Mollie's tomato poem

It is June 4 2011

My beautiful Ellie

No crazy titles this time. Just to the point. 
It is, or was, June the 4th today.  Depending on when you read this.
How was your day?


Here's mine.


When I get up in the morning, after the mandatory cup of Bridgehead coffee which I incidentally order by the 5 lb bag, I head out to do my small little routine of chores. 

Joey

Joey is the first up.  He really has to be. In fact he demands it, as does his faithful companion Mama Duck. I can hear him squealing as I throw open the overhead door to get to the feed. He's on a bit of a diet..so to get grain this morning is a treat. Lately it has been grass and he is totally underwhelmed. Try putting a pig on a diet.  It is all about limiting choices and serving size. 

Old girl eggs

Mottled javas-the old girls

Next up are the old girls, my 3 Mottled Javas. I'm not sure what is up with them lately.  They are 10 year old chickens and must be terribly pleased about something. They have laid 10 eggs in the last 2 weeks. Funny little eggs, narrow and long, but eggs nonetheless.


Out they scoot into their courtyard. and after food and water, including lots of grass and comfrey plants, it is on to the   younger chickens (2 yrs old), then Poley (Napoleon) the bunny


 and the 3 Indian Runner ducks, who scurry to their dish by the pond as I pour in the grain.
I know when I get back in the house, Darwin will be sitting by the door, simply anticipating my next move

My beagle boys, Darwin and Bandit

On go the 3 leashes and down the road we go, to see what waits for us this morning. There is the good..the waves from passing cars, the bad...a squished painted turtle and then a goldfinch.  Damn.




When I get back, my sister Sue is working on my flower beds, which is in fact my entire front lawn.  When we moved here in 1995, there was only some very sad grass.  Now it is a jungle, one which every summer my sister attempts to tame and beautify with her weeding and flower planting. I have the best sisters.


My goal today was to see if I can till my fields yet - what a spring. June the 4th and I haven't been able to work the soil.


I pop on my little John Deere tractor and am pleasantly surprised. Looks good. Like really good. Maybe the garden will get planted this year.


I'm off the tractor a few times when I see people come for the veg plants. Lots of deals. My first customer only has $18 instead of the $20 I ask. Close enough.
He shouldn't have stopped at Tim Hortons for a coffee he says, and he would've had enough. 


It is really quite okay.  This last week, I've been giving people good deals..really good deals. Or I've tried. Most people just don't accept that and give me more than I ask. It's true. 


Back on the tractor I hear the rumble of thunder and see the lightening in the distance. Ding dong bell.  Really? More rain?


I keep going as long as I can, but when the lightening gets closer and the wind whips up, that's it.  Into the house I go, but turn around when the doorbell rings. A lady has driven from Niagara on the Lake for plants, so we both get soaked to the bone looking for her choices.  At least they are well watered now.

Lots more people come. Neighbours, more folks from around Niagara, and a dog loving couple who made the trek out our way to come here and also hit Big Country Kennels in nearby St Anns, for raw dog food for their dog, who had just been operated on for a brain tumour. I enjoyed talking to them.  Dog lovers are kindred spirits. I've got to check out Big Country. 7 minutes away they tell me. They show me their copy of Garden Making Magazine (summer issue), which has a great article about tomatoes and mentions me.  This is cool.
Great magazine.  Beckie Fox, the editor was out on 'Tomato Days" and lives in Niagara on the Lake.


Another customer from Niagara on the Lake comes in. We talk about animal manure alternatives such as worm castings and compost, then she wonders what else there is to do out my way, now she's driven this far out. Wellandport Home Hardware I say, half-jokingly. But not really. It is the best store ever.  They have everything and are the friendliest store I know.  Well...they are tied with Minor Brothers for that title I guess.  The feedmill.


Neither are her cup of tea, so I direct her back to Bowridge Herbs  to see Roxanne and her great collection.


I puddle in the hoop house..weeding, planting, puddling.


That's a day.  Hope tomorrow the sun shines.  And I can get on the tractor again in a few days.  But for now, I'm stopped up again.


I keep thinking about my favourite verse from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1-8.                                

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the sun. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal ... a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance ... a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to lose and a time to seek; a time to rend and a time to sew; a time to keep silent and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

ecclesiastes 3:1-8

What is the reason for this season turning out this way..this day? I have no doubt the reason will become apparent to me at some point.  


So I wait. Again.


How was your day-your June 4, 2011?

Tomato planting and growing tips!

It is tomato plantin' time!

Well, for some of you.

I'm waiting for my clay soil to dry up a bit more.
But even if you have your plants in, there are a few ideas I'd like to pass along for your consideration.

When I finally get out on my field, the first tomato planting rule I'll follow is :

PLANT THEM DEEP!

I remove all the lower leaves and branches, and plant them way down.  I dig my holes nice and deep, put in a good shovelful of my best compost, and sink the plant in as low as possible, sometimes even laying the stem down, and covering it up.  In another world, if I had a lot less plants, I'd water before I covered my plant up with soil to make sure it got a good drink where it is most important.

WATER THEM IN WELL, TILL ESTABLISHED!

Don't kill your plants with kindness, but get them established by making sure they are watered before they dry out. In the 2nd week or so after planting, give them a nice foliar feed...Mr Kelpman , a liquid kelp solution is always my first choice. In Niagara you can find it at Natural Insect Control, or mail order it through the fantastic Mumm's Sprouting Seeds in Saskatchewan.  When you see growth..

MULCH, then....

STOP WATERING!!

Yes, it's true, even in a dry year.
I read about "dry farming" tomatoes, and thought I'd give it a try last year.  It was something that had become pretty popular amongst tomato growers in California. It never rains in California, you know (it pours). Sorry for all the song references.
So both outside last year, and in the hoop houses, I stopped watering the tomato plants.
Outside the plants did well, but the hoophouse tomatoes were astounding!  They got no water from me, no natural moisture from the rain and the flavours were unparalleled. Intense and sweet and the plants were remarkably resilient. Sure in the middle of summer, some nights the plants were downright weepy.  But overnight they seemed to reconsider their sad state, and popped back to shape by morning.

If perhaps you are finding your tomatoes aren't as tasty as they should be, maybe overwatering is the problem.  You could be watering the flavour right out of them.  Consider how lacklustre the flavour of  tomatoes is in a wet year.  It is worth a try!

I like to tell the story of my little tomato plant that grew on my deck last year. Not in a pot.
In about a 1/2 " of dog fur and crud, between the cracks. A  little seed established itself...I didn't plant it.

The little tomato plant who could

It just grew, perhaps thrived on neglect. I didn't water it, and it wasn't even in full sun. It ended up being a currant variety and produced lovely little red cuties.  Finally the dogs noticed it and started playing a bit rough.  But its' will to survive was,  well...inspiring!

And the sucker or don't sucker debate..well I don't.

The stake or don't stake debate.....I don't again.  But I have LOTS of space.  If I had very little, I likely would stake.  But then, of course,  I'd have fewer plants and more time too!

(Next post up...a new series.....tomato of the week!  Can you stand the excitement!)

Oy vey...I've got clay!

Remember that old Supremes song "You Can't Hurry Love"? I've been humming it in my head a whole lot lately, but changing one word.  And that word is "love."  I'm substituting "clay."  

Sing along now...."You can't hurry clay, no...you just have to wait."

And wait, we do.

Lisa and Emily are itchin' to dig those tomato planting holes

All the heirloom tomato plants have sold exceptionally well this year.  Some people are coming back for more, and telling me the first round is happily planted. (There are still lots...and good deals!) Not mine.  We're waiting.

I do have one hoop house mostly planted to the fabulous Czechoslovakian heirloom "Stupice", and yes, there are green tomatoes. The mulching of these plants is well underway. 

But in the field, the clay is waterlogged. I did plant a bit of my Organic Gardening test garden, but yanked the tomatoes when I saw they were going to bite the dust.  Sadly, some did.

Most fields on this Haldimand clay belt are still unplanted.  Tractors aren't buzzing by out here.  Not like most years. Or like they did 4 weeks earlier last year.

You can't hurry clay.  To work the soil now would ruin it's structure and is pointless. Packing plants or seed into wet clay would be futile.  Clay is made up of much smaller particles than a sandy loam and there is little air in wet clay.  The plants would smother and rot. 

I do love my clay, but in the spring, especially a wet spring, it can be a challenge. 

Clay, I believe, as did my dad, is good to grow on.  I think it makes the vegetables taste better, especially the tomatoes. The vegetables take up the minerals and goodness in the soil and have full-bodied flavour. Over the years I've worked on making it lighter by adding compost and using green manures.  But it is clay.

 

In a dry year, I'm laughing.  It holds the moisture and watering is not a huge chore.  

This year, who knows. Predictions are for a hot, dry summer, and hopefully one that extends into the fall.  It could turn it all around for me.  But for some farmers, it is too late for early crops, like peas, alfalfa and clover. Big losses already.

How it is.  We play the waiting game!