Feh, the grue has me. I had grand plans for today…the starting of many more flower seeds, planting of more beans, new carrot beds, the potting up of the stratified bonsai tree seeds… But the grue has me…the sneezing, the congestion, the running faucet that is my nose, all forced me to take a rather epic nap instead of digging in the dirt and getting nicely sunburnt. Did manage to get human-like by around 4pm, which in these parts still leaves ample daylight for dirt digging….and PLANS.
I’ve decided, looking at the backyard gardens of others, that I am not maximizing my planting box space as I could be. I like things orderly – a shock to any childhood friends (hell, post-college too!) reading this, I know – but I think that’s causing me to waste a great deal of space. Peppers, for instance, do get rather bushy when mature, but really only at the crown, the foliage tapers to a few leaves about midway down the plant. So there’s space under them for things like carrots, onions, chives. The same is true for tomatoes, and even some bush beans. So I’m revisiting the boxes, planting a few rows of carrots here and there, sowing a few onions. These things we’re growing don’t have to be in straight orderly beds, they can be tucked in anywhere you have a little extra space, curved between two plants, zig zagged, whatever fits. Nor do the crops have to be especially laaarge. A few rows here and there will keep you in carrots and onions for weeks.
That said, can someone please explain to me why I have thought it necessary (with EIGHT tomato plants already blooming/fruiting, three more almost there, and six others just sprouted) to start yet another EIGHT MORE varieties, as well as FOUR MORE pots (2 seeds each sowed for all, and I DON’T thin, people) of the Campbell’s tomatoes?? Just where do I plan to grow all these things…on the frickin’ roof?
Would that I could, people. Would that I could.
Here, have a pic I inadvertently left out of yesterday’s epic, of some really-needs-to-get-planted-soon Cosmos (shot with my beloved 105mm lens) while I contemplate where to put 24 more frickin’ tomato plants:
Oh, and the very best part?? I’M THE ONLY ONE IN THIS FAMILY WHO FREAKING EATS TOMATOES.
*sigh*
on 
on Apr 19th, 2009 at 1:09 am
I love tomatoes, can eat them like apples- well, mine anyway! My kids hate them! How can you hate tomatoes? Luckily hubby loves them too, well, mine anyway! Happy gardening adventures
on Apr 20th, 2009 at 10:12 am
I’m rather surprised that your husband hasn’t learned to love home-grown tomatoes after all your gardening. As you’ll remember, I used to share his disdain for them (they weren’t done inside, I tell you!), but now that I grow my own – I eat them all summer. I’ll eat them sliced, with just some salt. I NEVER used to do that.
Even with the far superior taste of homegrown tomatoes, he still doesn’t like them?
on Apr 20th, 2009 at 10:16 am
It seems pretty late to be putting tomato plants in the ground in central Florida. Unless you plan to douse them with fungicides and insecticides as we head into summer? And it is definitely way late for tomato from seed, no? And sowing carrots?? Onions?? In April?? I’m confused, and wondering what I am missing…
Jim
(in Tampa)
on Apr 20th, 2009 at 10:16 am
@Caitlin:
We’re working on it. He was good and tasted everything I grew last year, and some he even liked. I think he’s REALLY looking forward to the Campbell’s tomatoes. We’re doing a lot of black tomatoes too, those might suit him better.
on Apr 20th, 2009 at 10:20 am
@Jim:
Sorry, no idea what rulebook you’re going by, but it is never too late to do anything. The only problems we ever have with tomatoes are whiteflies, which do not get going until full rainy season (July), and we’re trying basil to ward them off this year. Carrots will grow pretty much year round here, as will onions.
on Apr 20th, 2009 at 10:36 am
I hear you loud and clear!!
on Apr 20th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Well, now that canning is no biggie, there’s always tomato juice, tomato soup, tomato sauce, tomato paste, whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomatoes with basil and garlic, ha, I sound like Bubba!
on Apr 20th, 2009 at 11:30 am
@Karen:
You get to come help then.
on Apr 20th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Can do…I made a funny!
on Apr 20th, 2009 at 11:34 am
@Karen: Groan.
on Apr 21st, 2009 at 9:30 am
I was told no carrots or onions at our local native nursery – please instruct! I would love to start carrots and onions (I’m in Tallahassee…)
on Apr 21st, 2009 at 9:37 am
@Jenn:
Did they tell you why?
on Apr 21st, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Hey Stacy,
I am doing the same thing… tucking things in where I can see any amount of dirt not being used. It has been very fun… sort of out of the rule box — I’m good with it as long as it works. One just can’t have too many tomato plants. Although I have to say I had more problems than white flies last year. Worms and cracking got mine when we turned to hot nights as well as days.
Hope you’re feeling all better – bummer to not feel good enough to garden.
Meems @ Hoe and Shovel
on Apr 21st, 2009 at 3:16 pm
@Meems:
Exactly, and if it doesn’t work, well then there’s more for the worms and/or the composter.
By worms, was it just the hornworms or something else too? I grow almost all of my tomatoes inside the pool enclosure, but I’m trying these tomato craters this year for hornworms. For cracking, try cutting down on the water they get as the fruit ripens, that’s the usual culprit.
on Apr 23rd, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Stacy, I am learning that everything doesn’t HAVE to work. It is all trial and error and I’m learning as I go.
I don’t think it was hornworms that got my tomatoes. They were just green. But the plants themselves got all grody too with the heat. The leaves were yellowy and eaten by worms. I have a couple of pots of tomatoes growing inside the pool cage but they aren’t getting enough sun now that all the trees have leafed out so nicely.
I wonder are you using fertilizer or pesticides?
on Apr 23rd, 2009 at 9:23 pm
@meems: This year I’m using worm juice diluted with water every few weeks, a tbsp or so of bone meal per pot, and crushed eggshells whenever we have them. Also use calcium spray on the foliage and fruit. I’ve got some leaf miner activity going on but that’s just cosmetic. The whiteflies were miserable last year, so trying basil companion planting this year to ward them off. Of course I’m also planning on being done with tomatoes by the time the whiteflies get really bad in July.
on May 24th, 2009 at 8:52 am
I had problems with hornworms last year, and checked with the Cornell Cooperative Extension as to what to do about them. All it takes is a diluted organic soap, poured all over the plants every week or so. NO MORE HORNWORMS. (they are some sort of caterpillar- they make holes in the green tomatoes, and eat the foliage) They hate the stuff.
on May 24th, 2009 at 11:16 am
@Mary Northrup:
That’s another good suggestion if you can’t get your hands on any Bt.