width=”549″ height=”412″ /> This is not the first time visitors have stolen tomatoes from my garden, but this year the mystery pest has gotten every ripe tomato I have grown this year, which given out cold/wet summer has only been about a dozen ripe tomatoes. I normally go with the philosophy of this land is owned by my neighborhood animals first and I am fine sharing a tomato, some…
width=”489″ height=”367″ /> I am a bit jealous seeing pictures across the country/world of everyone’s baskets of tomatoes, but I am getting close to my first few tomatoes on their modest vines starting to turn red…I see some salsa in my near future.
There is a very good reason why tomatoes are the most popular vegetable grown in the home garden, you can’t beat the taste of a home grown tomato. Tomatoland provides and exposé of specifically the Florida tomato industry showing many of the negative, though there are still a few positives explaining the history and the process of getting this previously alluring fruit to your local grocery store. After reading…
width=”549″ height=”412″ /> I have my best guess on this one, but can’t seem to find any pictures online that match this tomato problem. So to confirm what do you think the problem could be?
alt=”2682″ width=”550″ height=”367″ /> Unfortunately we do not have no where near the preferred climate to grow tomatoes. We have extremely mild temperatures with summer maximum average high of 78°F and maximum average lows of 59°F. Take that with our very short window of consistent rain (bringing blight) tomato plants are lucky to even be surviving when planted in our area let alone have a tremendous yield, though with…
I noticed a tiny tomato starting on one my plants growing in my computerized grow box under 120 watt LEDs grow lights. Given our lower than average temperatures here in the Pacific Northwest this year (lows averaging in the low 40s) not sure if these plants will ever make it outside… Even though I was somewhat pessimistic for my seed starting times and facing the difficult decision: 1. Keep…
When growing tomatoes from seed you are going to have to repot them. The basic idea is you never want to stress the plant out by restricting the roots from getting wider. Fortunately the process to do this between the various growth states is pretty simple and does not really change much between repotting. The first time you will need to repot them to a 4 inch put when…
I have almost everything planted at least germinating in my grow box. As you may be able to see from the labels I am growing a variety of peppers this year as well as a few different onions and tomatoes. I also have garlic and some onions I overwintered already outside and peas already in the ground. I did successfully grow some peppers in the grow box over the…
Every time I have a discussion with a beginner gardener, this is the most common question. Typically the answer involves figuring out your last frost date then doing some backwards math when to start your seeds or purchase your plants from your local nursery. The problem with this is there is an assumption of the rate at which temperatures will increase after this no frost date. It doesn’t really…
Whether it is to preserve your harvest from your garden or to help extend the life of the expensive produce you purchased from your local grocery store or farmers market, a little knowledge can help keep your veggies tasty and even stretch out a couple of extra days before becoming compost. The basic idea is pretty simple, think about where your produce is stored in the grocery store and…
Well it hasn’t been a great year here in the Northwest for summer vegetables but got enough tomatoes and peppers to make some salsa and get stocked up with enough jalapeno pepper powder (been great on omelets) until next year. With a larger abundance of ripe jalapeno peppers this batch of peppers have a more festive look to them. Here are the peppers ground up, as you can see…
I always settled on making salsa leaving the skins on, knowing there had to be a better way I did a little research and learned a simple way to get those pesky skins off with minimal effort. The process is very simple, get a pot of boiling water, drop in your tomato for 10-15 seconds ad immediately remove and drop in a bowl of ice water. This submersion…