Category Archives: GARDENING TIPS

Veggies I will and won’t grow this year and why in 2011

Here is my veggie list from last year. I thought it important to go through it and tell you what I will and won’t grow again and why before I forget. Look at my SEED LIST PAGE next week (as it could always change) to see exactly what I am growing in 2011

TOMATO-HEIRLOOMS
San Marzano-red plum tomato-YES-I will try again even though ALL 4 died. I hear too many good things about this tomato

Striped German-bicolor tomato-YES-I WILL grow it again for my third straight year-One of my favorites even though it takes a little longer to develop

Black Cherry–YES– I will grow this for my third straight year-another favorite

Paul Robeson-black tomato-YES-A Farmers Market favorite although I prefer others.

Cherokee Purple-purple tomato-NO-I missed this one last year but it is wonderful. As good as Brandywine.

Cherokee Chocolate–YES-Just as good as Cherokee purple but a little brownish color. I will choose between one of the Cherokees due to space.

Prudens Purple-purple tomato-NO-not as good as the Cherokees nor as prolific but planted it because it was suppose to ripen sooner-not true for me last year.

Black Krim-black tomato-NO I didn’t do this one last year but had it in the lineup because it is only 69 days to ripen. Never had good luck in previous years.

Pantano Romanesco-red classic tomato-YES-wonderful tomato from Italy

Great White–NO– novelty-lost both plants

Costoluto Genovese-red tomato-YES fantastic looking-fluted and great taste

Goldsman Italian American-large red plum-YES even though I lost 3 out of 4, and it took forever to ripen, it makes the BEST tasting tomato sauce I’ve ever made

Aunt Ruby’s German Green–NO-Novelty-lost 2 plants

Gold Medal-bicolor tomato-MAYBE-took longer to ripen than Striped German but great taste

TOMATOES-HYBRID-I grow a few hybrids
Lemon Boy–MAYBE-didn’t get any in last year but it is a sweet terrific tomato

Park’s Beefy Boy-red tomato-70 days-YES-only 70 days and great taste

Sun Sugar-yellow cherry-NO-kinda like a lot of yellow cherry tomatoes but super sweet.Want to try something different.

Original Goliath-red tomato-NO– nice size, early ripener but can’t remember the flavor

TOMATO-COMPETITION (biggest)
Big Zac-red/80 days-YES-takes the longest to ripen but taste is great and chance to grow a huge one.

2010 VEGGIE LIST
BEANS-Rattlesnake-YES-great tasting pole bean over my arbor and Tavera-NO average tasting bush bean

PEPPER-Shishito-YES-I love these-not hot but full of flavor

SUMMER SQUASH-ZUCCHINI-Costata Romanesco –YES wonderful taste and Lungo Bianco-NO-it was good and more prolific than Romanesco but not as flavorful. Sticking to one kind this year.

SUMMER SQUASH-SCALLOPED-Yellow Custard and Bennings Green Tint-NO on both. I’m only growing Costata Romanesco

WINTER SQUASH-Marina di Chioggia–NO-powdery mildew problem and not many squashes and Galeux d’Eyesines–YES-prolific-great taste-3rd yr.

EGGPLANT-Little Fairy-YES-prolific tender skin and great taste, third year in a row. Thai Yellow Egg–NO-took all season to develop and then froze at first frost. What a disappointment.

CUCUMBERS-Parisian, Boothsby Blonde, Poona Kera, and Parade–YES TO ALL-Third straight season

CORN-not sure if I’m growing. Might just pick it up at Farmers Market

LETTUCES-from COOK’S GARDEN-Provencal Mix, Mesclun Mix, Buttercrunch, Yugoslavian Red, Santoro Lettuce, and Little Gem-YES

SPINACH-from COOK’S GARDEN-Indian Summer and Double Choice-NO-will look for bigger leaf variety.Too puny.

CARROTS-from COOK’S GARDEN-Kaleidoscope (mix of red, purple, orange and yellow)-NO want only orange and purple ones this year.

BROCCOLI-Brocolli Romanesco-NO–takes too long to develop.

ARUGULA-Apollo–YES

BOK CHOY-Extra Dwarf Pak Choy-YES

CHARD-5 Color Silverbeet–YES TO ANY CHARD

PEAS-DWARF SUGAR, OREGON SPRING II–YES

2010 GIANT PUMPKINS
895 Grande (1016 Daletas x 1385 Jutras)-YES-grew the 2010 NM State Record Pumpkin-421 lbs + 3 other new ones

GIANT MARROW (like a giant Zucchini)
206.5 Wursten 09–YES–didn’t grow last year but will this year

75.4 Wursten 09–YES–grew the 2010 NM State Record-43 lbs

GIANT TOMATOES
7.18 N. Harp 09 (5.58 Timm x open) YES–grew a 2 lb 11 oz tomato in 2010

5.416 N. Harp 09 (5.58 Harp x open–YES

Big Zac (from Totally Tomato)-YES

GIANT SUNFLOWERS
Titans–YES

Winter gardening

Main garden Jan. 8, 2011

Bri's Pumpkin Patch Jan. 8, 2011

It really looks like old man winter has arrived. Here are pictures of  the main garden and pumpkin patch down by the barn that I took this morning. We’ve had some precipitation (finally) on Dec 31-Jan.1 and some absolutely frigid temperatures last week which is why it is still on the ground.  Another Arctic blast is due here next week. Oh boy, can’t wait..

I went to get some carrots in my small patch protected only by 12 inches of straw up by the house for dinner last night and the carrots (yellow carrots) were looking good but the ground was frozen. All those nights in the single digits made the ground rock hard. Guess I’ll have to wait till spring when it thaws to harvest some.

Cold Frame Jan 8, 2011

When I checked the cold frame, the soil is still soft and the plants are doing great!

Winter lettuce damage

A little damage on some of the lettuce leaves from the -4° we had one night but not bad considering I don’t pay any attention to it except for an occasional watering. In the picture notice I have large bubble wrap on my cover to add insulation and you can see the row cover to the left that I have to cover the crop with to also add protection. Guess this is working pretty well. The transplanted chard is holding it’s own and the spinach leaves ARE ACTUALLY GROWING-slowly but growing!  So I watered the cold frame winter veggies before the next big weather front.  I use gallon jugs to water-easier than the frozen hose…

Closeup of cold frame veggies

2011 Baker Heirloom Seed Catalog Arrives!

2011 Baker Heirloom Seeds Catalog

My 2011 Baker Heirloom Seed Catalog arrived and just in time for me to cuddle up by the fireplace with it and a hot Mexican coffee while it snowed outside. If you are a veggie/flower gardener, this catalog is the most beautiful I’ve ever seen and has a wealth of information. It’s pictures inside are big and gorgeous and make me want to buy everything! It is by far my most favorite seed catalog and if you want to order one, it’s free here at Baker Heirloom Seed (www.rareseeds.com). I get many seed catalogs every year but this catalog is always the best one-year after year. Did I say  it snowed? Yes, snow! We haven’t had any measureable snow here in Santa Fe until yesterday. We got 16 inches of snow (that equals 1.6 inches of rain-10 inches of snow = 1 inch of rain) where I live and I’m so glad because we really need the moisture right now. Hasn’t felt like winter here till this weekend. Now we don’t have to water for awhile!

Saving Seeds-still time to collect them

giant marrow opened up exposing seeds

I’ve been collecting some of the seeds that I want to replant for next year-rattlesnake beans, giant marrow, Japonica corn, giant pumpkin, scarlet runner beans, sunflower seeds, tomato seed from my 2.11oz tomato, cosmos, and zinnas. Ones I won’t take are cucumbers, most tomatoes, zucchini, winter squash, and peppers as I grew several of the same varieties and they could of crossed and I might loose the original strain.

giant marrow seeds drying

When saving big seeds like squashes or pumpkins, be sure to thoroughly DRY the seeds before putting them in a zip-loc baggie or jar. Any hint of moisture will ruin them. I just put the cleaned, wet seeds on a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet in a dry sunny place until dry. That way they will release from the wax paper after they are dry. I always like collecting seeds every year. It’s fun when you plant them the following year. It’s also fun when you don’t have to buy a packet of seeds for $2.49 with 20 seeds in them when you can collect the same seed and get 100’s more.  I have a friend (Fran) who walks and collects the wild flower seeds and broadcasts them on her property and the her natural garden this year looked awesome. (Did I tell you that Fran?!) Awesome!

10 Things To Do in November In The Garden

I’m baaaack! Been on vacation all last week in sunny, warm Southern California down in San Diego playing on the beaches and up to Disneyland. Ahhh, 78-80 degree weather. How nice!   A much needed vacation..But now that I’m back there is still much to do before cozying up to a fireplace and looking at future seed catalogs that I haven’t gotten yet. I’m so far behind, I can’t see. So here is my list of to do’s that I haven’t done:

1. Finish taking out the garden-only partially done. Must dispose of all tomato plants (all now dead), all cucumber and squash plants. I won’t compost any of these as I don’t want to spread any possible diseases they may have had since they are very disease prone and if you don’t get your compost pile hot enough, you may not kill all the pathogens. Also rake any debris and get rid of it. Make the dirt pretty. Here I come city dump!

2. Finish my compost pile. Got to get more coffee grounds, leaves and fresh horse manure or cottonseed meal (to heat up the pile) and add to the partially composted piles. Soon I won’t be adding any kitchen scraps as they will not break down in the dead of winter (at least not for me (I’m not a worm farmer)-Deb F. I need your advice on making hot compost in cold winter climates!)

3. I already took off the drip system timers but need to take out the batteries and put them inside somewhere. I never drain or blow out the drip and never had a problem. Ahh, one less thing to do!

4. Oh oh! I think I blew it. We have already had freezing weather at night, so I may have killed my new little friends-soil microbes in products such as Serenade, Companion and Mycorizial but I’m going to get them anyways out of the garden shed and put them in the house where it is warmer. Hmm, wonder what closet I can hide them in? I know, the cat room closet! Nobody wants to go in the cats room anyways (where the kitty litter boxes are)! I wonder what these microbes do in the winter anyways out in nature?! Hmm, I’ll have to investigate that this winter.

5. Put everything from the Tomato Lady business in the garden shed. Oh yea and clean up and straighten out that garden shed while I’m in there. And set some mouse traps in case they think the row cover is really just blankets for them in the winter.

6. I’m going to get the pumpkin patch soil tested this year and see what amendments I need to add.  I’m going to add amendments to it and the general veggie garden as soon as the sales go on at the garden stores. Last year I picked up my Seaweed, Thrive, Yum, Yum mix, and Fish emulsion really cheap- right about now.

7. Need to make notes about what happen in the garden this year-you know, successes, failures, problems-things I can look at next Spring to refresh my memory. Need to make a diagram of where my diseased tomatoes were before I forget. Shouldn’t replant tomatoes back in those spots again for 3 years. I will be planting less tomatoes next year in an area that either hasn’t had tomatoes or it’s been 3 years since I planted there. It’s called plant rotation-but with the number of tomato plants I plant every year, it’s getting harder to find new places with in the garden to plant them or I may need to expand again next year.  Na, just plant less tomatoes..

8. Finish up my collecting seeds and sorting them. I’ve almost done there.

9. Do you believe this? I’m planting some starts of spinach and lettuce in a cold frame NOW! Just an experiment to see if they will do well or not..

10. Planning to build a small high tunnel to be ready for early Spring. Hope it’s a warm winter…

Tomatoes all picked and everywhere in house!

Monday  finished picking all the tomatoes and then the garden froze that night. Now I have a houseful of green and ripening tomatoes everywhere! Tomorrow I go to our Farmer’s Market and sell them. In fact I have 9 boxes which ain’t bad for end of October.  Usually I sell out and there are hardly any tomato people there now. I’ll wait and see how the rest of the tomatoes develop-just take it week to week as to whether I go back or are finished. Meanwhile the garden is a mess since it froze. I started to clean it up but the plants are too heavy still with water so I’ll wait till they are lighter. I think I’ll hire some help with it.

Pick those green tomatoes before a freeze!

green tomatoes need to be on single layer

Now is the time to finish picking those green tomatoes before it freezes tonight! I have been collecting boxes and paper bags to store them in for some time now. They will be everywhere in the house this year. Last year I put them in the studio and it wasn’t heated and I didn’t get any tasty ones. Tomatoes that are picked need temperatures at 51 degrees or higher to finish ripening-so that leaves OUT most garages unless they are heated. Put them on a single layer of possible, not stacked as in the first photo.

Tomatoes starting to ripen

Also be sure to cover them so they are not in direct sunlight and be sure to rotate them as they all ripen differently. MOST of your tomatoes that have start turning light green will ripen just fine and SOME of those dark green ones MAY ripen as well. Don’t bother with picking all the immature small ones (depending on size of mature tomatoes), they won’t ripen well.

cherry tomtoes in clusters starting to ripen

Also I cut off the whole cluster of decent size cherry tomatoes to ripen. You can sort through them later to get rid of the small ones…

Tips on How to Ripen Tomatoes Inside

 

How to ripen green tomatoes

 

So now that you’ve been waiting all season for your tomatoes to ripen, what do you do when you know that a hard frost is going to hit and you still have lots on the vine? Here are some tips on ripening tomatoes inside.

• Watch the news to see when we will get a potential freeze forecast. I have been caught running out at night picking as many as I could because I didn’t watch the weather forecast. I try to look a few days ahead now so I’m not out in the garden at night with my flashlight!
•  If we are going to get a freeze, run out before it freezes and pick all the decent size ones off. I don’t bother with the small ones, they are probably not mature enough to ripen properly anyways.
•  Sort the tomatoes from rock hard green to almost ripe and put them in heavy grocery paper bags and fold over the top. That way you don’t have to go through each bag every day and pull out the ones that are ripening sooner.
• When they start to change color, I pull them out and put them in bags where they are all similar in the ripening stage.
• In the bags with the green ones, I will put an apple in the bag to help ripen them if I am in a hurry. An apple releases ethylene gas (the tomatoes produce this as well) which helps the ripening process. That is why you fold over the bag to help trap the gas that both the tomatoes and apple are releasing. Don’t forget to check your bags every few days.
• Some people say to pull the whole plant and hang it upside down and watch the tomatoes as they ripen. Keep the plant out of direct sunlight. This can be done if you have a few plants but if you have a lot of plants, you may not have the room inside (visions of a tomato jungle inside my small house) and this is why I bag mine. I can keep them in another room out of the way.
• You can also choose to wrap green tomatoes individually in newspaper and lay them in shallow cardboard box in a single level. Store out of direct sunlight. Check them regularly. I don’t use this as I would have to unwrap all of them to see where they are at but this would work if you don’t have a lot of tomatoes.
• Leave them stem side up-they won’t rot as quickly.
• When your tomatoes are almost ripe, to increase flavor, set them in front of a warm window a couple of days before you want to use them.
• Also to increase flavor, be sure to store them in a room that is at least 55 degrees. Last year I didn’t and they didn’t have much flavor. If they won’t ripen or aren’t flavorful they are probably stored in too cool of a place or perhaps they were too small to begin with.
• Lastly you can always pickle green tomatoes or cook with them!

Another Big Tomato-Striped German

 

Closeup of Striped German Tomato inside-my all time favorite

 

 

2.14 lb Striped German

 

My other big tomato is a Striped German, a beautiful bi-color tomato. I’ve been waiting for these to ripen all season. I grow them for eating. They can grow very big as they are a beefstake and are a super sweet tomato with just the right amount of acid to balance it. They get lots of cracks because they are thin skinned, very typical of an heirloom  tomato but nobody cares because of that incredible flavor. Very luscious and juicy. The flavor is unbelievable. If you ever get a chance to try one, jump on it. It is the first one I always sell out of at the Farmers Market.

It is one of those tomatoes that runs down your chin when you eat it in a BLT. I think out of all the tomatoes I have grown over the seasons, it is my all time favorite.

 

16.5 inch Striped German

 

Soon our tomato season will be gone as the nights get colder. We must watch the weather now for that first freeze. I still have many on the vine and will  most of the bigger ones off when I hear we will be getting a freeze on the news. Then I will bring them inside to ripen. I usually have tomatoes to eat well into November. Maybe we have another week-if we are lucky..

2 lbs 11.4 oz Giant tomato-My NEW personal best

2 lbs. 11.4 oz

GIANT TOMATOES I have several tomatoes that ended up pretty good size. One type I grew for giant competition and the other for good eating. This post will be about the competition giant tomato.

My biggest competition tomato comes from the 7.18 N.Harp plant and is 20.5 inches in circumference. It weighs 2 lbs-11.4 oz. 

This is now my personal best!

I was going to take it to the weigh-off in Colorado Springs but since it was still green and I wanted the seeds from it, I kept it home so it could get fully mature and red and let the seeds develop. I believe this tomato (grown by Nick Harp) originally came from a Big Zac variety several generations back. I also have a 17 incher that weighs 2 lbs 6 oz.

20.5 inches in circumference

I grow the Big Zac variety for competition but do sell them as well at our Farmers Market. They taste wonderful and have a good old fashion tomato flavor unlike some super sized competition tomatoes. Not bad-supersized and tasty!

KONG BREAKS NEW MEXICO STATE RECORD!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, Oct 1, 2010/GPC Old Colorado City Weigh-Off, Colorado Springs, Colorado-

Kong broke the New Mexico State Giant Pumpkin Record today coming in at 421 lbs beating the old record of 404 lbs! The record comes home to Santa Fe which is quite a feat considering our high altitude and short growing season. Kong also got a ribbon for third place in the weigh-off for 3rd biggest pumpkin out of about 25 contestants and $100 (yea-paid for my gas to get up there!).  The first place was a 1109 lb monster pumpkin grown by a Colorado grower named Marc Sawtelle and second place was over 800 lbs grown by another Colorado grower named Doug Minix. These guys are my heros-they are really nice and share information about growing these monsters. My pumpkin was little by comparison but still bigger than all the rest of them. My giant marrow, ‘Big Zuc’, also got a ribbon for Best Squash and also set a new New Mexico record. What a way to finish the gardening year. Couldn’t be better!!

So the weigh-off day went as follows:

Got up at 4:30 am and left by 6am to get up to Colorado Springs by 10:30am. We unloaded Kong at 10:30 and waited till weigh-off time at noon. We met the mayor of Colorado Springs who told us the sorid story of the city when it was a mining town and one side of the main street (that we were on) was for the brothels and other side was the respectable side.  He told us the story of how the men would drop off their wives at the opera on the respectable side, go into some tunnels to cross the street over to the brothels and come back again to pick up their wives after the opera! Hmm! He looked like the guy in Monopoly (I think the banker?) I also met Buffalo Bill Cody (I think reincarnated)! Lots of people and families came.

At noon when they went to turn the digital scale on they couldn’t get it to work! Arg! I was freaking out inside as I really wanted Kong weighed and didn’t want to go all the way home without doing that. Talk about how anticlimactic that would of been! Anyways they worked on it for about 40 minutes while I’m dying inside and finally they got it fixed. Phew! Talk about a freak out! Where were the ‘tums’?

Then they started weighing them from smallest to largest. The next thing that made me worried was the entry right before me was a beautiful orange color and looked bigger to me, but only weighed in at 375 lbs. Sheez! Did I measure wrong? Marc and Doug(the two biggest growers there) told me later that color (as in bright orange) always weighs lighter than the salmon color pumpkins. Then the big moment..and Kong weighed in at 421 lbs. Elodie and I were screaming and yelling as they announced I broke the NM State Record! Such a thrill! Then they put my giant marrow, ‘Big Zuc’ (think zuccini) on the scale and it weighed 43 lbs. Biggest fricking zucchini I ever grew! Also a NM State Record! Icing on the cake! So I got ribbons for third place for Kong and Best Squash for ‘Big Zuc’ and of course the sweetest was breaking the NM State pumpkin record. What a way to end the giant pumpkin season! Here is a slide show of the weigh-off.

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Kong Gets A Lift To Colorado!

LOADING KONG

Friday Oct 1, 2010/8:30 am-Up early today getting ready for the gang to come and help pick up Kong into the truck. My friends who helped are some big dudes and I couldn’t have done it without them. Thanks guys!  Kong measured 269 OTT which means it is around 404 lbs but the three charts that estimate the weight put me between 404 lbs up to 415 lbs depending which chart you look at. I would of liked to cut it off tonight but this is when I could get the whole gang together. Hope I don’t need the extra weight Kong could gain today. We leave at 5 am tomorrow to drive to Colorado Springs for the GPC weigh-off. Here is a slide show of the loading event.

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Kong reaches 396 lbs…

Kong has reached 396 lbs! I am trying to get it past the state record of 404 lbs by pushing it a little with fish emulsion and seaweed every day. I have to be careful not to blow it up! It will be touch and go until the end when we take it on Saturday up to Colorado Springs, CO for the weigh-off. Every pound is critical now. I won’t know if it beats the record until they officially weigh Kong as I could be wrong on my measurements (wishful thinking?) or it could weigh light (or heavy).  I need at the minimum 10 lbs in 4 days and that is if the measurements are correct. The weatherman is predicting warm days in the 80’s which bodes well for Kong. Grow Kong, grow.. Stay tuned!

MG Giant Veggie Garden Tour and Winter Gardening Class Information Sheets

Here are all the information sheets I had out at the Santa Fe Master Gardener’s Giant Veggie Tour and the Winter Gardening Class held at my garden for anyone that wants them. I’m also listing the  link to the whole article on attracting beneficial insects that I got from http://www.grinning planet.com. Following are the pdfs for the info sheets from the tour on Attracting Beneficial Insects, the Mid Summer/Fall Plant Help info sheet, the Squash Bug Preference Chart (yes squash bugs actually have squash preferences!) and Organic Plant Insect/Critter Control Recipes. Also are the sheets from the Winter Gardening Class held today. Two plans showing how to build coldframe/hotbeds, winter gardening information sheet and Fall/Winter Vegetable Planting Guide from Ed Hume Seeds website. Just download them and print them for your files.

PDFS FROM TOUR:

Attracting Beneficial Insects

Mid Summer/Fall Help For Plants

Squash Bug Preference Chart

Organic Plant Insect/Critter Control Recipes

PDFS FROM WINTER GARDENING CLASS:

Winter Gardening Sheet

Fall and Winter Vegetable Planting Guide

Hotbed Plans

Cold Frame Gardening

Cold Frame/hotbed plans


Giant pumpkin ‘Kong’ hits 228+ lbs!

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Here is a mini slide show of ‘Kong’, my biggest giant pumpkin right now. There is an apple on it for perspective. Kong is 35 days old and 228 lbs as of tonight. It’s been putting on between 12-17 lbs a day. I said a day! 17 lbs is the best weight gain in a single day I have ever had with a giant pumpkin. I know others have greater gains but we have harsher conditions and shorter growing season here. Kong is starting to get longer and bumpier. I like its looks! I love going out after work and measuring them every evening. You can actually see a difference from day to day. It is mind blowing!

‘Harpie’, my other big pumpkin, is beautiful, being perfectly round and not gnarly like Kong. It is at 100 lbs and its weight gain varies from 4-10 lbs a day. I will post pictures of it later.

It has been around 47 degrees during this past week so I have to put a blanket on both of the pumpkins over their row cover so they don’t loose so much heat at night. The pros say to blanket them when the temperature gets below 60 degrees at night. That way they don’t have to wait to warm up in the morning to continue growing. The row cover is to provide shade during the day (think like a light weight covering) so their skins don’t get hard. It is easier for them to grow when their skin is soft.

This is my pumpkin mantra, “Grow Naguas, grow” (grow pumpkins, grow). I say it everynight when leaving the pumpkin patch!