I thought you might enjoy this video I took of my veggie garden in early August 2023. When I see this video now, the garden looks pretty good. I just want to see some GREEN now instead all this white snow but I know we need as much snow as we can get due to our droughty area. Yes I said, ‘droughty’! Walk with me while I do this year’s summer tour of the veggie garden.
We just finished eating the last tomatoes picked in October before a frost. The last ones pictured on the left, were Large Barred Boar.
I had 6 bags of green tomatoes that ripened inside. Pretty good having homegrown tomatoes through end of November. Bittersweet in that I am glad the season is over but sad there will be no more wonderful tomatoes till next July.
I start the season in March growing out the seeds inside under lights-8 months is a long time. I won’t eat a store bought or restaurant tomato so now it’s a long wait. I have made plain tomato sauce, roasted them, dried them, used them in tomato soup, and made pasta sauces using them. My friends have given me tomato tapenade and tomato chutney they made too. Nice!
During wintertime, I will review my notes about which tomatoes did well, which had problems, which had low production, and which new ones I liked or not and why. I don’t rule out anything that didn’t do well, especially this season with no water and intense heat but will give many tomatoes a second chance. I will research the internet looking for possible new varieties to try for next year. I have a stable of tomatoes I grow every year and always try a few new ones as well.
So by now you have either cleaned up your garden or hopefully finishing up. I’m in the latter camp. I took out all the tomatoes and their cages before the ground freezes which historically is sometime in December. If I had waited, they would freeze in the ground and I would have not gotten them out till spring. I know because I did this once and it was no picnic getting them out later rather than sooner. Lesson learned.
Plus I’ve taken out almost everything else that is not a perennial. I continue to water the perennials by hand about once every 2 weeks and as it continues to get colder, I will lessen the watering of these. This week the nights will be in the 20’s so here we are.
The drip system was shut down and timers stored inside so they didn’t freeze at night. I still have some straw left in the beds which I’ve started raking up and storing in garbage bags as it is organic straw mulch which is hard to find. Normally I would just compost the straw and digging the rest in the beds but i can reuse this. If I had leaves, I would have dug them in as they are gold in the garden. All the perennials are either sleeping or going to sleep.
Good night sweet garden-see you next year!
Here is a video I took on July 18, 2020 but basically looks the same as today.
I have heard from several sources that we might not get a monsoon pattern setting up here in August and that alarmed me. We have never NOT (I know, a double negative) had a monsoon season in the 27 years I’ve been here and now this. I decided to chance it and take off the row covers. I didn’t see any any leaf hoppers today but that doesn’t mean anything as they are so hard to see.
So I am hopeful that they are gone. Who knows, maybe they have a limited lifespan in summers.
I’m not telling you to take them off-that is your decision, but I will deal with whatever mother nature gives us…and it is soo good to see my beautiful tomato plants! Good luck!
GARDEN CLASS FOLLOWUP
Here is the handout with the class notes from Tuesday:
I also had someone ask me about the 2 Perennial Chard-Spinach and Perennial Arugula which is called Sylvetta that I talked about. You can google them to see which seed companies might still have some for this year. You just have to give them a space where they can come back each year. I am just now trying them so I don’t know how they will do but hope they will do well in my garden and yours.
Last year’s Black Cherry tomatoes. They are still green right now.
In case you wondered what happened to me, I have been super busy putting in the garden in May and June. The garden is now completely in. I just noticed I haven’t posted since March. Sorry-the garden called.
So instead of giving you what’s been going on in the garden all at once, I will break it down into several posts.
Let’s start with my favorite crop, TOMATOES!
I started my tomato seeds inside on a heat mat, under lights on April 14th. The tomatoes have been in the ground since May 10th. I put them in young. I don’t wait for them to get to gallon size. They seem to adjust better outside when I put them in younger.
I consider that date kinda late since I usually try to put them in the ground the first week of May. We had a cold snap the first week of May so I waited. I always put them in the ground with wall of waters around them for protection from cold nights, especially when I put them in early. My goal is to get them to set some fruit before it gets too hot. They are out of the wall of waters now (one must take them out when it gets hot and it is hot 90°F+ right now and they are protected from the beet leafhopper under MEDIUM WEIGHT row cover NOT heavy weight which will hold in too much heat at this point. Funny I hadn’t seen any leafhoppers until we got hotter. Now they are here. Keep your tomato plants completely covered until the monsoons come. Looks like it is coming in later than last year but hopefully within the next 2 weeks. I’m tired of looking at the plants with row cover over them, but whatch you gonna do? To take them out now could spell the end to many of your tomato plants, so keep them covered. Leafhoppers bite the plant and give them a deadly virus hence the cover. And since tomato plants are self-pollinating, they can be covered.
I did see some of the plants set their fruit (earlier before the heat set in) when I peaked inside the covered cages. And more will come so I don’t worry. Just wish the extreme heat would end.
When the heat reaches 92°F and above, the tomatoes will drop off their blossoms. This is called blossom drop. They will set the blossoms into fruit when the temps are lower than 92°F. Tomatoes continuously put out blossoms. Once the fruit is set, the plants aren’t picky about high temperatures and the tomatoes are not likely to fall off. Then we get to worry about other things-more diseases, bugs etc. but not while they are covered…
I try to grow some early mid and late season varieties of tomatoes so I get some throughout the season. Here is a list of my tomato varieties this year 2023:
CHERRY TOMATOES
Ruthje-red pointy-as sweet as Sungold-65 days to harvest
Moby dwarf (trial)-yellow-63 days to harvest
Black Cherry-black-65-75 days to harvest
Fruity-cherry-red-65 days to harvest
EARLY SEASON
Large Barred Boar-bicolor-65 days to harvest
Goliath-red-65 days to harvest
Large Barred Boar-bicolor-65 days to harvest
MID-SEASON
Black Sea Man-black/purplish-75 days to harvest
Cherokee Carbon-Black/purple-75 days to harvest
Cherokee Purple-brick color-75 days to harvest
Marmanade-Red-67 days to harvest
Juane Flamme-orange-70 days to harvest
NEW! Abraham Brown-black/brown-75 days to harvest
Paul Robeson-black/brick color-75 days to harvest
LATE SEASON
Lucky Cross-yellow-74 days to harvest
Big Zac-red-80 days to harvest
Virginia Sweet-yellow bi-color-80 days to harvest
NEW! Giant de Bolzano-red-80 Days to harvest
Goldman’s Italian American-red paste-85 days to harvest
Ok, I for one am glad 2022 is over and looking forward to a new year and a new growing season. But I have much to be grateful for despite my dismal yield of tomatoes last season. So instead of looking at the negative which there is plenty of that in the news, I’m going to focus on the positive from last year’s garden. So here are some of the successes in 2022:
-Because we had such a good rainy season (monsoons), my annual flowers (in fact all my flowers, perennial and annual flowers were absolutely fantastic. All the annual seeds I threw out on the ground (I didn’t even start any inside last season) came up and in fact I had to thin out some of them to keep from overcrowding. I don’t think I have had a more beautiful flower garden inside the veggie garden.
-Actually most veggie crops did well for me except the tomatoes. All cool season crops continued to produce very well throughout the summer because of those rains and cooler temperatures-kohlrabi, kale, chard, lettuce, onions, potatoes did great.
-The raspberries and finally the blackberries produced LOTS of berries, again because of the rains. Still, no salmonberries or honeyberries last season but am hoping for their berries to show up this year.
-My winter and summer squash did exceptionally well with very little disease-I grow butternut squash and Friulana summer squash because they usually don’t get many (if any) squash bugs. Only one butternut squash out of 8 squash got them but it is interesting to note that all the butternuts were crowded in one bed (as in overflowing) so they were all very close together and only one plant got them and none of the rest got them and no squash bugs or disease in the Friulani summer squash plants either.
-I grew Yukon Jack potatoes in 2021 and that harvest was dismal. But in that same bed I had 5 volunteer potato plants that came up and produced very well and most were good sized spuds. I guess I missed some of the teeny-tiny potatoes during the previous year but again with all the rain, it was a good harvest.
-My carrots were bodacious! I still have about 10 lbs stored from this last season. I really liked the ‘Dragon Purple carrots with their dark purple skins and bright reddish orange flesh inside.
-The Italian dry pole bean variety, Casalbuono di Panzareidd, a white bean with red splashes was super productive and super tasty.
So as we enter the new year with many new growing possibilities, I get excited with new hope for a great 2023 growing season. I wish you all a happy new year where you all prosper and flourish in your gardening and personal lives.
I just found this video on my last harvest of my veggie garden for 2022…Enjoy!
Today is cold and windy-a nice day to be inside!
Every year for the past few years, I film my veggie garden usually in the fall when harvesting slows down. The garden won’t be at it’s prime but it’s when I’m not so headless. Next year I will try to film it in it’s prime. I like to see it in the winter to inspire me as to what might be for next season, to see a little green, dream about next year’s garden and refresh my brain as to how it looked. Of course every year is different which is actually exciting.
In the garden everything did well except the tomatoes. The flowers were especially wonderful and for the first time in many years, I got lots of carrots. I attribute that to the rain we had this summer.
This year after looking at the film again, I noticed how much Early Blight infected my tomato plants. Usually I start spraying the plants with Copper fungicide (use to spray with Serenade which is no longer available) early before I see it as a preventative but this year I got behind because I had Covid for 20 days and never really caught up. This is a good lesson for me especially if we have a rainy growing season like we did this year. Rain exacerbates Early Blight with it’s humidity and moisture. Early Blight can hit our tomato plants when water splashes up from the ground onto the lower leaves. Early Blight spores live in the ground and when they splash up on the lower leaves, they colonize and spread upwards. If you want to know more on Early blight on my website, go here: giantveggiegardener.
Happy planning for next year-Hope you enjoy this video!
For those of you who don’t listen to my radio show on KSFR 101.1 which airs the last day of each month at 10 am, I talk about what problems are in the garden, what we can do, how to deal with certain pests, what we can grow and review crops I grow, etc. Generally, lots of veggie growing tips. This Saturday, Nov 26, I am reviewing my top crops for 2022-all of them. So if you can’t listen this Saturday or want a copy to keep as reference, I am posting my favorite tomatoes for 2022. There are few new ones and some that are on my top 20 list of tomatoes year after year.
I grew 29 tomato plants this year and it was probably the worse year tomato wise (but other crops did well). I think because it was a cool rainy, cloudy season and once the tomatoes set their blossoms into fruit, they like warm, sunny days which we didn’t have many in 2022. However, my cherry tomatoes saved the day and were very prolific but the slicers didn’t grow fast or ripen very fast either. I had a lot of green ones at the end of the season, which I ripened inside. I believe that’s because of the cool weather. Some of my standard slicer that I grow year after year didn’t do so well but I still include them because they have been great till this year. I don’t necessarily stop growing one tomato because of one bad year especially if it has done well in the past. But it is interesting to note that my peppers did well and they like hot weather too, so go figure.
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2022 TOMATO REVIEW
SOME OF MY FAVORITE SLICER TOMATOES THAT DID WELL THIS YEAR:
Paul Robeson-named after the famous opera singer-has superb rich flavor. Get seeds online or at Agua Fria Nursery.
Cherokee Purple-Wonderful flavor. Get at Seed Savers Exchange.
Cherokee Carbon-a hybrid with all the great flavor of Purple Cherokee without the cracks. Get online or at Agua Fria Nursery.
Lucky Cross-A wonderful large bi-color tomato of yellow with a red blush inside- very sweet. Get at Victory Seeds.
Virginia Sweet-Another outstanding large yellow with red blush tomato-can get it online.
Goliath-A medium size red hybrid tomato with old fashion flavor. Almost perfect with few blemishes. Get online. Good eating or I make sauce.
Large Boar Boar-a mahogany color with green stripes-great flavor. Get at Wild Boar Farms.
Black Sea Man-looks and tastes like Black Krim tomatoes only more productive. Really like them. Get them at Seed Savers Exchange.
SOME OF MY FAVORITE CHERRY TOMATOES THAT DID WELL THIS YEAR:
Black Cherry-A fantastic purple cherry tomato. Get seeds online or plants at nurseries. Agua Fria Nursery.
Ruthje-Red cherry tomato-I grew this last year and it is a super sweet tomato. Get from Restoration Seeds online.
Moby-a dwarf cherry tomato-A large yellow cherry tomato on a small plant with great flavor You can get Moby at Victory Seeds. Only gets about 3-4 feet high so great for pots.
Sungold Cherry-a real favorite-super sweet. Get seeds or plants at nurseries like Agua Fria Nursery.
You notice I mention Agua Fria Nursery here as they have the biggest selection of Heirloom tomato plants in Santa Fe in the spring. Here is my pdf which includes all my crops AND live links for you: 11-2022 VEGETABLE REVIEW
Hey folks! This Saturday Oct 8th, is KSFR 101.1 radio fundraiser. This is the radio station that I broadcast my gardening podcast on. It is hosted by Santa Fe Extension Master Gardeners and is the Home Grown New Mexico edition. My show contains info on what we should, could and can do in our veggie garden each month in the Santa Fe area-how to become better organic, sustainable veggie gardeners. If you like my show (or if you have never heard it) it is on KSFR 101.1, from 10:00-10:30 on the last Saturday of each month). The reason I’m promoting this we need you to support KSFR so shows like these can continue.
Here is more info below:
The Garden Journal on KSFR–Saturdays at 10am on KSFR 101.1 and podcasting at KSFR.org
Please support KSFR’s Fall Fund Drive during The Garden Journal on Oct. 8 10am-10:30am. Call 505-510-KSFR (505-510-5737).
You will be supporting KSFR Community-Supported Public Radio and The Garden Journal.
The free air time Home Grown NM receives on KSFR is invaluable! It enhances visibility and our events to the community. Your contribution will help demonstrate that The Garden Journal has an engaged audience and will ensure that the program continues on the air.
Please call in with your donation of any size during our October 8 program between 10 and 10:30.
Pledge Gifts (only available Oct 8 from 10-10:30 during the Garden Journal broadcast, while they last) have been donated from our friends:
• Donate $150 and receive a set of three books on the critical role of insects to the environment: Doug Tallamy’s “Bringing Nature Home” and “The Nature of the environment: Doug Tallamy’s “Bringing Nature Home” and “The Nature of Oaks” and “The Insect Crisis” by Oliver Milman. Retail value $75. Provided by Plants of the Southwest.
• Donate $60 and receive a free $35 membership to Home Grown New Mexico.
• Donate $50 and receive a $25 gift certificate to Agua Fria Nursery.
Call 505-510-KSFR (505-510-5737) on Saturday, Oct. 8 from 10-10:30.
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I don’t know about you, but I’ve been feeling the heat lately and try to get out early in the morning and sometimes a little in the evening in the veggie garden if it cools down. So my gardening time is limited to when it is cooler. Of course it’s not as hot as where I grew up in Phoenix, AZ (I escaped)! Above is the forecast thru July 28 for Santa Fe. Looks like it’s going to cool down a little.
With this heat wave it is time to water your garden a little extra. Water your garden either first thing in the morning or last thing in the evening in addition to your normal watering. Today is the last day of temps in the 90s-tomorrow is suppose to be 89-still hot for here and then the temps drop to mid 80s. To see if my plants need extra water, I stick my finger in the soil up to my second digit and if it is dry when I pull it out and the soil doesn’t stick, it’s time to water. If it comes out wet, and the soil sticks to it, it still has good moisture. Also a real sign your plants need water is if they start to wilt. I try not to let them wilt. Plants in pots can dry out very quickly so water them 2x/day when it is hot.
One good thing is the tomatoes are just starting to come on. I now have a bowl of them on the kitchen table. I know they won’t set fruit when temps reach 92 degrees but they will keep producing blossoms and will set fruit once the temps cool down. And once they set some fruit, they don’t mind some heat. Some of my early varieties set their fruit in June. That’s why I try to plant so early-this year June 2nd, to give them a chance to set some fruit before the heat really sets in and they get blossom drop. But of course, that means putting them in wall of waters so they can deal with freezing nights that early in the season, but I don’t mind if I can get some tomatoes a little earlier. After all, it’s been since last November since I’ve had some home grown tomatoes. The wait was worth it!
MONSOONS
Are the monsoons here early? Historically, in my 28 years here in Santa Fe, the monsoons have traditionally started after July 4th weekend thru the second week of July. But last year and this year the weather people are saying it comes in around June 15th. Did things change? If so, I’m a happy camper cause we really need the moisture.
ROW COVER ON TOMATO CAGES/LEAFHOPPERS
Plus I can take off the row covers off my tomato cages as the dreaded beet leafhopper should be leaving soon. But I don’t do that with the first rain which we got here yesterday. I wait a few days-like maybe after this weekend if the weather pattern holds up. We got .4″ of rain which is great.
So if the monsoon pattern doesn’t peter out, and we get a little rain for next week and the monsoon pattern holds, I will be taking the row covers off my tomato plants. I haven’t seen my tomatoes since late May. Row cover is put completely around and over the cages to keep the beet leafhopper from physically getting to the tomato plants and biting the plant-no insecticides work. They transmit a fatal virus-Curly Top Virus (CTV) to tomatoes. One extra step we have to go through to get tomatoes out here in the southwest. The bug either gets suppressed or leaves town when the rains come as it prefers dry, hot windy conditions which we’ve had. Who knows? Maybe they will move to Texas.
TOMATO BLOSSOM DROP
Also with the rain, the temperatures should come down and blossom drop will stop too. Tomato blossom drop occurs at 92°F + when it gets too hot for the plant to set fruit. So if you’ve seen blossoms dropping don’t worry-your tomatoes will continue to make blossoms the whole season. But after it sets fruit, higher temperatures are ok. It’s just during higher heat when they are self-pollinating that they drop their blossoms. They need below 92°F to set the fruit. Another bonus. Ah rain!
Black Krim Tomato_Courtesy of Wiki_By Johnh – https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32303234
One of the best things about growing heirloom tomatoes is sometimes their history. I found the history of some tomatoes is fascinating and when I was at the Farmers Market, I was the first to include the description and history of the tomatoes I sold. People really enjoyed reading about what they were eating and where it was from.
One such tomato is the Black Krim, a favorite for many people. It has a very interesting history as it originated in Ukraine. Black Krim is the Ukrainian word for Crimea. I didn’t know any of this. I knew it was from Russia but not specifically from Ukraine and to be exact, Crimea, which Russia took back in 2014 after invading it before this year’s invasion of Ukraine. I found out this information from Terrior Seeds. To read more on the Black Krim from Terrior Seeds, go here. How relevant to today’s world.
Where as March is known as March Madness for basketball followers here in the US, I think of March as a time to get busy in the garden-definitely March madness!
Here is a list of things to do in the garden for March:
-Finish your garden plans! What are you growing this season?
-Finish ordering your seeds or getting your seeds if you haven’t already. Better hurry-many seed companies are getting behind in orders again.
-If you like to grow your own seedlings (and you should) get your light table and heating mat out (if you haven’t already). Use T-5 (better-more energy efficient)or T-3 florescent lights. I use the ‘daylight’ ones-gives your seedlings the whole spectrum of light waves. They produce less ‘leggy’ veggies.
-Start tomato seeds 4-6 weeks indoors before May 15. I will start mine on March 23 this year with the idea to set them out in early May (weather permitting) in wall of waters. If you don’t have wall of waters, you’ll have to wait till after May 15 to plant them whether you buy them or grow your own. Pepper and eggplant seeds should be planted 8-10 weeks indoors before May 15. Same goes for peppers and eggplants. I don’t put out those transplants till JUNE 1 in wall of waters as they hate cold nights and can stall out if you try to sneak them in earlier. Trust me-I’ve learned the hard way.
-Get your soil tested to see what amendments you might need to add to it. I do mine every 2-3 years.
-Put compost/amendments on your garden beds and lightly dig or rake in.
-Hurry up and finish pruning your fruit trees. Not much time left. EEK! I better do this now!
-Prune back your raspberries (within 3-4 inches of ground), prune your blackberries (better google this one depends on the variety you are growing), thin out your ‘mother’ strawberries. Strawberries slow way down when you leave in the mother plants and you want to make room for the newer plants (which produce more fruit), trim back your grape plants (this again is how you started as to how to prune now-google your variety). EEK! I better do this now!
-Spray your fruit trees with dormant oil before their buds turn color to smother any dormant bugs. EEK! I better do this now!
-WATER your trees and plants.
-Plant COOL SEASON vegetable seeds like peas, OUTSIDE on ST. PATRICK’S DAY or later. Some varieties include lettuces, spinach, arugula, bok choy, broccoli/cauliflower, cabbage, peas, radishes, mustard, kale, fava beans and other greens. Cover them with row cover at night for those freezing nights. And don’t forget to keep watering them for good germination. Tomorrow (St. Patrick’s Day)- green seed planting day and green beer!
giantveggiegardener 