You can plant your tomatoes this weekend, though depending on where you live, you’ll need to watch the forecast and protect the plants on cold nights. When picking plants, think value. The bigger seedlings will give you fruit sooner, but they cost more. A smaller six pack will cost less, but bear more fruit. You just have to wait a little longer.
Harden off plants by putting them outside for several hours at a time over a week’s time. If the temperature will stay above 40, you can leave them out overnight.
When planting, mix in a cup of organic fertilizer, and bury the stem of the plant up to the first branch. The fuzzy outcroppings on the base will become roots.
Be sure to stek the plants. You don’t want tomatoes on the ground, as they’ll rot.
If you need to protect them at night, cutting out the bottom of a gallon milk bottle and placing it over the seedling creates a greenhouse, keeping it 4 degrees warmer.
Tomatoes
May 17th, 2009 | Category: Fruits | Leave a comment
If you are itching to start gardening, you can! Cole crops can go in the ground now. Those include broccoli and cabbage plants. For seeds, endive, lettuce, onion sets, peas, radish, spinach and turnips are all safe to plant now as they can withstand a frost. When planting seedlings, it’s a good idea to add a ring around the bottom, such as a top of a paper cup, to keep cut worms away. When planting seeds the general rule of thumb is the smaller the seed, the closer to the surface. Small seeds can be sprinkled and lightly covered with soil. Peas, which are larger, can go into the ground about three times as deep as the seed is round. In Mid-May (2 weeks before the date of the last average frost), you can plant cauliflower plants as well as beet, carrot, parsnips, and swiss chard seeds. You can also plant more onion sets to stagger the harvest.
A week later plant beans, corn, and early potatoes.
Early Summer, which usually means Memorial Day, you can plant eggplant, pepper and tomato plants, as well as cucumber, lima bean, melon, okra, pumpkin, and squash seeds, along with winter potatoes.
May 2nd, 2009 | Category: Fruits | Leave a comment
Place winter squash on top of thick pads of newspapers in a cool, dry, well-ventilated location. If you are lucky, you may have some sort of root cellar that would be convenient for storing your squash. Check on a regular basis for rot and use within three to six months.
Refrigerate tightly wrapped cut pieces of winter squash, such as banana, and use within five days.
September 10th, 2008 | Category: Squash, Vegetables | Leave a comment
