September 13, 1996
Amazing! We planted three nights ago and already our seeds are
germinating! Radish seeds are always quick, but this was REALLY
speedy! We also have some gold beets poking their little cotyledons
above the ground!
September 15, 1996
We now have a show of gold and red beets, swiss chard, Tom Thumb
lettuce, radishes and cabbage. I planted a mixture pack of cabbage
and it's very interesting to notice that the cotyledons are
showing us what they might be. One cabbage is going to be red
for sure. The red beet cotyledons are green with red. Such cute
little babies! :)
October 8th, 1996
Confused at what I'm doing here, planting by the moon, I didn't
transplant in time for the snap peas. Well, one snap pea plant.
I had read if the seedling root touches the bottom of the flat
it will think it's time to mature. One little baby snap pea
plant had a bud on it. I pinched it off and transplanted the
six of them. The new moon is nearing again. It's almost time
to plant more seeds. I need to transplant more babies into the
bed today. Soon I will be changing the color of this page, which
I'm not happy with right now. :)
October 9th, 1996
Ugh. I detest transplanting. No more transplanting for me, at
least for this year! My snap peas are all maturing, due to not
transplanting them in time. Now, I need to figure out how many
days I have to dig more garden area until it's time to plant
the next group of seeds. It took me two hours to transplant
the spinach, red and gold beets, lettuce and cabbage. I watered
an area of the yard to prepare to plant the Sweet Pea flower
seeds.
November 12th, 1996
Oh my! I can't believe it's been *that* long since I've paid
attention to the garden, other than watering and a bit of weeding.
Of the things I planted originally, the Swiss Chard is doing
well, a few spinach made it but are all small and the gold and
red beets are thriving, but small. The area of the garden is
not the best. It doesn't get much sun at all. I have been working
on another area of the yard in anticipation of planting the
Sweet Pea Flower seeds. This new area should get more sun and
is about 2 feet by 8 feet. I also plan to plant lettuce again,
the leaf lettuce didn't germinate. I will be planting more beets,
and more Swiss Chard. Tonight, we had our first tidbit from
the garden. I picked the bigger leaves of Swiss Chard, about
a dozen hand sized leaves, and a few leaves of spinach and beets
about half the size of the Swiss Chard. We steamed the greens
and lightly salted them, and each of us had a small mound. Mmmmmm.
Very delicious! I hope to plant more seeds tomorrow or the next
day.
November 13th, 1996
I actually did get seeds planted today. Last night I looked
at the moon as I was taking the Lantana bushes trimmings to
the garbage and thought, wow, it's almost a new moon! Well,
I got it all backwards, tomorrow night we should have a full
moon - the old moon and two weeks from now, the new moon. Seeds
are supposed to be planted two days before the new moon. Oh,
well! This is what I planted today; More Swiss Chard, spinach,
gold beets, red beets, radishes, carrots, leaf lettuce, Tom
Thumb lettuce. Also, I planted the Sweet Pea seeds and Snapdragons.
The Sweet Peas are specially bred to be fragrant. I remember
the fragrant Sweet Peas as a child. They smelled so heavenly
and was disappointed when I starting growing them and they had
little smell. I found out that by breeding for the quality of
the flower, the smell had almost been bred out. I found the
fragrant old fashioned kind at Pine Tree Seeds. When I first
started gardening, I planted out of season and wondered why
I had to be born with such a black thumb. :) After I started
reading up on desert gardening, I figured out that I actually
have a green thumb! I directed seeded today. I promised myself
no more transplanting! :)
Time for
Tomatoes
January 10, 1997
These are the tomatoes I am planting this year:
(Quoted sections from the Pinetree Seeds catalog.)
Pruden's
Purple: "This heirloom tomato is our favorite, Pruden's Purple
is outstanding in every aspect. It is exceptionally early
for a large, indeterminate tomato. The average fruit weighs
1 pound, is 4 inches across and 3 inches high. There are distinctive
ridges like the ribs of a cantaloupe which gird the fruit
longitudinally. The color is more of a distinctive pink than
a true purple. While there are occasional misshapen tomatoes,
it never cracks, yet the skin is not thick. Flesh is firm
and meaty and the flavor is wonderful. Remarkably, Pruden's
Purple contains very few seeds. While this is a positive factor
for the consumer, it is also why it has taken us several years
to increase the seed supply sufficiently to offer this exceptional
tomato. (72 days)"
Golden
Queen:"I've always been partial to golden tomatoes, not yellow
but a deep gold, changing to orange. Generally I've grown
a hybrid like Golden Boy because even though the flavor of
some of the older varieties, ie. Persimmon, was a bit better,
the growth characteristics and susceptibility to disease were
unacceptable. Last year, we discovered this Amish heirloom,
introduced in 1882. Nearly every 3"-4" round, flattened fruit
is perfect, yields are mid-season and abundant, and most importantly,
the flavor is dramatic, juicy -- great! Nothing bland about
this one. (65 days)
Brandywine:
"Flavor is the sole reason that this Amish heirloom tomato
from the nineteenth century remains available. The large fruits
range in size from 10 to 24 ounces and are borne on vigorous
indetermine vines which will require some support. Fruits
are flattened and irregular, a pinkish red. There are those
who will tell you that this is the best tasting tomato they
have ever had. (80 days)
And finally, a huge success for me last year was Yellow Pear.
I yielded over 300 fruits from a plant that grew to about 9
feet in height. I use tomato cages around my tomato plants and
this one was in a cage 6 feet tall and then it drooped down
another three feet over the edges. Truly a success!
"Yellow
Pear: These slightly acid tomatoes have been a personal favorite
since childhood. Shape is truly pear-like, with a small neck
and bulbous body, about 1 1/2" long. The continuos yield is
truly amazing. They brighten up a salad and are a welcome
addition in sauces. A long vine. (80 days"
I contacted the Cooperative Extension Services here in Phoenix.
Their address is 4341 E. Broadway, Phoenix, AZ 85040 (602) 470-8086
Their recommended planting dates for Zone 2 (1000-2000 ft. Elevation)
is January 1 - March 1 for seeds. February 15 - March 15 for
plants. I prefer to grow seeds, as you can choose exactly what
you are getting in a tomato. The C.E.S recommends planting quick-growing
(60-80 days) tomatoes.
I prefer growing heirloom
varieties, rather than hybrids. I also prefer growing indeterminate
plants, rather than determinate. There is a really super book
called _The Total Tomato_ which had a wealth of information
about growing tomatoes. I learned from this book that supermarket
variety tomatoes are bred especially to withstand shipping and
they are usually picked green, then shipped.
A hybrid tomato's seeds
should not be used for replanting, as the tomato will not come
"true" - will not taste the same as the parent tomato. Heirloom
tomato's seeds can be replanted. Indeterminate vined tomatoes
grow new vines and fruit continually. A determinate tomato plant
is good when you are planning to make sauce from your tomatoes,
as the plant blossoms all at once and you can pick your tomatoes
within a few days. The indeterminate tomato provides fruit for
a much longer period of time.
A couple of things I
do with my tomatoes. I try to loosen the dirt beneath where
the tomato will be growing down to 24 inches. At the bottom,
I place a banana peel, which is supposed to provide additional
fertilization for the tomato as the root grows down. About 6
inches below the surface, I place onion skins, which is supposed
to deter pests. Another thing I do is to place a 2 liter plastic
bottle with holes poked in the bottom of it, near each tomato
plant so that I can get water down closer to the roots. In one
book that I follow it claims that tomato roots can grow as deep
as 8 to 10 feet. I also plan to plant marigold flowers. Last
year I planted a variety of marigold that grew carnation-type
blossoms and the plant grew to three feet tall. They were quite
beautiful.
Every year I try to pick
some different varieties and see what does well. Last year I
planted Lemon Boy, which is a yellow tomato, Big Boy's, which
are a red hybrid, the Yellow Pear and Cherry Tomatoes. No one
seemed to care much for the Cherry Tomatoes. The Yellow Pear
was the greatest success. The Lemon Boy was good tasting, but
we got about a dozen tomatoes for the entire season. The Big
Boy's were not too successful either, we yielded under a dozen.
A couple of the Big Boy's were pretty good sized, but the rest
were smallish.
The next thing I need
to think about preparing soil for is Sunflowers.
I found an awesome site on the WWW entitled I
love Sunflowers. by Dawn Banks George
Last year, I had one grow to be 10 feet tall. They are awesome
flowers, they start from this rather small seed and grow into
these HUGE tree-like flowers. We watched the bees pollinate
each pistil and it was incredible watching the seed head begin
small and expand to accomodate the seeds!!
I have a goal to plant
a lush garden of flowers in my front yard area. I can see it
now. The area is pretty good sized. But I have to concentrate
my energies on the vegetable garden areas first.
January 31, 1997
Well, I planted my tomato seeds, but we had a flood a couple
days later, and the soil sunk down four inches below the surface.
Someone left the soaker hose on.....anyway, the seeds had not
germinated after about 2 weeks time, so I decided to replant.
I had also read an article which advised burying the soaker
hose 1 foot below the surface. The article claimed the tomato
plants were like small trees as a result. So, I figured I'd
replant the seeds and bury the soaker hose in the process. Also,
the soil had become really clay-ey so I mixed in some more potting
soil and Perlite to loosen it up.
So I ended up planting the seeds four days ago again. I have
been sprinkling the soil every day, for fear of oversoaking
the soil again, if that had anything to do at all with the seeds
not germinating.
We are able to harvest
Swiss Chard and lettuce from the garden, oh, and plenty of radishes.
The carrots are still very small, as are the beets and cabbage.
The Sweet Pea flowers are still small also.
February 24, 1997
The tomato seeds FINALLY germinated, and are now small babies
with true leaves just starting to show.
Today I also planted
more seeds. The sunflowers are supposed to be planted as early
as February 15th, so I started preparing the soil along the
north side of my yard, where there is a chain link fence so
I can tie the sunflowers to the fence as they grow taller. I
ended up preparing a section about 25 feet long and about 18
inches wide. Too much space for sunflowers alone, so I planted
more Sweet Pea flower seeds. And, I planted more vegetables;
Little Finger carrots, gold and red beets, lettuce mix and radishes.
I had some basil seeds from a couple years back and decided
to try and see if those would germinate.
From the 2nd garden,
we have harvested all of the radishes and a couple days ago,
we realized that the Little Finger carrots are now "little finger"
sized and ready to pick and eat! Very tasty little tidbits,
crunchy, juicy and sweet!
If I remember, I should
scan some pictures of my tallest sunflower from last year -
or was it two years ago? Goodness! It WAS two years ago! The
seeds I planted today were from *that* very tall, huge sunflower.
The seeds from that sunflower were given to me from my next
door neighbor. He was an old gardener and had brought his seeds
with him from Cambodia when he moved from there to the States.
His yard was a fabulous garden. The entire front and back yards
were devoted entirely to his vegetables.
I *did* get that sunflower
scanned. You can click here to view the
tallest sunflower and here is the seed
head.
March 30, 1997
It's so hot here already
that many of my vegetables are bolting. The cabbage I planted
never did form heads, and one is now going to seed. My beets
that were planted in September never did develop a nice root
and are bolting. I'm unsure about using the seeds from these.
I always thought it was best to use seed from the biggest, best
specimen. Radish plants are bolting.
On the flower front, our Sweet Peas are very close to blossoming
and the Snapdragons, too.
The tomatoes are still very small. :( I'm not sure if they are
going to get big enough to flower before it gets too terribly
hot.
The sunflowers are doing wonderfully! It is so awesome to walk
out there so early in the morning and see all these 4" to 6"
tall baby plants leaning way over to the east to taste the morning
sun. And at sundown they are all leaning way over to the west.
I never noticed this phenomenon when I grew them the first time
when they were very small, I only noticed it when they had a
flower and I thought the flower was following the sun's path.
But I see now it happens from the time they are very small.
Well, that's it for now on the garden front. Happy Easter!
May 8, 1997
I'm really failing in
my garden!! I'd like to do better next fall. I'm going to plant
squash soon (should have planted 8 weeks ago!) and pumpkin.
Maybe watermelon, too.
The sunflowers are about 3 feet tall. One has a flower bud starting.
The tomato plants are all blossoming. They are rather small
though. :( Just over a foot tall. They are all indeterminate,
so hopefully they will continue to grow larger.
I have one red leaf lettuce going to seed, and plan to collect
those seeds to plant next fall.
The sweetpeas are wonderful, smell heavenly and very colorful.
They too are starting to dry up from the heat. :( Gotta get
those planted sooner next fall! We can have Christmas blossoms
if we plant soon enough.
Let's see, oh, the Swiss Chard is pretty much sticking around,
only a couple plants have bolted. Michelle's animals were pretty
excited a couple weeks ago when I weeded out all the bolted
plants and took them up there!
Wish me better luck next fall! Happy Mother's Day!
