Gardening 2012 - Memorial Day Update

San Marzano Tomatoes 6 weeks after transplant

Back in Minneapolis, this is the weekend we used to set out tomatoes and other cold sensitive plants. But of course, things get warmer sooner these days and if you've been following along you'll recall that we planted out our tomatoes on April 15th! Anyway, six weeks later those scrawny plants have grown into exceptionally vigorous vines that are nearly four feet tall. Since it's apparent they'll easily over-top the ladders I bought, I've ordered another set to extend the ones already in place.

The peppers and eggplants in the front bed are starting to catch up now that they're getting sunlight before noon. It's a good reminder that even though it was warm enough to plant out in mid-April, the Earth is still in the same orbit around the Sun, still tilted 23.44 degrees and for plants like these, there's just not enough light in the day at that time of year to really get them growing well.

The zucchini has also recovered from it's too early planting and we actually have our first baby squash. This is a spot where it's looking like the plastic mulch is going to be a huge benefit. Obviously it keeps down the weeds (even the bamboo that's still trying to grow under there). It also helps keep the soil moist and it keeps the tender plants off the dirt which means we'll have clean zucchini with (hopefully) little or no spoilage.

In the rest of the garden the second batch of cima di rapa has had it's final thinning. I've replanted Swiss Chard because the first batch cima di rapa shaded the original planting so much it was hopelessly stunted. The carrots and beets are coming along. The onions in the old bed are doing quite well while  those in the upper bed have fallen a bit behind. That's likely attributable to the fact that the old bed has had the benefit of a decade of organic cultivation and is far richer and fluffier at this point.

Gardening 2012 - Mid May Update

Things are happening in the garden! The San Marzano tomatoes have recovered from the little cold snap and are almost half way up the towers.

In the old lower bed the onions are doing well and as soon as I get done typing this, I'll thin the cima di rapa. Just to the left of the onions we've added a few rows of carrots and replanted the beets. Now that temperatures are well into the 70's they should all be sprouting in a matter of days.

Earlier in the week I picked up 4 cheap plastic buckets. They're a classic piece of low-budget container gardening and make excellent pots for tomatoes. So we drilled 5 half inch holes in the bottoms and filled them with potting mix topped off with one Roma tomato plant each.

While it's possible I'll have way too many tomatoes this summer, this will give us a chance to compare the performance and taste of "real" San Marzano tomatoes and the modern Roma hybrid.

In the new front bed the eggplants are doing quite well, but the peppers don't seem real happy. It's still early though and they may still be a little stunted from the cold snap a couple weeks ago. Or... it might be because I forgot to poke some holes in the plastic so rain water could reach the soil. Whichever it is, the weather is now warm and the holes have been poked.

On the other hand the rest of the container plants are very happy. Obviously I was able to bring in the big pot for a couple evenings, so that eggplant suffered not at all on those cold nights.

Gardening 2012 - Planting Part 1

It's planting time! It may seem early but in fact night time temperatures have been in the mid-40's for a few weeks and the forecast has lows of around 50 for the rest of the month.

Tomatoes

 

San Marzano Tomatoes, Parsley, Thyme & Basil

This year we're trying red plastic sheets as "mulch" for the tomatoes. The theory (supported by studies at Montana State University and Penn State) is that the red plastic reflects the wavelengths of light that react with phytochrome and encourage more rapid growth. The stuff comes in big rolls and also 3x3 sheets - the exact right size for our little raised beds. It has hundreds of tiny holes to allow water to penetrate to the soil. (In theory anyway - that little puddle in the right foreground doesn't seem to want to cooperate.)

After leveling the soil and pinning the plastic down with landscape fabric pins, we marked and cut three "X" shaped openings where we want the tomato plants. Then we pulled back the flaps, dug planting holes, mixed in a handful of ground eggshells and popped in the tomato plants. Because San Marzano tomatoes are indeterminate, we're using towers rather than the more common cages. There's another almost identical planting in the new "upper" bed with the Cima di Rapa for a total of six San Marzano plants.

Eggplant

Eggplant, Parsley, Thyme & Basil

It's still just a little early for eggplant, but I popped one into a container so I can bring it in if  night temperatures threaten to drop below 50 F. There are parsley, thyme and basil planted around the outside edge of the pot.

Coming soon: Peppers, Zucchini, and the rest of the Eggplant

Gardening 2012 - Update #2

Things have slowed a bit as temperatures have came back to historical averages.

Cima di Rapa Seedlings

Most of the cima di rapa seedlings have developed their first true leaves so with a few sunny days they should really start to take off. I expect they'll need a second thinning this weekend.

We planted one 8 foot row of peas in the "old" raised bed along side a chain link fence on March 26 and  a couple short rows of beets on April 1.  The "new" upper bed got 2 short rows of Swiss Chard parallel to the cima di rapa at the same time. We'll pop in a couple more rows of each plus some more cima di rapa on the 15th. We should see our onion sets arriving sometime this week - half of 'em will go into the new bed and half into the old.

Leggy Tomatoes

The tomato transplants are getting a bit leggy in spite of the grow light and the south facing porch window. Unfortunately, night time temperatures are rather unreliably in the low to mid-40's so actually setting them out is still pretty risky. We do have more plants than we actually need so maybe this weekend we can come up with some sort of protection scheme and take a shot.

In any case, the parsley and thyme can certainly be potted up and hardened off this week. The parsley is looking great:

Root Development

Parsley Potted On