What with one thing and another, I’d forgotten the half-dozen White Flower Farm mail-order tomatoes I’d reserved back in February. But the Spousal Unit not only retrieved the shipment, he got them planted out in last year’s rootpouches. No idea if they’ll be any more prosperous than last year’s pathetic failures, but it’s clear that he loves both me and Chocolate Sprinkle cherry tomatoes!
What’s going on in your gardens, this week?
Australia Day (Open Thread)
Baud
He’s a keeper!
RevRick
Our purple irises are in full bloom, the azalea bush is a riot of red, and the peonies are just waiting for ants to nibble open their blossoms.
BlueGuitarist
Yay for AL and spousal unit!
Another ray of hope
from Texas, via Taniel/Bolts:
book banners and haters defeated in 4 big Texas school board elections
https://bsky.app/profile/taniel.bsky.social/post/3lod2yqz4wk22
Baud
@BlueGuitarist:
That’s nice. I read that Republicans finally passed their school voucher bill. I no longer expect a backlash in Texas, but hopefully that moves the needle a little. My understanding is that it screws over rural Texas.
rusty
The daffodils came up this week, the cherry trees also bloomed, we are in New Hampshire so spring comes later than most places. I really need to mow the grass, but rain yesterday and more today. I did the yard clean up two weeks ago, I need to order a load of mulch. This is going to be a maintenance year, too much going on in life to do a lot more but looking forward to the pretty parts of previous year’s efforts.
MazeDancer
Chocolate Sprinkle Cherry Tomatoes sounds interesting.
I am only allowed a limited number of nightshades. But may consider them next year.
satby
My orders of annual flowers (Supertunias and calibrochia -petunia hybrids) have mostly been delivered, with the rest coming this week (I hope). Since I leave in a week for a 10 day trip, I’m debating whether to plant them in the hanging baskets before I leave or putting them in their pots in a large tray with water in case it doesn’t rain while I’m gone. My cat sitter has enough to handle without adding plant duty on top of it. I’m also planting some potatoes, I had Yukon fingerlings start sprouting, so now they’ll be seed potatoes. Only vegetable I’ll grow this year, I can get the heirloom tomatoes I love at the farmers market now, for probably less total cash than I used to spend growing them with lackluster results.
satby
@rusty: I badly need to mow my grass too, and it’s going to rain the next three days off and on.
DFH
Still too cold but we did TALK about tomatoes yesterday. Still pretty windy to even apply weed killer. Spring may arrive this coming week in downstate IL. Glad to see you’re here, Anne.
No One of Consequence
Good morning AL, glad to see you about and to hear about Chocolate Sprinkles Cherry Toms. When I was in Taiwan a couple trips ago, my mother in law bought a box of cherry tomatoes, and they were the sweetest things I had ever had in a tomato. Just delicious.
Seeds are starting to germinate in the raised beds. Peas and beans are making a strong showing, but I am seeing the more tender starting of basil and onions and spinach.
The sweet potato experiment is slow goings, but I do see roots coming in, so starts shouldn’t be too far away. Once those are up, I can snip out dozens and dozens of starts from each node of the vines.
Peace,
-NOoC
satby
@No One of Consequence: I love sweet potatoes, but their growing season is at the outer parameters of mine and so I haven’t had much success with them. Where did you hear (or read) about that technique for propagation?
VeniceRiley
How to locate dog poop during no mow May? The grass is 2 feet tall.
In happier news, we have a blackbird nest! Babies soon. They’ve relocated to the climbing rose by the back door, well defended in a multi-branch crook. It’s nice to go out with the dog and see a tail peeking out. Many rosebuds about to bloom; so, I hope they can handle the bumblebee attention.
The bumbles used to love the lavender, and would springboard from one flower to the next, which was fascinating to watch. Regrettably, the dog pissed it to death.
TerryC
Aargh. A four-year-old graft of a Baldwin apple into a crabapple was producing flowers this year and it fell off the stump :(
Fortunately, we have lots of pear, apple, cherry, apricot, persimmon, paw paw, blooms going well, still. Deploying 1,200 feet of garden hose this weekend.
narya
@rusty: @satby: Around here I see a lot of “No Mow May” signs . . . want me to steal one for you?
Habitat Gardener
My tiny mostly native plant garden is exploding here in Chatham county, NC. So much so that I am pulling out bee balm, mountain mint, blue mistflower, river oats, prairie coneflower, daisy fleabane, partridge pea, and more by the handfuls.
The pollinators, caterpillars, birds, moths, butterflies, frogs, anoles, and bunnies are abundant in my small oasis among 2500 homes in this large HOA neighborhood.
99% of the yards here are nothing but turf and non-native shrubs and trees from Asian countries. Therefore, of little use to our native insects, birds, and other wildlife.
Hundreds of acres of habitat were destroyed here and replaced with homes with yards of almost no benefit to the critters who need native habitat to survive. My little 0.1 acre plot has hundreds of native plants, thousands of vital critters, and is an example of what could be in this destructive wasteland that has been developed here.
Several of us in this ~8,000 person community have tried for years to win hearts and minds to do our parts to lessen the impact of the insect/bird apocalypse currently happening, all to little and no avail.
It’s all just so heartbreaking and I can’t even stand to see any promotion of any non-native landscape plants any more. Going into my beautiful, but more importantly, life giving, beneficial garden habitat, is one of the few spiritually, emotionally, and physically restorative activities that brings me any moment of peace in this insanity.
Oh my god I could go on. And on.
Phylllis
I saw my first Hummingbird Thursday at the Verbena. Still about two weeks away from the firecracker plants blooming, which will bring them out in hordes.
m.j.
I have a question. Tomato is good. Cucumber is good. If you put them together it’s GREAT!
Why?
They Call Me Noni
@RevRick: I cut my first peonies yesterday and our azaleas have all bloomed and are now fading, but we’ve had a ton of rain. Was just wondering from what parts you hail.
Spanky
Why No Mow May is a bad idea.
Sounds good at first, but I can see how the downsides outweigh the benefits.
oldgold
@satby: . Where did you hear (or read) about that technique for propagation?
Dad and I had an awkward conversation when I was 12.
They Call Me Noni
@Spanky: Interesting article. I had not heard of No Mow May. Around here the lawns are looking a bit unruly but that’s because it has rained and rained and rained. More rain in the forecast all this next week.
satby
@narya: 😂 I try to do no mow May, especially since I planted crimson clover to fix some nitrogen into my sandy soil. But it’s May 4, and if I go the entire month I’ll need to hire a brush mower.
sab
We don’t do no mow May, but our lawn service sets the mowere high enough that a lot of flowers do survive the cutting.
We have so many bumble bees that the backyard looks like an airport.
satby
@oldgold: 😂😂. Chef’s kiss!
JeanneT
@Spanky: I read somewhere that no-mow May works well in the UK – but not in the US, because most of our lawn grasses and weeds are non-natives. Myself, I wait until my (native) violets have finished blooming before I mow those parts of my front yard.
This spring I also have some clumps of sedges that have popped up near the violets: I need to find out if those sedges are native (fingers crossed!) – if they are I can use them to anchor a new bed of native plants.
UncleEbeneezer
I just assembled 2/3 raised beds (I’ll do the last one today) for my wife who is going to plant: hollyhock, Black-Eyed Susans, lupine, cosmos, dahlias and sweet peas. The mobile home we are living in has a decent amount of sun where the beds are going to go, but she’s never planted hollyhock, lupine or cosmos before and this will be her first attempt growing anything at high altitude in New Mexico.
Lots of fruit trees (cherry, apple, crab-apple, etc.) all over the place here and the blossoms are all starting which is lovely.
narya
@satby: My friend with a “lawn” (it’s not very big) doesn’t mow for most of May because he’s hunting wild turkeys in early May. That said, he also plants a lot of wildflowers, etc. in the “flower bed” portion of the lawn. I am using all of these quotes because he does like to let things go, and last year a neighbor complained, apparently, because a City official of some kind came to bug hm about it.
RevRick
@They Call Me Noni: Allentown PA. We’re only 50 miles north of Philly, but there’s a detectable seasonal lag between the two places.
narya
Want a little music for your Sunday morning? Here’s Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Torme explaining jazz. Also: May the Fourth be with you.
Kristine
I went out of town for 4 days last week and came home to an explosion of buds and emerging leaves on the dwarf crabapples and ninebarks and wild hydrangeas. The lungwort trio I planted last summer have all bloomed. Hosta are all coming up. Three of four plants the name of which I have forgotten survived my haphazard fall planting and are putting out clusters of yellow leaves.
In other words, everything is growing everywhere all at once and I have a lot of work to do and it’s still chilly most days which means not a lot of fun.
Oh, and I saw my first Baltimore oriole yesterday, which means I need to get the baffle for the post that will hold the jam dish.
SFAW
Trying to grow Roma and San Marzano tomatoes this year, plus some “BushSteak.” Will reduce the number of plants, because I over-planted last year. Getting a very late start, only started the seeds last week, already have seedlings, but should have done it 2-4 weeks earlier, I think.
In addition to the above, planning on growing eggplant, tomatillos, snow peas, string beans, various types of hot and sweet peppers. Tried growing corn last year; won’t try that again, at least not for a few years.
My current garden is almost all raised-bed. My hope is that by this time next year, I have a well-laid-out, good-sized garden. Of course, I also hope to lose 50 pounds, and have all my (head) hair grow back. I figure the 50-pound-drop is the most likely, so …
On the other hand, I should try to draw inspiration from Ozark’s efforts. I miss him every day.
Kristine
@satby: Same wrt not mowing.
The clover patches are established and take care of themselves. It’s the creeping Charlie that’s a wrestle—I had it under control until the drought a few years ago.
They Call Me Noni
@RevRick: I have long wanted to visit Philly for the historical sites. Haven’t made it yet.
WaterGirl
@TerryC:
That would be sad.
Josie
@SFAW:
Where are you gardening? Sounds like we are growing similar stuff, only I grow all mine in pots due to having no yard to speak of. I’m in Houston and the hot weather is holding off enough that we are actually harvesting tomatoes and eggplants.The peppers are still growing.
CaseyL
Ooh, I envy people with the space to have lots of veggies and fruit trees.
I have a deck garden, a container garden, and this is an exciting time of year for me. I’ve planted tomatoes, broccoli, and shelling peas to go with my perennial strawberries and blueberries. The latter have not produced fruit in years – rather, they have produced fruit, but the local birds and squirrels get to it just before it’s ripe. I may put some kind of barrier over them all this year.
It’s too cold at night for the ‘maters, so I put a shroud over them and today will try to set up the water warming girdle thingy the nursery sold me. The peas and brocs seem very happy so far.
narya
@They Call Me Noni: When you go, make sure to visit the lobby of the Curtis Building, where there is a wall-sized mural in Tiffany glass of a Maxfield Parrish painting. It’s right near Independence Square, so not far from where you’d be going anyway. It is spectacular. Also: Jim’s Steaks, on South Street (around the corner from where I used to live . . .).
ETA link to the mural.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Tulips have passed it. Iris not quite blooming. The two love/hated cottonwoods out front are starting to green out but two trees across the street (I don’t know trees) have yet to pump out a leaf.
One house across the street has an aspen tree in front and it’s fully leafed out, probably the earliest tree to do so.
Our ash has had seed pods in horrific numbers since last year and we’ve been worried. Some branches are starting to leaf out, not so sure about the others. We treat it for the borer but my wife is gonna call the tree company to come out and consult. Given it provides shade in the back in the summer here in Denver, we’d be devastated if it’s gonna die.
PAM Dirac
The vineyard is coming back to life, although it looks like some substantial casualties from a somewhat colder than normal winter. I’ve decided I’m not going to replant. Not likely to be still tending the vineyard in 8-10 years that it would take to get the new vines fully up to speed. Trying to make a committed effort this year to get some vegetables going. Started 3 tomatoes (Black Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, and Wood’s Famous Brimmer) indoors and they have done nicely and are now looking pretty good in the beds. 4 types of basil and 2 types of carrots are also in the beds along with a bunch of fish peppers. When we lived in southern MD I had no problem getting good crops of tomatoes, beans, spinach, and other things. For some reason farther north I haven’t had much success. I suspect it is that I am now used to the grape vines which really do well with limited intervention, especially watering. I never water established vines, which is not something that works for vegetable beds.
JAM
@Habitat Gardener: I hope you send in your pictures, I’d like to see your garden. I am trying to do the same thing in my old neighborhood in Oklahoma. Luckily the native plants go on without me because I’ve been having so much joint pain lately, but I need to keep pulling up all the seedlings. At least they suppress invasive weeds.
I planted three tomato plants in grow bags this year, sungold, burgundy traveler, San marzano, and I’m trying out watermelons in bags this year, too. The bags worked really well for my tomatoes last year.
They Call Me Noni
@narya: Oh My Goodness but that is stunning!! I love glass and art and am fascinated by murals done in tile. I could stare at them forever. Back in 2012 Mr. Noni and I went to Italy for 15 glorious days and in the planning stage of course Venice was on the itinerary. I told hubs “you do know that we are coming home with some Murano glass”. Thank you so much for the recommendations.
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all!
Beautiful day down here. Sitting on the back porch drinking coffee, temp is about 68.
The system that moved through dumped some well needed rain.
And, as for my garden, I’ll repost this from yesterday afternoon:
Nukular Biskits on Bluesky: “Welcome To The (Tomato) Jungle”
Nukular Biskits
@Phylllis:
I have yet to see a single one of the little ungrateful bastards.
WaterGirl
@Nukular Biskits: Your jungle looks very well organized!
Nukular Biskits
@UncleEbeneezer:
FELLOW TRAILER TRASH!!!!.
My home for the first 23 years of my life was a single-wide.
Nukular Biskits
@Josie:
I have yet to get any ripe tomatoes but I did cut two squash Friday and they were YUM
Nukular Biskits
@JAM:
Stupid question, but what do you mean by growing stuff in bags?
satby
Mine too, and it’s flowering 😱. I planted the crimson clover in front, but not the side and backyard, so those areas are getting weed and feed. It’s that or just rototill and start over, but I’ve been reducing the lawn footprint with border shrubs and day lilies, so I don’t intend to redo the lawn area. Just tame the weeds.
Nukular Biskits
@WaterGirl:
This is a small yard compared to what I had in my previous life (which was measured in acres).
I’d have the entire backyard covered in flowers and vegetables but then the dog and the g’baby would have no room.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
SFAW
@Josie:
Central Massachusetts. I’m a bit late starting the seedlings, but should still get a decent crop.
Planning on growing the BushSteak in pots (because they’re “determinate,” which was a new term for me this year), and the Romas and San Marzanos (and almost everything else) in the raised beds.
ETA: I used rolling planters for the peppers and tomatillos last year, will probably do the same this year. Probably need a couple more.
SFAW
@Nukular Biskits:
Just checked out your jungle. Very nice!
Unfortunately, I’m months behind you re: growth, so a little chagrined. But I will have tomatoes — eventually. Hoping for a lot of sauce and paste and salsa as the result. [ETA: and sun-dried]
Nukular Biskits
I know I’ve posted this before but … seems appropriate given the discussion:
Ain’t nothin’ in the world that I like better
Than bacon & lettuce & homegrown tomatoes
Up in the mornin’ out in the garden
Get you a ripe one, don’t get a hard one
Plant ’em in the spring eat ’em in the summer
All winter without ’em’s a culinary bummer
I forget all about the sweatin’ & diggin’
Everytime I go out & pick me a big one
Homegrown tomatoes homegrown tomatoes
What’d life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can’t buy
That’s true love & homegrown tomatoes
Guy Clark – Homegrown Tomatoes
Nukular Biskits
@SFAW:
I love growing things but really hadn’t planned on planting that many tomatoes. I love ’em … but there’s no way I’ll ever be able to eat all that.
I wanted three different varieties but nursery only sold them in three-packs, so 9 plants it was.
La Nonna
We just had the brushhog tractor in to clean up the 1.5 acre olive grove, our young farmer Raffaele did an amazing job, no damage to any of the fruit trees or decorative plantings. The new rules for Puglia are to maintain a green ground cover to protect the tilth, and to encourage more organic grove practices (no herbicides, only manure or compost fertilizers) as xylella is rapidly killing off so many groves.
Our decorative plantings are a xeriscape jungle of yucca, monstera, palms, cycads, oleanders, brazilian pepper, rosemary, cypress, aloes, agaves. The veranda has trailing pots of true geranium, nasturtiums, kitchen herbs, pelargoniums. Colorful by the house, and every shade of green in the “jungle”.
JAM
@Nukular Biskits: The black polyester grow bags. I have the tomatoes in 25 gallon bags, with wire cages that fit around the bags. The plants seem to like them better than pots, and you don’t have to worry as much about diseases in the soil. But all that soil can be expensive (I mix my own soil).
Habitat Gardener
@JAM: From last month https://bsky.app/profile/kathleen-em.bsky.social/post/3ln5cr2rgwc2v
No One of Consequence
@satby: Was watching some videos. The missus wants the greens for cooking. (She doesn’t much, but her mother sure knows what she is doing, and I sure don’t, at least with the Sweet Potato leaves.
Anyway, a clear plastic container, bury the whole sweet potato sideways, halfway up the tuber, soil moist enough to clump, but not saturated. Use that to try to generate starts. Sweet Potato is a vine, so each node, once snipped, assuming a viable leaf (and sometimes even if not) will sprout new roots and a new green shoot (apical meristem maybe?), so boom, new plant.
Mine have been going indoors and moved to sunny spots outside for a bit now. Perhaps 3 weeks? I am seeing roots, but not sure if I have spotted any new shoots yet.
Will keep you updated, and try to run across the video with it. Aaaaaand, here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0igp5IzO21g
-NoOC
kindness
Planted my tomatoes the beginning of April. Spring started in February out here. The last frost was early March. It just took me a bit to get my shit together and prep and plant the tomatoes. 2 plants of Cherokee Purples (fabulous BLT tomatoes) and 1 each set of mini yellow & mini red bell tomatoes (salads). I won’t see anything to eat till June but that’s fine.
eclare
What a gorgeous swamp photo!
mvr
@satby: @Kristine:
Creeping Charlie has crept in from the neighbors yard with a vengeance this year. Or at least what we’ve been calling Creeping Charlie. Little blue/purple flowers and runners.
May 15th is the official safe frost day around here but it looks like we’re past the frosts so I hope to plant some Bride eggplant starts that I got really early and had to transplant into larger cups, and some Amish paste and Golden Jubilee tomatoes today. The clover in the raised bed which we use as mulch and to distract the rabbits is doing well.
I have spread lots of native plant seeds long out alley including against the wooden fence of the neighbors on the other side. Pollinator mixes, wildflowers and also some shade tolerant mix. It has worked decently in the past. We have lots of birds (Red Belly Woodpecker in the window as I type). But I am hoping also to help the butterflies.
StringOnAStick
I covered all our fruit trees with garden fleece since a late frost was likely, and I was right to do so since we hit 29 this morning. The fruit trees I planted in the last 2 years will be maintained at less than 6’ tall so they were easy to cover, but we are still working on shortening the out of control nectarine, and the pie cherry will be shortened after this season because it responded so well to pruning that I couldn’t bring myself to cut off the last bit of too tall stuff because it was covered in blooms.
The raised beds I built late last month are 1/3 planted, Wall O Water’s are filled and heating up, and the tomatoes and peppers will go inside them this week. I’m starting beans and cukes in plantable pots today to give them a jump start on our short growing season. Hopefully that was our last frost because the nectarine has plenty of growing fruit and it was so good the last time we got a crop (about 1 in 3 years, which is why it needs to be short enough to easily cover).
This year’s garden experiment is using tiny Incandescent Christmas lights to keep it warmer under the heavy fleece cover on the nectarine. Even if it doesn’t add much, those old fashioned intense colors have been nice to look at!
No One of Consequence
@narya: I do want some music, and love Ella AND the Velvet Frog, but alas, I have to login to view. Is there a youtube of it you might post?
Gracias, and I should get my old ass off the spot and set up BSky prolly.
-NOoC
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Trying the same thing over and over and hoping for different results is the definition of insanity.
It’s also the definition of my approach to gardening.
Every year I try to grow tomatoes, and almost never actually get to eat one. So I’m trying again this year. I found 12 seeds in the bottom of a year-old packet and planted them indoors around Mar. 1. I have seven thriving little plants about 3″ high in pots that so far look pretty happy. My wife moved half the pots outdoors. I hope the deer don’t eat them.
I also decided to try sunflowers AGAIN, something I try every year mostly without success. I have an entire row of happy little sprouts that look very promising so far.
I have a way overgrown wisteria that at this point must be over 10 years old and has only flowered once. Anybody know how to get them to flower? I see the stuff growing wild all over the place, full of beautiful blooms. I tried letting it go wild and untamed last year but all I got was a plant eating half my front yard, no flowers.
mvr
@SFAW:
Unfortunately most of my favorites are indeterminate so they all need lots of room and intertwine anyway. I think I have finally learned to plant a bit fewer plants and give them more space.
Jeffg166
The solar installation people showed up Friday. The two electricians started to asked about the plants in the garden. I forget most people have no idea how to grow things.
My next door neighbor asked me the other day how many plants I have in my garden. I have no idea. A lot is my answer.
They Call Me Noni
@La Nonna: I can see it in my mind and it is a lovely, fragrant and peaceful respite.
WaterGirl
@JAM: @SFAW:
Are San Marzano tomatoes just good for making sauces, or are they also good eating tomatoes?
Asking because I already had the tomatoes I had planned on growing this year, but I bought a really good-looking San Marzano plant at the farmer’s market even though I don’t make sauce out of tomatoes.
Trying to figure out if I should plant it or give it away? (Limited space)
mvr
@WaterGirl:
We like San Marzanos in salads as well as sauce. In both cases we find all of our tomatoes are better (more flavorful) if we don’t over-water and that almost swamps everything else that contributes to taste once we have good varieties we like..
WaterGirl
@mvr: Define “don’t over-water”, please.
How dry do you let them get? Or do you never let them either get dry or get particularly wet?
I generally have a pretty green thumb, but not so much with tomatoes. I know that if cherry tomatoes are splitting that means too much water.
Glidwrith
The rosemary needs trimming as well as the mystery bush so it doesn’t crowd out the grape vines. I also need to check if the mulberries are ripe. The backyard hardly bears thinking about. The grass/weeds are out of control with a wild rugosa rose shot through it. It’s also decided to bloom profusely. I love those sprays of flowers and don’t want to trim back the bush.
Phylllis
@Nukular Biskits: My husband has seen several since early last week, but that was my first. We’ve had all the birds at the feeder this spring, Robins, Bluebirds, Carolina Wrens and Carolina Chickadees.
stinger
@La Nonna:
May I come visit???
CaseyL
@narya:
I have a deep fondness for Philly anyway, and adore the big Art Museum. I happen to also love Parrish, and Tiffany, and stained glass.
Which is a roundabout way of saying this tempts me to make another visit. (Un)fortunately, I already have travel plans. However, hopefully the mural isn’t going anywhere soon, so maybe later this year or next…
JAM
@Habitat Gardener: Cool, I’m already following you!
JAM
@WaterGirl: I don’t can tomato sauce either, but I like plum tomatoes for things like tacos and Pico de Gallo where you don’t want a lot of juice.
mvr
@WaterGirl:
Once the plants are healthy and growing pretty well we cut back to watering every third day (though rain can make this a bit hard sometimes). They don’t get as big this way, but they yield more flavorful tomatoes.
We’re in Nebraska which generally is a bit on the dry side. So when we do water we water a good bit in a session with soaker hoses. The past several years have included some wet Junes however. We’ve also been using the same beds for 25 years and have some trouble with blight. Even rotating beds has not kept it away. Still we do grow tomatoes.
The clover mulch helps keep that down by keeping soil splash down. But not completely by any means.
David_C
Lettuce and spinach are almost ready to start harvesting. Tomatoes are about 2 weeks from transplant (maybe 1). Peas and onions doing OK. Basil should be ready to go into the garden, but the 6-pack transplants don’t look happy. Will put out what I have and have some seedling ready to go soon. Flowers are ready to go out, but it’s been rainy. Waiting for carrots to sprout.
StringOnAStick
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: wisteria take many years to bloom, but in the meantime it will eat your entire yard, so hard pruning is necesssary. You may not have gotten a grafted one, because if grown from seed it can take 10 years to bloom.
My solution to our having a short season is to grow cherry tomatoes, including a mini Roma called Juliet that gave me plenty to make sauce with. People trying to big to heirloom tomatoes here in central Oregon are kidding g themselves!
RevRick
@They Call Me Noni: Philly has a lot of history to take in, and recently the Moravian Settlement in Bethlehem has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. We have history up the wazoo.
HopefullyNotcassandra
Fresh, home grown cherry tomatoes
Drooling here.
So far, I have killed a basil (how? I do not know). Otherwise, we live in hope.
They Call Me Noni
@RevRick: Once our girls (my stepdaughters) got out of the “we have to vacation in places to entertain the kids” stage we started embarking on visiting historical sites because I am a big history buff. I wanted them to see the places they would be studying about in school thus making the classes more relevant. Our first trip was to DC and I made them each research and write a one page paper about the site they were most interested in visiting and I did the same. Mine was on the Library of Congress. We continued that tradition for many years. Good memories.
Gvg
Yesterday was the annual Master Gardener sale. My mother is a MG, so I always go. It’s their fund raiser. 7500 plants grown by the members. All propagations from their own garden plants, so things that grow well here. People line up hours before it opens to get the special plants before they go. I went to get one of the new citrus greening resistant cultivars the University of Florida has released. Since the greening crisis started 20 years ago, UF has been releasing new citrus faster with less testing. Sometimes they don’t even have official names yet, just serial numbers. We are kind of part of the testing. Last year I bought a 3-15-53. This year I got a number that is tentatively named Gator Bites. It’s a small tangerine aimed at the kids lunch market like cuties.
It’s late spring here, almost summer and people are still in plant things mode. It seems instinctive, every year. People start gardening at this time, and mob the garden centers. They get bored when it gets hot. Anyway I had a list for a neighbor who couldn’t go and most of her want list was gone. So I stopped at 2 nurseries on the way home and after lunch drove out in the country to a propagation nursery that was more likely to have what she wanted (cheaper too) I got most of her plants. Things for me of course. It rained this morning. Then I planted some. Now I need to do deliveries.
Then more planting and hopefully some propagation. My parents are planning to move in a few months which means propagate plants to go with mom and those my sister or I want, on top of the usual. Plus I need to start some air layers for moms sale next year.
Hoping to spray my camellia bush again this week. And I need to mow the lawn. A no mow May would not help pollinators at all here. Wrong species of grasses. The Dill I have planted all over is more use, as are various natives and I have plans for more. Plus being careful of toxins etc.
WaterGirl
@mvr: I have brutal sun. Does that change the equation?
mvr
@WaterGirl: Our sun was brutal until the neighbors planted a fast growing maple. I’m not an expert by any means, mostly just have gardened in a few different places (oregon, a bit in NJ and now two places in Nebraska a block apart) over the course of about 45 years, and figured out what works where I live. So take what I write below with a grain of salt.
I think that sun both heats the plants and dries the soil. Mulch of some sort will help with the latter. Tomatoes like sun, but they don’t like to be too hot (too hot for a tomato is somewhere in the 90s, I think), when they are in the sun. One way they manifest that is to stop fruiting until it cools a bit. Another is to droop. The former is not an issue. The latter can be. I would watch them and then water if they get really droopy or don’t recover overnight.
Again, FWIW, given my non-expert status.
WaterGirl
@mvr: Appreciate the benefit of your experience. thanks
SFAW
@mvr:
I have a couple of 4 x 8 raised beds that I use for my tomatoes. Because I’m a cheap bastard, instead of getting a third bed, I planted 12 per bed last year. A mistake — not a big one, but I’m cutting back to eight per bed this year, see how it goes. Probably still too many, but …
@WaterGirl:
If I understand correctly, San Marzano is an excellent choice for sauce and paste, similar to Roma. That’s the main reason I got the San Marzano this year. And I ain’t even Eye-talian!
I plan to use the BushSteak for things like tomato sandwiches, burgers, etc.
I think I have this joint to thank for turning me onto tomato sandwiches, by the way. Can’t recall ever having one before last year, and (I think) I remember people discussing them here, and said to mineself “Better try one!” And I did, and loved it.
Anne Laurie
Useful advice from Laurel’s Heirloom’s: Water only once the first joint of your finger,dug into the soil, is dry — or buy a cheap water meter. Because, yes, overwatered tomatoes *do* lose some of the exquisite flavor you’re seeking!
Gloria DryGarden
@MazeDancer: I grew those once. I didn’t think they were that great.
I have list of delicious successful tomatoes. And adequate ones, that are consistent and easy/ productive. Until a few years ago, no matter how I tried, I ended up with 22 kinds of tomato.
the best: *indigo apple, Cherokee purple, *sun gold*, great white.
And some I never grew, but I hear are amazing…
WaterGirl
@Anne Laurie: Does it count if you bought a water meter a couple years ago and don’t know where you put it?
Asking for a friend!