All of the details for this event are here.  The date is July 8 at the wonderful Irregardless Cafe in downtown Raleigh. The time is 7-9 PM. Gazpacho! Pizza!  Grilled Mahi Mahi!  Panna Cotta! All paired with great wines and great tomatoes. Many of the tomatoes I started from seed are growing in the restaurant's Well Fed Garden and will be featured in the recipes. I will be there to guide you through the various varieties and answer questions. 

Sue and I can't wait - we love tomato dinners - and this promises to be a really special event. Follow the link, get all of the info that you need, make your reservations - and we will see you there! 

This event starts a pretty busy period for us - we are off to Mt. Holly the next day to do some programs there (a workshop in the community garden, and tasting and book signing at the farmers market) - then heading for Decorah Iowa the following week for the Seed Savers Exchange Campout.  

Right after we get back, it is off to the Sarah P Duke garden for an activity on the evening of July 21, a cooking school using tomatoes at Southern Season in Chapel Hill on July 23, and a tomato workshop in the Well Fed Garden on Athens Drive on July 25 - you can register for the garden workshop here.

All events are listed on my website front page, here - scroll down to the list of events and follow the links in each.

I hope to see you at an event soon!

Thanks to Miriam from Zillow for providing the following.  Enjoy!



5 Gardening Options for Small Yards
By Miriam Bornstein of Zillow

Don't let garden size discourage your summer plans. Just because you lack the space for a traditional garden doesn't mean you can't embrace creativity. Welcome the summer months with vegetables, plants and flowers by considering these five gardening options for small yards.

1)     Window Boxes

Place window boxes on sunny windowsills, a patio or balcony. Opt for large boxes, spacious enough to grow herbs, such as oregano, basil, chive and rosemary. If you want to add a pop of color, plant bright flowers, such as Japanese iris, white snapdragon or red geranium. When choosing a window box, make sure the box matches the length and depth of your window sill, and choose materials that withstand harsh weather, such as glass, metal or terra cotta.

2)        Hanging Containers

Hanging baskets are an instant way to incorporate color and fragrance to any outdoor space, without claiming the limited yard real estate. Vine crops and smaller vegetables, such as dwarf tomatoes, lettuce and strawberries, work well in hanging baskets. If you're looking to plant florals, supertunia petunias make ideal hanging plants because they come in vibrant hues and draw butterflies to your outdoor space. Make sure to water your hanging plants daily during the summer months, as these trailing plants are more prone to drying out in the heat.

3)          Square Foot Gardening

Square foot gardening consists of 4x4 or 3x3 above-ground boxes divided into square foot sections, enabling gardeners to plant an array of vegetables in a few small yards. Boxes keep plant beds organized and manageable, away from walls for accessibility from all angles. Depending on the size of the plant, small crops, such as celery, radishes and carrots, can hold as many as 16 plants per square foot. This small garden alternative provides the best drainage solutions, preventing soil compaction and averting weeds from creeping into the soil beds.                                                                                                                                                                                   
4)        Vertical Garden  

Incorporate a vertical garden to grow vegetables, add design elements to your outdoor oasis and offer some shade to your space. Vertical gardens make plants easier to reach, minimize damage caused by ground roaming pests and consume minimal outdoor space. Place horizontal planters in between fence posts, add towers with strawberries in a vertical pipe or have vines meander along pergolas and gazebos.

5)       Stack Gardens

Stack gardening is a unique variation of container gardening. This gardening alternative is becoming increasingly popular since it requires no weeding or digging and ensures that all plants have equal access to sunlight. Stack gardening consists of escalating shelves of planter boxes, like a stairway of garden beds. Depending on how many tiers you build, stack gardens can hold up to 55 plants in a 3-foot deep by 4-foot wide space. When planning the plants to incorporate in your garden, reserve the top tier for vines, as they will trail down the various tiers.

Whether you're in the market to rent or buy a home, there are many ways to garden in a tight area. Go beyond the norms and create a garden that best fits your environment. 

With the brutal three weeks of searing heat and oppressive humidity, I suppose I should be happy that only 2 out of the 38 tomatoes in bales are struggling....but I am not. Losing any plant to critters or disease or weather is inevitable, but never welcomed. Oh well....the glass is certainly half full - there are loads of healthy plants adorned with developing tomatoes.

The growth data is starting to become less meaningful as the plants become weighed down with fruit and slip down the stake or sag here and there; the gusts from thunderstorms bend them over a bit too. There as no vertical gain at all with 6 of the varieties, 5 grew 1 inch, 8 grew 2 inches, 2 grew 3 inches, 7 grew 4 inches, 3 grew 6 inches, 2 gained 7 inches, and one each grew 8 and 9 inches. For the most part, growth is on average a bit less than an inch per day - the plants are filling out horizontally, and expanding upward more slowly, in general.

The plant height ranges from 12 inches for the late re-rooted and replanted Rosella Crimson to 48 inches for Dwarf Beryl Beauty. In face, the five tallest plants right now are in the Sneezy family - Beryl joined by Jade Beauty, Summertime Gold, Summer Sweet Gold and Emerald Giant, the latter 4 at 46 inches tall. The Grumpy family are still in general the shortest, with Iditarod Red at 32 inches, Arctic Rose 30 inches, and Yukon Quest 22 inches.

I've picked ripe fruit from Dwarf Pink Passion (delicious - mild yet full flavored with a nice tart element - 4 ounce pink hearts), Perth Pride (5 ounce round smooth purple, yet to taste), Sarandipity (2 ounce round brown with vertical green stripes), Dwarf Jade Beauty (3 ounce green fleshed, clear skinned, just delicious!) and Dwarf Golden Heart (6 ounce medium yellow blunt heart, stolen/eaten by my dog Buddy when I mistakenly left the rear fence open!). Blushing is occurring on fruits on Bundaberg Rumball and Boronia, and they should be ripe in a few days. The plants in general are loading up nicely. 

The two big issues so far are Fusarium Wilt on Dwarf Pink Passion, and another issue - yet to be confirmed - on Dwarf Wild Fred. Oh well....All others are perfectly healthy, and hopefully a slightly cooler stretch will keep things that way.

Here are a few select pictures. Top shows the state of the dwarfs today, the diseased Dwarf Pink Passion and Dwarf Wild Fred in the first row.
Second row has the blushing Boronia and Bundaberg Rumball, followed by a loaded Arctic Rose.

Then a line of three - the ripe Jade Beauty, nearly ripe Perth Pride, and Sarandipity.

The last three weeks of extreme heat - and even the evening/overnight rain - have been rough on the side garden Straw Bales. I just tell myself "this is the year of the learning curve".  I am learning lots! As always, there is a mix of success and opportunity for improvement.

Front row - with lettuce and arugula gone, the left bales hold nice basil (destined for some pesto this afternoon); the slugs continue to confound me with bean and squash seed planting. Applications of DE get washed away in the downpours. Right side bales continue to thrive, giving us all of the chard and kale and collards we can use. The pea bale is kaput, and I will plant garlic there in the late summer/fall.

Second row - beans - slugs - spotty growth due to damage as soon as the seeds germinate. The oven like heat is not making life easy for the shallow rooted plants. This should be working much better, but isn't, so it's back to the drawing board. 

Third row - carrots are a mixed bag - I started too late and the heat causes them to dry out fast, leading to really spotty coverage. Leeks - most of the early planting didn't survive, and the back up seedlings are readying themselves for transplant. Right hand beets are ready to pick - they did great. Left hand beets had less sun, so are less advanced, and a deer munched the tops one night when my sprinkler battery was dead.

Fourth row - potatoes are a disappointment - just too late a start, so development is very spotty. Summer Squash are flowering the thriving; radishes were planted too late.

Last row - both squash hills are doing well, and I've got fruit coming on the white patty pan variety. There is zucchini forming on the right hand bale plants, but slugs are nibbling on those as well....arggggggh!

Pictures of the good, bad and ugly.

After a morning of watering and repeating some tomato crosses, I did a general driveway walkabout, removing some troubled tomato foliage, and snapping some pics of eggplant and the first ripe tomato. Let's start with a few minor troubles. I noticed that the Bale positioned Rosella Purple was missing some foliage - it was right in the middle of the two water scarecrows - clearly the deer had a few chomps before the sprinklers went off. (see row 1, picture 1 below)

There were two main issues with the tomato foliage - some lower leaves with signs of early blight - some brown spots with areas of yellow - row 1, pictures 2 and 3 show the removed foliage with the blemishes. Fully yellowed, wilting foliage means onset of Fusarium wilt - see row 2, picture 1 below. I dipped the scissors in a glass of rubbing alcohol in between working the plants.

Though these are never good news, considering the heat and humidity we've had and the number of plants in the driveway, I am very happy in general with how good things look!

Now on to eggplant and the first ripe tomato....as hoped, the three eggplant I'd stabilize by selecting from the hybrid Orient Express are always the first to produce. Below, see Skinny Twilight (first ripe, 8 ounces, 2 inches by 10 inches, a deep glossy purple), then Midnight Lightning (slender, very dark purple fruit), and Twilight Lightning (very slender, white with medium lavender blush). I also show Antigua, nearly ready, a beautiful variety. Finally, the first ripe tomato of the year, a Dwarf Pink Passion - 4 ounces, heart shaped, pink - ripe in 50 days from transplant - and we found at dinner, delicious!

top row - Skinny Twilight - on the plant, and in the kitchen - and Midnight Lightning
second row - Twilight Lightning, Antigua, Dwarf pink Passion on the vine
last pic - Dwarf Pink Passion picked and on the bale

I am so fortunate that I decided to spend time tying/securing the dwarfs prior to our big evening gusty thunderstorms. Everything came through the weather well; after perusing all of the plants this morning, 38 plants - all of them - remain vigorous and healthy, and just about all of them have set fruit.

The particulars:  Growth rate for the week - inches gained (the numbers are no longer very precise, as the storms pushed the plants about a bit, and the retying effort of today means that the data should be considered as a trend, more than absolute)

0 inches - 2 plants (both in the Grumpy family - Arctic Rose and Yukon Quest)
1 inch - 4 plants
2 inches - 7 plants
3 inches - 9 plants
4 inches - 5 plants
5 inches - 4 plants
6 inches - 5 plants
7 inches - 1 plant
8 inches - 1 plant

In general those that are growing vertically the most are in the Sneezy family - Sweet Sue, Summer Sweet Gold, Beryl Beauty, Jade Beauty and Mr. Snow.  

Total height of plants to date:

8 inches - 1 plant (the replanted/rerooted, and now thriving, Rosella Crimson)
22 inches - 1 plant 
24 inches - 2 plants
28 inches - 3 plants (Sarandipity, Arctic Rose, Sleeping Lady)
29 inches - 1 plant
30 inches  - 3 plants
32 inchers - 5 plants
34 inches - 2 plants
35 inches - 1 plant
36 inches - 6 plants
37 inches - 2 plants
38 inches - 6 plants (Sweet Sue, Blazing Beauty, Summertime Green, Golden Heart, Pink Passion, Sean's Yellow)
40 inches - 1 plant (Banksia Queen)
42 inches - 4 plants (Summer Sweet Gold, Emerald Giant, Beryl Beauty, Jade Beauty)

Again, you can see that the tallest plants to date are in the Sneezy family.  Compare the tallest of the dwarfs, at a bit over 3 feet tall, with the 5 gallon indeterminate tomatoes, which are approaching 5 feet tall - the difference is quite stark.

The only Dwarf plant that hasn't set fruit is the replanted Rosella Crimson. Foliage - even lowest foliage - on all plants is perfectly green and healthy. Considering the heat and humidity, I am feeling like a pretty lucky gardener!

Picture time!  

top row - three views of the dwarfs
second row - Arctic Rose, Banksia Queen, Beryl Beauty
third row - Big Green Dwarf, Blazing Beauty, Boronia
fourth row - Bundaberg Rumball, Chocolate Champion, Emerald Giant
fifth row - Fred's Tie Dye, Golden Heart, Iditarod Red
sixth row - Jade Beauty, Kelly Green, Perth Pride
seventh row - Pink Passion, Purple Heart, Rosella Purple
eighth row - Sarandipity, Scarlet Heart, Sean's Yellow
ninth row - Sleeping Lady, Summer Sunrise, Summer Sweet Gold
tenth row - Summertime Gold, Summertime Green, Sweet Adelaide
eleventh row - Sweet Scarlet, Sweet Sue, Tasmanian Chocolate
twelfth row - Uluru Ochre, Wild Fred, Yukon Quest

The success (or lack, thereof) of our side garden straw bale adventure is becoming clearer, but I am no less happy with it. It is a wonderful learning experience, and I will be adjusting timing significantly next year.

Front row - the lettuce and arugula are gone (and missed), and the replacement squash and bean seeds are germinating. The nice, healthy basil is screaming to be made into pesto. We are eating plenty of collards, kale and chard, with no end in sight. The Thuricide spray is keeping the cabbage looper problems at bay. I am about to pull the peas, as this heat is too much for them - more beans perhaps?

Second row - the beans are finally filling in, but the slugs have been driving me crazy. I just started applying DE, but the nightly rain storms mean daily reapplications.

Third row - one beet bale is struggling - the deer browsed the bale that is furthest from the water scarecrow a bit. Carrots are spotty - another crop to start earlier.  Leeks are very spotty, but replacements have germinated.

Fourth row - potato seedlings are spotty, and I need to push some more potatoes into sprouting to fill in blanks. Radishes are fine, but will be used more for greens. Squash in that row is now taking off.

Last row - cukes are up and starting to run, and squash is blossoming and setting fruit.

Pictures below.  They run pretty much in the order as described above.

It is easy to see how delighted I am so far with the great start for the Straw Bale dwarf tomatoes. I plan to spend some time with the plants early this week and collect some data on fruit set, numbers of flower clusters, fruit per cluster - wonky stuff, but interesting to those of us in the breeding project itself.

But that's not the only interesting tomato-related news in the driveway. The 5 gallon grow bag indeterminate varieties are really thriving - in fact, I am urging myself to top some this week, as fruit set has been quite good. Small (even medium) tomatoes are now hanging on vines of the following:  Cherokee Green, Little Lucky, Chocky F1 (one of my indeterminate X Dwarf crosses), Red variant of Yellow Brandywine (a mystery variety), Morty F1 (another indeterminate X Dwarf cross of mine), Burgundy Traveler purple (a nice surprise from a customer last year), Ruggy F1 (we hope - a friend hoped he succeeded in his first indeterminate X Dwarf cross), Jaune Flamme, Arkansas Traveler, Magnus, Rosso Sicilian (seed given to me by a neighbor), an Italian tomato given to me as a seedling by a customer, red variant of Burgundy Traveler (another mystery), Berkeley Tie Dye, Yellow White, Yellow Brandywine, Indian Stripe, Green Giant, KBX, JD Special C Tex, Dester, Cherokee Chocolate, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, and Speckled Roman  - not to mention the deck cherry tomatoes (3 Sun Gold, Tiger Tom, Egg Yolk, Mexico Midget and my friend Bob's mystery cherry). That makes around 60 of my plants with fruit set, which is a relief as we are facing some nasty, non-good-fruit set weather.

I didn't get pics of everything (my battery ran out, and it was getting too warm this morning), but here are some pics of a few indeterminate varieties.

Top row:  Arkansas Traveler, Chocky, Green Giant
Second row: Indian Stripe, mystery Italian, KBX
Third row: Magnus, Morty, purple Burgundy Traveler
Fourth row: red Burgundy Traveler, red Yellow Brandywine, Rosso Sicilian
Fifth row: Ruggy, Yellow Brandywine, Yellow White

Today is tying and feeding day, and it is going to be a steamer. Most of the plants have lots of green tomatoes, and the week's forecast looks brutal, so watering regularly (and often!) will be a big priority.

Everything looks really good, even the re-rooted Rosella Crimson that now makes the released dwarf tomato set complete. It was a big week for growing, and the various families are separating themselves in terms of height. Here is the breakdown for height increase: 

2 inches - 3 varieties
3 inches - 1
4 inches - 4
5 inches - 4
6 inches - 11
7 inches - 6
8 inches - 5
9 inches - 3

In general, the dwarfs grow at about an inch per day.  From past experience, indeterminate varieties grow vertically at twice that rate, at least.

As for the overall height distribution (leaving out those that were replanted, which of course are a bit behind).  You will note that again, the Nosey and Sneezy lines tend to be the tallest, the Grumpy the smallest - but the height range is pretty narrow - about 12 inches separate the tallest and shortest.

25 inches - 2 (Iditarod Red, Sarandipity)
28 inches - 3 (Arctic Rose, Boronia, a replant)
29 inches - 3 (Uluru Ochre, Big Green Dwarf, Purple Heart)
30 inches - 5 (Bundaberg Rumball, Chocolate Champion, Wild Fred, Sweet Adelaide, Sweet Scarlet)
32 inches - 2 (Perth Pride, Sweet Sue)
33 inches - 1 (Summer Sunrise)
34 inches - 4 (Fred's Tie Dye, Sean's Yellow Dwarf, Kelly Green, Summertime Gold)
35 inches - 3 (Blazing Beauty, Summertime Green, Tasmanian Chocolate)
36 inches - 6 (Summer Sweet Gold, Banksia Queen, Chocolate Lightning, Golden Heart, Jade Beauty, Beryl Beauty)
37 inches - 2 (Pink Passion, Emerald Giant)

Fruit set is present on 30 of the varieties. Of the 8 that haven't yet set fruit, all have open blossoms. Of those that were not later re-plants, only Chocolate Lightning, Chocolate Champion, and Summer Sunrise are showing stubbornness to set under the current conditions - there is plenty of blossom drop, but lots of new open flowers. I am not surprised by Choc Light., since it tends to be quite late. The other two tended to set a bit more easily for me in the past.

And some pictures! (not all are great - battery nearly dead, focus issues due to weird lighting with harsh morning sun emerging).  You will get the general idea of fruit shape and character, and in some cases, fruit set!


Top row - various views of the dwarfs in bales this morning
Second row - another view, Dwarf Arctic Rose, Banksia Queen
Third row - Dwarf Beryl Beauty, Big Green Dwarf, Dwarf Blazing Beauty
Fourth row - Boronia, Bundaberg Rumball, Dwarf Emerald Giant
Fifth row - Fred's Tie Dye, Dwarf Golden Heart, Iditarod Red
Sixth row - Dwarf Jade Beauty, Dwarf Kelly Green, Perth Pride
Seventh row - Dwarf Pink Passion, Dwarf Purple Heart, Sarandipity
Eighth row - Dwarf Scarlet Heart, Sean's Yellow Dwarf, Sleeping Lady
Ninth row - Summer Sweet Gold, Summertime Green, Sweet Adelaide
Tenth row - Sweet Scarlet Dwarf, Dwarf Sweet Sue, Tasmanian Chocolate
Eleventh row - Uluru Ochre, Dwarf Wild Fred, Yukon Quest