Keeping your garden COOL in Arizona 05.31

Whoofta... we are experiencing some hot days here in AZ. By mid May I was noticing that all the plants in my garden were stressing out.

So I did a little research and stumbled upon an article from last year about "Helping tomato plants survive".

One of the recommendations was Shade... now who would've thought, shade in the summer? Well as it seems like a no brainer to most everyone who lives in the middle of the desert, I had then realized that the garden was getting over 5-6 hours of direct sunlight during the day and the last two hours were in the middle of the day around 1-2pm. OUCH! I was noticing some sun scalding on some of the leaves so I had to do something fast. And knowing that it isn't going to get any cooler, and that sun is going to get more intense as summer goes along, I decided to come up with a plan to protect my babies.

1. Need a shade cloth for the canopy of 50 to 70 percent shade.
2. Brainstormed with my husband (with whom is an Technical Engineer) on what we should make the frame out of. Wood... PVC... there were pros and cons to both. We initially decided to go with PVC.
3. Drew up the specs.
4. Then ventured off to Home Depot for the supplies.
   

As we were wondering around looking for materials we found three metal trellises that just happened to be the same width as the garden. Sweet! A lot less expensive and work than constructing something out of PVC.

Here are the results....

We cemented in the two trellises on the sides and used some string for support. Works great and the members of the garden couldn't be happier.

I would like to thank both my husband and my mom for assisting in this daunting task in putting this together... it was a bit of work, but very happy with the results in the end! Ya!

Till next log!
Michelle

Nasturtiums - (Tropaeolum majus) 05.12

If you have been reading my blog you will see a few references to the Nasturtium. Not only are they compatible with the tomato, they are also edible. In doing some research they are quite the favorite amongst some gardeners because of their ease, versatility and flavor, and their beauty. They require very little attention to thrive in your garden, all they need is some soil, water and room to grow and your good to go. Just as long as you don’t use pesticides in your garden you can eat them.

It is recommended to soak the seeds in water for 24 hours, as the seeds are quite large and hardy. They do well in full sun or light shade. They are fairly tolerant of drought, but do best with regular watering. Try not to fertilize too much, or you will get a lot of foliage and not enough flowers.

Nasturtiums come compact or trailing. Great for border planting, hanging baskets and window boxes. Keep them trimmed back or they will crowd out the other plants.

I found some history and food tips from Sally's Place ... Sally is a food enthusiast & industry professional and talks about Nasturtiums from a food perspective.

I will try and post some recipes that have Nasturtiums flowers in them as I run across them and try them out for myself.

Until then... Cheers!

Companion Planting 05.11

Companion Planting...

Received a comment from a long time friend Anna. Her and her husband used to be our old neighbors until they decided to move to New River. Glad to hear that they are doing well and have a few raised gardens themselves. I am tellin ya, Raised Gardening is the way to go!

They are growing potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, grapes, peas, lettuces, radish, carrots and several kinds of flowers and herbs.

One of her comments was in reference to Companion Planting. I found a online compatibility chart and it just so happens that one of the compatible plants that is on the list for tomatoes are that of the Nasturtium. Talk about luck! I didn’t know that when I had purchased it to plant in the tomato garden that it was compatible... I figured, that since the Nasturtium is a plant in which you could eat (on the back of the seed packet it states that "they are a Tasty, Peppery Addition to Salads and Vegetables") what a perfect addition to the garden... flowers that are edible.

Some of the other plants that are compatible are the Onion Family, Marigolds, Asparagus, Carrots, Parsley, Cucumbers and of course the Nasturtiums.

Companion planting is where you plant one or more of the same plant species in close proximity of one another. They can then take advantage of each other’s cultural benefits... pest control, pollination, higher yield etc. Take a look at the compatibility chart. Very interesting... I am definitely keeping this in my list of bookmarks. =)

Thanks Anna for the post!

Tomato Blossoming 05.10

The tomatoes are blossoming nicely. It is very exciting to see such progress with this new garden. My track record for keeping plants alive has been sporadic at best. With a little time, love, and proper care I am not doing to bad. Thank goodness for the Internet, with all the articles, forums, blogs, etc. I am learning a lot.

Now that the tomatoes were and still are blossoming, I was curious to whether I needed to get any Tomato Bloom Spray. Did some research and was getting conflicting points of view on the topic. So I decided... since I have six plants, lets experiment on half.

I purchased some Green Light Tomatoes Bloom Spray. It is supposed to promote flowering, increase blossom set, reduce blossom-end rot and increase the yield. The bottle states, that you can use it on other plants such as Beans, Cucumbers, Eggplants, Grapes, Melons Okra, Peppers (good deal), and Strawberries. Can’t guarantee any of it since I only have tomatoes and peppers.

So, I experimented on half of them and in two days I started to see results. (Then again it could have just been luck with a little dose of good timing).

On one half, I started to see some Fruit! I was simply astonished.

On the other half, I was experiencing some Blossom Drop. =( Oh no, what to do... and why is it happening? My first reaction was to use the Bloom Spray I used on the other three... then I thought no, lets find out WHY this is happening and see if there is any other way to fix the problem.

In doing some research on Blossom Dropping there are a few things I found that could cause this:

• Extreme weather conditions, too warm, too cold, too windy, can cause the blossoms to not set properly. (Okay, knowing that we had some extreme weather conditions one of the weekends that we were in Australia, windy with temps near 100 degrees. Ok, I will buy that.)


• Lack of Nitrogen or too much thereof. This happens if you fertilize too much, or not enough.


• Lack of Pollination. Now this was interesting... makes sense. So started thinking, I really haven’t seen a lot of bees around here lately. Not sure why that is but I then realized that I needed to plant some complimentary flowering plants near my tomatoes to attract insects that assist in the pollination process. Another way to assist in the pollination process is lightly shaking the tomato plants. I will just keep doing that until I get my Nasturtiums to grow and bloom. (So far.... this seems to be working)


• Insect damage


• Stress related to disease


• Lack of light


• Extended light exposures - (24 hour exposure to a light source)


• Excessive pruning

There are other factors I am certain, I recommend to do your research and see what best applies to you.

Until next log… Cheers!

Tomato Log 05.10

It has been a month since my last post. A lot has been happening around here, we went for a two-week trip to Australia, which was absolutely AWESOME! And thankfully during that time, the tomatoes just kept growing. Special thanks go out to my neighbor Gina and my Mom for watching over the garden while we were gone.

A pic before we left:

And a pic when we got back: WOW!

Amazing, they look absolutely amazing! Can’t say much about my peppers however. Pretty sad, lost three while we were gone. I guess one of the weekends here we had a pretty bad windstorm and I didn't do a very good job staking them before I left. Oh well, live and learn. =) But the tomatoes look great!


There has been quite a bit activity since we have been home. From blossoming, blossom dropping, blossom setting solutions, and my favorite... Fruiting!


Keep you posted!