Archive for June, 2019

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The Tomatos are In!

Jun10
by catz on June 10, 2019 at 09:32 and modified on June 10, 2019. at 12:05
Posted In: gardening, Heirloom & Heritage Tomatos

It was a great last few days to be gardening.
We started transplanting Tomatos from the greenhouse stands outside (hardening them off the last few days) into the grounds of VegBeds 4 and 5.
Friday for 2 hours, Saturday for 6 hours and Sunday the last of the work was completed.

Some planting notes from 2019:
We have approximately 135 heirloom tomato plants of approx 60 types.
We plant them in rows running north south approx 1 3/4 to 2′ apart in the row.
Rows are 3′ apart.
We use 2×2 stakes that are at least 3′ tall (or at least started that way).
Each 2×2 stake/plant gets its own sign. We print off in alphabetical order, all of the Tomatos in 14 point font on 8.5″ x11″ paper and then have it laminated at the local Staples shop for approx $3 each. Then they get separated with scissors and then stapled onto the stake, on the north side of the stake.
The 2×2 stakes last at least 5 seasons. The laminated signage, at least 3-4 years.
Once in the ground, their small popsicle stick name from seed planting, is also put into the ground as a backup. Then we also add a sharp skewer stick about 6-10″ tall, right up against the plant stalk. This prevents cutworms from popping up in the night, wrapping around the talk and cutting it, killing the plant.
Lastly we heavily water them with a watering can. This is supposed to help reduce transplant shock.

We lost two plants the first night, even with the sticks. These were replanted with other types.

In general the plants are smaller and spindlier than we would like, but the weather is good and they should survive the first week no problem.

We have several experiments this year. One is to use two TPosts and run bailer twine inbetween them in a Florida Weave style, supporting the plants as they grow taller. If this works out, it will replace a lot of 2×2 staking and tieing up later on.
We are also letting an indeterminate type, a Sunrise Bumblebee, climb up a 7′ post, tying it up as it goes, to see if it will make the top. This will help keep the fruit off the ground and let it get more light.

One other experiment is to use 5-7-7 fertilizer . We chose one Russian Peasant tomato plant to receive an initial 2 tablespoons of fertilizer mixed into the soil, then the plant, then 4 more tablespoons sprinkled on the ground surface. Two other Russian Peasant of similar size and health act as the controls.
Typically we have never used after planting fertilizer on any veg plant… only compost and composted manure in the soil tilled in before planting.

Interspersed with the tomatos plants are more than a few basil herbs… something about eating fresh tomatos and basil.. perhaps even on a pizza! MMmmmmmm.
Marigold flowers were also put in with the tomatos.

A partial list of the tomatos:
SCGO Tomato Acadian Cherry
SCGO Tomato Alacrity
SCGO Tomato Amish Paste
SCGO Tomato Anna Russian
SCGO Tomato Ashleigh
SCGO Tomato Azoychka
SCGO Tomato Berkley Tie Dye
SCGO Tomato Bonny Best
SCGO Tomato Brandywine
SCGO Tomato Buckeye State
SCGO Tomato Burpee’s Dwarf Giant
SCGO Tomato Cleota Pink
SCGO Tomato Dandy
SCGO Tomato Earliana
SCGO Tomato Earliest & Best
SCGO Tomato Elbe
SCGO Tomato Eros aka Red Eros
SCGO Tomato Fargo Yellow Pear
SCGO Tomato Garden Peach
SCGO Tomato Georgia Streak
SCGO Tomato Golden Delight
SCGO Tomato Green Grape
SCGO Tomato Green Zebra
SCGO Tomato Ground Cherry
SCGO Tomato Honey
SCGO Tomato Hotset
SCGO Tomato Hungarian Pink Heart
SCGO Tomato Jaune Flamme
SCGO Tomato Jefferson Giant 1880
SCGO Tomato Jersey Devil
SCGO Tomato Lava Flow
SCGO Tomato Ledoux Special
SCGO Tomato Lemon Drop
SCGO Tomato Livingston Buckeye State
SCGO Tomato Livingston Globe 1905
SCGO Tomato Livingston Gold Ball 1892
SCGO Tomato Livingston Honor Bright 1897
SCGO Tomato Livingston Magnus 1900
SCGO Tomato Livingston Main Crop (post 1905)
SCGO Tomato Livingston Stone
SCGO Tomato Manitoba
SCGO Tomato Margaret Olson
SCGO Tomato Moscow
SCGO Tomato Mr Griffiths florida cherry
SCGO Tomato Mr Griffiths Lynda Silver
SCGO Tomato Napoli Paste
SCGO Tomato Nile River Egyptian
SCGO Tomato Oxheart
SCGO Tomato Peasant Russian
SCGO Tomato Pink Bumble Bee
SCGO Tomato Polish Giant Paste
SCGO Tomato Purple Yellow Bumblebee
SCGO Tomato Red Deborah Barr-Mom
SCGO Tomato Russian Saskatchewan
SCGO Tomato Sams Small Paste
SCGO Tomato Scarlet Beefsteak
SCGO Tomato Schellenburgs Favourite
SCGO Tomato Scotia
SCGO Tomato Sunrise Bumblebee
SCGO Tomato Tigerella
SCGO Tomato Yellow Brandywine

Because we are in this for seed-saving, record keeping is critical. After the plants are in, the signs are up, the notes are taken, transcribed and backed up, the maps are drawn, we also take a video camera and walk the gardens, reading out loud the row numbers, the plant names and other information.
This has saved our **ses more than a few times as one set of records gets lost, destroyed, or just fades away…

Moving forward every few weeks, we will support them trunks with velcro ties against the 2×2 stake.

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Time, spring, summer

Jun04
by catz on June 4, 2019 at 09:47 and modified on June 4, 2019. at 09:48
Posted In: life the universe and everything


Time has been slipping away of late. Spring was late, summer will be late and there are still so many things to do.
There is still a pile (smaller) of earth in the driveway, waiting to go into beds. There is still a lot of grass in the flower beds, waiting to come out. There is still a lot of planetary imaging to be done, especially as there has not been any in two years really.

So.. the next few days will be a trifle busy…
The strawberries have been covered to protect them from the ravages of the evil chipmunks… we hope to transplant all of the heirloom veg into the ground over the next 5 days. That will then free up time to move the rest of the dirt and pull the rest of the grass. Which then leads to cutting the lawn.. again.
Which then… finally! leads to mounting an old in storage 15cm newtonian optical tube on a bracket to attached to another optical tube on a mount. If the ZWO ASI 290MC camera then can come to focus.. presto! we may be doing some imaging again… before Jupiter gets too far around the sky.


This image of Jupiter was two years ago to this day. We now have a better camera and will be using a slightly smaller telescope… will see what happens!

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