Tag Archives: cherry tomatoes

This years tomatoes in my square foot garden

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IMG_2202It’s been all over the place for temperatures this spring.  We’ve had weekends where it was in the mid-70’s.  We’ve even had a couple of 80 degree days. Like other neighbors I begin to think its time to start planting even though there is still some much cooler temperatures ahead,  along with the possibility of a frost and lots of rain.

My tomato plants were looking pretty good inside so I thought I’d take a chance on them right now.  I hardened the plant off, and then I’ve protected it with a simple empty plastic container.  Some folks might call this a cloche.  I use the cap to moderate the temperature.  If the sun is coming out at all, I remove the cap because it will really heat up.  If it’s raining or generally a cloudy day, I’ll keep the cap on.  The cap is always on at night.

So far, so good.  My tomato plant is thriving nicely.  I’ve got about a dozen more started inside that will be hardened off this weekend.  By Mothers Day they’ll be in the ground.  All this work in an effort for the first tomatoes in the neighborhood-it really doesn’t matter too much.  Even if you got out and buy a large tomato plant with yellow blossoms on it, we all seem to get our tomatoes within the same 2 week period of time.

The varieties I’m growing this year are all my favorites: san marzano, sun gold, red cherry, rainbow cherry, 5 star grape, sun sugar, new girl, and rose.  Paste tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and slicing tomatoes-each only taking up 1 square foot of space.  It’s a great way to garden[ois skin=”3″]

Bye bye tomatoes!!!

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IMG_1716The end of October and I’m about out of tomatoes. Very sad! For me it marks the end of the summer garden and I know that winter is around the corner. We’ve enjoyed more tomatoes this year than we ever have in the past. I grew 16 tomato plants using 5 different varieties. These varieties are the ones I”ll alway grow. Lots of cherry tomatoes, several Roma types, and then a standard tomato variety.

One evening I went out to find that a few of my cherry tomatoes had fallen to the ground. When that happens I know they’ve been on the vine too long and are over ripe. At that point I began pulling them off the vine-from the bottom-to put in the freezer for the winter. We enjoy delicious pasta sauce for months with these tomatoes. There’s little work and the taste-you would never know they were frozen. I simply don’t have the time(or money)to put all of these up for storage.

One thing I learned this year about all the different types of tomatoes: cherry tomatoes are definitely king! Folks enjoy the regular and paste type of tomatoes, but one mouthful of pure sugar from these cherry tomatoes make a believer out of anyone. Last week I offered a handful of Sun Gold cherry tomatoes to a neighbor. “I’m not a tomato fan but our son is-I’ll give them to him.” She then tasted one to make sure she didn’t like them: “Oh my! I’ve never tasted a tomato like this! What kind are these? It’s like a mini-sugar explosion in your mouth!” I think she’ll take all she can get next year.

Last point-don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t grow tomatoes in 1 square foot! I think it’s the only way to do it. [ois skin=”1″]

My newly planted fall square foot garden

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fall garden 091315I’ve finished planting this 4X8′ square foot garden about 10 days ago. I can find seeds emerging in every square and in 6 weeks this will look very similar to my spring gardens. This particular box was planted to feed 4 people for a 6 week block of time. You can see that lettuce will be the first crop to be harvested. At about the same time will be spinach, chard, and mizuna. These are all easy to grow, they come up quickly, and they taste great. I think I’ve added some arugula in there. I found a variety that’s advertised as “much milder” than regular arugula so I’m giving it a try. All these make for a perfect mix-and-match mesclun salad. Add to this the cherry tomatoes that are still very productive and cucumbers and you’ve got something really good.

This weekend I continued planting for the winter garden. Over the course of the next 6 weeks I’ll be done with that. It takes a bit of planning but with the right crops, the right planting dates, and a layer of plastic and floating row cover you can easily enjoy fresh produce and veggies all winter long. At least, that’s the goal. We’ve got a few extra people living with us so we might run out a little earlier than we have in the past. Thats okay, it will be deep into the winter months if/when that happens. [ois skin=”1″]

Planting your fall square foot garden

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kale 090715I’ve been working pretty hard the last 2 weeks in the last effort to plant for fall and winter.  Today I planted 200 carrot seeds which will take us through the spring. Why that many?  Because that’s the amount our family will use though the winter months.  Certified Square Foot Gardening instructors always stress the point that you only grow what you need, what your family eats, and nothing more.

My fall garden is just about all planted now.  I’m waiting on one specialty packet of arugula seeds to finish.  This particular variety grows quickly-like most arugula plants do-but it’s got a milder pepper flavor.  That’s how it’s advertised.  We’ll see if that’s accurate.  In the meantime, I’ve just got a couple of square open for radishes(30 days till harvest), and a couple more for lettuce.  Combined with my huge bounty of cherry tomatoes, chard, spinach, and cucumbers, we are set to have a fantastic fall season of salads.  I’m trying not to boast but nobody can beat the taste of the lettuces I grow.  It’s more than just the varieties, although I think that’s important.  I think the soil is the other very important factor.

All my crops are grown in homemade compost made for free with items coming out of the kitchen and yard.  I have no weeds.  I use no commercial fertilizer.  I have no pests.  I have no use for chemicals of any kind.  Everything is watered just the right amount and harvested at the right time of day.  If you don’t have a garden you’re really missing out on some of the most tasty things in life.  You can beat any farm, CSA, or farmers market by growing lettuce yourself once you learn how.  Last night we had family over for margherita pizza on the grill, cheese bread, and salad.  This particular salad was Paris Cos, pepper jack cheese, homemade croutons, craisins, sunflower seeds, candied walnuts, cucumbers(the best ever!), and my cherry tomatoes(which taste like pure sugar!).  I combined blue cheese and poppy seed for the dressing.  Our guests raved.  So simple.  So good.  Done for pennies.  All from a trip to your garden.

This picture is a kale variety.  I initially ordered winterbor but the seed company was out for the entire year.  The substitute they sent me was starbor, and I’m not sure I’ll grow any other kale variety in the future.  It performed very well with heavy yields and excellent taste.  And it was magic through the hot summer months of July and August[ois skin=”1″]

Square Foot Gardening Harvest

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TWE Summer basket #4This time of year is a lot of fun. All the planning put into the garden are paying off by way of large harvests. Lettuce, carrots, basil, cherry tomatoes, squash, zucchini, chard, cucumbers, melons of various varieties, corn, etc. The most enjoyable part for me has been the summer lettuces. We’ve had a pretty hot summer and I’ve been able to grow the specialty lettuces right through the season. And we’ve got more hot weather coming in the next week. Once you hit that 85+ degree mark it’s very difficult to grow lettuce without having it bolt and go to seed.

I’ve been able to grow vegetables and produce for 8 families this summer. I think I’ll keep all those customers for the fall season as well. I love the idea and concept of CSA’s. When I think of CSA’s this is what comes to mind: lot of work requiring time that I don’t have. If you know neighbors or friends who belong to CSA’s they love them but are always a little perplexed by some of the items they get in their baskets. It’s been estimated that 15-20% of CSA items are thrown away because customers don’t know what to do with that kohlrabi-or whatever different thing they might have in their basket. To compensate for this CSA’s will add a recipe card for ideas of how to use unknown or unfamiliar things.

My baskets have no recipe cards because they contain items that everyone knows what to do with. There’s no recipe cards needed for the items you see in this basket. You may think it’s boring but my customers are always getting organic produce and veggies that have been harvested just a few hours earlier. I’ve had comments saying that nobody can beat the taste of these lettuce, cucumber, or cherry tomato varieties. And the squash/zucchini varieties are very popular as well. I do vary the varieties and color of the lettuces throughout the 6 week period. Either way, I think it’s tough to beat the taste of my salad greens and veggies.

If you haven’t gotten the harvest you expected or things don’t seem to do grow well, you might want to consider learning the square foot gardening method. The backbone of the system is the soil-which is perfect for anything you’d like to grow. There is the upfront cost of putting it together, but how much does it cost you in terms of money and frustration to have those same old tiny tomatoes that don’t grow to full size-and it’s been going on for years? Or carrots that don’t come up? Or, how about the critters that attack your garden every year? And we haven’t even mentioned the weeding! The square foot gardening system is so easy to learn. You’ll have 100% of the harvest in 20% of the space of that old traditional row garden.

Labor day will be here in a week. This spells the end or the beginning of the end of the gardening season for the year. I don’t know about you but I’m getting ready for my fall crop. And since I haven’t spent a lot of time weeding and watering I have a lot of energy left to devote to that.[ois skin=”1″]