Holy Tomatoes Batman!
So.. got out to the garden this morning to pull some weeds and I am just amazed at how well the whole thing is going this year. I can't believe how many tomatoes are on my plants and how dense my jungle of carrots is, my jalapeno plant is mid thigh high, the beets are delicious, the corn is taller than ever, the sunflowers are blooming like crazy, and the squash is spreading like never before. I've done a few new things this year. To start with I had the chickens last year, so there is lots of extra nitrogen in the soil now, combined with the 100 or so bags of leaves and pumpkins we gathered in the fall that have been composted with the chicken poop I have some pretty incredible soil. Also, I took into account last year's less than stellar yield and the symptoms of my plants and decided to add calcium and lime to the soil this year. Adding to all of that goodness I am topdressing most of the plants with Alpaca Poop. So that is what I've done with the dirt. (Maybe I'm a little obsessed with my dirt.. maybe not). The other things I've tried with the tomatoes are that I finally found the tomato spirals that I have been looking for for a few years and I am pinching off the runners on my tomatoes. I'm also making a more concerted effort to weed regularly. So.. here are the results.
The garden is looking lush and full, yet I can still get up and down the pathways.
The plants are just LOADED with tomatoes!
You can see how the spirals are holding the plant up, with no tying or any time consuming work, I just wind them around it as they grow and pinch off suckers.
You can see that the plants are appreciating it.
My sunflowers are crazy and pretty and the seeds are starting to get impressive, starting to think I will have to bag them to keep the birds from stealing the seeds.
My squash and cucumber plants are really taking off. Not sure I gave either of these enough room, but the cucumbers were an afterthought after I dumped the compost into the box garden.
The popcorn in the box garden is taller than the shed now.
The peas I planted by the front porch are coming up and doing well. I can't wait for them to be ready. They are planted on top of quartz gravel and alpaca poop. The gravel was just making water pool up beside the house foundation and needed to be filled in with something. This seemed like a good use for the spot. It is amazingly easy to weed as there is nothing very solid holding in anything there.
This monster tomato must be siamese quintuplets or something. It is just huge!
Here is today's harvest, guess we'll be making salsa today. :)
The garden is looking lush and full, yet I can still get up and down the pathways.
The plants are just LOADED with tomatoes!
You can see how the spirals are holding the plant up, with no tying or any time consuming work, I just wind them around it as they grow and pinch off suckers.
You can see that the plants are appreciating it.
My sunflowers are crazy and pretty and the seeds are starting to get impressive, starting to think I will have to bag them to keep the birds from stealing the seeds.
My squash and cucumber plants are really taking off. Not sure I gave either of these enough room, but the cucumbers were an afterthought after I dumped the compost into the box garden.
The popcorn in the box garden is taller than the shed now.
The peas I planted by the front porch are coming up and doing well. I can't wait for them to be ready. They are planted on top of quartz gravel and alpaca poop. The gravel was just making water pool up beside the house foundation and needed to be filled in with something. This seemed like a good use for the spot. It is amazingly easy to weed as there is nothing very solid holding in anything there.
This monster tomato must be siamese quintuplets or something. It is just huge!
Here is today's harvest, guess we'll be making salsa today. :)
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