Tomatoes

Our sunpeach tomatoes are coming along.

Tomato Cages, Coriander Seeds, Rain Collection

Today, I fed my plants and gave them some support.

Some of the tomato plants already had cages, but today, Ryan and I bought some more and built a couple for our tomato and squash plants.

A friend gave me some cane reeds that we tied together and built into tomato cages. It was really easy. All I needed in addition was some green tape to tie the tips together and add some extra support. I tied some around the bottom of the canes to support the plants a little more. I'm hoping the tape will hold up, but will just have to wait and see.

I also decided to throw down some more food. The leaves on a couple of the plants are looking a little yellow again, so I figured some food wouldn't hurt. The last time that happened and I fed them, the yellow was gone the next day. It's crazy how fast you can see results in gardening.

I've noticed a few peppers on my jalepeno plant, small tomatoes on a couple of the plants and all kinds of blossoms. The basil plants are going crazy and some are producing flowers already. The pineapple sage is bushy and my thyme is thriving, too. The rosemary I planted to get rid of mosquitoes is branching out and I snipped a little the other day -- it was so fresh and aromatic. The lavender is bushing out a bit, and I haven't even watered it once. There's been a lot of rain, and lavender doesn't need as much water as other crops. I read that it needs well-drained soil, so I planted it on the outside of the beds, and so far, so good.

Something is eating the kale and the collard greens, but I read on Mother Earth News that during the warm summer months, those plants attract more pests than in the early spring or late fall when it's cooler out. Also, better tasting kale results from a couple of frosts, and that isn't happening any time
soon. I'm going to keep trying and see what happens. I can always try again in the fall.

The cilantro is flowering, which is one more step toward coriander. I'm waiting for the flowers to produce little green seeds -- coriander. I want to harvest some of the green seeds, but save some to dry out a bit for overwinter cooking. I read a blog that said the flavor is much different and the seeds can also be frozen so I could use them through some of the winter months.

We've continued to collect rain with our rain barrels, but, we've also found another way to collect waiter that would be otherwise wasted. We have a dehumidifier in the basement to help with moisture in the summer months. The machine collects water from the air and sends it into a reservoir. This particular dehumidifier also has a hose you can attach and therefore, aim it at whatever you want and collect the water. Originally, we had the hose aimed at the drain in the basement, but Ryan decided to put the hose in a bucket instead, and see how much water we could collect. We had no idea how much it would produce: up to four gallons a day!

So, we've hardly used our own water to water our garden or yard this year. I'm so glad Kansas isn't one of the states where it's illegal to collect rainwater. I just can't believe that's the case anywhere.

Everything is going well so far, and I'm so excited for some summer tomatoes.

Whoa, look at this worm, it's huge!

Ryan at work.

Tuesday, Ryan and I planted the crops we bought at the Topeka Farmers Market.

First, we had to uproot the spinach and mesclun mix to clear a spot for our new tomatoes and squash.  We used these hoes a friend of ours made for us, he likes to use metal to make things, including decorations. He goes by the name The Iron Florist. Here's an article I wrote about him, if you want to know more.  After pulling up the roots, we threw them into a pile a few feet away from the beds. Once they die we will add them to the compost bin.

Big worm

Ryan also bought a tool at the hardware store that can be used to shallowly till soil by hand. He used it to loosen up the soil and kind of mix it together, which helped rip up some of the weeds that were growing, too. Hopefully those won't come back. Weeds are hard to keep up on. At first I was getting all of them, then, slowly over time I slacked off. Then, there were a whole bunch of them and it took me a long time to get most of them, so I can see how it would be easy to let weeds take over your garden.

While tilling, we found a lot of worms. BIG worms! I was hoeing up some of the spinach when one flipped out of the soil and flew two feet, then scrambled to get back underground. It startled me and gave me a laugh at the same time! Then, Ryan found another one, pictured here. At least we know we have good soil thanks to these guys!

We added alfalfa mulch

We then planted our crops. We did three more tomato plants in the north bed -- where the other tomato plants and pepper plants are. Then, in the south bed we put the other three tomato plants, the squash along the southernmost side, and the greens on the northernmost side. We had a reason for our madness. The squash plants will yield 2-3 squash, so we figured this meant we will be picking those plants the least, so we placed those at the back where it's harder to reach. The tomato plants, however, will be picked frequently and better access will be appreciated. The greens are in the front since they are low to the ground and you need to be close to them to cut them. We tried to think ahead.

After planting, we added compost and mulch to each plant. Some of the plants we bought were already planted in compost, but we figured a little more wouldn't hurt. Here in a couple weeks, I'll add some plant food.

There is a blank space in our garden. The reason for the blank space is that we were scared to take on too much for our first garden. I've read all over the place that the biggest mistake new gardeners make is taking on too much. We decided to give it a week or two, then decide if we can take on more. I think we should just do what we have so far, and start planning a fall garden. It's been so fun so far, I wouldn't want to overwhelm myself, so I'll probably just carry on with what I have.

If you have any comments, tips or advice, please comment below. I'd love to hear your experiences!

More tomatoes and other things to plant

I went to the Topeka Farmers Market this weekend and bought six more tomato plants. Now that we've harvested the spinach and greens three times, and it's getting hotter, we decided to replace those crops with more tomatoes, squash and greens.

In addition to six more tomato plants, we got kale, collard greens, Lakota squash, zucchini,

New additions

muskmelon, acorn squash and butternut squash. One of our neighbors has a booth at the market and he gave us a great deal on the plants and threw in a couple for free so we picked the Lakota and the muskmelon. We weren't necessarily planning to plant these things but because of our recent success, we have become slightly addicted to growing our own food. We thought, if we could grow that other stuff, why not this stuff?

Back to the tomatoes. We got six different types, because we just couldn't get the same kinds we already have. We want to try many different varieties, and we were able to find some so that worked out for us well. I tried searching all the varieties on the Tomato Chooser app, but they weren't all on there. I'm not sure what that means, but I still bought varieties that weren't on the app because the lady selling them did a good job. Below is a list and a description of each variety of tomato we picked.

Cherokee Purple -- a medium-sized slicer that turns a dark purple but lighter-colored at the stem.

Sunrise Bumblebee -- a yellow to red cherry tomato. These vary in color on the inside and the outside and are sweet.

Lemon Boy -- a medium-sized yellow tomato. I believe we got some of these from some friends last year and they a late maturing, and will be ready after most other tomato plants are done for the season. We canned a lot of them and that seemed to be a great storage method for this type of tomato.

Pink Tiger -- an elongated cherry tomato, these look like their namesake, with tiger-like stripes on the little fruits. I really want to get a dehydrator and do sun-dried tomatoes, the Tomato Chooser app says this variety is best dried.

Sunpeach -- This kind is another cherry tomato. The descriptions say it's a sweeter, less acidic cherry tomato.

Brandywine Burgundy -- this tomato is a sister of the brandywine tomato. It's going to be a dark purple slicer that could grow as large as 1 lb.

Tumbling toms

We also bought a hanging basket of Tumbling Tom tomatoes. They looked pretty healthy and like the plant would yield a lot, and this plant already had a bunch of red fruit on it. We picked some for dinner tonight on our fresh garden greens. I ate a couple and they are sweet, juicy and a little meaty.

I look forward to planting these new plants in our garden and even more to them growing. Gardening has proven to be exciting and fruitful -- literally!

The tomatoes we planted a couple weeks ago are coming along nicely. The Early Girls are producing new fruit daily, and there is one tomato starting to turn orange/red. The other plants are flowering, which means fruit is coming soon.

The basil I planted by seed is coming up and thriving. The pineapple sage has doubled in size and the

My herb container with a variety of basil, pineapple
sage and thyme.

Siam Queen basil is coming along nicely, too. I started pulling off the purple flowers to promote new, bushy growth at the base of the plant and it worked. I have a few new shoots coming off with new leaves that will probably end up in dinner one night.

A couple days ago, I added some plant food to my soil around the tomato plants. It's been a few weeks and I felt like they needed some food. The leaves were turning yellow on our pepper plants, but ever since I fed them, they've greened back up again. So, I must have done something right!

Heavy Rain = Flooding

This weekend, we had a lot of rain here in Topeka. It was hard, severe rain, too.

I had to work Saturday, so the storm began before I was able to get home. It poured! By the time I got home, my basil plants were swimming in a half-inch of rainwater, but the rest of the garden seemed fine. Some of it seemed a little beaten down because of the heavy rain, but everything perked up after soaking up the nitrogen-rich thunderstorm water. The basil ended up being OK, at least I hope. I've been checking on it and the pot it's in drained well, so the soil is still moist but drained. The seedling roots seem to be holding firm, so I don't think I lost any of them. I was really worried about it, so I'm glad to see they are still alive.

Our tomato plant, the 'Early Girl' plant, is already showing promise. There are about 10 small, green tomatoes, and I'm sure there will be more. The other plants haven't started producing, but they are getting bigger.

The mesclun greens and some of the spinach is coming back. The spinach doesn't look the best, but we plan to steam and freeze it anyway, so that shouldn't matter. It looks like we are having a few more slugs as it heats up, too, so the leaves have a few holes in them. The mesclun greens, on the other hand, are growing back perfectly. We harvested a few for dinner last night and they still taste great. I did notice that they weren't as tender as the first growth, but they are still more tender and sweet than the greens you can buy at the grocery story. I think we are going to harvest and grow them one more time and see what happens. We've been lucky and it's been in the 60s and 70s the past couple weeks, but I think it's probably going to start heating up soon.

Cilantro

The cilantro is going crazy! I decided to cut some of our extra growth and bring it to work for others to enjoy. There's no way we can use it all! We still plant to let it flower and try to harvest the
coriander seeds later on. It's so fragrant and fresh. My hands smelled like cilantro for the rest of the day.

Ryan and I decided that we haven't planted enough tomato plants. So, in two weeks we are going to return to the farmers market and get a few more tomato plants and plant them where the spinach was. We are going to let the mesclun mix regrow for a third harvest, but after that, we will probably wait until the fall to try those again.

My friend, Nicole, gave me a cute, yellow birdie to put in my garden. I put it beside the tomato plants in hopes it may scare away critters that may want to eat them -- like squirrels. Maybe I will get a few more ornaments like them and see if they work. If not, it will at least look pretty. I have been leaving my dog, Zoey, out for a few hours here and there and that seems to be helping. I have't sen recent signs of them -- I have seen lots of trees growing since the rains. I've been weeding like crazy!

Speaking of weeds, I definitely recommend picking them as soon as you see them. When they get bigger, they get harder to pick. Their roots get deeper and they get a better hold on the soil, therefore, it's harder to extract them completely to make sure they won't grow back. I've figured this out the hard way. For the most part I've been picking them when they are really small, but, a few have gotten away from me. Part of me thought maybe they'd be easier to grab and pull if they were a little bigger, but that is just not the case. They are easier to grab, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to get the entire root without using a spade or something else to help dig them out. So, even though you have to dig your fingers into the dirt a little, it's easier when the weed is young than a few days old. they don't take long to take hold.

Farmers Market: Rosemary and Lavender

Today, Ryan and I got up early and headed to the Topeka Farmers Market for breakfast and herbs. I also bought a few flowers for my hanging pots on my front porch. I figured it was better to buy from local farmers than from Wal-Mart. The people I bought my plants from told me they don't use pesticides and they also grow all their own grasses for their chickens and ducks. So, I know I can trust the plants I buy for my organic, pesticide-free garden.

Rosemary

I remember a lady I bought thyme from a couple weeks ago and went to find her because I knew she had more herbs and I remembered they all looked healthy. She had anything you could think of -- sage, rosemary, thyme, basil and much more. I was there for lavender and rosemary, specifically, but I learned much more about her business.

Lavender

The business is David's Herbs, and it's family owned and operated. The woman and her husband and son-in-law run the business, and they all work together out of Perry, Kansas. The guy I was talking to said they are willing to answer questions about growing herbs, and if I had any problem with bugs I could send them photos and they would help me diagnose/fix the problem. That's awesome, especially for people who are new to this like me. The farmers market always has such great resources, and that's why I always return, and I always talk to the people I'm buying plants from. Most of the time, they're willing to help you out. They want their products to grow well for you so you'll come back next year, so usually, they'll answer your questions.

My aunt told me rosemary is great for repelling mosquitoes, so I thought that was a great idea because I have noticed a lot of mosquitoes around the garden. I bought two plants and put them in the far north and far south corners. That soil is well-drained and can be watered less than the other plants in the beds. I've read where rosemary is a great potted plant, and that also makes it easier to move indoors when the temperature gets below freezing.

Pineapple sage

I got lavender because I read the flowers attract honey bees, but also because I enjoy lavender and thought I'd try to grow my own. Plus, there seem to be tons of benefits from the plant and the oil you can get from it. I bought two different kinds, one is a taller variety and the other is more like a bush. I don't know which is which because I got to talking to the guy about duck eggs and other things he has to sell and forgot to make sure which was which. I planted the lavender in the middle of the beds on the far south and the far north sides of my beds. Just like the rosemary, I put them by the outer edge, so the soil is better drained than other other plants. Plus, it's out of the way so it can be watered less.

Basil sprouts

I also planted some pineapple sage, which is some amazing smelling stuff. I can't wait for it to grow and produce so I can use it on some pork or something. If you rub the leaves, it produces such a sweet pineapple smell, I couldn't believe it. I had to get some, so I did, even though it wasn't in the plan. I put it in the bed where I already have basil and thyme growing. It's a big pot and I can always transplant, which I'll probably have to do this fall.

I noticed that I have some basil sprouting, but only the custom version. The Dolce vita blend is not sprouting, yet. I'm thinking that squirrel might have gotten some of the seeds. He didn't get them all, though, for which I'm thankful. I can't wait to see it get bigger, then use it with some fresh tomatoes. I'm pretty excited about the food we are going to be eating this summer thanks to our organic garden. It's exciting watching everything grow, but even more so harvesting and eating everything. I know next year we will be having a bigger garden.

Lots of Rain Makes Big, Leafy Spinach

I didn't think we would be harvesting our spinach quite yet, but, it was definitely time. We could have let it go for a few more days, but we can already tell there have been a few bugs in our garden and we decided the longer we left the spinach there, the more they could eat instead of us. I don't know much about growing spinach, but I do know that it tastes amazing! It's better than the stuff I usually buy at the supermarket, too.

I read in a couple places that you can cut your spinach, feed it, water it and it will grow back. Here's one article I used, http://goo.gl/8OXJo2. Only, they say, it won't be as sweet the second time. That's OK. I intend to try it out and see what happens. This is an experiment so, what the hay? I'll try it. So we cut the entire plant off, but I think we may have cut them a little close to the ground. When I went back and re-read some of the articles I was using, I noticed it said 2-3 inches above the soil... oops. This article, http://goo.gl/8cKYot, says to only cut the outer leaves so it will grow back. We cut them pretty close and we cut the entire thing. I guess we shall just wait and see what happens. I put a bunch of compost over the spots where we cut, (which was pretty much all of it), and watered it well. I also used this article from Mother Earth News, http://goo.gl/RNLySC.

Cut spinach plants

We cut some cilantro, too, but not all of it. Ryan and I decided we want to let it continue to grow until it bolts, so we can harvest the coriander seeds. I've never done any of that, either, but I'll make sure to document it all for next time, and for you, of course! Please feel free to comment below with any tips or helpful advice about harvesting coriander seeds. I'll take all the help I can get.

One of the holes form the squirrel

With the harvested cilantro, I made some pico de gallo and wow, it was fresh. Really, the entire garden smells like the cilantro, so I was already overpowered by it. But, when I cut into it, it was even stronger, I loved it! Our garden is organic and we haven't used any pesticides of any kind and I feel like that is contributing to the way our produce feels. I feels clean, like I wouldn't even need to rinse it if it weren't for the dirt all over the leaves. This is the truth. Part of what I'm enjoying the most about this gardening experience is knowing what has been put on my food and knowing I'm not eating chemicals. The cilantro almost felt squeaky to me, it's weird, but I like it. It's so shiny, too. I think I'm addicted to this experience.

I found some proof that we have had a squirrel rootin' around in our beds. It must have happened this afternoon because it wasn't like that this morning before work. The only way I know is the soil is nice and soft and I could see his little footprints all over the place where he dug. He didn't dig up any of my stuff, but he dug little holes all over the place, including in my basil pot, so I hope he didn't disturb any of the seeds I just planted. He also kind up dug up the entire row that wasn't planted, so I'm not sure what exactly he was doing, unless he was hiding something there. I sure hope not.

After reading and doing some Googling, I found some information about squirrels. I bet he got some of my basil seeds, because he dug right where I had just planted some. I know he didn't get all of them, but still, it's kind of annoying. I couldn't really find any wonderful solutions, except maybe using my dog to keep them away. There are some sprays that could be made with peppermint or capsaicin, but you have to make sure you don't get it on what you intend to eat. I may ask around and see what has worked for people in my area before I decide what to do.