Lots of Tomatoes in a Small Space

 Our tomatoes are doing really well this year.  Thanks to the warm weather, the plentiful rain, and the great plants we got from the Garden Patch Nursery in Coshocton.  The trouble is, we want lots of tomatoes, but we don't have much space to devote to them.  So, our tomatoes are planted too close together, and starting to sprawl on each other.  They look good but soon they will develop problems because they are too close.  Solution?  Trellising.  Give the tomatoes the space they need by growing them vertically.  Here's what we are doingl

 We built a trellis based on an Eliot Colman design (I think it is in The New Organic Grower). The key to this is a strong board at the top to support the weight of the plants, and a tight wire at the bottom to tie the strings to.  Some people recommend that you tie to the plant at the base, but I find the weight of the plant tends to put a lot of stress on the roots and the stem.  I tie to a wire, and things don't get pulled out when the wind blows.

 The next step is to prune off the sucker growth.  These are the growth points that come out at a leaf juncture.  If you have enough space you could leave one and treat it as a seperate plant on a new line.  I prune them all.

 I've found that the early blossoms form on the main lead, and the suckers bloom later.  I'd rather put more energy into those early blooms, so the suckers have to go.

When the plant is pruned we tie it to the vertical line.  Once a week they need to be pruned and tied.  With an indeterminate plant we can have them grow over the top of the trellis and start down the other side.  Using this method for adding more space and combining it with good fertility, mulch, and consistent watering, I can space my tomatoes about 1 foot apart.  Lets me pack a lot of plants in a small area.

  

 This is what the first row looks like now.  Only two more to go.  

Other tips on trellising.  I like baler twine.  It ties well, and it lasts all summer but isn't a problem in the compost of burn pile (depending on your clean-up method and disease pressure).  Jute will not make it through the summer.  Another thing.  Only work tomatoes when they are warm and dry.  Early in the morning they are very brittle and will break where you needed them to bend.  When the plants are wet from rain or dew it is easy to pass disease from plant to plant.  Work when they are dry, and use clean shears (DON"T stick them in the dirt!!!)

Life gets in the way...

So, I posted a grand plan to write everyday, and failed in short order.

OOPS, forgot that I had a JOB and KIDS with needs, and a farm to run and a marriage to maintain, and friends, and... oh, and that we are at that 7.5 year point in our home when everything we fixed when we moved in BREAKS! 

That said, things have moved...slowly...forward.  So, here is an update.

 

The pottager is filled and doing well.  (Thanks Mark for help weeding!)

 

The other side of the pottager (which was supposed to be trees and perennial food plants has been reworked into an annual food garden because the trees failed to thrive in this spot.   Maybe later when we have built better soil.

 

The herb garden is rocking.  have basil, rosemary, several different thymes, sage, stevia, chives, dill, oregano, lemon balm, cilantro,lavender, and lemon balm.

 

Sunflower wall, pumpkins, and a border of marigolds are jumping up with all the warm rain.

 

We expanded the garden below the sunflowers.  It now has lots of trees, and perennial food plants like strawberries.

 

The animal barn has been converted into a picnic area.   Still working on tables, benches, lighting. and drainage....(this month of rain has taught us a lot about our land.)

 

The Hopkin Boys helped me move a few stones to finish the edge of the driveway.  Gravel is next.

 

The barn is still there, standing like the large pink elephant in the middle of the room.  At this point the planning of "Save the barn" part 2 is underway.  (if you are interested, follow our progress on this site, or if you want to help, send me a message ... roberts.ecofarm  at gmail  dot com.)

More to come soon.  

Enjoyed having the Hopkin clan use us as a base.  We got a lot out of it, hope you did too. 

Garden Planning - pottager - salad garden

I'm late in my garden planning, but I'm at least doing it this year.  In years past, the only planned thing has been either long term crops (garlic) or big projects (popcorn and pumpkins in a three sisters garden).  This year is different.  We are trying to feed ourselves.  So, planning is key.  First garden plan.  The kitchen garden in the pottager.  We built a pottager garden about 5 years ago and have used it extensively for our food since then.  This year we are expanding into a failed perennial space and really focusing the pottager on immediate use.  The garden will have three parts, the herb garden, the salad garden and the kitchen garden.  The salad garden this year will be an intensive project, aimed at providing salad and cooking greens year round.  I have a 10 by 10 space that I will divide into 20 spaces with compost mulch paths between.  I'll grow spinach, kale, chard, various lettuces, mustard, peas, radishes, beets, carrots, scallions, and a cherry tomato.  Everything will be instant use, rapid rotation.  Tomorrow I will post the map of the pottager salad garden and explore the pottager kitchen garden. 

Pumpkin

This past spring JJ came home with a pumpkin planted in a paper cup.  (Project with the Daisy Girl Scout troop where she is a junior leader.)  It sprouted and got planted in the potager among the trees.  We ignored it.  It thrived, rambling all over the garden and eventually producing two pumpkins.  The kids were thrilled.  But as they matured they turned out to be cooking pumpkins not carving pumpkins.  Dissapointing, but that's life sometimes.

So we harvested the pumpkins. 

Chopped them into bits. 

 Cooked them.

And bottled them. 

Two pumpkins produced 18 quarts of pumpkin puree which we will use this winter to make pie, soup, bread, cookies, and maybe even fudge.

The Potager 2010

We have been really happy with our potager.  Having the garden right near the house is great.  We can plant more intensively because we can water things easily.  We also take better care with weeding and harvesting so we get more out of the space.  When it is time to cook it is easy to find meal inspiration just out side the door.  By adding some vertical elements and doing lots of small successions we have gotten quite a bit from a small space.

The Potager April 2009

The Potager August 2009

                                                The Potager August 2010

We have had great beans this year.  Not 4 plantings and not a single Mexican Bean Beetle.  Finally got the soil balance right.  Next challenge is cucumber beetles.

Horseradish Harvest

We planted two clumps of horseradish in the potager last spring. They seemed to really like the spot and have grown quite a bit. Since we love horseradish we decided to harvest some this fall.

Horseradish in the fall

A bunch of roots waiting to be cleaned

The food processor made short work of the roots.

You want to do this in a very well ventilated space. The smell is pretty strong.

Packing the shredded horseradish into jars. Gloves are a must in this whole process. It really burns your hands if you don't wear them.

We topped the bottles up, and canned them. We tried a bit after canning and it was great. The only thing I would change is the texture. Our food processor shredded the roots into a bit bigger pieces than I want for some things. Still, it was a success.

The Potager Phaze II - The Greenhouse

The Potager has been a total success. We love it. We have already gotten so much more out of it than we were out of our regular garden. Having an out door living space dedicated to food and beauty has been perfect for us. With the arrival of Fall we have been cleaning up, planting, and starting to plan next years bounty. We have also had some sharp reminders that we are not finished. The plan for this project included a small greenhouse to finish enclosing the north side and to provide a winter home for the plants we have added that can't take the winter temps here. We have a collection of citrus, olive, avocado, banana, and bay trees as well as some potted herbs that we love and need to protect. We will be building a small greenhouse on the southeast end on the shop. We have a space that is 14' x 14'. The northwest wall joins the shop building, so it is solid. We need to provide enough heat and light to keep the citrus trees going all winter and hope to add in some peppers and tomatoes for our own use. I've been playing around with design ideas, but would like to throw the project out there for suggestions. The limits are 14' x 14' and an fairly small budget. We'd like it as self-sustaining as possible, and need it to stay warm enough to keep our tropicals alive and thriving through the winter. We would prefer site generated power and heat as much as possible. I'll be posting some of my initial ideas next Tuesday along with any suggestions made by readers. If there are people who would like to take this on in a serious way I'm sure we could have a design contest. Let me know.

Garlic Planting Time

It is Garlic Planting Time at our house. This year we are putting in a lot of garlic. Most of it will be in the large 4' x 60' market garden beds. A few special types (Ontario Purple Trillum, Chesnok Red, and Elephant), along with some French and Gray Shallots are getting planted in one of the potager.

Here is the potager bed all prepared.

JJ planting garlic on a 6 inch grid.

We will mulch the whole bed with straw when it gets a little colder. The garlic will grow right through the straw. It should do just fine here where it wont get too much wind.

P.S. In the market garden bed we have about 1000 plants. Mostly Ukranian Red with some Italian Late Softneck for braiding.

OFB posted a great bit about garlic dip. Check it out for some great, seasonally appropriate suggestions for garlic and personal safety.

Wordless Wednesday - Potager Abundance

Squashed

The potager is filling in nicely. The trees and herbs are thriving. The tomatoes are about to explode, and the cucumbers have totally taken over on quarter of the garden and moved on to consume some of the yard. We've made a lot of pickles, and will be making a lot of salsa and sauce soon. Everything else is doing well except the squash. We only planted two hills of zucchini this year. It usually does annoyingly well so two is more than enough. This year one hill is thriving and the other is not.

One sickly looking squash. It was planted the same day, from the same seed packet, and has received all the same treatment. They are only 3.5 feet apart. I can't figure it out.

One thrives, the other seems to be withering and about to die. Any ideas?

Don't forget to enter our Fudge Contest. We have received some great ideas so far. It will be a fun challenge making all the flavors.

We're Back

Life has been pretty crazy here lately. Things seemed to be falling apart at an alarming rate. I posted a bit about what's been happening yesterday in a post on Not Dabbling in Normal. I'm getting back in the swing of blogging and will be bringing our adventures up to date over the next few days.

The Farm Shop is finished

The Potager is filling in nicely

and Fudge has become a major part of our life.

Busy!!!

We have been going flat out here for the past two weeks. The farmer's market started the first Saturday of May and had us hopping to be ready. Week two, this past Saturday, went smother, but was much busier. We are hopeful that things will continue to pick up at the market. We tripled our sales the second week. (obviously we can't do that every week, but I'd like to at least double last weeks sales by the end of the month.)

The kids are in the home stretch for school. We can't wait to be done. It's been a good year, but we all need a break.

The potager is creeping towards completion.

On a political note, the president made me laugh. That's a change over the past president. (He made me laugh too, but it was at him (in a grim sort of way) rather than with him.) The tracker shows no movement on the bills I've been following, but they haven't gone away. No movement means they are in committee getting fine tuned. People concerned about the continued availability of locally produced food should be in contact with the committees and their state reps. When they come out of committee it will be too late for the little guys. I was interviewed by Robynne Boyd from Mother Nature Network about the potential impact of these bills on small farmers. Check out what she wrote and stay informed. We all need to be active on this issue, or it will get passed into law as it is and create a real mess in the future.

Tomorrow I'm posting about small farms and the future on Not Dabbling In Normal. I'll post a link and a few more details then.

Potager Construction Days 7 - 10

The weather and life finally gave us a break and we put in some time on finishing this project. It's not there yet, but we made some real progress over the past few days. Of course, I was too tired to post (I could barely milk the goat, let alone type...) So, here is what we have been doing on the potager (other things have been happening too, but I'll save those for another post.)

Day 7 we put down a lot more pavers. This really happened over several days in small bursts between rain storms, but would have been day seven if the weather had cooperated.

Day 8 (Thursday, the 23rd) - the sun was actually shining. The supervisor was ready, so we got to work.

First we had to finish the pavers. This happened as the blocks for the wall and the edging arrived.

More sand and stones were moved to make a level bed for the pavers.

Finally they were all in place.

They looked pretty good.

Day 9 - The saw arrived.

All the odd little places where full pavers didn't fit got special cut pavers to fill the gaps.
It was lots of cuts...
and fitting.
Then we started on the edgers.

They fit in surprisingly well.
Things looked pretty nice by the end of the day.

Day 10 - April 26th (a day of "rest")
The supervisor was waiting when I walked out the door. All we had left was one little retaining wall. Just a few (115 @ 80 lbs each plus capstones) blocks to move into place (50 yards, really poor planning on my part.) No problem. Of course, we had to move some dirt first. The wall needed to sit on a 2 foot wide 6 inch deep packed gravel base. Since the dirt needing retaining loomed 2 1/2 feet above the level of the pavers, that turned out to be a wee bit of earth to move. Then we got to fill it back in with gravel. (a kind of military training exercise I remenber from Basic - Dig a hole, Fill the hole!) The wheel barrow got a work out.

Filling the pad for the retaining wall.
Cutting the first stone. (You have to start at the most important corner. If you don't things get ugly. To start you have to split a block. It's tedious, nerve wracking (for an amature stone mason) work and it's the first thing you have to do....)
The first stone in place!
Moving 80 pound blocks 50 yards is too much work for me, even with the handy block lifter. I used a wheel barrow to cover most the distince. I started with four blocks, but soon was down to three and eventually only two per trip.
After a lot of trips the wall came together.
It looked pretty good.
The cap stones helped a lot.
A good end to a not so restfull day.

April 28th

This is where we are today. Still a ways to go, but it is almost finished!