Tomato Killer

I have been accused of killing all houseplants. Last year I graduated to the status of serial Mom orchid killer. But I found new recruits and began again this year.

We started the tomatoes in the Walmart special add water and grow pellets. They thrived under the plastic encased enviro-hatching place until they were uprooted (well not quite) from 7 Woodland to 2 Woodland. Couldn't harden off in an unheated house with a sunny picture window. The hardy six prove that anyone can grow a tomato from a seed.

Wierd eh, but not giving up.

Early lettuce and vidalia onion surprise

We planted lettuce seed in late February and are now just getting lettice that almost is ready to eat. Radishes on the other hand are edible.

But the vidalia onion sets bought last summer from the Farmer's Supply all died, or so it seemed. We must have left some in (by mistake). So it turns out that they look just like bunching onions after wintering over. They could even bulb sometime this summer. Miracles never cease...the neglectful tomato killer may triumph yet.

The lettuce planted at the end of February is almost finished, and getting ready to seed...especially now since the days are in the 80s and 90s. The bok choy seeded too fast this year, must try to get them in earlier so I can harvest before they go to seed. The radishes went woody this week.

The spinach, planted in mid-March, did very well. We have already put up about 4 freezer bags. The recipe according to The Joy of Cooking, is to wash the spinach, put it in a basket insider a boiler and blanch in boiling water for 2.5 minutes. Ours looked great.

We put in the Sweet Potatoes about a week ago, and they are going full guns. They seem to like hot weather.

Still battling the potato beetle. So far we sprayed a week ago, on the 13th with Neem, came back about 3 days later and tried Bt, and then picked a few off today (5/21) and did another spraying of Bt.

Carrots are doing great, beets did not do very well, nor did Snow Peas. The zinnias are doing well.

Put in a row of okra on 5/18, also put in filet beans on 5/19, and 5/20 put in Calendula.

Pulled up Spinach and Lettuce Remains.

Beets were overshadowed by potatoes, but we ate three with the greens-- delicious.

So we planted in Garden 1: a bit more okra and transplanted the cabbages into Garden 2.

In Garden 2 we planted another row of beans by the dividing line.

Also put in a mound of carrots.

And a mound of earlidew melons.

We took grass trimmings from Chuck Kestner's lawn and mulched around tomatoes and peppers in Plot 2.

Cabbages are suffering mightily in the transplanting. all I have to do is look over to Tim and Debbie's cabbages and Richard Canode's and I know that we have to try harder next year.

This is of 6/9/04.

Last night (6/9) sprayed Neem on the young filet beans, and also the new ones popping up (Red Burgundy bush beans). Can't believe they are coming up just less than a week after planting.

Everything in the garden going fairly well, but a couple of potatoe plants have become yellowed, diseased looking. Pulled them out. The tomatoes seem stressed, don't know why.

Sweet potato plants have some holes in them from insect damage. Can't tell what.

I have been ruminating about the garden. And what I have learned from working in it. We came back in mid-August and put in spinach, radishes, beets, swiss chard, and peas.

The peas did something incredible; they began blooming in mid-October, but probably because they never cross-polinated, they never produced any pea pods. They are still growing in the garden and it is now the weekend after Thanksgiving. Some have died from the frost, but the majority are there as ever. Surely they will die soon, having not yielded any real pods...but I am impressed with their growth...and our late growing season.

The spinach did not germinate well. The beets and swiss chard each germinated about half of the rows we sowed.

Our big producers were sweet peppers. Way too many. But the giant surprise of all were the parsnips that are still growing...they take 110 days, but if you can get them to produce they are well worth it.

This all boils down to the fact that with some vigilance and care, one can have a three-season garden in Virginia. Ours didn't work out exactly the way I thought it would, but I am glad I tried.

I have been reading a lot about sustainable agriculture in Hope's Edge by Anna and Frances Lappe. It gives me a lot of ideas about how all Americans need to consider the possibility of "organic" a lot more seriously. For one, about 80 percent of our soy bean crops are now Genetically Modified. That should give any of us pause to think. And one-third of our milk (50 percent marketed through Kraft--therefore Phillip Morris) has rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) and there is no labelling on milk of this--- it is no wonder that we suffer such high incidences of cancer and other maladies.

Working in our garden has been a sanctuary of peace and hope for me. But it has led me to think about where our food comes from, how much money we spend on it, and whether or not it really is feeding us in a healthy and sustainable manner.

I hope some of you have these thoughts as well. Thanks for all of the members for making the garden possible...for it has brought many of us great joy as well as food for thought and body.