Cracks in the Armor

They may not be Jon and Kate or Reggie and Kim, but a good sized bunch of tomatoes are breaking up. Ironically, our problem is occurring just about everywhere except on our celebrity tomato plant.

As you can see, many of the tomatoes (mostly on the heirloom plant) have large tears or cracks in their skins. What causes this problem? There are a few possibilities.

1)Alteration in the growth rate- The fruits may not grow at a steady rate. They can go from a slow rate to a rapid rate. In doing so, the cells in the tomato may not be able to stretch quickly enough for the skin to grow in accordance with the rest of the fruit (kind of like stretch marks on a pregnant woman).

2) Fast growth- With the high temperatures and humidity here to stay, some fruits grow very fast, and again, the skin of the tomato can't stay with the rapid growth.

3)Fluctuation in temperature- In the hot sun the fruit heats up and cools off during the night. If it's a substantial change in temps, it causes a lot of expansion and contraction. This will cause the skin to crack during those cycles.

4)Uneven nutrient levels- Plants with high levels of nitrogen and low potassium are more likely to crack.

5)Change in watering cycles- If there's a dramatic change in the cycle the plant receives water, cracking will occur.I have a feeling that a couple of these could be my problem, but I think the main issue is #5. When I went on vacation, the watering cycle changed from every other day to whenever my neighbors could water. Don't get me wrong...for two weeks of no rain, my garden stayed healthy thanks to their efforts.

But the transition from a very wet spring to a dry summer has altered the water cycle of my plants. It was just a matter of time. If the rains had been even throughout the seasons, we may not have had the problem.

The good news about cracking is it doesn't make the tomatoes any less edible. Good thing because I need a good snack while surfing the celebrity gossip websites for all the new Hollywood break-ups and drama.

The July Monthly Update

The Garden: July 23, 2009

It's a few days late, but I finally have a chance to sit down for the monthly update. This farmer spent the past week back in the homeland of Colorado. It has been a very wet (unusual) year in the Centennial Sate. But temps stayed cool longer and gardens got a late start. All the rain was doing wonders, but a severe storm packed with hail and high winds this week did extensive damage to gardens and crops across the Denver Metro area.

Back here in Virginia, Mother Nature turned off the spicket several weeks ago. The temperatures and humidity have gone up and so has the need for water in the garden. It figures this would happen the same time I leave town. Thankfully, the Mrs. did a great job of watering followed by our neighbors. Was the garden as healthy when I returned? No. But it could have been considerably worse.The Harvest After Our Colorado Trip: Tomaotes, Cucumbers, Jalapenos, Romaian Peppers and NM Chiles

• Acorn Squash-Probably suffered the most in the heat and decrease in water. Many leaves died off and the squash have not grown in size the past few weeks. I'm hoping that the plant recovers and produces great squash in its prime fall harvest season.
  
• Albatross Bell Peppers- See Romanian Sweet Peppers....because it doesn't appear we ever had Albatross Bell Peppers.
  
• Jalapeno Peppers- Wowser. This is clearly El Hefe of the garden so far. The poppers (see previous blog post) have been the hit if the season.
  
• Romanian Sweet Peppers- I thought we had one Romanian plant and one Albatross pepper plant. Well, it looks like someone mislabeled some plants because the "albatross" looked identical to the Romanian. Either way, we've already had some ripe and delicious looking peppers. I cut three off just this morning
  
• New Mexico Espanola Chiles- The chiles are growing nicely and we picked our first batch this morning.
  
• New Mexico Heritage Chiles- Along with their Espanola cousins, the Heritage are putting out a lot of peppers. Being away for a week allowed some peppers to turn red instead of a green-color harvest.
  
• Bush Whopper Cucumbers- No surprise the cucumber plant is doing fantastic. The cucumbers are big and tasty and the plant has maintained a compact growth pattern.
  
• Celebrity Tomatoes- The birds had a field day with the celebrities. With the mesh and Oswald in place, we're getting a chance to eat a lot of big, juicy tomatoes
  
• Mr. Stripey Tomatoes- By the looks of it, the Mr. Stripey's might have been mislabelled as well. The tomatoes are a solid yellow color and appear fully ripe. No stripes in sight.
  
• Patio Tomatoes- Birds had some patio 'maters, too. But the plant keeps putting out some tasty tomatoes.
  
• Supersweet 100 Tomatoes- The name fits the bill. These little red beauties are sweet and delish.
  
• Finger Carrots- I thinned out the carrot box and I think we might have some edible carrots.
  
• Lisbon Onions- Ready to use. The onions are a cool season crop, so they won't last long in the heat.
  
• Dwarf Gray Sugar Peas- After a plentiful harvest (two frozen bags worth), the heat killed the vines quickly. I pulled all the vines off the trellises.
  
• Rutabagas- Thinned them out and looking better. Still pretty small.
  
• Salad Mix- The salads we had were great. But again, the heat does this plant no favors. See you in the fall, Salad Mix.

The herbs are blowing up except for the dill and cilantro. Those are finito. Oh well, they made a good run.

The fruit plants are...well....there. Although the blueberry vines are spreading fast. Could be a great sign for next year.

Mulch Ado About Nothing

So much for spring. Now that summer is officially here, so are the hot temps and high humidity. My lawn isn't one to enjoy this time of the year, but the garden is flourishing. That is, as long as I stay on top of things and give it all the attention it needs.

Drooping Leaves on The Acorn Squash Plant Means It Needs Water

The culmination of heavy early season rains, high temperatures, longer days, bigger plants, and fruit on the vines has the garden very, very thirsty. No longer can I go a couple days between watering. In fact, this week the garden is almost needing daily water. Although I don't mind getting up fifteen minutes earlier everyday to yank out the hose, I need to find ways to make the water go further. (Remember, the best time to water your garden is in the early morning!!!) And with vacations coming up, I'm not going to be around everyday to water.

So here are some steps I took today that may help our plight to quench the garden.

1) Continue to prune- I cut away some low-hanging branches, yellow-colored leaves and branches, dead vines, etc. By eliminating these dying parts, the plant no longer must worry about providing for these leaves. It can focus water and nutrients to the healthier plant parts and developing fruit.

2) Pick mature veggies/fruit- If there are veggies ready to pick...do it. Again, this is one less thing the plant must provide for and keep its attention on other developing fruit.
3) Add more potting mix- Over time, some of the potting mix can erode away from watering and things like squirrels digging holes in the pots. As the plants get bigger, I also see small roots exposed from the soil. Adding more mix raises the soil level, adds support for the roots, provides more nutrients, and cools off the older potting mix.
4) Feed the plants- It was time for the garden to get its two week feeding. With the fresh potting mix layer, the nutrients will not filter to the bottom and eventually out the pot. The new mix will hold the nutrients and give the plant roots more opportunity to utilize the nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous.
5) Mulching- This is the big step. I'm hoping this will solve most of my watering and heat problems. Mulch is extremely valuable in the garden. First, it keeps soil cool in the summer heat and warm in cooler season temps. Second, it helps keep moisture in the soil from evaporating in the daytime sun. Third, it holds water and slowly dispenses it into the soil or ground. Knowing this, I ran to the garden center and grabbed a large (but cheap) bag of shredded wood mulch. Make sure when buying mulch not to get stuff treated with chemicals or a colored-dye.
After the new layer of mix and feeding, I spread a thin layer of mulch in the pots with the larger plants. I showered the mulch down to cool it off and keep from absorbing any moisture and nutrients underneath.

Mulch can provide other great duties such as preventing weed growth and warding off pests. Plus, it looks nicer than dried up dirt.
My suggestion: get out in the garden now and spend a good, long morning preparing your garden for the long and hot summer season. Trust me, a little work now can save you a lot of work down the road.

Hanna In The House

It may not have been great for the folks in the Carolinas, but we needed the heavy rains the tropical storm brought to the Capital Beltway. Come tomorrow morning, I'll be out in the garden to do a lot of pruning, weeding, and feeding

"Feed Me, Seymour!"

I finally got around to feeding all the plants today. The food I use is Miracle Gro's Tomato Food. Despite the name, it works for vegetable plants other than just tomatoes. When looking for vegetable food, the three important elements to look for are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Each nutrient serves a very important purpose. Nitrogen helps build green tissue in plants. This makes the plants grow stronger stems and leaves. It gives the plant leaves a dark green color. A lot of all-purpose plant foods are very high in nitrogen. That's great for other plants to grow all season. But we don't want vegetable plants with just big, green leaves. Phosphorus helps build strong root systems. So naturally, this is important when the plants are young and developing. Potassium is essential because it helps the plant develop fruits, flowers, and toughens it up against diseases and pests.

You Can Find This At Home Depot for $5

The Miracle-Gro tomato food ratio for Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium is 18-18-21. That is a very nice balance between the nutrients. So I use it all the time rather than going heavy on nitrogen and phosphorus early in the season and potassium late. Plus it's pretty cheap. Each box costs about $5 at Home Depot. I'll probably go through two boxes this year.



Watering Soil Level Gets The Water To The Roots Faster

I feed the plants every 10-14 days. It's pretty simple; I take a scoop of the food, dissolve it in a gallon of water, and spread it with my watering can. It's very important to water your plants at soil level at the base of the plants. Watering the leaves doesn't do much good. The water needs to get to the roots for the plants to fully utilize it. Also, I prefer to water in the morning for two reasons. One, during the hot summer the plants dry out fast and watering in the morning give them more of a chance to use as much water to keep cool and hydrated. Two, plants use the combo of water and sun to photosynthesize. Watering in the morning gives the plant the most opportunity to use as much water as possible while the sun is out. If you water at night, that's eight hours of the plant absorbing water with no sun.

So that's my take on feeding and watering. A little TLC and NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium) go a long way in having a healthy garden with big, tasty vegetables.