Caging the Beast

It's a good thing that once everything is well-established in a vegetable garden, there's not much more to do besides sit back and enjoy the harvests. However, I still had one major task to tackle today, thanks to my own hardheadedness.

Besides the squirrel thievery, the only problem I had with our first crop of tomatoes three years ago was the cages. They were ugly. So when I put the sweet new seedlings in the ground six weeks ago, I refused to add depressing steel-gray cones to the mix, figuring that if the cages were never there, the plants would grow strongly and be self-supporting.

Boy, am I dumb!

The plants were a tangled, sprawling mess. Many of the branches had grown completely perpendicular to the stem and were 4 feet long. I was loath to cut off the branches with blossoms, since I know how yummy those blossoms will be in a few short weeks. However, many of them broke off on their own as I was coaxing them into the cages. They were reluctant, to say the least. But I managed to get 4 out of 7 (the cherry tomatoes, which were much more unwieldy and disorganized) into cages. Then I ran out of cages. But the others (larger variety) will be all right, I think. I hope.

As an aside, some of the leaves on my squash plants, which are next to the tomatoes, have been turning a powdery yellow and wilting. Although Rob has pointed out that tomatoes are technically poisonous (this helpful website can elaborate) I can't find any warnings online about companion planting with these two. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

The beginning of another year's garden

It doesn't look like much now but my 2008 vegetable garden is officially underway. Eighteen bell pepper transplants are in (Red Beauty), as are 18 tomato plants (Roma, German Johnson, and Beefmaster). I picked these up at our local farmer's market, which is only about 2 miles from my house. I'd love to grow my own seedlings but I actually don't have a great spot to do that in the house - maybe a small greenhouse is in our future?

We picked up seedlings of the crazy tomato varieties I described in my first post but they're still pretty tiny and will likely need to be grown out a bit before planting. But that's ok. One thing I've noticed with tomatoes in our area is that even plants that are supposed to be indeterminate tend to wither and fade out by mid-to-late August. September and October are still prime growing months in our area of NC so if a few plants get in the ground a little later it may just mean an extended harvest - that works for me.

In addition to transplants we've also done some direct sowing of cucumbers (two varieties, but I can't remember the names), beans, and some peas. It's probably way too late for the peas to do much but that's ok. If they work out, great; if not, so be it. We'll learn something either way.

One of the most satisfying things about putting in this year's garden is seeing how much our soil has improved over the years. After four years of dumping as much organic material as we could get our hands on into the garden we're starting to see a terrific payoff. Our garden soil is dark and easily workable, it seems to hold water just right - it stays moist but is never soggy. The best thing we ever did for our garden soil was to put in about 4-5 cubic yards of composted horse manure. Wow, this stuff is really fantastic - and cheap!

Still to do in the garden is plant zucchini and basil and run soaker hoses up and down each row of plants. Once the hoses are in by the tomatoes I'll set a tomato cage around each plant. I use farmer's wire field fencing to make cages. I had a big roll of the stuff left over from a fencing project and decided it would be perfect for cages. I cut the bottom-most horizontal strand of wire off each cage and that leaves 6 or 7 vertical pieces of wire to serve as stakes to keep the cages anchored in heavy winds. The cages were cheap to make and are effective and durable - this will be our third season using them. Wire from the same field fencing also makes great stakes for holding soaker hoses in place. Using these stakes allows me to keep the hose right on the ground and right next to my plants.

One of my favorite things about gardening, and something I look forward to every season, is the daily ritual of coming home from work and checking on my plants. I check on everyone's progress and note who's thriving and who needs some attention. I usually don't see much change from day to day but over a season's worth of daily tending I've witnessed the growth of another year's garden.