watching for the first tomato

I've had nice tomato flowers for a couple of weeks now - but no baby tomatoes. I though maybe it was because we had no bees around (which concerns me too). But in checking into this I see that bees are not an important pollinator of tomatoes. It seems more like the wet weather may be the culprit (maybe affecting our bee population too?). We've had perfect temperatures for tomato fruit set, but our rainfall has been higher than usual, with a lot of drizzly damp days without much sun to dry things out.

Tomato pollination info (from WSU): Tomato flowers come complete with both male and female organs and are self-fertilizing. Pollen is shed with great abundance between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on dry, sunny days. Normally, the wind will pollinate the flower sufficiently. To ensure better pollination, gently shake or vibrate the entire tomato plant. The best time to do this is midday when it's warm, and the humidity is low. Optimum fruit set occurs within a very narrow night temperature range of between 60° F and 70° F. When tomato plants experience night temperatures lower than 55° F or above 75° F, interference with the growth of pollen tubes prevents normal fertilization. The pollen may even become sterile, thus causing the blossoms to drop. High daytime temperatures, rain, or prolonged humid conditions also hamper good fruit set. If the humidity is too low, the pollen will be too dry and will not adhere to the stigma. If the humidity is too high, the pollen will not shed readily. Pollen grains may then stick together, resulting in poor or nonexistent pollination.

I guess I'll go out and shake the tomato plants! Gently. And I think I'll put in some bee-attracting annuals, too, even if that's not what's wrong with the tomatoes.

Solanum lycopersicum
garden bees

capucijner peas

I'm enjoying watching this beautiful pea in my garden. The Capucijner pea is a field pea, a variety specifically grown for drying. Here's some information I found about them: "During the late Middle Ages, Capuchin monks in Holland and northern Germany devoted considerable energy to the improvement of field peas for agricultural purposes. This has resulted in a group of large-seeded gray peas referred to as Capuchin, especially those from the Netherlands where the breeding of new pea varieties became a national pastime by the early 1600s. One of the classic peas from this group and one which dates from the 1500s is the handsome blue pod Capucijner, a soup pea growing on six-foot (two m) vines." (source) My dad can pronounce the Dutch name just fine, but I wouldn't even dare to try.

Pisum sativum, spp. arvense

planting potatoes

A couple of weeks ago, I planted potatoes for the first time by sticking 15 store bought potatoes about 4 inches down in the ground. Many sprouted nicely. But then yesterday I read that potatoes should be planted deep and gradually covered over with dirt as they grow. So, I dug up my potatoes and replanted them 8 inches down using the trench method:

Trench method: "Dig a shallow trench about 4 inches wide and 6-8 inches deep. Plant your potato seeds (8) inches apart in this trench. Place the potato seeds into the trench (cut side down) and then cover them with 3-4 inches of soil. After the sprouts emerge, add another 3-4 inches of soil. The potatoes will form between the seed piece and the surface of the soil. For this reason, when the stems are about 8 inches high, again add enough soil to bring the level half way up the stem of the plant. Another hilling will be needed 2-3 weeks later, at which time you again add soil half way up the stem of the plant. After these initial hillings, it is only necessary to add an inch or two of soil to the hill each week or so, to ensure there is enough soil above the forming potatoes that they don't push out of the hill and get exposed to light. (If the new potatoes are exposed to sunlight while they are developing, they will turn green and may be toxic.) The hilling process is necessary to create sufficient space for the potatoes to develop large tubers and an abundant crop. Don't get carried away with hilling though... If you cover up too much of the foliage, you may end up reducing your final crop yield."

One of my trenches (the one in the picture above) is more like a round hole (maybe 1'x 2'), but that was about the only free space that I had left in the garden.

Solanum tuberosum

African blue basil

I put some blue basil in a pot near my kitchen door. Unlike sweet basil, the flowers of blue basil don't need to be pinched because the plant does not produce seed. The flavor is more clove-like, but it makes a nice garnish.

culinary herbs

tomato tepees

It seems like a real garden now that the tomato tepees are up. The posts are 1x1x 10 ft poles cut from pine 2x4's. Most of them are 10 or 15 years old now, but a few were freshly cut last year. I like this tepee structure because its very strong and easy to assemble. Its also completely removable each year so I can rotate the planting location. This year, I am growing my tomatoes against the house. I took these pictures early in the morning when the only sunlight in the yard was on the tomato plants. I'm hoping the plants like all the sunlight.

Solanum lycopersicum

garden crew

Here's a group shot of my garden crew. I guess they are on their coffee break.

garden birds (Hortus Aves)

its lettuce and arugula season!

A green harvest - lettuce, arugula and garlic chives. I am trying many new crops this year. One of them is arugula. It is doing great and is deeelicious! I am on the lookout for places to squeeze in more rows of this green.

Lactuca sativa

Skippy's sunny spot

Skippy has found a favorite spot in this year's garden. I made a little loop-out in the fence so the gate can open easily. There's a cement stepping stone there. This spot gets nice and warm in the early morning sun. Skippy likes to curl up there and wait for me. So much is growing so fast these days that I like to check all of the rows every day. While Skippy naps, I pull a few weeds, harvest some greens, check for bugs and take a few pictures. A relaxing morning pastime for me and the puppy.

more pictures of skip
its all about Skippy

favas

This crop is a new one for me. My fava beans are now about two feet tall and are starting to lean over. I was figuring the fence would support them but they have no tendrils. Maybe I'll need to tie them to it or support the stems with branches.

I have also found lots of black aphids on the upper parts of the plants. It turns out that favas are often infested by black aphids. Maybe its time to order some lady bugs? I'll watch as see what happens.

Vicia faba

soy beans

I am trying to grow soy beans this year for the first time. I planted an early dwarf variety called Early Hakucho. It grows one foot tall. I've experimented with planting it in garden rows and in pots. My first sprouts are just appearing now.

I'm afraid that I do not have the right inoculant for soybeans. I went ahead and used my bean/pea inoculant, but I think soybeans use a different one. If they don't do well, I can blame it on that.

Fabaceae

aerial view

aerial views of my home vegetable garden

planting more lettuce

I found a few bare spots of dirt by my patio and so I decided to plant lettuce there. Why not?! Its an interesting and edible ground cover.

We have several in ground planters alongside our patio/driveway where a couple of large deep-rooted plants are growing (climbing rose, honeysuckle and an espaliered pear tree). I added potting soil to the top few inches and planted hot weather varieties of lettuce: a mix called heatwave blend that contains black seeded simpson, oak leaf and other types of lettuce.

I'm on the look out for more spots to plant lettuce. I'd like to avoid buying store lettuce for at least for the next few months. I'm trying to plant a row/patch every two weeks.

The big photo was taken from my kitchen door. The large patio pots have pumpkins, sunflowers and herbs in them. The little pots will soon have soybeans and arugula. I'm going with vege's instead of flowers this year!

As long as no vehicles run over my lettuce, it should be tasty in the salad bowl in 45 days.

Lactuca sativa

pea blossom

This is a sugar snap pea. Both my Pisello nano peas and sugar snaps have many flowers all of a sudden today. Though the Capucijner peas are 4 feet tall now, they aren't blooming yet. The peas that are blooming are only 1-2 feet tall.

Pisum sativum

lettuce harvest

Lettuce is probably my favorite garden crop. Today I harvested a BIG bowlful. It should be enough for salads for us for 2 days. Hopefully I can stop buying lettuce for the rest of the season now. I have some hot weather lettuce as well as escarole, endive and arugula. Today I harvested black seeded simpson, arugula and some mixed oak leaf and red lettuces. The black seeded simpson is a great variety. It grows very fast, is a nice light green color and tastes tender and delicious. Yum! It was sooo good (with our garden pesto from last year and grilled salmon) that I skipped the salad dressing.

Lactuca sativa

tomato blossoms

Yippee! The tomatoes are blooming already!

My challenge this year is to get a ripe tomato 2 weeks earlier than last year year. Last year's first was July 31, so this year I'm shooting for July 17. Marc at the Garden Desk is working on a red one by his birthday on June 24. Wow! And it looks like he's going to achieve this.

Unlike Marc, who raised his plants from seed, I bought my plants from a local nursery this year. Nevertheless, I am surprised to see them blooming so early. Last year my first bloom was June 20. It took 40 days to go from flower to first ripe fruit on July 31. If the fruits set from the flowers I have now, (calling all bees!) I should be eating fresh tomatoes on July 10! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I have four varieties that are blooming now: New Girl, Rutgers, Big Boy and Chadwick Cherry. The photo is a New Girl flower.

I think there are two reasons for the early flowers. I think my new tomato bed is in a good location. It is very warm and sunny against the south wall of my house. In addition, the weather has been good this spring. My whole garden seems to be almost a month ahead of last year's. Last year, we had a terrible bout of rain lasting 3 or 4 weeks in late April and most of May.

Think red - tomato red!

Solanum lycopersicum