It killed me last week to have to go out to my garden and pick unripe tomatoes from perfectly good vines. I did it because of a frost warning that night, and the weatherman was right. It was a helluva frost. The next morning, my vines were toast, but boy I had a great crop of tomatoes this year. To extend my fresh-eating of tomatoes, I put about 40 of the unripe tomatoes in a couple of brown … [Read more...]

  One perk of being a backyard gardener is that you never know what might pop up. Volunteer plants, for example. One year, I had a strange plant sprout and could not for the life of me figure out what it was. We let it grow to maturity, and finally pulled it up. It was a peanut vine compliments of my resident squirrels This summer, I have another unknown addition to my garden. I thought … [Read more...]

I have enjoyed an amazing tomato harvest this summer. I have four vines – two slicer tomato plants, one cherry tomato-type plant and a larger “Big Boy” type plant. Not only are they pumping out tomatoes on a regular basis (with many small fruits coming on and still some blossoms) but the tomatoes have been perfect – not a single blemish nor any end rot. This may all be pure, blind luck, but I have … [Read more...]

Luck plays an important part for backyard gardeners. Not only luck with the weather and timely rains, but the luck of the draw when planting seeds or young plants. I had room for 4 tomato plants this spring and wanted one to be a cherry-type vine for snacks and salads. I saw a plant at Cornerstone Nursery that looked healthy and had “cherry-something” on the sticker, so I bought it, … [Read more...]

(Slicer tomatoes)   This year’s crop has already exceeded my pitiful tomato harvest for 2022. It was a bust. I planted tomatoes from seeds last year and the spindly plants never had a chance. This spring I went to the Corner Store Garden Center and bought my plants. I didn’t look at the variety, I just bought the ones that looked healthiest. Two of my plants are called Slicer Tomatoes … [Read more...]

  …..is now in Charlottesville. We went from no rain to all of Europe’s quota of rain in a matter of days. But’s who’s complaining? My garden has come out of hibernation and if you listen closely, you can hear stuff growing. Unfortunately, the grass has also noticed the rising rain gauge and is taking  advantage, so when it finally lets up, the old mower will get a good work … [Read more...]