Tomāto, Tomăto

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You say, "Tomāto, I say, Tomăto," is how the song goes. "Let's call the whole thing off," is how the song ends and how I felt last summer when my tomato crop developed bottom end rot among other problems.

Since then, I've done some research and come to realize that I likely didn't provide enough root space in the pots, and the plants may have suffered from inconsistent watering.

This year, I've chosen four large 15-gallon food safe buckets that I've pre-drilled for drainage and filled with organic vegetable potting mix. I'm assured that these containers are more than adequate in size to allow for successful growth over the next few months.

I planted one each of: Eva Purple Ball originally from the Black Forest region of Germany in the late 1800's; Tiffen Mennonite, a big sweet heirloom organic; Gardener's Sweetheart, a firm and sweet mini apple shaped cherry tomato; and, a "surprise" variety of heirloom tomato.

I've grown the plants from seeds I purchased at Hagersville's Seedy Saturday; and, I've been nursing the seedlings along on a shelf in the south-facing window above my kitchen sink since the middle of April.

The 24th of May found me potting up my seedling tomatoes into the buckets; and, to protect the tender seedlings from wind and cooler-than-seasonal temperatures, I've placed a plastic vented cloche over each of the plants.

Today, I lugged the four heavy tomato pots to their summer home on my front porch in our developing potoger garden. I've placed them in this sunny location, away from the shade of our large Linden tree.

Next will come removal of the cloches, installation of tomato cages and fertilization; but, I'm getting ahead of myself. For now, I'll just enjoy having begun the process of growing my own tomato plants from seed for the first time in my life.

If the spirit moves you, send positive vibes my way. As seedlings and novice farmer, the tomato plants and I can use all the help we can get.

Organic Strawberries

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I'm growing organic strawberries in a 15-gallon food grade plastic bucket in my front Potager garden. The variety, purchased at my local Home Depot, is 'Berri Basket White,' and they're growing like weeds.

Before planting the strawberries, I drilled drainage holes in the bucket bottom and planting holes in the sides, and filled the pot with organic fruit and vegetable planting soil.

I've placed the pot in a raised white iron plant stand to deter insects, and anchored the stand with tent pegs to secure it from the wind. I'm also considering some netting to keep birds from eating my berries.

Strawberries are a wonderful addition to any kitchen garden, especially if they're an ever-bearing variety, as mine are. The strawberry plants - foliage, flowers and fruit - are beautiful to look at and provide colour, movement and sustenance; Moreover, the raised pot provides a welcome height variation.

The thought of sweet organic strawberries with ice cream, strawberry shortcake, strawberries in salad, or organic strawberries fresh off the vine, makes my mouth water with anticipation. Perhaps one pot won't be enough.

Crop of Spuds

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My Red Pontiac Potatoes
Growing in a Laundry Hamper

There's nothing like the thrill of finding healthy potato leaves growing in one's garden. I've been planting seed potatoes over the last couple of weeks, in Dollar Store laundry baskets with drainage holes drilled into the bottom; and, amazingly all six baskets-full are thriving.

'Red Pontiac' seed potatoes, purchased at Canadian Tire, are the type of potatoes I planted. Good for baking, boiling, mashing, roasting, salads and microwave oven, they seemed a decent all-round potato to grow; and, at $10 for the bag, a six-basket yield fills me with optimism.

I never thought we'd come to think of ourselves as potato farmers; but, apparently, we have become just that; and, sometime later this summer, I expect we'll be digging through mounds of delicious red skinned potatoes, scrubbing the dirt from under our fingernails and firing up the barbeque.

Perhaps next fall, the laundry baskets will be relegated to the laundry room for the duration, but until then, I'm really enjoying watching the developing green leafy potato plants, and looking forward to the pretty purple flowers to come.

Most of all I'm dreaming of the generous crop of spuds we'll be harvesting in 10 weeks or so. Yum!

Preparations

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In April, I jump-started vegetable and herb seedlings in my new kitchen greenhouse window. It's possible that my eagerness to get going on garden preparations prompted me to plant a little too early; however, I have nine healthy tomato plants on the go that are currently day-timing on the front porch under a cloche and night-timing indoors.

Some other seedlings didn't fair as well: They hadn't the stamina to survive the long weeks indoors demanded by my over-eagerness. Specifically, broccoli, kale, mixed leaf lettuce, Romaine, cucumber, dill, beets, pumpkin and bell peppers have had to be re-seeded closer to the actual date they can make the journey out-of-doors.

Tonight, finding myself alone with time on my hands, I spread my planting paraphernalia out on my kitchen island and got to work replanting. It was a quiet, solitary evening task I enjoyed very much.

After marking the individual pots with Popsicle sticks, I watered well and placed them in a sunny south-facing greenhouse stairway window. I've still got English cucumber, carrots, winter and summer squashes, arugula, beans, corn, green onions and some Spanish onion sets that I'm planning on direct sewing when the weather is warm enough, outdoors.

My first premature planting effort initially produced energetic sprouts in less than a week. Considering that May 24th outdoor planting week is just around the corner, I believe that re-planting now is more realistic; anyway, this novice gardener is going to remain cautiously optimistic.

Planting Journal

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This week, I decided to add a Planting Journal to my blog, in the form of a tabbed page link located just under the blog title bar.

This online journal should provide a visible and easily accessible place for me to record my important and ongoing gardening information; including: date, plantings, location of purchase, soil and amendments, borders and whimsy, pollinator habitat, etc. It will also allow me to share my successes and failures with other gardeners.

I'd like to encourage you to send questions, suggestions and comments to me through the blog Contact Form. Let me know if this 2017 Planting Journal is useful to you, as you move forward with your own gardening endeavors.

Hopefully, through shared exploration and implementation, our successes will be many, and our failures will be few.

Note: The 2017 Planting Journal was accidentally deleted from this blog, and could not be retrieved. The Journal did not turn out to be the visible and easily accessible record I'd hoped it would be. Lesson learned: I will, therefore, be backing up my 2018 Planting Journal in a separate location.