Don’t Make Me Blush
People often ask us when to pick tomatoes from the vine. Once you see a faint blush on the fruit, it is time to bring them inside. Otherwise, fully-ripened, red fruit are just advertising that the buffet is open to all the squirrels and birds in the neighborhood. Do not fear that picking early will […]
Irrigation Station
With the promise of yet another hot summer, we’ve decided to invest in a drip irrigation system. With as many plants as we grow, our bucket brigade method gets a little tiresome as temperatures rise. James Worley has long encouraged us to take the plunge, so we headed over to see the way it works […]
Cabin Fever
James Worley hosted a Co-op Garden workshop Saturday. When James is not planting thousands of heirloom tomato seeds to supply Kansas City gardeners, incredibly, he finds the time to cultivate spring and fall crops in his impressive raised bed plots in his backyard. Having a chance to see James’ handy work up close is always […]
Certified Wildlife Habitat
As our loyal readers know, TomatoTown is not only a place for heirloom tomatoes, but also a safe haven for all manner of creatures. On a couple of garden tours I’ve done over the years I’ve seen signs touting an area as a ‘Certified Wildlife Habitat’. I always been curious about how the process works, […]
Blossom End Rot
Gardeners are no strangers to adversity, but we’ve become a little discouraged by the streak of blossom end rot. The excitement of reaching for a blushing beauty is crushed once it is plucked from the vine. As you can see, we’ve had quite more than a few victims. Farmer T insists that we can’t count […]
Wide, Wide, World of TomatoTown
We’ve had requests for wider shots of the garden here at TomatoTown, so Farmer J left her trusty macro lens inside. Our garden is a bit on the wild side, which is good for critters. We’ve been to manicured gardens, and we admire them. We just prefer to let nature take its course, for the […]
Plenty of Blossoms
We’ve had friends tell us that while they have many blossoms this year, they have no tomatoes on their vines yet. Admittedly, it has been a strange spring, but one good trick for pollinating, is to give your plants a good shake now and then. It will get the pollen moving and your tomatoes grooving.
My Precious!
The green globes of a Cuore di Bue beckons from the vine. While there is still much work to be done, it is always exciting to see the first tomatoes peeking out beneath the leaves. After several failed attempts with different methods, we’ve settled upon cattle panel to keep our plants standing tall. There is some […]
Sun Scald
Farmer T has been so distressed by the sun damage on the Absinthe and Nepal plants that he had to walk out of the room when he saw this photo on the computer screen. We kept our plants indoors a few days to protect them from frost and failed to harden them to the elements […]
Disco Dancing in TomatoTown
Farmer T actually took disco dancing lessons with his mom and sister back in the 70’s, and thanks to Silver Reflective Mulch he can relive those sweet moves he learned, as TomatoTown has gone DISCO! Our garden is so bright, I’ve got to wear shades. Seriously. A welding mask might be more appropriate for daytime […]
Bee Time
The Siren song of blooms, both native and exotic, lure bees into our garden to help with the pollination of our fruits and vegetables. Of course, tomatoes and peppers, are self-pollinated but they do benefit from the assistance of bees. Our first step was to avoid the use of pesticides. That was easy. The next […]
The Truth About Marigolds
I love the internet. I hate the internet. It is the ultimate research tool and the worst echo chamber of misinformation. I just got burned by forming an opinion about marigolds, of all things, after reading an entry on a garden blog that breathlessly extolled the virtues of these pretty flowers as being helpful in […]
March Madness
The only round objects we care about here in Tomato Town are the ones we pick and put in a basket with a handle. Only 2.5 months to go before we can plant our tomatoes! Farmer J already has our order in with James Worley. He has planted the seedlings, and we are watching the […]