3-Day Weekend Six....

M

mariadnoca

Moderator
1. Turned over the soil, heavy clay soil mind you, in a front yard planting bed for a small organic veggie garden.

2. Lugged home heavy bags of organic soil amendments from the store and spread/turned into said beds. Garden of some kind is really going to happen this year!

3. Realized that planter area, because it’s up next to the house, may not get enough sun for tomatoes (gets full eastern sun in the am). Dang! Now I notice this after all that work!

4. Considers other options for tomatoes in buckets/etc out back. Reads entire internet on subject. Now the ground is dry again after the rain, even a pick ax won’t break that cement like soil! However, weeds grow there…of course.

5. Poured over seed selections and brain exploded as a result. Which means nothing got ordered. Also found out my favorite tomato seed/plant, Early Girl, is now owned by Monsanto. Rat b*stards!

6. Neighbor brought over huge bag or oranges, see other post requesting recipes – film at 11!

Got nothing to speak of cooked/baked, but made a big dent in spices overhaul. How was your weekend?

 
Straw bale garden for tomatoes

Search "straw bale" here on eat@ for Marilyn and my notes. Last year I had 2 bales lashed together but really only used the one bale for 3 tomato plants (peppers in the other bale). In Michigan, I put the bales on the south side of and up against the house on top of a section of chicken wire which I folded up around the sides of the bales. We had a significant harvest from all 3 plants that was limited only because I started the whole process late. I know I was still ripening grape tomatoes on the counter in October. Colleen

 
Maria, keep in mind the path of the sun is going to change with the seasons

and that tomatoes want at least 6 hours of full sun. So if you think you'll have 6 hours of sun in the front yard as we move into and through the summer months, I think you'll be fine.

And I hear you on dealing with our clay soil here in the bay area. Amendments are our friends. smileys/smile.gif Two years ago we bought a tiny rototiller and it turned out to be a godsend for breaking up the soil and incorporating compost and amendments. Good luck with your garden this year. Can't wait to hear all the good things you'll soon be harvesting.

 
The sun will be directly overhead and setting more to the northwest, so you will have

better coverage. All the gardeners I know who are successful with tomatoes know that tomatoes need some shade in the mid to late afternoon. We always have to shade our tomatoes in the summer here in the valley. You are cooler than Redding aren't you?

 
I'm actually inland 30 miles from SF and it gets HOT

here in the summer, by about 30 degrees warmer than San Francisco most of the time (for instance, it's been in the mid to high 70s here the past 2 weeks). We often get 90s and low 100's most of the summer so it's perfect for growing tomatoes and other sun-loving veggies. Maria is in San Jose and gets the hot stuff as well.

 
Do you have to shade your tomatoes in the summer? My garden area is

surrounded by driveway in back, fence on two sides and house on two sides. Raised beds surrounded by pea gravel, and it gets hot back there. Our tomatoes literally cook on the vine when it gets up to around 103 to 110. Shade cloth reduces that damage considerably. Garden is on the north east side of the house, with an open section that faces west. So the western sun is really a problem in the mid to late afternoon.

 
nuts. we've become too "manicured" with the front lawns and picture perfect neighborhoods

but a nice garden would be picture perfect, no?

 
Haven't had to provide shade cloth

but on the hottest days the leaves start showing signs of distress (back yard gets intense afternoon sun with western exposure). The tomatoes themselves seem to thrive in the heat and last year, cutting back on the watering due to water rationing, produced some of the most flavorful tomatoes I've grown here in 30 years. Kind of like dry-farming, lol.

 
I keep hearing this, and have tried it. Then my tomatoes wilt and look like they are going to die.

Then I have to go out and turn on the water. Do yours wilt?

 
The house faces East, so will be in more shade than now....

But no it's not nearly as hot as Redding (my Aunt lived in Chico), not as hot as over at Pat's given I'm on the bay, but we do get our 100F+ days, especially with this drought.

I'd thought of straw bale before, but one wouldn't fit in my car even if I knew where to find some these days.

Right now the current path gets some sun till about 2pm, but as we get closer to summer there will be more shade from the house given it's up against the house wall, so noon on will likely be shade. Also, neighbor who had some in same spot last yr said he didn't get many tomotoes, I'm guessing that's why

This photo of my long ago garden (my niece there now has kids of her own) on the side o the house is a great spot as it's south facing. I'm kicking myself I didn't try turning over that soil after the rains, but I wanted small because of lack of water resources.

For tomatoes/peppers I'm thinking of putting back there either using smart pots or this system I found online. Links to both below.

What I really want to find is a local source for Olla pots that get buried in the soil, since it seems the best wat to water in drought, but can't find any pots locally,

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Garden/Amandainthegarden_zps6aaf9cd8.jpg

 
The leaves sometimes wilt during the hottest part of the day but then

they return to normal as the day cools down.

 
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