Tag: gardening

Preparing for the freeze

My plan to use the EZ-UP to make a tomato tent was a failure (see the closed tent to the right). I rushed home from work to put the tomato house together but I could not put the tent up on my own. After trying for about 30 minutes I gave up on that plan and went back to what I know – sheets. I had a couple of coverups that were given to me as a gift last year. Two of them were used but the third completely fell apart (see photo below). What the &*&(*&???

I tried really hard to secure both of my square foot gardens with what sheets I had. I think I did an ok job but there might be a little hole or two. We will find out after tomorrow’s freeze.

 
Possible hole….
 
 
Finally some tomatoes are ripe. I took this opportunity to do a quick check and harvest ones close to ripen.
 
 
 
I ran out of sheets was too lazy to cover the citrus so I decided to pick the good key limes to prevent them from getting damaged in the freeze. Looks like some cocktails are happening in the future.
 
 


Garden Update

Because we have yet to have a freeze, the garden is flourishing. Around the time I am supposed to be starting seeds for Spring crops, I am getting ready to get a winter tomato bounty.

We are expecting cold temps in the next week or so but so far no threat of frost. Crossing fingers!!!!

Another area in the garden flourishing is the mint area. The mint was planted in a wooden container a couple years ago and has since been neglected. Although mint is best contained (since it can take over a garden with its minty-ness) you can see from the photo below that the container fell apart and the mint is free to spread. It looks so pretty and I love the taste of mint so I don’t want to mess with it – for now.

The key lime is not as fortunate. We will most likely lose this one in the year. Luckily it gave us one last crop of limes before its demise. The citrus greening is too much work for me to try to fight. After the key lime we will still have the Persian Lime and Grapefruit trees. I fear that these won’t last past a couple of years unless some easy treatment exists for the greening.

Trouble in Tomato Land

It almost feels like deja vu again. A couple years ago I had a bumper croup of tomatoes in the winter that experienced a freeze before they started to ripen. Soon after the freeze some tomatoes did finally ripen but most were too destroyed to enjoy.
Today I have about 6 very large tomato plants with many tomatoes just waiting to ripen. I have finally realized what the problem is. I have been monitoring the sun exposure for the two gardens for the past couple of months and have found that they are simply not getting enough sun exposure to ripen the tomatoes this time of year. The gardens are perfectly placed for spring, summer, and fall crops but not for winter; which is our prime tomato season. The only thing I can hope for at this point is that the plants hang in there and we avoid a deep freeze this season (highly unlikely). The sun patterns will change and they will get light again. I have some choices to make about next year’s crops. Summer is brutal so I really should be set up for optimal fall, winter and spring gardening. For now we wait.

Not sure if you can tell but I used vines from the now dormant muscadine grape to contain the tomatoes while I was running low on string. Pretty good re-use of the garden if I do say so myself.