Tomato update: From seed to BLT

I've been so busy this summer, I haven't taken the time to give an update on my first-ever successful attempt at growing tomatoes from seed.  As you can see, it's been a pretty good year for tomatoes, even though we've only had 1.5 inch of rain since mid-June.  I run the soaker hose once a week to give the tomatoes a good 1 inch of water or so, and I think that's helped.  I posted the photo above on my Facebook page to show my mom, and one of my friends commented: "Those tomatoes aren't ripe yet!"  After a bad fruit fly infestation last year, I learned it's best to pick my tomatoes when they're just turning color, and then let them ripened on my kitchen counter.

Back in April, I started roma and orange blossom tomato seeds using a growlight and coconut fiber biodegradable trays, which I bought at Earl May.  If I remember right, the photo below was taken just three weeks after the seeds were planted. So far, everything was looking good.  I kept the trays watered, but let them dry out a little bit between waterings to let the roots get stronger.  I also fertilized them about every 2 weeks with a fertilizer specifically for seedlings.

Can you spot my garden gnome behind the tomatoes?

In mid-May, I finally got the courage to take these babies out of their indoor environment and started "hardening" them off by placing the tray under my back porch awning.  Everything was looking good until I accidentally left them outside overnight, and we got a 2.5 inch pounding rain.  When I woke up, the tomato seedlings were squashed and soaking from the heavy rain. So I dumped the excess water off and placed the seedlings in my enclosed back porch to let them dry out, but still get used to cooler temps.

A week later, I planted the the seedlings. They were pretty spindly, but the roots were so strong, they were poking through the coconut fiber "pots."  I planted the seedlings directly in the ground, without removing the pots.

Fast forward about a month later, and it's hard to believe this little seedling grew up to be a 4-foot-tall tomato plant.  This year, I'm trying to keep up the tomato plants from getting too big, rather than setting fruit, so I'm clipping the vines back every couple weeks or so.  I haven't been as careful about it as I should, but so far, the tomatoes are doing a good job setting fruit.  You might notice in the photo below that I mulch my veggie garden with grass clippings.  I also lay down a layer of newspaper underneath to help weeds from poking up.

This photo was taken in mid-June. The tomato plants are much larger now.

So that pretty much sums up my tomato growing season.  The tomatoes are actually starting to wind down because of the cooler weather this August. Oh, and the lack of rain. Can you tell I'm annoyed because we missed the rains again today?!

So how's your garden growing right now?  Do you have any tomato growing advice?  I've still got a lot to learn.

Container vegetable gardening tips

I have a small vegetable garden plot in my backyard. This year I'm growing four different varieties of tomatoes, two varieties of peppers, cucumbers, carrots and a few flowers to attract pollinators.  We're lucky to have excellent, black soil for growing a veggie garden.  But we still don't have a lot of sunny spots in our yard to grow a couple rows of sweet corn, for example.

That's why I was so excited to find the new patio sweet corn variety from Burpee this year. Not sure if you can tell from my photo, but I'm growing the sweet corn in a galvanized feed bucket, which I bought for less than $20 at the local farm store.  My hubby drilled a couple of holes in the bottom for drainage.  So far, the corn has been growing well.  It's actually tasseled since I took this photo.  About the only issue is that the corn started to "fire" or turn yellow at the base of the stems.  I figured that the corn is probably sucking up nitrogen with its recent growth spurt, so I gave it a dose of all-purpose fertilizer. 

I've actually had really good luck the past couple years growing tomatoes, peppers and strawberries in 5 gallon buckets instead of planting them in the ground.  What I love about container gardening is that I control how much water and fertilizer the plants get.  And I can move the containers around whenever I want to change up the look of my garden.

This year, I took the advice of a local farmer and planted a ground cherry plant in a container.  When I bought the plant, it was just a tiny stem.  Look how it's bushed out!

I've also planted a "bush" summer squash variety in a bucket.  It's the first time I've planted squash in a container.  So far, it's growing good.  Every morning, it's loaded with squash blossoms, but I don't see any tiny squash forming yet.  But that's kind of up to whether the pollinators are finding the blossoms or not.

I'm also growing a sweet 100 cherry tomato in a bucket. Again, this little tomato was just a stem with one leaf when I bought it.  It's really filled out since then.

The only thing to remember when growing flowers or veggies in pots is that you need to keep the containers well watered, because they will dry out much faster than if you plant in the ground.  We're going through another dry spell this July, and I water the pots every day in the early morning before I drive to work.  The veggies also do well with a dose of all-purpose fertilizer once every two weeks.

While I'm sharing tips about my garden, I might as well share a few of my favorite photos from the garden as well.  The hollyhocks are blooming like crazy this year.

And I just had to share this photo of the garden gnome my husband bought me for my birthday.  I've got my soaker hose well positioned to give this little guy a "shower" every once and a while.  It makes me giggle everytime I see him out in my tomato patch.

I'm using the soaker hose as a cheap alternative to drip line irrigation in my garden.  I move the hose to a different spot in the garden whenever needed.  Veggie gardens need about 1 inch of water per week.  We haven't had a measurable rain in more than 2 weeks, so things are looking pretty crispy outside. There's rain in the forecast tomorrow, though, which is a good thing.

How's your garden growing this year? Do you have any container garden tips to share?

Hot pink flowering strawberry

A few weeks back, I stopped by the Iowa Arboreteum's spring plant sale.  I only planned to buy a couple new hostas, but I ended up buying more than a couple!  I couldn't resist the unique plant offerings, including this strawberry plant -- with hot pink flowers!  The plant tag explains that it's an ornamental and edible ever-bearing strawberry that you can plant in a regular pot; it doesn't grow runners.

Unfortunately, the tag doesn't say what the strawberry variety is called.  I did a quick Google search and found this Toscana strawberry, which looks pretty close to what I bought.  I was so thrilled to find such a new-to-me strawberry variety, but then a few days later, I found the same strawberry plant at my local Fareway greenhouse.  So maybe it's not that unusual!

I'll keep you updated on how the strawberries turn out.  Have you ever grown a pink-flowered strawberry?  Have they been around for a while and I just have never heard of them?

Garden update: May 2013

It's an understatement to say that the weather hasn't been very cooperative this spring.  Right after I took these photos, an unseasonably late storm covered my tulips in 3 inches of snow.  I can't complain, though, because we need the moisture after last summer's drought.

We're doing a lot of yard work this spring. We finally cut down the old wisteria vine that tore the shingles off our back porch.  I'll miss the spring blooms, but I won't miss how the vine covered the back of our house every summer.  Anyhow, that's why our yard is looking a little rough in my photos. That, and the snow.

I planted a few lettuce and radish seeds back in April.  Because the temps dropped right after I planted them, it took a month before they popped out of the ground.  But they're growing a little bit every day.

To get myself in the gardening mood, I bought myself a fancy pair of gloves at the farm store.  Don't worry. They'll get dirty soon enough!

I stopped at Holub greenhouse in Ames before Mother's Day and was surprised to find a nice selection of strawberry plants.  I planted them again in Stack-a-Pots. I had good luck with the everbearing strawberries last year. As long as I kept them watered and fertilized regularly, I had strawberries to pick all summer long.  I never really get a lot of strawberries, but it's still a fun backyard project.

Just for fun, I bought two varieties of ever-bearing strawberries: Fort Laramie and Tristar.  I'm curious to see how different they will be from each other.

My tulips are about done blooming now, but they were beautiful while they lasted.  I planted yellow, orange and red tulips to match my neighbor's same-colored tulips.  I wish the tulips would bloom all year!

How's your garden growing this spring?  Did the unusually cold weather slow or alter your gardening plans?  I still haven't planted my potted flowers yet, because the temps were close to freezing this last weekend.

Seed starting: Week 4

Just a quick update on my latest attempt at seed starting.  So far, everything is growing good.  I keep the grow light on for about 15 hours each day, and I water the seedlings whenever they look dry.  But other than that, I'm just watching these little pepper plants grow.

I also planted tomato seeds about 2 weeks ago.  They're looking a little spindly right now, but they're already forming their first true leaves, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

In another month, they should be ready to plant outside. Fingers crossed that I can keep them alive until then!

Seed starting

My husband and I enjoyed the orange blossom tomatoes I found at the Ames Farmers Market last year. So I decided to try to grow them from seed at home this spring.  I've made a couple other attempts at seed starting before, but never had much luck. Mostly because I wasn't very scientific about it.  I just planted seeds in the trays, put them near a window and hoped they grew.  But the seedlings were always spindly, or they would mold in the wet trays.

So this year, I did my homework and invested some cash to make it work.  When I've got money sunk into a project, I'm a little more committed to seeing it through.  I went to Earl May and bought a seedling heat mat ($40) and a 2-foot grow light ($90). Yes, I could have bought them cheaper online, but I liked buying them from a local store.  And my friend who is a master gardener told me that a grow light is a must and worth the investment.

I started out by planting mini lunchbox pepper seeds, a new veggie I would love to grow at home. Pepper seeds take longer to grow than tomatoes, so I started these seeds in mid-March, as recommended by Iowa State University Extension.  I've been following the seed starting instructions from ISU Extension, which are available online.

I'm using a seedling starting tray I got for free from Gurney's. I'm signed up for Gurney's emails, and the company offered a free 10-pod tray as a one-day special, as long as I paid the $4 shipping and handling costs.  I couldn't pass up the deal.

I placed the seedling tray in the basement, on top of the heat mat.  Unfortunately, our basement got too chilly when the March temperatures dipped below freezing, so the seeds didn't germinate a week after I planted them.  I moved the seedling tray upstairs, and the seeds germinated immediately.  A few of the seeds didn't make it, though, because they got moldy after sitting in the cold, damp basement.

I panicked when the seeds didn't pop up after a week, so I bought another seed starting tray at Wal-Mart to plant a second set of seeds.  It's a Burpee Eco-Tray, and it was only $2.  They are just peat-moss planters with a cardboard tray for catching the water.  Then I covered them with plastic wrap.  After just six days, the seeds started to germinate.  So I guess the $2 tray was worth the money!

So far, everything is looking good.  I've got the seedlings under the grow light now, and I'm trying to let the trays dry out a little before I water them, so I don't run into anymore mold problems.  I planted the tomato seeds this weekend, and I'll keep you updated on how it all turns out.  I figure if I can't make it work in time for spring planting, I'll try to grow broccoli, lettuce and cauliflower seeds this summer for fall planting.

Do you start seeds at home?  Any advice for a newbie?  I really want to make this work, so it's not just another expensive hobby.

Garden seed 2013

 

Yep, I bought garden seed already.  I get so excited when those seed catalogs arrive in the mail!  I'm happy to see that seed companies are offering more seeds for container growing.  Last year, I had great luck with the plants I grew in pots.  I'm planning to grow more container plants this summer, although I'm a little worried that the drought might lead to water-use restrictions in my town.  Container plants need to be watered at least once a day in the summer heat.  But I'm hoping for the best and that the drought will end this spring.

I would like to grow more flowers this year.  I saw dwarf sunflowers at the Iowa State Fair's Master Gardeners' plot, and I want to try to grow them at home.

Burpee Seed Co. is offering sweet corn for container gardening this year!  I've always wanted to grow sweet corn, but don't have the space.  I can't wait to see if these seeds will actually grow!

Something else I've always wanted to try, a dwarf melon variety that you can grow in a pot.  I might actually plant these in my little garden rather than a pot.  I would love to grow melons in my backyard!

And one more from Burpee, a new winter squash variety for container gardening.

And then after visiting the White House kitchen garden last fall, I've been wanting to grow scarlett runner beans.  I don't think these are edible, but the purple-flowered vines gave the White House kitchen garden a beautiful "cottage garden" look.  So I'm going to try these at home, maybe with a teepee-shaped trellis.

The rest of the garden seed that I like to grow -- like marigolds and zinnias -- I'll wait to buy until spring, when they're a little cheaper.  I'm willing to pay full price, and shipping, when it's a seed variety that's difficult to find locally.

Have you bought your 2013 garden seed yet?  What are you looking forward to growing this year?

White House fall garden tour

I can't believe I'm writing this, but I have exciting news to share. Last week, I was invited to attend the White House fall garden tour for social media!  I learned about the opportunity on Twitter (which I'm on everyday for work).  I applied and was accepted to join the tour of the White House kitchen and rose gardens with 40 other social meeting guests.

I arrived at the White House at 7:30 a.m. to go through security.  The sun still wasn't up yet, and it started pouring rain when I got to the gate.  I didn't bring an umbrella, because I wasn't sure it was allowed through security.  So I ended up walking around the White House gardens with wet hair and clothes the entire time!  I'm still embarrassed about it, but sometimes you just need to laugh and get over it.

After waiting 40 minutes outside (in the rain), they finally let us into the White House gardens.  Check out my favorite photos from the day.

Guests were invited to take photos and "tweet" as they walked through the White House gardens.

My primary motivation for signing up for the White House tour was to see the famous kitchen garden.  I've been a huge fan of the White House kitchen garden from the beginning.  I've even downloaded the garden plan to see if I could replicate it at home.  I was really excited to see the famous White House beehive! We learned from the White House pastry chef that the bees produced 175 pounds of honey last year.  The honey is used as a natural sweetener in desserts at the White House, as well as in the famous White House beer.

I was a little disappointed that we weren't allowed to walk through the kitchen garden; they kept us roped off just a few feet away.  I didn't get the greatest photos, because I was stuck behind the other photographers who got there first. But as you can see in the photos, the White House kitchen garden is planted in raised garden beds. The fall crops include carrots, kale, a few peppers and tomatoes (there hasn't been a hard freeze in D.C. yet). There are beautiful hyacinth beans climbing up posts, and there's even a papaya tree planted in a pot, just to see how it grows.  The produce is served at White House dinners, including the Obama's family meals, and the extras are given to a local food pantry.

Not sure if you can tell, but the purple and green lettuces are planted in a checkerboard style in the back.  We learned that the National Park Service tends the White House gardens, and there's someone out in the kitchen garden everyday, pulling weeds and checking for insects.  I wish I had that kind of help in my little backyard garden!

We were quickly "shooed" out of the kitchen garden so we could visit the Rose Garden before the public tours.  We saw the White House swing set and putting green.

We got so close to the Oval Office, we could look through the windows!

And then finally, we visited the famous White House rose garden.

We only got to take a few photos before we were told to leave the garden immediately.  We heard a rumor the President Obama would make an appearance, so we waited around for a few minutes just outside the edges of the Rose Garden.  About 10 minutes later, I heard a yell from the gathering crowd, and I looked up and saw the president and his dog, Bo, walking through the Rose Garden!  I was too far back in the crowd to get a decent photo, but I'll have that memory etched into my mind forever!

It was an amazing day, and I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to share it all with you.  Are you a fan of the White House Kitchen Garden?  I think no matter what your politics are, it's still a great project to support healthy eating among American families, especially kids.

Garden update: October 2012

The first freeze of the fall arrived two weeks ago.  I took a few photos of my garden before the freeze.  The garden looks a little shaggy because of the dry weather, but it was still a pretty successful growing season.

I picked lots of green tomatoes to save them from the frost.  They are ripening pretty quick in my kitchen right now.  We've been slicing the ripe tomatoes and drying them in our food dehydrator to use in pastas, soups and casseroles.

How did your garden do this year?  Did the drought impact the garden yields?  I didn't end up with as many tomatoes as I would have liked, but as you can see, I still had quite a few to work with.