From the Vine
  • I've moved to craiglehoullier.com

The greens will love this weather...time to plant the rest of the garden (once it dries out a bit)...

4/30/2013

1 Comment

 
I always have hopes of getting the lettuce and other greens into the garden really early.  As usual, the hopes don't pan out and the garden gets planted with greens in early April. Part of this is the intensity of preparing seedlings for the market, and part is not wishing to run the deer sprinklers when it can still frost. Therefore, the salad and greens lover in us celebrates these cool, wet stretches as a good way to extend the lettuce harvest (which actually is just beginning for us). 

Caitlin was nice enough to dig my tomato holes in the big garden - which was fortunate. The big rains of the past few days resulted in a few of the tomato holes filling to the brim with water, indicative of very poor drainage. Now that I know where that will happen, I can adjust my planting technique for those areas accordingly, aiming to plant higher, rather than in the bowl of water, so that the plants won't drown. 

This reminds me to tell you to ensure that wherever you plant your tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings, be sure you have good drainage. A plant that wilts despite adequate watering is a sure sign that the plant is suffocating due to poor drainage. This should not be a problem if you are using containers with nice, fluffy soilless mix or compost, and have drainage holes at the bottom. 

Of course, the flip side to this cool weather is that it will slow down the growth of the heat lovers such as peppers and eggplant. But no worries - it is a long growing season, and a summer of more moderate temperatures may delay harvest a bit, but also cut down on blossom drop and diseases. The most typical fungal diseases we experience, such as Early Blight and Fusarium wilt, really kick in when it heats up, especially when it is also humid. And we don't need that to ruin our 2013 gardens.

My current garden status:  All beets and greens are planted, lettuce harvest begins, garden is prepared for tomatoes and basil and beans (but I won't plant for a few days yet), and my tomatoes, peppers and eggplant have been selected for the containers and garden.  We may have one more week at the market, and two weeks with an ample supply of seedlings. Work on the book continues, and the book photography is about half done. All is proceeding to plan!


1 Comment
Judy Hudgins
4/30/2013 02:48:02 am

Watching the 'snow showers' outside my window this morning. And looking at the boxes I set over my 5 tomato plants I set out this weekend. Early Girl, Lemon Boy (always comes through for me), Black Cherry, Sun Sugar and 1 more which I forget for right now. But tomorrow is suppose to be in the 60's. Loving this Montana weather and missing your plants.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Links

    • Seedlings Sewn
    • Tomatopalooza 2012 
    • Victory Seeds
    • The Year Round Veggie Gardener 
    • Seed Savers Exchange
    • Straw Bale Gardening
    • Dave's Garden
    • Tomatoville
    • Selected Plants
    • Tomato Growers Supply Company
    • Johnny's Selected Seeds
    • Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
    • Sandhill Preservation

    Archives

    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    October 2009
    September 2009

    Categories

    All
    2010 Events
    2011 Garden Update
    2011 Season
    2011 Tomato Harvest
    2014 Season
    Beets
    Black Cherry
    Bleaching
    Caging
    Canning
    Chard
    Cherokee Chocolate
    Comparing
    Container Gardening
    Cooking
    Cooking School
    Craig's Tomato Creations
    Dad
    Daily Stuff
    Daniel Stowe Garden
    Desert Island Tomatoes
    Dwarf Project
    Dwarf Sweet Sue
    Dwarf Tomato Project
    Eggplant
    End Of 2010 Report
    Event
    Favorites For 2009
    Fertilizing
    Flowers
    Garden Issues
    Garden Lessons
    Garden Progress
    Garden Tasks
    Garden Update
    Germinating Seeds
    Germination
    Greens
    Grow Bags
    Growing Medium
    Harvest
    Helping Friends
    Herbs
    History
    Hot Peppers
    Hybrid
    Indeterminate Tomatoes
    Kayaking
    Kitchen Renovation
    Lettuce
    Library
    Lillians Yellow
    Little Lucky
    Lucky Cross
    Monticello
    News
    Newspaper Article
    Office
    On The Radio
    Ornamental Hot Peppers
    Peppers
    Pictures
    Pots
    Recipe
    Recipes
    Robins Nest B&B
    Sara
    Sara's Book
    Seed Family Trees
    Seedlings
    Seed Saving
    Shannons
    Southern Season
    Sse
    Staking
    Suckering
    Sungold
    Sunset Beach
    Sweet Peppers
    Tomato Culture Q&A
    Tomato Culture Videos 2011
    Tomato Dinner
    Tomatoes
    Tomato Histories
    Tomatopalooza 2010
    Tomatopalooza 2010 Videos
    Tomatopalooza 2011
    Tomatopalooza 9 2011
    Tomato Tasting
    Topping
    Transplanting
    Tshirts
    Varieties Grown In 2010
    Video Updates 2010
    Video Updates 2011
    Watering
    Zely And Ritz

    RSS Feed