Tomato Growing Special: Q & A
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1.Q. Tomato growing is very satisfying especially when you see tomatoes ripen and turn red. But I lose at least half my crop to bird damage. What can prevent this?
A. Bird damage is common in all areas. One control method which works quite well is to take old nylon stockings and cut them into pieces 10 to 12 inches long. Tie a knot in one end of the stocking and slip the open end over the entire cluster of tomatoes.
Secure the end above the tomato cluster with a rubber band or twist-tie. Birds will not be able to peck through the nylon. Slip the stocking off the cluster and harvest the ripe fruit and replace it to protect later-ripening fruit. Also, birds damage fully mature fruit more readily than breaker or pink fruit.
Harvest in breaker or green-wrap stage. Gardeners have tried many ways to reduce bird damage. Scarecrows, aluminum strips, tin foil plates and noisemakers will work until the local birds become accustomed to seeing or hearing them. Fabric covering materials such as Grow-Web and Reemay can also be used as a barrier mechanism.
2.Q. What causes tomato leaves to curl?
A. The exact cause of tomato leaf roll is not fully known. Tomato leaf roll appears about the time of fruit setting. The leaflets of the older leaves on the lower half of the tomato plant roll upward. This gives the leaflets a cupped appearance with sometimes even the margins touching or overlapping.
The overall growth of the tomato plant does not seem to be greatly affected and yields are normal. This condition appears to be most common on staked and pruned plants.
It occurs when excessive rainfall or overwatering keeps the soil too wet for too long. It is also related to intensive sunlight which causes carbohydrates to accumulate in the leaves. Some varieties of tomatoes are characteristically curled.
3.Q. My tomatoes were healthy during the spring and early summer, yet after a recent rain, they wilted and died very rapidly. That put all my tomato growing efforts to zero. Besides, I found a white fungal growth at the base of the plant.
New Potatoes: The New Delicious Treat!
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The earliest or new potatoes of the season are a treat not to be missed. They’re small, round, smooth and delicious. These new potatoes can be harvested now and are absolutely delicious roasted in the oven or on the grill.
They are sweeter and lower in starch than their full grown counterparts, giving them a mild flavor and creamy texture that is a real treat.These potatoes are immature and far from fully developed. Their surface skin is thin and tender. If peeled, this is normally done most easily after boiling.
New potatoes do not store well, and should be harvested close to the time when they will be used. New young potatoes are harvested when peas are ripe or as the potato plants begin to flower.Their thin skin loses moisture faster than that of mature potatoes.
The formation of tubers in potatoes normally begins when plants are six to eight inches tall. Potatoes are a cool weather crop, and best tuber development occurs before weather becomes continuously hot.
New potatoes don’t store, so eat them right away. If you tried the idea of growing potatoes in a garbage can, it’s easy to harvest. Simply reach in for the best-sized spuds and ease them out.
You can harvest a few of your potatoes all summer after they flower.The trick is to make sure the soil is wet, then gently dig under and around your plant.( I use my hands as my soil is very loose when wet.) Read More→
Strawberries: Your Teeth Just Got Whiter
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Strawberries are too tasty and sweet to be any good for your teeth.Yes. It does seem counter intuitive, but strawberries contain a whole lot of malic acid, a tooth-whitening agent. It may sound strange, but really strawberry and backing powder can make your teeth whiter.
We all seem to want whiter teeth. Some people are born with teeth that are more yellow than others. But often we can whiten teeth and our bright smile can change whole appearance.There is a great, big market out there for whitening strips and dental procedures which promise a more alabaster smile. Walk into any grocery or drug store, and you’ll see a myriad of tooth whitening products on the toothpaste aisle.
There are whitening toothpastes, whitening strips, and entire tooth whitening systems. Some of the toothpastes use natural ingredients such as baking soda, but most products use harsh chemicals that many of us would think twice about putting into our bodies.
Whitening strips are not regulated by the FDA and do not undergo the rigorous testing that drugs and medicines do. Some worry that the strips strip enamel from teeth, although they seem relatively safe if used correctly.
If you’ve never been keen on commercial teeth-whitening products and you love strawberries, today is your lucky day: Web site Health.com says that one ripe strawberry plus half a teaspoon of baking powder equals a natural teeth whitener. Read More→
The sweet taste of strawberries makes growing strawberry plants very alluring. Eaten fresh off the plant or turned into baked goods and jams, the strawberry fruit has so many uses.
The strawberry harvest may be over, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to forget the strawberry plants. Strawberry plants should be renewed every three years or so, as there production rate slows down.
Strawberries are poor competitors, not only against invading weeds, but neighboring strawberry plants as well.Once fruiting has finished give your strawberry plants a haircut! Post-harvest care is an important part of keeping your patch healthy and productive.
The strawberry plant begins forming the buds that will turn into next year’s flowers within the crown after the harvest has completed. These buds begin forming in late summer and continue forming until early fall.
For strawberries, it is very important to renew the strawberry bed after harvest. This includes cutting all the leaves, narrowing the rows, adding a fertilizer, preferably a 5-10-10, thinning the plants and leaving only the strongest ones, allowing only the strongest two runners from each plant.
Old leaves are of little use to the plants, and may be diseased. Trim off the leaves with a pair of shears, aiming to leave just a few leaves around the crown. Remove old foliage, unwanted runners and spent flower stalks from plants, allowing light and air into the centre of the plant.
New foliage will develop within a few weeks. Remove the straw mulch (if used) and weeds and clear away all debris from the crown. Put old leaves and straw on the compost heap.
Within the row, thin plants to one every 6 to 8 inches, removing the older plants and leaving the younger, more vigorous ones. Giving the strawberry plants a little room to grow reduces the competition for water, light, and nutrients and also improves air circulation.
As a strawberry row becomes dense with new daughter plants or the row width increases to more than 24 inches, fruit quantity and quality begin to suffer.When preparing to narrow the row, choose one side of the row to keep, rather than the center. The following year, choose the opposite side, then alternate back and forth in succeeding years.
This method requires a small amount of extra space on each side of the strawberry row, but provides an annual supply of newer, more productive plants. Read More→
It’s A Season Of Marigolds. Marigold’s Secret Mission
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Marigolds truly live up to their name – a sea of molten gold flowers that have many more uses besides being beautiful in your garden. They are made for summer.
To meet the demands of their native lands–chiefly Mexico and Central America–members of the marigold family had to flourish in hot sun as well as tolerate poor soils and infrequent rain.These qualities make them one of the most foolproof summer annuals, whether you plant them in the ground or in a container.
Their leaves have another bonus: Like other plants whose foliage contains volatile oils, such as lavender and rosemary, marigolds seem to repel many harmful insects while attracting beneficial ones. Recent research indicates that marigolds contain compounds toxic to root knot and other plant-parasitic nematodes (microscopic round worms that damage plant roots).
If nematodes are bugging your crops, you won’t see them, but you’re sure to see the damage they cause: stunted, yellow, and/ or wilted plants, often with distinctly knotted and possibly rotting roots.
There’s no safe chemical cure for these microscopic, soil-dwelling worms except French marigolds.Plant them in rows or blocks between your crops (you have to plant a lot of them to get the benefit), and you’ll enjoy their flowers all season long. Marigolds suppress nematodes only when they are planted thickly and allowed to grow for many weeks. Read More→
