are still vulnerable. I will eventually fence the entire big garden full of heirloom tomatoes. I'm just happy that he doesn't seem to like garlic plants...

The time was right to harvest the garlic last night (Saturday, July 25, 2009) as the leaves were starting to die-back. I wrote on my calendar that I cut-back the flowering scapes on June 21 so roughly a month goes by until the harvest. Cutting back the scapes (which would otherwise flower and go to seed) gets more energy into the roots for larger bulbs. If I wait too long to harvest the bulbs, they will begin to grow apart and separate underground.

Digging-up garlic is a delicate operation. I use a mini shovel to go around the plant, then dig it up from underneath the bulb. Never pull on the stalk! Garlic bruises easily, so I carefully tap the bulb on the bottom to loosen the surrounding dirt until most of it has fallen off.

It's not a good idea to wash the garlic at this stage, simply tie them together and hang them to dry for 4 to 6 weeks. I have them tied up in the rafters in the breezeway between the garage and the house - and believe me, it smells fantastic!

Final garlic note: These 10 cloves of German Extra Hearty, from SSE were the only ones that survived. The store bought garlic failed miserably! (see original post of October 5th, 2008)

The good news is that those 10 cloves produced wonderfully, meaning if each bulb has at least 6 cloves;

6 x 10 = 60 cloves to replant this fall!

:)

Setting Out Tomatoes

Here we go! The 2009 season has officially moved to the outdoors with over 50 varieties of rare & unique heirloom tomatoes from around the world!

I began setting out tomato plants in the first week of June. In this photo, you can see me posing with some of my largest plants just before I set them out. Also note the vast number of tomatoes in the greenhouse behind me. Many of those were set outside that day on the lawn. It then rained overnight and they were planted the following two days. Since these have been in the greenhouse (with the windows open) they did not need as much hardening-off from the elements as would the the indoor plants.

I first put the plants in my humble old wheelbarrow and bring them to the garden. It makes it easier to have them raised off the ground when trying to separate the flats because the hairy leaves love to cling to the other surrounding plants. Plus it's easier to move the remaining flats down the row as you work.

Here's a good photo of three essentials needed for an easy day of transplanting from the flats to the garden:

1) The handy garden bench (I make these myself). This custom made, very sturdy bench is made to fit lengthwise between my raised bed rows. I sit on it facing the transplant hole then move down to the next spot.

2) The 2nd most important item is a mini garden spade/hoe. It's so much better than a mini shovel, try one for yourself! I purchased this one for $14.99 at my local farm & pet store and would gladly pay double if I had to - that's how good it works!
Note: It's perfect for mixing concrete too - I've thrown my back out mixing with a shovel in the past.

3) And lastly, but just as important, there's my container of "Super Secret Tomato Food" as seen in the May 31 posting prior to this one. Adding this preparation in every hole is imperative to getting healthy, disease resistant, and very productive tomatoes.

Another trick that I've learned over the years is to lay the larger plants sideways in a trench. Tomatoes shoot-out roots all the way up their stems and you can bury the lower leaves too.

Warning: If you plant a tall tomato in a deep hole, the roots will be too deep to absorb any rain or watering with the hose. A good soaking rain shower only absorbs about as far as 6 inches deep, the rest of the soil is still bone dry further down.

Next were the cucumbers. These are an heirloom variety called "National Pickling". As the name implies, these are perfect for making home made pickles. They are just beginning to set out runners and buds. I set out about 30 of these in a long row of raised garden bed. The next step is to put up a fence of deer-netting for them to climb on.

So off they go in the old wheelbarrow way down to the farthest garden out back.

The first strawberry of the season is ready -want one?

:)

May Happenings

The greenhouse is bursting with tomatoes! As much as I am eager to set them out, I'm still not sure yet. The forcast calls for temps to dip into the mid-30s into Monday morning, June 1, 2009. But, I've readied the big garden for the first row of tomatoes to go in today. This garden is somewhat sheltered, so a light frost would not effect any plants in that area.

I built the shelves in the greenhouse back on May 3rd and moved in many plants that same day. There was one heavy frost back on May 19, 2009 when I had to use a space heater for one night and every tomato survived. The temp got as low as 29.4 F @ 5:30 AM. I lost a few of the small cauliflower plants because they were too close to the glass.

Next was the problem of marking my annuals with some sort of permenant markers. The solution was to use painted fur strips (left overs from when I screened in the front porch) and use a permanent marker for the plant names. The tricky part was creating the 30 degree angles with both the saw and the drill press, but I am happy with the results.

I also enjoyed building this handy rock sifter. I had this idea in mind for a while and it was great to bring it into this world. I designed it so that it would be just the right height to dump the rocks into my trailer to haul them away with ease.

I made about 3 nice piles of rock-free dirt and hauled it over to the greenhouse to have outside when needed. The sifter box is quite handy and should proove useful for many more years.

Here is my Super Secret Recipe for sucessful tomatoes. I will mix all of this up and use about 3 tablespoons in each hole when planting tomatoes out in the garden:

One 3 lb. bag of Miracle Gro® Organic Choice Bone Meal 6-9-0 One 2.5 lb. bag of Vigoro® Blood Meal 12-0-0 One 4 lb. bag of Espoma® Tomato-Tone Organic Plant Food Three Cups of crushed brown egg shells (saved-up over winter) Six Quarts of wood stove ashes Makes 11 Quarts.

Use 3 Tablespoons in each planting hole.

I like to save these bulk cat food containers for many uses. I can fill 2 1/2 containers with this recipe to have ready on planting day. If you're wondering about the egg shells, they help prevent blossom-end-rot, a common problem in my area. I begin saving egg shells in January. Yet another example of always something to do all year round when planning and growing tomatoes.

:)

The Busy Month of April

April is such a busy month that I don't have much time to be at the computer. The photos below were actually taken as early as two weeks ago.
First notable fact: Don't be tempted to plant tomatoes too early. The earliest this year were started on March 30th & 31st. As I type this, these two flats of tomatoes need to be transplanted today as their roots are growing out of the bottoms of the trays like crazy!
Pushing up the seed starting date to the 2nd week of April seems to be a better idea.

Many days have passed since these photos were taken and a lot of the tomatoes have already doubled in size!
The lights are turned on at 7AM and turned off at 8 PM each day.

It may not look like it, but there are over 900 seeds being started here! Each flat holds 72 seeds and as of today, there are 13 full flats plus a few others.

I was able to get the big gardens tilled last weekend. I noticed a Robin was scouting the area for many hours, looking for worms and insects that were exposed during tilling - smart bird!

I'm glad that the hardest work is done for this season. All that's left is to add compost and re-till.
The first seeds of the season were planted outside on Saturday, April 18th. I planted German Giant radishes and Oregon Snow Peas. I will do a 2nd planting of each of these on May 2nd.

Much more to follow.
:)

Spring Finally Arrives

I'm so glad to see that spring is finally here. March tends to be the longest stretch of winter. So much anticipation and planning of the next planting season goes on, I just realized that I haven't yet made an entry for March!

Reading back to my last post, I am humbled by how much energy has gone into the green house project. It was only yesterday that I started putting up the walls over the insulation - and I'm only half-done!


I used 2' x 4' ceiling tiles, which are all bright white and very easy to cut. This will ensure that the inside will be nice and bright as well as better insulated. I'm hoping to have all 20 ceiling tiles cut and in place by next weekend.


The snow is retreating to the woods ever so slowly. Most of the gardens have been exposed, but nothing other than the tiny chamomile plants next to the garlic has sprouted yet.


Next entry will have photos of seeds started in the flats upstairs. Planting begins soon after I post this on Sunday, March 29, 2009.

Happy Gardening!
:)

Green House Phase II

Phase II was begun today after Dad & I went to Home Depot and bought more lumber & insulation.

I got a lot more done today than I thought I would.

Now that February is half over, The sun is higher in the afternoon sky and is at its peak around 2 PM. The photo above of the indoor/outdoor thermometer photo will attest to that.
By 4:30 PM the sun no longer shines on the greenhouse, so the temp plummets from thereon..

I added a 2nd sub floor layer and actually had to take my jacket off while installing it because it was so warm!

The green exterior carpet is a nice touch and should help warm the place. I only tacked it down on 3 sides because I want it to heat and cool for a week to work out any potential bumps before I do the final cut to fit.

Next weekend, I will put up the R 13 insulation in the ceiling & walls and then begin the final phase III of creating the interior shelves along the windows (3 levels).

:)

January 2009

Bye, bye January!

Although winter is in full swing, I’m happy to see January nearly over. February goes quickly, which makes way for March. Wow, March is seed starting month!

As for this January, I’ve noticed that EBay is a new frontier for finding “rare” heirloom seeds. I use the term “rare” loosely here because I’ve seen it used more for a sales pitch than if these seeds are truly “rare.”

Fact is, the more super-tomato websites you find, the more likely you will easily bump into the same variety of “rare” seeds!

TomatoFest.com is a fine example. They offer hundreds of Heirloom tomatoes, is easy to navigate and the man behind it all seems down to earth & honest. He even sends a free packet of seeds with your order. This year, he sent me a gift of Brandywine, Yellow tomatoes - cool!

Which leads me to another problem with the folks pedling “rare” seeds on EBay; seed count.

I’ve seen offers for as little as 5 seeds per order! How do these sellers sleep at night? I’ll bet you they chuckle in their sleep for sure!

That’s not to say that I haven’t considered selling my seeds on EBay myself. In fact, I like the idea of building a virtual seed store. But you won’t see any 5 & 10 count seed offerings from me. I will do 25 to 30 counts per offer.

Photo below shows my saved Debarao seeds. Believe it or not, there are 50 seeds next to that penny. I’ve decided to plant 36 of each variety this year from my own saved seeds. 50 is a good amount to set aside for myself and I'll attempt to sell what’s left over.

Here is a photo of the seeds purchased online from EBay & TomatoFest.com. As it stands now, I am growing 12 of my own saved tomato varieties from 2008. The only variety that was a failure in 2008 was the Great White tomato. It struggled in 2007 and failed in 2008, so no need to keep trying that variety here.


Moving onto other January happenings, the weather sure was winter-like. No January thaw this year. We got it all, snow, rain, ice – oh ya, lots of ice. My weather station recorded a 4 year low of -11.6 F on January 17th and note that the lows were -7.3 F, -9.5 F, and -11.6 F on the 15th through the 17th.

Greenhouse note, in the last week of January, the sun shines over the mountain and hits from 11:40 AM through 1:40 PM. More light begins to hit the west side of the greenhouse around 4 PM to 5 PM as the sun sets.

We had a significant snowstorm on January 28th with about 7” of new snow, but then it got ugly. Sleet followed into the evening then turned into all rain. The result was an 1/8” of ice coating on everything. Check out these ice photos of the greenhouse and a view through the east window looking through to the west window.

I have plans to grow about 35 varieties of tomatoes this year. That’s a huge jump, I know! But I’ve come to the conclusion that certain varieties are eye-catching & interesting such as Orange & red Strawberry-shaped tomatoes, the whole color spectrum of Zebras & Brandywines, and so on.

I believe that getting good seeds from these as well as great photos will make for a good business in January, 2010.

I guess January won’t be so bad in future years to come!

:)
Keith

Winter Sets In

Winter is truly here to stay. It's not even January and the seed catalogs are starting to roll in. It's a good time to spend indoors reading and leafing through seed catalogs anyway.
The good news is that from here on in, the days will slowly get longer. I'm keeping a watch on the new greenhouse for the first date that the sun will be high enough to flood the windows with light. My guess is somewhere around the first week of February.
I'm beginning to start planning the gardens of 2009 on paper. Never too early to start. Which leads me to close with the possible theme of 2009 - I'm guessing the year of the "Bean". 2007 was "squash" and 2008 was "Tomato."
:)

New Greenhouse

The new greenhouse is almost finished, but the hardest work is done. It was way more work than I had thought. The most unusual aspect of this project was that it was conceived on a pocket calculator and a dry-erase board in my garage. All measurements were based around some free windows that were given to me by a friend.

Ironically, the windows were the last piece of the puzzle, and I held my breath at the last few moments wondering if the windows would all fit into their place along that wall.



All went well, and this "unusual" greenhouse is unique for a very good reason; with the exception of a future tornado, this thing ain't going nowhere! It's sturdy, built on pressure treated stilts (with re bar spikes) sunk in concrete. I have never forgotten my previous attempt with a traditional greenhouse - only to have it blow away in a fantastic October windstorm. My neck of the woods has more weather extremes, so I have to overbuild.



I'm glad that this project is almost finished, as it really kept me from doing other things, such as keeping this blog updated. By the way, it has been on full year since I started this blog.

Here we go again!
:)