The fight is on

Juliets are one of my favorite varieties for the garden. A sweet tasty grape tomato that is wonderful for picking and popping into your mouth. The ones in my Grow Boxes think that if they keep growing they will be Romas. They are so large that two of them cut into three slices covered an egg salad sandwich yesterday. Yum!!!

I can not believe the picture of the two Juliets side by side. If you are one of those people that need visual proof that one product is better than the other, the Grow Box is a superior product. Good organic fertilizer and a better medium for top quality production.

It does not mean that it is a perfect way to grow and this blog will be around to remind me of what needs "tweaking". I know that in my climate that we might have been a little overzealous about the squash. The next planting will be no more than three plants per box. It also means that I will grow my own transplants rather than using seeds.

The Topsy Turvy experiment is over and my husband is happily dismantling the darn thing. The plants have been laid to rest and I am sorry for any pain I caused them.

The fertilizer that the Garden Patch people use with their box is good for production and foliage. The foliage protects your fruit and vegetables (remember that tomatoes are fruits) and keeps the animals uninterested in your crop. That is the outside animals.

I sauteed two of the beautiful zucchini squashes last night with a small amount of butter and some garlic salt. The largest squash was almost 9 inches long and tender. My two Dachshunds, Jimmy and Beanie, were begging for a taste and I thought what difference would it make if I offered them a taste and the fight was on for the rest of that wonderful veggie.

Next time I cook squash, I will make sure there is enough for the four of us, my hisband, myself, Beanine and Jimmy.

Physical and mental therapy

My back surgeon insisted on physical therapy and I insisted on mental therapy. Mental therapy is outside talking to neighbors, plants and my husband. Physical therapy is a 45 minute session with my physical therapist. My husband observed my Pilates session with my PT yesterday and remarked that my session seemed a lot easier than it had with my previous PT. What the man did not understand was that the small, controlled muscle movements were harder than the big ones.

In the garden, you look for spectacular results and when the results are disappointing you make a mental note that the particular method or plant is just not working and it will be replaced next go round. That is definitely the situation with the Pink Brandywines and the Topsy Turvy tree.

The Pink Brandywines use the most water and produce the least amount of fruit I have seen in 36 years of organic gardening. I am a great fan of good producers like Romas, Big Mamas, Park's Whopper, Beefmaster, and Juliets. Hybrids are plants that have been bred for better production and they are typically more disease resistant than heirlooms.

There is even a way to graft heirlooms to hybrid stock for the disease resistance and better production. I have no idea how to do the grafting, but I will find out if it creates better tasting, healthier tomatoes. As I say every year I have had a garden, it is always a science project and I am a scientist at heart.

Gardening requires a real interest in learning. New ideas, new flowers, new vegetables, new methods constantly bombard gardeners every year. A good gardener gets lots of catalogs and spends many quality hours in the throne room deciding what will be in their garden this year.

The Topsy Turvy tree has destroyed 4 perfectly beautiful transplants and the devastation is evident. The tomato plants are splitting and pathetic. A rapid death will be a merciful thing.

The physical reality is true for all of us as we grow older. My own PT sessions say I am getting older and not better unless I let Shannon, my physical therapist or terrorist, put me through the torturous small movements that make my muscles stronger and more willing to work better.

The problem is it is a tough world out there and if you are not a fighter and a producer, you are going to meet your own elimination either by your choice or someone elses.

Those Miracle Blade knives really work

Everything in the garden needs to be staked or tied up in some manner. I found the ideal secure manner to put up the tepees. I bought rebar stakes and they fight perfectly in the open space in the tepee legs. I will put two stakes into the ground for each tepee and the stakes will be about six to eight inches in the ground.

The last three cages from the Garden Patch people will go to the eggplants and two of the cucumber buckets. I was short one piece of the cage because I had used it when I fell in the garden.

I took the piece into the kitchen and got out one of those knives that is supposed to be able cut through metal. Well, it really worked and I improvised a part of the cage. How wonderful it is that those knives really work.

I have branches of the tomatoes that need some kind of tie up because they grew outside of the cage. This is the one that is really unusual. When I realize my stockings have a run in them and can not be worn again, I tie a knot in the stocking and run it through a wash. The knot lets you know that you cannot wear the stocking anymore. Then you can cut the clean stocking into pieces and tie up vegetable plants with the stocking strips.

The odd thing is that the nylon in the stockings attracts the nitrogen in the air when it is tied to metal. Nitrogen comes out of the electricity in the air during a rain storm. The nitrogen then enriches the plant with one of the necessary nutrients that it needs to stay green. For the novices, nitrogen is the first number assigned to fertilizer.

One of the other odd things that we use in the garden are pieces of yellow paper with a sticky substance on them. White flies love the color yellow and prefer the color of the paper to the squash plant. No bug spray works better. In California, they had a white fly infestation a few years ago, and the best deterrent was the yellow sticky paper.

You never know what other things can be used in the garden. It always brings meaning to the saying "necessity is the mother of invention".

Lasagna Gardening is the rage

The latest thinking is to not dig up the soil, no double digging, no breaking the surface. The scientists, that come out of the good agricultural schools, feel it gives bad organisms the opportunity to multiply. The rage is "Lasagna Gardening", a method described in Patricia Lanza's book, which allows the gardener to make a raised bed in layers and get the worms and other beneficial garden microorganisms to break down the layers.

There is never too much reading and there is always things to be learned. I read seed catalogs in order to know the proper picking size of vegetables, I read "Organic Gardening" by Rodale Press and "Mother Earth News" by Ogden Publications. There was a time that the prize for a subscription to "Organic" included great small books with helpful hints. The other thing both companies do is publish great books to read and learn about the garden or cooking the great fruits and vegetables you can grow.

There is no expert in gardening because there is always something new to learn. There are experiments tried by others and passed along.

Moving is hell

My husband just got so tired of trying to fill the reservoirs with water that he decided to expand the space the garden is sitting in. He has added fabric to part of the existing fabric that is already out and he will add more in the morning. He then made more space between the containers and wider rows.

The tomatoes now have more space and that is great because they are getting a lot taller. We have a lot of green tomatoes. The purple Cherokee is in the running for the largest tomato to date and the Romas are in the quantity lead. My Juliet grape tomatoes think they are Romas and are growing way larger than a "cherry type" tomato.

In checking the squash, the zucchini are starting to grow and it looks like we will be eating them some time this week. I have not seen a Patty Pan yet, but hopes are still abounding for their succulent little bodies.

I have to order some more of the cage systems for the grow boxes as the eggplants, peppers, and cucumbers need support. I am going to add some additional caging to the tallest tomatoes to help keep the tomatoes growing as high as the sky.

When the beans are moved a little, I will put up the tepees for them to grow up. I am in love with my little great nephew, Landon, and I promised that little man that he could come and pick beans when they start growing. It is amazing when young parents want something from their prodigy. Landon is one of the most articulate, nicely mannered young men I have met in some time and he is not 2 1/2 yet.

It will be nice to share with Landon my love of fresh vegetables and the beauty of the garden. He loves fresh veggies and he will get to pick what he will eat.

Companion planting is like being married.

There is a whole science of companion gardening. Like the corn, tomatoes like marigolds and garlic. Tomatoes and beans are incompatible and should never be married.

Nasturtiums are an edible flower that complements squash and squash family plants. Another deterrent to squash beetles that drill little fine holes in the plants, the nasturtiums provide a peppery flower to put into salads.

I am so glad the Grow Boxes are working so well. I was telling my veterinarian about the boxes and he told me he would take two. I had to explain to him that I was not selling them, but I was enjoying the garden again. He told me he thought I was representing the company and maybe I am. If I am the kind of person that Garden Patch can give a little joy, then so be it.

What happened?

My husband came in this morning and said that he felt we might have placed the Grow Boxes too close. At the time we started the garden we thought we had good spacing. As is the rule with everything, it looks good on the front end and bad on the back end.

With the heat in the Greater Atlanta (Adlana as Southerners say) area, the back yard is beginning to resemble the rain forest of South America. The Purple Cherokee tomatoes, I estimate, are probably 45 inches tall. They are the tallest with the Pink Brandywines running a close second, and the Pinks are really strange looking plants.

The lime is doing the trick and we will continue to add lime during the summer to stop the blossom end rot. This is a problem when you have a lot of rain. I plan to add the eggshells to the peppers tomorrow and put up the bean tepees.

I had intended to tepee the beans over the weekend, but my husband insisted on priorities and he won. I now am back on track and it is critical that the beans get tepees. If I don't do it soon, the runners they are sending out might reach out and strangle us.

Since my husband has worked in the garden this year, we have made a concerted decision that this is our first and last year with the Topsy Turvy Tree. I have picked exactly two Juliet tomatoes and they weighed a mighty 1 ounce. That is pathetic.

In my garden, as with my children, if you are capable of producing results, then it is expected of you. Nobody told the Topsy manufacturers that it is against nature to keep a plant upside down when it is supposed to grow up. I think I could take those plants and put them in a Grow Box and they would be spectacular.

In my garden, it is produce or we will find another way to grow what we want to grow. Our discrimination is the same for a type of vegetable or flower. The Garden Patch people have a guarantee that their Grow Boxes will produce or you can return the boxes. That would mean I would have to hack my way through the growth and there is too much fruit on the plants to do that.

It is not that I did not research what grew best in the Topsy. I found that the people who were happy with Topsy had planted cherry type tomatoes. We did that and I know that some experiments just do not work. The garden is continually an exercise in experimentation.

So we have the perfect place for that darn Topsy thing and the trash pick up is in the morning.

I could kill the bugs!!!

I went out this morning and saw there were a few broken squash leaves. I thought "oh no I have bugs". The problem was the "bug" stands about 5 foot 8 1/2 inches tall and really resembles my husband. With careful questioning, I found out he had broken the leaves while filling the base that holds water and just "forgot" to tell me.

I would have been angry, but I remember that I have this garden because he has been kind enough to help me. It irritates me that I can no longer pick up bags of soil or anything that weighs more than ten or fifteen pounds. My back will not allow it and I prefer not to aggravate my back, as payback is terrible.

I also see that the tomatoes need some calcium and I had read the lines on the Grow Box instructions too late that the Garden Patch people recommend you put two cups of lime in the potting mix. That still is not a problem and I will add the lime to the water well so that the roots can soak up that good calcium.

Gardening is definitely a science project. You need to know about chemical interactions with plants and the chemicals that they demand. I may even add some of the eggshells that I saved over the winter and add them to the pepper plants. You see eggshells break down into calcium and sulfur. That is the chemicals that peppers like. It doesn't take away the organic element, it is just the way that plants utilize what they are given.

The eggshells have provided a few laughs along the way. I have even called the local Waffle House on the occasional Sunday morning and asked if they had thrown out the eggshells. If you want a quantity of eggshells and don't know where to get them, this is the place. The short order cooks were laughing and thought I was a nut, but I got what I needed.

There are many elements that organic gardeners utilize for their gardens. It can be Epsom Salt for magnesium sulfate or lime for calcium. The one thing every Southern gardener knows that is the best thing for their gardens is lime. Our soil tends to be acidic and it helps to "sweeten" the soil. A $3 bag of lime is a Southern gardeners best friend.

You see some kind of natural element is a woman's best friend. Some women like diamonds, Southern gardening women like lime and some of us like both.

We have herbs and eggplants.

Today, I picked a pound and two ounces of basil, two ounces of dill, and the second six ounce eggplant. That may not sound like a lot of produce, but it is only the 8th of June and it will be a long productive summer. The tomato plants are loaded with all kinds of tomatoes and the various kind of peppers are in full bloom.

I have to finish the tepees tonight along with my own tax returns, and both will go out in the morning. I am also going to force the cucumber, squash, and okra seeds I need for plantings that did not show up for the party.

Forcing the seeds means I am going to do a couple of things. I am going to lightly file the exterior of the seed so that it will open easier, and then I will dampen some paper towels. The seeds then go into the damp paper towels and next into a plastic bag. In order to add a heating element, I will put them outside in a tray. The moisture that builds up inside will help get the seeds going. The filing of the seed will allow the moisture into the internal part of the seed.

Once the seeds are starting to open up and send out its tap root (main root of the plant) and the first leaves (cotyledons). The cotyledons are not true leaves, rather they are part of the embryo plant. The second leaves will be a true leaf and it generally looks a lot different. Once the plant has its second set of leaves, you can begin to see their distinct personalities.

Now, we have all forced our children to grow, whether it is in speech or reading or getting their rumps off the sofa. Sometimes we can not get the children to do it the first time and I just won't take no for an answer.

I ask twice and then I take them by the hand.

Growing better than weeds.

The garden is growing faster than weeds. The only real disappointment is the Topsy Turvy Tree. The tomatoes are growing, but the other tomatoes are doing so much better. My sister sent pictures of her garden and she is having issues with the excess water that runs down the plant causing fungus growth. All plants have leaves that reach their usefulness and the leaves will die off. However, it is too early in the season for that much yellowing.

I love my sister, but her idea of gardening is Miracle Gro. Organic gardeners do not use this product because it is petroleum based and we do not use that kind of fertilizer. There are great companies like Gardeners Supply(www.gardeners.com)or Gardens Alive (www.gardensalive.com) that make specialty fertilizers that are totally organic and made for specific plants. I have bought from these companies with complete assurance that they meet organic standards.

The tepees for the pole snap beans, Blue Lake Poles, are ready and will go out this week. The beans are sending out runners and it is time to train them to grow on the netting. I plant Blue Lake pole beans because I like snap beans and not the beans that require the strings pulled off of their sides. My mother liked the stringy pole beans and I hated them and as some mothers and daughters are, we were always at opposite sides of the spectrum. I prefer the snap beans because I hate the work and taste of the other type of pole beans. I guess preferences run deep as differences can and we mimic our tastes.

Most people are probably saying "what's the difference?" The difference is in production of edible fruit or vegetables. When you plant bush beans, you get two pickings of beans. When you plant pole beans, the production is all growing season once the bean starts producing. For instance, Burpee has both kinds of seeds and it is up to the gardener.

This brings up why the pole beans were preferred to bush beans. It is easier to sit and pick when your bean is growing up something. The older farmers used a lot of companion gardening and pole beans and corn were often grown together.

Years ago, we planted beans in the French Intensive method. This worked great because you made your row a little wider, put up a fence or grow net down the middle and planted on both sides of the divider. This made the beans grow like a tent. My two oldest daughters loved to climb in and out the growth of the beans when they were young. They would help pick the beans and they felt a part of the garden. I distinctly remember the summer Kimmie was fifteen or sixteen months old, and she delighted in pulling the beans and being in the bean house.

Sometimes, in my mind's eye, I see that little girl with the coal black hair in two pigtails on either side of her head bounding from my garden. That garden is long gone and the little girl is now a warm, sweet wonderful woman who teaches AP Psychology and sometimes, like on vacation, I see her dimple when she smiles and the little girl replaces the woman.

All of my children are growing better than weeds, plants and humans.

What a fall

I tripped in the garden and took down two cages of tomatoes. I fixed the cages and rearranged the tomatoes. I know they will be all right in a couple of days.

It was a shock to the plants and me. I just am not that steady on my feet since the back surgery and it is difficult for me to do what I love the most. I need to order the handle for my garden cart, so that I can take my garden seat to the spot I need to sit and work in an easier manner.

To tell you how healthy these plants were, I took the pieces that broke inside and put them in water to root with a product I have used a long time and it is called Rootblast. I put about a teaspoon of this stuff in water and stuck the tomato pieces in the bowl. Those little hairs that stick out on the tomato will become roots and this is a method of creating additional transplants.

Today, the pieces of tomato plants are well on their way to becoming my next tomato plants. I intend to add six more boxes to my garden to make it a total of a 900 square foot equivalent garden. On our trip, my girl friend had a sweet potato that had eyes (or slips) growing and I can not tell you how much I want to try growing my own sweet potatoes, so I brought the poor little sweet potato home and it is getting ready to be cut up and planted in the garden.

Now, the Rootblast plant additive is a great product. I told a client about it and brought him a brand new 20 ounce container of this stuff. You are supposed to use a quarter of a teaspoon of this product per season per plant. He used up the whole 20 ounce jar and he had roses (his favorite plant) that grew as large as a dinner plate. He even had the photo to prove it.

The next summer, he loved the product so much, he ordered a forty pound bucket of Rootblast for his garden and yard and then proceeded to use the entire bucket. I offered his wife a machete to hack her way out of the back door because I could visualize her locked in her home with plants keeping her from getting out the back.

A gardener who loves his or her garden always has to experiment and each year I try new products or new types of plants. Without experimentation there is no advancement.
That means gardeners who read about and try different methods to see if it meets their needs. Over the summer, I will introduce you to some of the things I have tried and found successful.

Remember my friend with the Rootblast, we discovered the sweetest smelling roses have the most thorns. You can not have beauty without something that is a distraction. And you can not have advancement without failure.

High as the sky

I was so excited about getting home to see the garden. So much has grown or germinated in the last week. It was amazing. One of the varieties of tomatoes is now 33 inches tall after 5 weeks in the Grow Box container. Now that is really impressive.

When I told my second daughter, Kimmie, how tall the plants were she responded "that you always told me that tomatoes could grow as high as heaven." Some tomatoes would grow to heaven if allowed to do what they wanted to. My purple Cherokees certainly believe that they can reach heaven and are working hard to get that high.

We also now have beans, cucumbers, and okra starting to grow. The only disappointment was the zucchini I chose for the summer, but that is why you deal with the best seed houses. A quick call to Burpee (a company I have used for years because they do not treat their seeds with pesticide) and a new packet of seeds are on their way. You can not depend on seedlings to grow all of your crops and I have dealt with a lot of companies over the years.

If you have a particular company that works with the extension services, like Parks Seeds in Greenwood, SC, you can get seeds some years that never have been seen beyond testing. One example was the year that sugar snap peas first came on the scene. That plant was a collaboration between Parks and the South Carolina extension service. Sugars are a hybrid between English peas and a Japanese pea pod.

That first year, the seeds were as scarce as hen's teeth, and the people who ordered a $25.00 order from Parks were given 30 seeds of Sugar Snap Peas. Now in the mid 70's $25.00 was a big order and worth every dime. I planted the sugar snap pea seeds in early February and by April my neighbor and I ate every sugar snap that grew on those vines.

The beauty of organic is we do not like pesticides and the peas were untouched by poison. We would chat and eat on both sides of the fence. I don't believe a pea made it into the house that year. Maybe not the next year either.

Back Home

Got back last night, and other than my son did not understand we had a hose and we needed to keep the bottom portion of the box full of water, the plants continued to thrive. Disappointed with the seed I used for the zucchini. I had never tried to grow this particular kind before and I am extremely sorry I did. I had very poor seed germination and I am also having the same problem with the okra. It looks like I have to let the seed germinate inside or put them in peat starters to get the seeds up for good growth.

Now, the good news is the patty pan squash are about 4 to 6 inches high and with many leaves. Great growth for such a short time. Some of the okra is up and all of the cukes and beans are up. The tomatoes now stand about three feet high and are loaded with small tomatoes.

Been Away

When I get home today, I will not have seen my garden for a week. I can't wait to see how much everything has grown. It is exciting on a day to day basis, but when you have not been there to watch the day to day growth it can be overwhelming.

I like to gently move the leaves to see the progress as the tiny fruits start to grow. It always reminds me of one of the last gardens I had when we lived in our first house in Dunwoody. The garden was rather sophisticated because I used old and new methods. I had planted everything in black plastic so that weeding was a thing of the past. I had a drip irrigation system so that water was not wasted and the plants loved the constant source of water.

Now, squash just love water. My squash stood almost five feet high and I would go out in the morning for a quick check and see a little tiny Zucchini. When I went back later that day it was gone and in its place was a full grown fruit. I was beginning to think I had dreamed up the little one and then I realized it had grown that day. Absolutely amazing!!!!