Tomato Supports

Mr. Ramon asked me the other day what would be the one vegetable I would choose if I could only choose one for the rest of my life. I said tomato. Oh how I love a proper tomato out of the garden - warm from the sun. I have offered to show Mr. Ramon the delights of a tomato sandwich. Just soft white bread, real mayo and warm thick tomato slices with a little salt and pepper. I am just about drooling thinking of it. For right now I will have to buy my tomatoes at the farmers market. Ours are just starting to produce and I am eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Last year we did not have the best supports, using traditional tomato cages that ended up being to small for our plants. We had limbs that were not well supported - it was a sad disaster.

This year we decided to put in 6 tomato plants in one bed. We knew we needed strong supports and I was really eyeing the colored tomato cages at the local nursery. But my budget was pretty non existent. We thought about wire fencing, regular silver cages and PVC. We eventually found a system we thought met our needs .

I call this system "string support. It is inexpensive and has worked for us this year. Basically you create alternating string supports on each side of your tomato stalks as they grow - keeping them standing upward. 

You need:

• 2 8ft -10ft thick bamboo poles per row of tomatoes
• 1 roll of hemp or other thick natural twine 
• scissors 
• rubber mallet or hammer 

Begin by planting your tomato plants in rows the suggested space apart. We planted 3 in each row and 2 rows. We have a fence at one end so only needed 1 bamboo pole per row. 

At the end of the rows of tomatoes pound in one bamboo pole deep enough that it can take the tension of the string and the weight of the tomato plants as they grow. 

Next stretch out your twine a bit. We want to support the lower part of the plant to start. Tie to one of the bamboo poles close to the bottom of the plants - where it will support the first set of branches. Take the twine and pull it tight to the bamboo pole at the other end. Wrap it around the pole and pull it tight then tie it. 

You second row of twine should be just a few inches higher on the other side of the plant. When out plants were this high we added about 4 strings - 2 on each side alternating sides to create a tension support. 

About each week as plants grow - continue to run tight alternation strings to support the plants. You will have to move the growing branches up and through the web of twine here and there. 

We now have tomoato plants over 5 feet tall and they are all very well supported with this system.

I would love to hear if you try this method and how it works for you . 

Outdoor Laundry

When we moved into the house in September one of the things I was excited about was being able to hang laundry outside to dry. Mr. Ramon thought it was very amusing that I requested a clothes line. In almost every home I lived in we dried our clothes outside in the warmer months. I love the smell of grass and sun on the clothes - so warm and fresh. Sheets were my favorite. Hard like boards but so soft and sweet when you climb in at night. 

Hanging clothes saves money on energy to run the dryer. We are using so much more water with the garden it is nice to cut back somewhere. 

I started with a folding clothes rack from Ikea that worked really well inside over the winter and great on my porch this spring and summer so far. I used it for delicates and dark cloths. But I really wanted an actual line outside. It slipped my mind for a couple of months until I was in Lowe's picking up some light bulbs for the store. I wandered down the cleaning tools isle - no surprise there and found a retractable clothes line by Minky. I purchased the clothes line and a bag of classic clothes pins. 

The Minky I bought is the 49-ft Retractable Clothes Reel. It gets great reviews online. I love that is closes up to be out of the way and can easily be brought inside for storage in the winter if needed. It has these benefits and features. 

• Easy to use fully retractable outdoor clothes line offers 49' of line drying space
• Weather-resistant, stable protective casing
• Unique mounting bracket allows reel to be removed when not in use
• Used to dry clothes indoors and in outdoor backyards
• Stows neatly away when not in use
• Wipe clean PVC coated line
• Plastic housing with metal mounting bracket

It was easy to hang only requiring 3 screws. I was able to hang clothes on it right away. 

Here is my first line of clothes. I took them down dry and summer smelling today. I am really excited to save the use of the dryer for things that really need to be dried. 

This type of clothes line could fit almost anywhere - even inside. I urge you to let nature dry and freshen your clothes this summer!

1 Potato 2 Potato

Growing up in Oregon everyone had a garden. My best friend Marcia's family had a big garden that we took the liberty of playing in and eating from. I loved carrots fresh from the garden all warm and still a little dirty. They were so sweet and earthy. But one of my favorite things fresh from the garden is tiny potatoes. Thin skinned and crisp. I can just brush the dirt off them and eat them out of my hand. Of course I also can think of 100 other ways to prepare them. 

This year Mr. Ramon and I have our first garden together. I have not grown potatoes since I was a girl and I didn't do any of the planting - mostly the eating. So together we picked out two types to grow. A small white potato and a small red potato. We decided to go with the method that seemed the easiest - potato bags. 

Potato Bags are nylon pots that you plant your potatoes in then add dirt continually as they grow until the dirt is to the top. They have handy little openings on the sides so you can harvest potatoes when they are young. We did not know a lot about growing potatoes so the employee at Sky Nursery told us to just us regular soil and not to feed them. Sounds about right if you think about where potatoes flourish - Idaho and Ireland. Lots of dirt. We were excited to see them grow big and bushy. 

All of a sudden while Mr. Ramon was out of town one of our plants started to go yellow. I remembered that they were supposed to flower at some point and they had not yet. This could not be good. I was worried and scoured the internet for potato plant disease. I was sure we had failed in some capacity. To much rain, not enough sun......

Well Mr. Ramon came home and I showed him our plant. He quickly said "maybe we have some potatoes?" He shoved his hand into the side pocket, dug around a bit and pulled out a small white potato. 

I was so excited!! We have potatoes - we may not have many and I am still unsure of what happened to our plant but we harvested what we had.

We took this little guy inside and washed him off. I then sliced him and sprinkled him with salt. I was in heaven. Crunchy and starchy. So tasty. 

So now we put these new potatoes to use - smashed, roasted, potato salad. Looks like there will be potato recipes coming your way!

Garden Part 3

Wishing I had a truck today. I want to fill it with dirt for our garden. Instead I will fill the little mini cooper with bags and bags of compost and garden soil. Poor little car - she is so overloaded. 

This marks the final step in gardern prepardness. We are filling these beds with Sky Nursery's planting mix and lots of local compost. We also picked up some vegetable starts. With these and the few we started in the house we will be on our way to filling up the garden with tasty vegetables!

I wanted to be organized on how we fill up the beds so I marked the first one off with tape in 12"x12" squares. We put in our few plants and some seeds for radishes, carrots and beets. 

Over the next couple of weeks we will add in more plants. So far we have carrots, 2 kinds of beets, radishes, pickling cucumbers, fava beans, crookneck squash, bush beans and bell peppers. Now all we need is sun!

Garden Part 1

Growing up we had a garden most years. I loved the tiny baby carrots fresh from the dirt. So sweet and tender. My mom grew these amazing strawberries in a rock garden and we had several rhubarb plants. I am sure this is where I learned to love dirt. The loamy feel of it in my hands, the earthy smell surrounding me. Moving into this house has opened the opportunity for us to have our own garden. Mr. Ramon has never actually grown anything before so this is going to be a fun adventure for us. I am so excited. 

We watched the sun in the backyard for several weeks to determine the location that would get the most sun. With the three dogs I knew we needed to enclose the garden or risk them running through and digging up the plants. 

I did some research on building a fence. The key it seems are the posts. Making sure you bury enough post and secure it with the right type of concrete. We mapped out the space and decided on 5 posts and using the current fence as an anchor for the wiring. 

We are without power tools so it is nice that the guys at Home Depot will cut your wood for you. This made it easier to get into the mini cooper as well. We also picked up the concrete - quick type. The next weekend while I was at the shop Mr. Ramon dug the post holes, leveled them and set the posts with concrete. I was super impressed. The fifth post he will put in once we decide on a gate. 

Sophie decided to help dad dig!

This is a good size area that will work for the size of garden we are planning on planting this year as well as give room for growth next year and then down the road for whoever gardens in this space. 

We decided on open wire fencing. Really affordable and nice looking. We bought a roll of it and I used large staples to secure it to the posts. 

I am excited about the progress so far and looking forward to finishing this part so we can get to the exciting part - the planting!