2021 gardens

[mike89]

interesting way to plant tomatoes!!   

[roony]

Last year our rhubarb wasn't up to par so this spring I trended some 10-10-10 around the plants and sprinkled a nit of urea in the area before a rain. We have decent rhubarb again. Another side effect i hadn't anticipated is that we haven't had a single seed shoot bolting from the plant. That's a good thing. The warden is happy so that's mainly good too.

[Dotch]

You get all the nice rhubarb...

[roony]

You get all the nice rhubarb...

Mark, do you think the fact that it's healthier and under less stress is why it's not bolting?

[Dotch]

I think it likely has a lot to do with it Art. I dug manure in around the two Canada Red plants earlier this spring and applied some 46-0-0 topdress. Toss 6.75" of rain on it in May and now the heat, you wouldn't know they were the same plants. Deep, dark green and about tripled in circumference & height. They had started to bolt earlier and haven't since. For grins, I topdressed an old fashioned green plant that had been feeding off the manure I've been putting on the cannas the last numerous years. It was big but had started to bolt early on. After the nitrogen, rainfall & heat, not much for bolting. Of course this is not replicated or peer reviewed but we can always think it should've been...    

[HD]

Mine bolts every year....and we don't do anything with it anyways. I'm thinking I'm just going to rip it out and be done with it.

[roony]

I think it likely has a lot to do with it Art. I dug manure in around the two Canada Red plants earlier this spring and applied some 46-0-0 topdress. Toss 6.75" of rain on it in May and now the heat, you wouldn't know they were the same plants. Deep, dark green and about tripled in circumference & height. They had started to bolt earlier and haven't since. For grins, I topdressed an old fashioned green plant that had been feeding off the manure I've been putting on the cannas the last numerous years. It was big but had started to bolt early on. After the nitrogen, rainfall & heat, not much for bolting. Of course this is not replicated or peer reviewed but we can always think it should've been...    

You always have the good manure.

[snow1]

Even with the lack of water in my area,my neighbors garden is looking great,cabbage is looking good,his corn is 20"s already....mine not so good,weeds.

[deadeye]

The lady slippers are not in my garden. I found quite a few patches at my land this spring.
They usually bloom around Memorial day. The flower gardens are doing great this year.
My wife and I did some weeding and I thought it was a good time to take some pictures
before they grow back.





Now the gnomes can have visitors. I made them a stone path.

[mike89]

very nice!!!   

[Steve-o]

I've never found any lady slippers in the wild.  I'd love to someday.

[LPS]

Lots of them just west of Williams.  Beautiful.  Good work DE.

[Dotch]

Looks great deadeye! Got my sights set on those red-leaved cannas...

Those yellow ladies slippers bring back memories. My aunt & uncle had a cabin on Cox Lake west of Lake Itasca. We always called it a cabin but it was a 4 bedroom house with a hip-joint roof that'd been part of a working farm supplying loggers with food back in the day. One of my first trips there I found some yellow ladies slippers out behind the cabin. The cabin is long gone from neglect and vandalism after my uncle died but the memories are still there.

[Jerkbiat]

Lots of them just west of Williams.  Beautiful.  Good work DE.

Yeppers. And north too. We have some in the woods at our place.

[Dotch]

Ken, a little more on you horizontal tomato planting: Does this allow or help allow you to forego using cages or other means of support? 

[KEN W]

No....They grow to normal height. What the laying them down does is allow the stem to grow extra roots to feed the plant. Makes for a large root ball. It also has the roots near the surface where the ground is warmer in spring. So they grow faster.

But you have to mulch them in the summer since they will dry out faster. So I put 10-10-10 garden fertilizer under them when planted. Then when I am going to mulch them, I sprinkle some more over the roots and mulch 3-4 inches. You do this when you see the first tomatoes. Do this to stabilize the moisture and prevent blossom end rot. Straw works the best.

There are 2 kinds of tomatoes.....Determinate and Indeterminate. Determinate only grow to a certain height then stop. Lots of tomatoes in a shorter time. Indeterminate don't stop growing until frost kills them. I grow both....all Heirloom tomatoes are indeterminate. When they get to the top of the cage, I pinch them off. At that point they won't ripen anyway.

With indeterminate you MUST pinch off all the suckers that form in every leaf notch. If you don't the plant will get out of hand. With Determinate you  don't pinch suckers.

I use to grow all hybrids and buy seeds every year. Now I grow no hybrids and save the seed every year to plant next year. I grow Heirlooms for flavor to eat out of hand. And determinates for canning so I get a lot at 1 time.

4 of the best varieties I have ever found are Saucey, a Roma type, Oregon Spring, Siletz, and Legend. Developed by Dr Jim Bagett at  Oregon State Un. Bred to produce even in the cool rainy northwest. I always get plenty even if we get a cool summer. In a hot summer I get lots early. Done canning by Sept. 1.

[deadeye]

Good info there Ken W.  Thanks. Now I just need to figure pinch or not to pinch. 

[KEN W]

Are you talking abut tomato suckers?

[Dotch]

Good info Ken.  Just a point of clarification tho: When you refer to "leaf notch" & "suckers" what exactly are you referring to? Are you talking axillary buds? Agronomically "suckers" are tillers or growth from the base of the plant.     

Our tomatoes were planted upright 4"-6" deep with a wad of rotted sheep manure in the bottom of the hole underneath them. Probably unnecessary given the warm temps, manure test & soil test levels but not taking any chances. The maters have done tremendously well thru brutal heat and are growing like mad. Haven't needed watering for 4 or 5 days now. Was 100 degrees here according to the thermometer yesterday. Doing some minimal hand weeding but nothing to open the soil surface and lose what at this point is precious moisture. Semi-artificial soil containing lots of perlite & leftover osmocote on a south facing slope. It's all good. 

[deadeye]

Ken W. I was wondering how to know which plants I have.  ..Determinate and Indeterminate.

[KEN W]

What are the varieties?

[Dotch]

Here the varieties are Jet Star, Celebrity, La Roma, a grape and old fashioned yellow pear. No clue on their growth habit being determinate or indeterminate. We've got lots of flowers already on all varieties except the La Roma's. We also have lots of bumblebees already this year. They've been busy on both the annual and perennial salvia. The Bushel Boy greenhouses are located not too far from here. Looked at a herbicide drift complaint there a few years back & was able to go inside their operation. Lots of little cardboard boxes containing bumblebees scattered throughout to pollinate their maters.   

[roony]

I know Celebrity is a determinate. Most times the label will tell you, otherwise a simple online search. I use to be really big into growing maters when the kids were still home. I planted heirloom (open pollinated) varieties that were indeterminate. I started them from seed and put them out early with protection. I planted them in a 6 foot grid and didn't pinch off new growth until about Sept 1. Lots of times the plants grew over 8 feet tall. I liked picking without having to kneel down. Some of my better plants would yield around 100 lbs over the season. I usually started getting the first ripe tomatoes before July 1.
Bumblers don't pollinate in the traditional way, rather, they vibrate the plant helping it to self pollinate its flowers within themselves. This is necessary in a green  house where the plants aren't rattled around by the wind. I use to shake my plants when I walked by them to aid in pollination.
I could talk for hours about tomatoes and peppers but I wouldn't want to bore you.
A couple of my plants look like they got a whiff of herbicide when the corn was recently sprayed, I'm hoping they'll be ok.

[KEN W]

Celebrity is a semi-determinate tomato because it grows to a certain height (3 to 4 feet). Kind of in between. I have grown Celebrity a few times. Excellent  eating tomato. Fruit grows in clusters. I stopped because I didn't want to grow hybrids anymore. Can't save the seed. I would not prune any suckers off it.

La Roma is determinate. Excellent paste tomato. Don't prune it. Again I don't grow it because it is a hybrid.

Jet Star is indeterminate. Will grow until killed by frost. Should be planted in a tall cage. When it gets to the top prune the tips off of it or it will start to hang down the sides. Here are a few pics of suckers. Should be pinched off of indeterminate plants

.

[roony]

I found Amish Paste to be an excellent open pollinated paste tomato.

[KEN W]

A sucker is basically a new tomato plant growing on the old one. Not many on determinate so you let them grow.

[Dotch]

You da man Ken! Thank you! 

roony has the nicest wrens tho...

[KEN W]

Yes....Amish Paste is and Indeterminate Heirloom and a Non Hybrid so the seed can be saved from year to year. One of the largest Roma Paste type.

[roony]

You da man Ken! Thank you! 

roony has the nicest wrens tho...

Hard to have the best tomatoes when Dotch gets all the nice rain.

[Dotch]

I think the sasquatch that created the fairy ring a while back tried to trick me into believing it had rained yesterday...