Tomato Garden

[Cassie-Jane]

It may be more trouble, but organic gardening makes me feel so much better about eating the food. I just don't like the idea of chemicals.

I can totally agree....................

[brigid]

I can totally agree....................

What all do you grow organically? Do you find a difference in quality?

[KarenB]

Carrots are sweeter. Onions are juicier. Strawberries are redder. Squash brighter orange. Grapes are better for jelly. And Pumpkins that were to grow to 8-10 pounds turned out 15-18 pounds. But the weeds were 2 feet high some years and

[K. Slink]

You always manage to crack me up. The manure will make EVERYTHING grow better.....

[KarenB]

Thought I'd try green manure this year. My garden has been farm land for 150 yrs. and I think the nutrient level could be better.Even though I'm surrounded by the neighbours cows all summer producing their high quality of fertilizer I'll stick to the more aromatic nose friendly kind.

[CM]

We've used truckloads of all of these:

Seaweed, oak/maple leaves, fresh manure (so much one time my dad's truck blew a tire and he was NOT pleased!), bales and bales of peat moss, compost and have even had truckloads of compost rich organic soil brought in.

I was upset last year when the state decided they would spray our entire region for mosquitoes, which just proves by example that you can't always keep 100% control over what gets into your garden, but I try. I would never dream of spraying some pesticide or fungicide on food I grow.

OTOH, I accept that stuff I buy in the supermarket is not always organic - but there's the difference in what I grow vs. what I buy.

Sometimes bugs, diseases and/or weeds get the better of things. My mom would say, "Plant a little extra for the bugs and the beasts!"

Zucchini squash, for example, sometimes has a problem with mosaic later on in the season, but by that time, squash vine borers are becoming a problem, too. This is usually after the plants have been producing for a few months (late in August) and after a heat wave.

To work around some of these problems (yes, I've almost had enough zucchini by then), I try to buy disease-resistant varieties. If you purchase seeds from a catalog, the description often includes a list of diseases the variety is resistant to (or look on the back of the packet if you buy seeds locally). You can also plant a later crop and keep them in pots until the first plants are nearly done.

I usually have an early crop and a later crop of tomatoes. A determinate variety (produces a big crop all at one time) as a first crop (like Early Girl of Fourth of July) and an indeterminate kind such as Jet Star or Supersonic for a later crop. I like to grow all kinds of different types of tomatoes in addition to these for variety, including heirlooms, which fruit very late in the season, and patio kinds in pots for a super early crop.

Bugs!

You can tell the squash borer is in a vine because it begins to wilt even after it's been watered. Use a sharp knife or a knitting needle to dig right into the vine that's wilting (before it's too late!) and find the borer. The stem sometimes has a pile of what looks like a sawdust pile next to the entry point. After you've got the borer (he looks like a white grub or caterpillar) bury the injured stem under a mound of earth and it will recover (most of the time). That will keep them from spreading to the other squash plants.

You can spray plants with soapy water, ground hot pepper, crushed chrysanthemum leaves (or natural pyrethrins). You can plant marigolds around the base of plants. You can place a nail near the stem of a young tomato plant to foil cutworms or wrap a little foil or the top of a paper cup around the base. You can spray aphids away with a hose or pick off hornworms and beetles. You can buy a mixture of castor oil/hot pepper or use blood meal (it's a fertilizer, too!) to scare off creatures at harvest time, such as deer, voles/moles, rabbits and woodchucks.

There are all kinds of weed prevention fabrics to help keep down weeds, or use a heavy mulch of leaves or seaweed if you can get it.

Think about it - if a chemical is meant to control or prevent the growth of weeds, or kill bugs, how good can it be for making happy plants?

All the chemicals you feed to your plants may be stored in the water they take up and eventually could end up in the fruits and vegetables you pick and eat! If you have well water, it could also end up in your drinking water or in rivers, streams and the ocean. This goes for lawn chemicals, too.

[KarenB]

Thanks for the list CM. I wish I had access to sea weed. It's expensive here and only in a concentrate format. I use a spray of baking soda and water on my plants maybe a teaspoon of Listerine . I save all my eggshells and crush them. They go around my hostas and roses for earwigs and slugs. Still would like to have a good formula for my apple tree black spot and plum tree black rot.

[brigid]

Y'all are serious gardeners! I like that. I am only a container gardener, so I don't know a lot about real vegetable gardening. I am learning!