Nancy sat in on a Tomato Growing Seminar this spring given by Master Gardener Mark Levisay, and in her notes of “tomato tips” were these instructions: “Pick tomatoes before they are ripe, not when they are ripe.” This summer, that has been my plan. It’s August in Virginia and anyone with tomato vines is picking fruit. Yes, tomatoes are fruits, not vegetables. But here’s why you should pick … [Read more...]

This spring I mapped out my small garden and actually stuck to the plan, with one exception. In the end I did not have room for cucumbers. Last year, I planted a few hills, but the cucumbers did not read the part on the seed packet about growing and producing. They quickly petered out and died and I may have picked two or three shriveled cucumbers. “But what if I planted a few hills on the edge … [Read more...]

  My tomato vines are now over 6 feet tall, and they are full of blooms and baby tomatoes. As a matter of fact, I picked my first tomato today – plump, ripe and juicy. It looks like it’s going to be a great season. I give credit to the promising crop because of three main reasons – first, Mother Nature has blessed us with plenty of rain so far, Second, I took Mark Levisay’s  advice … [Read more...]

My 4 tomato plants are loving life. As per the instructions of Mark Levisay, a Tomato-meister of the first degree, I put a tall stake beside each plant and have been strapping the main vines to the stakes as the plants grew. So far, with plenty of both sun and rain, the plants are amazingly healthy, and I got my first serious tomato a week or so back. The tomato is now approaching the size of a … [Read more...]

We are eating lettuce from my garden every night – sometimes in salads and sometimes just plain old leaf lettuce with mayonnaise and salt on the side. This year I planted 6 heads of buttercrunch lettuce and 2 rows of lettuce from seed. One row was Black Simpson leaf lettuce and the other – as an experiment – was Vivian lettuce, similar to romaine with the texture of buttercrunch. With my … [Read more...]

Last Saturday, Nancy went to a Tomato Seminar with Mark Levisay, hosted by the Corner Store Nursery, and came back with a notepad filled with tips and facts. Mark is a Master Gardener and is known for bountiful crops of tomatoes and peppers. She relayed some of his Tomato Tips to me and here are a few that I remember. Don’t water tomatoes with a hose. Use a sprinkler can and water deeply at the … [Read more...]

“Lord, give me patience. And give it to me right now!” Every backyard gardener should hang that plaque on their garden fence. If you don’t have a garden fence, there’s no need for the sign because the deer will eat everything you plant and you won’t need patience. Every early spring, Mother Nature teases us with a few days in the 80s. The birds are singing, and flowers and trees are … [Read more...]

I finished sowing my early garden just in time for a predicted rain. Unfortunately, it rained about as much as a fat guy sweating at the gym, meaning my seeds didn’t get much water and were late sprouting. They need moisture, you know. But everything is finally beginning to peek out of the ground and head in the direction of the sunshine. Peas, potatoes, lettuce, spring onions and collards. I’m … [Read more...]

My daughter, Laura, who is quite the gardener, says that February 14 is time to plant peas. She does it every year and every year she has a nice mess of the sweet green vegetables. But February 14? I’m not so sure. You can plant seeds anytime, but a combination of sunlight and ground temperature (45 degrees) causes them to sprout. I would love to get something in the ground (as soon as this … [Read more...]

One of the most unusual Christmas presents I received last year was a big bag of fertilizer. Well, it looked and smelled like fertilizer, but it really wasn’t. It was a bag of Bio-Tone Starter Plus. My kids thought that would it make my garden not only productive, but spectacular. Bio-Tone is a blend of natural and organic ingredients enhanced with things called microbes and … [Read more...]