July Garden Update

Man!
It's already July. I haven't done a garden update since waaaaaay long ago, so let me get you the skinny.
First of all, let me say that my particular location in "Urban Polk county" doesn't quite get the sunshine it needs to grow plants from seed I think. Every great looking tomato plant I sprouted when last I blogged about gardens damped off when the plants got about 6-9 inches tall.
There's probably a way to get around all that business, but I haven't figured it out yet.
My eggplants and cayennes all damped off too.
I did manage to get my heirloom Brandywine tomato vine to gimp along during the winter though, it didn't die till June, and probably could have gone longer, but it was growing in the compost heap, and it was time to work some compost, so it was sacrificed. The compost heap also produced an EXECELLENT! crop of cherry tomatoes from some volunteers. I couldn't believe it! There they were growing in the compost heap...
Anyway, interesting things are happening in the ol' heap. Mainly, it's getting me some GREAT compost. Every where I spread the stuff, good things start to happen. I let it get real hot mid May/June, making sure I turned it over nice and often. I had a plan for using it.
Because I can't seem to start tomatoes from seed in this location, I decided to go ahead an Grab a couple of plants at the beginning of June to plant and see what happens. I went to the local Blue themed hardware store, got some heirloom "Red Beefsteak" tomatoes, a couple of cages, and some high test dirt to make my own custom blend.
Earlier this year, I split a white barrell I saved for making a pair of potato containers, and I decided that Tomato sounded enough like potato to be grown inside them instead. I filled the bottom half with some compost from the heap, and mixed my magic dirt up, and put it on top. My idea is that the compost would provide some micronutrients, organic matter, and a moisture sponge for the growing soil to rest on. Think of it as a firm bedrock. I sunk the plants into the top of the containers and they barely reached the top of the second wire of the tomato cage. The bottom wire was at or near the soil level.
Here's how they look now:

Number 1

Number 2

We'll see if they make it out of the summer alive!

I gave them some Epsom salt this morning because the bottom looked like it was starting to yellow. Usually, this has something to do with a magnesium deficiency and Epsom salt gives the plant magnesium.

Blossoming hope for the future!

That isn't the big news though, on Sunday past, I received three plants that could change my chili perception forever!

Three Little Birds

They are Bhut Jolokias, volunteers from a FOAF, so they are in a sense, Living Urban Legends! heh!

Somehow, that seems appropriate for a plant with a name like "Ghost Chili"
 I separated the plants today, and gave them a magnesium drink too. They seemed to like it. They'll be ready to go into a container in about a week. They've just been dug up, and I want the roots to show some vigor before I try to transplant them again.

Sittin' by my Doorstep

I hope they make!
I'm going to try and find some more info on the parent plants.
Tew Be Continued.
I have further compost volunteer adventure stories to tell, complete with SCIENCE!

Heirloom Tomatoes part 2

Ok, here's part two of my quest for awesome heirloom tomatoes, Rutgers variety.
You've already met the players, let's get a closer look at what's in those hippie egg trays:

Not every seed sprouted, but every little cup in the tray had at least one sprouted seed. The new leaves were out on several of the seeds. You could tell the seed were having some problems staying oriented because of the water they were in. Sometimes down is up when you have no root. Surely there is a spiritual lesson in that as well.
Here's a photographic account of how the seedlings were planted:

It's amazing to observe when a child will and will not sit still.
Planting time is a perfect example.
My two year old is normally miss Messy Raccoon, climbing into everything, dumping it out, etc. After we drop off Sisters at their respective schools, it's just she and I for about 3 hours. Usually we go outside, do puzzles, go on walks, exercise, watch movies, whatever to keep busy. If I am doing anything she has to be right on top of it, all up my my business so to speak.  When I planted these plants she was right under me the whole time, and sat still watching everything I did. She didn't grab anything, spill anything, try to pick anything up (at least not while I was busy planting things), or be anything but strictly attentive. She sat in one spot, and watched me plant 24 tomato seedlings.
If you ask her to eat her breakfast though, she can't sit still for more than a bite.

Heirloom Tomatoes Part 1

It's planting time in Central FL!
Time to get the ol' garden growing, here's what I've done so far:
1. Plant some tomatoes, Rutgers. They're from some 2010 seed stock, and they all pretty much sprouted, take that expiration date!
2. Tried to sprout some pole beans, peppers, and eggplant. Didn't do so hot with that, the end result was...disgusting...
I have lots of pics from planting!
First let's meet the players:

 These are the seeds, my Rutgers Tomatoes from 2010. Later on down the line I'll give a close up of what's in the tray. First let me tell you what the tray is. For the last 6 months or so, my family has been intentionally trying to eat better. One of the changes we have made is to use better eggs, namely 4 Grain brand. They don't pay me to say this, but these are great eggs. Pricey yes, worth it? I think so. They remind me of the eggs we got when I was a kid from a friend of the family. Anyway, I'm recycling the cartons to plant seeds. The eggs are packed in a "clamshell", with a lid over top of the clamshell. I cut the lid off (more on what I did with that later), and put water and seeds in the little cups that once held the eggs. The seeds were prepared on January 19th, and I did this planting on February 1st. There were 2-3 seeds in each cup, and every cup had sprouted seeds in it on the first. There was no sign of bad mold.

In the picture on the right we see the peat pots that will take our sprouts and turn them into plantable tomato bushes. There was 32 in the package, we only need 24 for the tomatoes. the extra pot will get eggplant and pepper (cayenne) plants.

This is my dirt. I buy it from a local co-op farm. When I asked him what he was using to grow his great looking produce he told me he was using stuff so good he called it 'soil' and not dirt. I asked him the difference between soil and dirt, and he told me price. When he told me the price for a bag of this stuff I about fell out! I ponied up though, and paid the piper, mainly because I could see the results right in front of me. I have a hard time growing good size produce in my yard because of a lack of good dirt and sunshine. Fortunately, this soil takes care of it's part. I'd probably clear some trees out, but they make great free antenna supports, so I don't complain. I think instead I will be focusing my growing efforts on raising blackberries, if my current vine makes good this year.



Finally we have my makeshift greenhouse. This is a box we had in storage that wasn't holding anything but dust and spider webs. I cleaned it out and made it so that when I potted up my sprouts, they would have a place with high heat and humidity so the could grow fast.






In my next post I'll show you all the steps I went through to get a mini-greenhouse with some tomatoes in it!
Here's a close up of my high dollar dirt:

Gardening in a Box.

Normally, I do things a little outside the box. This time, outside the box is inside the box!
HA!

I love getting my hands dirty in good soil. I also love reminding myself of the simple truth: "If I want to live, something else must die."
That's some hard philosophy for you, and it's not what this post is about. This post is about gardening using a technique I have modified from "Square Foot Gardening" . I bought the newest book at a big box hardware store so I could start raising the food I eat instead of just going to the store. Previous attempts at gardening have only been minimally effective, I wanted to try and do something good and right, and I'm finally starting to see fruit, literally, and figuratively!

I don't wish to critique Mel Bartholomew's book Square Foot Gardening because I didn't follow his instructions exactly. I didn't build the soil he said to build (and I don't think I will), and I used slightly different materials. I didn't do anything different out of spite, or because I thought I was doing it better, I did it because I've learned to be pragmatic, especially when time is of the essence. I was already late in getting the boxes built, I feared I might become downright hasty if I neglected doing something beneficial soon! I'm glad I did things when I did them, I was able to learn some valuable lessons:
1. The thing about a raised box garden is that the magic is in the raised box! I believe that is the single most important thing I learned. Building a box, covering the bottom with a weed fabric, and controlling the soil you use to grow your plants are the things that seem to provide the greatest results. Isolate the environment to compensate for a lack.
2. Watch it like a hawk. Because your environment is isolated, you may have to make a quick reaction to what's happening in and around the soil, especially when it comes to water. When you have a raised bed, with weed fabric accross the bottom, it's hard to water too much, but it can be very easy to water too little, especially as it gets hotter. plants can't develop deep roots, so you have to compensate.
3. Have a plant support system established before you build the boxes. One of the things Mel says do, that I didn't was build a netting trellis. I couldn't find the netting, and instead of pragmatically just getting some tomato cages or stakes, I neglected to do that, and the plants quickly went willy-nilly. Bad call. I finally staked the tomatoes today, and got them off the everything. My tomato production will probably suffer as a result.

Other general notes include, the next time I do tomatoes, i will do one variety at a time, just to keep seeds pure. I will also locate some netting, because I think I could get better tomatos if I'd been training to to grow on a net instead of just staking them, staking will damage the vine. I'll do fewer plants too. Ultimately, I'd like to have a group of cherry tomatoes growing overhead. I think I could do that, and have it be awesome.

The garden is beginning to bear fruit. it's gone from this:

To This:

The tomatoes are producing tomatoes, although none have turned yet. The cucumbers are going strong, we've already had one. I've gotten basil, rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, radishes, and various greens. I've also had a hand full of blackberries.

updates as summer and harvest progresses!

Feta! Tomato! Basil! Oh My!

Open face omelette, ready to be folded.

Today's omelette is a delicious endeavor in creating a fresh, clean, crisp taste. I wanted to show what the omelette looked like on the inside because I wanted to prove a point, when you feel good on the inside, you'll be good all around.
NOMNOMNOMNOM
that's what I did to this omelette. People, this omelette is all about clean flavor! I am thoroughly convinced you can make this and taste something wonderful. first a recipe:

• 1/4 of a medium sized tomato, diced


• 2 cloves sliced garlic


• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil


• 2 Tbsp crumbled feta


• 2 Tbsp Whole milk or real half and half


• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter


• 2 eggs


• celery seed (pinch)


• rubbed sage (pinch)


• salt (pinch)




Melt butter in cooking pan, hold 3 slices of garlic in reserve, smash the rest, and add to butter, saute. Beat eggs with salt and milk (or 1/2 & 1/2), and add to pan once garlic has browned on both sides. Allow eggs to firm up, add feta, tomatoes, remaining garlic, celery seed and sage. Once cheese is melted, and eggs are mostly firm, add basil, fold, and flip. turn off heat and wait a minute to allow the eggs to glue everything together. Remove, and add basil garnish.

What you get then is a wonderfully flavored and balanced dish. The tomato and feta combine smoothly, and the fresh basil fills your mouth, while the celery seed leaves it feeling clean. The sliced garlic adds a sharp spice, and the sage serves well as a background transitioning the flavors from feta and tomato, to garlic, to basil/celery finish. So far, this omelette has had the cleanest flavor of the three that I've made. y'all come over in a couple of weeks when I have more basil, and maybe even a fresh tomato, and I'll make you it!
I goofed the plating a little bit, wasn't holding the dish close enough, and broke the omelette a little bit, that' ok though, it's why we use a tasty basil sprig garnish! More pics:
Closeup of the omelette, pre-folding:


Ready to Eat! Chipped plate and broken omelette included for Wassassabi:

Strange Daze...

It's a rainy day, so God is doing the work of wetting my garden, I did have to turn the compost today though, and did so in a light rain. No biggie, I still worked up a sweat, and was amazed at how warm the heap was. Composting works! When it gets ready, it will probably go in the front yard, around my landscaping, mainly because this compost is questionable, i keep finding grubs in it even though it's warm. I don't want to add problems to my garden, I already don't get enough sunlight for my taste. Why add grubs!
My garden is a square foot garden, although I admit the pepper plant is in a container, and is likely to remain in a container. My goal is to see how big I can get this cayenne, and how long it can survive. I would like to plant seeds from this cayenne though, I have three set aside, from my first red pepper, and look forward to planting them. Even though the plant was in only moderate sun, the pepper did turn out to be good and spicy! perhaps there's something to the old grape growers tale that struggle makes for good grapes.

On a side note, handling a shovel on a daily basis is reducing the wimpyness of my information service oriented palms. I almost got a blister!