The Snarky Gardener shows you how to plant tomatoes
Beefsteak Tomato ready to be planted
With spring looking to summer, thoughts turn to planting frost sensitive tomatoes. The best time to put these little guys into the ground is when the soil has warmed up and all chance of frost has passed. Of course, one cannot tell the future, but mid-May on is generally considered safe. If you do plant and then there is a freeze or frost warning, covering the plants with straw/leaf mulch or blankets should give them enough protection.
River digging tomato plant holes
Hole dug and ready for planting
Tomatoes are special in that their stems will grow roots if they come in contact with soil, so dig down enough to cover the stem up to the first set of true leaves. This will allow the tomato to receive all the water and nutrients it needs. Plus it will be easier to cover them if the weather turns cold (being shorter and all). I usually dig my holes ahead of time and plant either on a cloudy day or in the evening so not to stress them.
As you can see above, I use the “Terrier” digging method, but you can also use a shovel, Before placing your plant in the hole, you may want to add some extra fertilizer or other materials to the hole. Some experts recommend adding Epsom salts as they contain magnesium and sulfate. Others recommend egg shells with their needed calcium. I tend to use “dynamic accumulators” – plants that collect and store minerals. My favorites are comfrey (pictured below), dandelions, and mustard greens. I just remove the leaves I need and bury them.
Comfrey – a dynamic accumulatorTomato planted so first true leaves are almost touching the ground
Once planted and watered, you should add some support, whether it be a tomato cage, fence, or stake. Some tomatoes (called determinate) don’t need much as they only get a few feet tall (like Roma for example). Putting in support now means you won’t be piercing roots later as the plant matures. As you can see below, I make my own cages out of steel fencing. These totally surround the plant and are 6 feet tall, providing support for most varieties of indeterminate tomatoes. The other positive of this system is that peas can be grown up the cages to give more food production plus nitrogen fixing for future crops.
Cage around the tomato plantSteel fencing cage around the tomato plant
One other technique I stumbled upon is to grow tomatoes on the north side of an east-west steel fence (behind the caged tomato in the above picture). As the plants grow up, I weave the branches in and out of the wire, thus eliminating the need to use ropes or other bindings to keep the plant from falling over.
The Snarky Gardener is ready for the growing season
The Snarky Gardener at an apple pruning workshop – 3/29/2014
Spring has been a fun and interesting time to be a snarky gardener. I’ve taken in some workshops, and taken in some new edible varieties. Last year was all about growing my own starts and saving seeds. This year so far seems to be about expanding my knowledge, contacts (through Food Not Lawns and the Kent Community TimeBank), and perennial plantings.
In March I took two workshops – one for bee keeping and one for tree pruning. Looks like bees will be a future project though now I’m now a member of the Stark County (Ohio) Beekeepers Association (even have a cool membership card in my wallet). A very passionate group but I’m not quite ready to have so many little lives dependent on me. The tree pruning workshop did pay immediate benefits as there’s an old apple tree way in the back yard. I’m not real fond of getting up on a ladder but the tree is 30 feet tall so not much a choice. It did produce (small and holey) fruit last year and I’m hoping for better this season. In early May, I attended a WordPress “camp”, where I picked up new knowledge to help these blog entries and this site be better for you. I also concluded my permaculture class prematurely as my schedule has been full as of late.
May 2014 Garden Plan
With permaculture slowly but surely changing my point of view, I’ve taken some steps to make my domain more permanent and perennial. My two part article written earlier this year discussed perennial plant possibilities and I’ve taken steps to make them reality. For the Snarky Garden, Egyptian Walking onions, ground nuts, mushrooms, strawberry spinach, and perennial kale (from Territorial) will be added to compliment already established sunchokes, strawberries, corn salad (via self seeding) and comfrey. The whole north part (top in the plan) is evolving into only perennials. I’ll never move to a whole perennial garden (I love tomatoes and potatoes too much), but half would be nice. Also, my foraging is getting more serious with grazing of garlic mustard, dandelion greens, hostas and violets picked right out of the yard. I wanted to do maple syrup, but missed the February/March window, but there’s always next year.
Garlic MustardEgyptian Walking Onions from the Kent Community TimeBank
The Snarky Gardener ate garlic mustard to celebrate Earth Day.
Garlic mustard
It wasn’t until last year that the Snarky Gardener knew that garlic mustard is so invasive in the United States or even what it was. I learned that garlic mustard is a type of mustard that is native to Europe but escaped into the wild here in America. It spreads very easily and is hard to eradicate, especially since garlic mustard’s garlicky smell and taste keeps animals (deer, etc) from eating it. Fortunately for humans, it’s delicious for us if prepared well.
Garlic mustard at the top left – just to the right of the logs. River is of course digging holes.
The first indication that garlic mustard grew at Snarky Acres was the above picture. Notice the white flowered plants just above the yellow flowered plants (to the right of the logs)? The yellow flowers are Seven Top turnips going to seed. The others are garlic mustard. Over this last weekend, River and I walked the property line next to the woods to see how much garlic mustard we have to make pesto with. The answer ended up being “as much as we want”. So to help the local ecology and my stomach, I made pesto on Earth Day with the possibility of it becoming a tradition (unless of course I eat all the available garlic mustard).
Too many garlic mustard plants
After a little Internet searching, I found the recipe I wanted to use.
3 cups Garlic Mustard leaves, washed, patted dry, and packed in a measuring cup
2 large garlic cloves, peeled & chopped
1 cup Walnuts
1 cup Olive Oil
1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup grated Romano Cheese (or more Parmesan)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Combine Garlic Mustard leaves, garlic and walnuts in food processor and chop. Or divide recipe in half and use a blender. With motor running, add olive oil slowly. Shut off motor. Add cheeses, salt & pepper. Process briefly to combine.
The Snarky Gardener has given away dozens of Seven Top turnip packets this season.
Seven Top turnip greens going to seed
Last December, the Snarky Gardener made the crazy decision to give away his extra turnip seeds. He let 20 or so of his Seven Top turnips go to seed last spring, providing an abundance to be shared with others. So far at this writing, there have been about 35 or so packets sent through the mail (sometimes with other free and paid for seed). He will continue to offer up these wonderfully organic seeds to those who place an online order as long as supplies last (which will probably be another year or so – sigh).
Snarky Gardener seed packets on display at a seed swap
There are many perennial shrubs, brambles, and vines that produce food for humans. Shrubs include fruiting plants such a currants, blueberries, elderberries, gooseberries, huckleberries, and serviceberries. Cane fruit include raspberries, blackberries, and thimbleberries (all in the genus Rubus). Vines include of course grapes and also kiwis (also known as Chinese gooseberry). A good ground cover is Wintergreen, a eastern US native that makes a good-tasting berry (Shein, 2013). Bamboo provides edible shoots in the spring plus screening and poles for fence and garden use.
WintergreenExample of a perennial food garden (Shein, 2013)
Trees
Trees are the cornerstone of perennial food production and have been for millennia. Pome fruits include apples, pears, medlar, and quince. Stone fruits are made up of such species as apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches, and plums. Citrus are usually warm-weather trees (such as grapefruit, lemons, limes, and oranges), but with some protection, Meyer lemons have been known to be grown in more cooler climates. Mulberries bear fruit early and have a long fruiting season. Maples (especially the sugar maple) provide sap that can be boiled down to be used as a syrup. A lesser known fruit tree is the Paw-Paw, the largest edible fruit indigenous to the United States. Nut trees also have an important place in perennial food production. Filberts (aka Hazelnuts) are good garden-scale nut trees (Shein, 2013). Black walnuts are native to the US and their hulls have been used to stain wood black for centuries. Chestnuts and acorns from oaks can be used to make flour.
Paw-PawHazelnuts
Putting It All Together – the Food Forest
The food forest, otherwise known as a permaculture orchard or forest garden, puts all of these types of edible perennial plants into a polyculture to mimic nature’s forest systems. Forest gardening has three goals in general. The first is to produce high yields of diverse products of not only food but also “fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizer, ‘farmaceuticals’ and fun”. The second is a primarily self-maintaining garden with little inputs from the outside. The third goal is a healthy ecosystem. These goals are reinforcing with a self-maintaining ecosystem with diverse crops providing an abundance.
Instead of growing fruit trees in rows and rows of the same species with just mowed grass under them (ie apple orchards), the food forest design uses a diverse range of fruit and nut trees to create environmental stability. More importantly, these trees are just the first and second layers of the overall design (shown above). Under and on the sunny side of the trees (to the south in the northern hemisphere), lower level plants are grown with the preference being perennials whenever possible. The third layer is made up of shrubs and bushes, like raspberries, blueberries, and currants. In the wild, these are succession plants that thrive in fallow fields and on the edge of woods. The fourth layer is herbaceous (meaning green and leaflike). These plants store their energy in woody roots or bulbs during dormancy (Bane, 2012). The fifth layer is made up of root crops (sunchokes, ground nuts, crosnes). The sixth layer is ground cover crops (mints, rhubarb, strawberries) , The last layer is made up of vines, grapes and such. These need to be planned well as they can easily overtake a smaller tree in time.
The best part of the polyculture food forest is that the permaculture designer has many plants to chose from. While there are specific common techniques that can be used (like planting comfrey around a tree’s drip line), it’s really up to the human mind to use the resources that lay at hand. For instance, I live on three-quarter’s of an acre of a rental. On the property is an apple tree, a grape arbor, several maple and pine trees, an oak tree, and woods to the north and east that has many “wild” species on its edge, like red and black raspberries, multiflora rose (which is edible), black walnut, and garlic mustard. Using the principles of permaculture, I have resources aplenty. I’ve already planted some perennial edibles on the edges of my annual garden, including sunchokes at the back and sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, and lemon balm outside the western fence. In front of my house, I started a perennial herb shade garden, which includes peppermint, lemon balm, and chives, with biennials like cilantro and turnip greens in the mix. The flower garden (to be planted this year) will include already established multiflora rose and raspberries, plus sunchokes and many native perennial flowers such as purple cone flower. I could plant ground cover (herbs and wild leeks) under the maples and the front yard oak, both of which can provide food in the form of sap and acorns respectively. All of this potential food production from just a relatively small property. That’s the power of the perennial food forest.
My place (aka Snarky Acres) from space.
Resources
Bane, Peter (2012-06-26). The Permaculture Handbook: Garden Farming for Town and Country. Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.
Flores, Heather (2011-10-19). Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community (p. 106). Chelsea Green Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Shein, Christopher (2013-01-15). The Vegetable Gardener’s Guide to Permaculture: Creating an Edible Ecosystem. Timber Press. Kindle Edition.
Growing food that doesn’t need planted again saves time, effort, and money.
Sunchoke or Jerusalem Artichoke
The Snarky Gardener was tasked with writing a paper for his permaculture class. This is part 1 of several written about perennial food crops from a permaculture perspective.
Perennial versus Annual Food Crops
With our current agricultural systems, annual monoculture plants rule with corn, soybeans, rice, and wheat being the primary crops. Every year, lots of money and non-renewable energy is used to till the soil, plant the seeds, remove the weeds, protect the crops from insects, and fertilize. Perennial food crops, when planted in a polyculture (ie with many other plants), help to mitigate much of these costs while providing a long term answer to growing our food. This is not to say that annual crops don’t have a place in a permaculture future, but their dominance will need to be reduced for designed systems to work to their full capacity and potential. Biologically, most annual plants are weeds, needing disturbed ground to thrive (thus all the tilling). This churning of the soil is very destructive to the web of life that exists under the surface. Earthworms, fungi, bacteria, and other organisms work in harmony to break down dead plant material and create the conditions plants need to survive and thrive. Perennials reduce the havoc tilling causes as they don’t need to be planted over and over. There are also some annual no-till systems that achieve some of the same goals, like the use of cover crops and special equipment to punch planting holes for corn and soybeans, but unfortunately they have been slow to be adopted.
Conventional Garden Perennials
Strawberries
Some perennials are commonly utilized by gardeners. Many perennial herbs (like mint, sage, thyme, oregano, chives, horseradish, and lemon balm) are easy to grow (sometimes too easy as mint and horseradish can be invasive). Living up to 15 years, asparagus is one of the first plants to be eaten the spring. Its spears can be grilled or baked with olive oil and parmesan cheese. Strawberries come back year after year, spreading by the use of runners. Rhubarb (which was planted next to the strawberries by my grandmother) produces reddish stems which can be used in desserts (strawberry rhubarb pie anyone?) or soups. Note: the leaves and roots are poisonous.
RhubarbSunchokes in bloom
Lesser Known Garden Perennials
Perennials unknown by many people can also be used in the garden. Ramps (aka Wild Leeks) are found wild in the eastern United States and grow in shady and/or wet areas. Also a native of the eastern US, the groundnut (a nitrogen-fixer) grows in 6 foot vines and produces tubers that taste like nutty-flavored potatoes. Sunchokes (or Jerusalem Artichokes) are a North American native related to the sunflower. They grow from 6 to 12 foot tall and have crisp, sweet tubers. Egyptian walking onions get 3 foot tall, set bulbs on their tops, and then fall over to spread to others parts of a garden. Crosnes (or Chinese Artichoke) is a mint relative that spreads using runners and and have crisp, sweet small white tubers. Good King Henry is a traditional European leafy green spinach relative. French Sorrel has lance-shaped leaves good for salads.
Chocolate cherry tomatoes from my AeroGarden – 3/1/2014
The Snarky Gardener finally ate the first experimental tomatoes of the year (except for one earlier tasting). As you can see, the chocolate cherry tomatoes looked a lot like bing cherries. The Snarky Gardener ate 3 and the Snarky Girlfriend got 2. They were delicious, though not as tasty as those coming from the garden last year. Next up is fruits on the Snarky Orange plant, which should be ready sometime in April. The earlier setbacks with overfeeding set back the timelines of the experiment, but I’m hopeful for the future.
Save money by buying your Black Turtle bean seeds at the grocery store.
The Snarky Gardener was perusing the local health food store when a thought occurred to him, “Those organic beans and peas would work well as seed”. A little research revealed that Black Turtle beans are a bush heirloom variety that goes back into the 1700’s (and probably much earlier). I grew Jacob’s Cattle beans last year but wanted to add another dry bean to my collection. The nice part about buying them at the store is that they are $1.99 a pound versus a lot more from seed companies (including shipping, etc). And you can eat any you don’t plant. The down side is that you won’t know exactly what sub-variety of Black Turtle beans you have nor will you know how old the seed is, but I don’t think it matters if they grow well and taste good.
Chocolate Cherry tomatoes getting ripe. They will be very dark brown when ready to eat.
In only a few short days, the Snarky Gardener will be eating homegrown cherry tomatoes in February. Of course there are only 6, so it won’t be much of a feast, but still, pretty cool. The Snarky Orange Cherry tomato plant is finally getting flowers. It had others a few weeks ago, but they grew into the lights and were burnt off (so sad). A cutting was also taken off the Chocolate Cherry to start a potted tomato plant. Not sure what I’m going to with it yet, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.
The Snarky Orange Cherry Tomatoes are flowering – finally
The Snarky Gardener’s love/hate relationship with groundhogs
Caught me a groundhog
Last year, the Snarky Gardener was telling his co-workers about how groundhogs kept getting into his garden, even with a fence. The consensus answer was that it wasn’t a problem a small caliber gun couldn’t solve. Then I had to explain how the Snarky Girlfriend just loves groundhogs. She thinks they are the cutest things ever – even making this high pitched “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” sound whenever she sees one. The response was, “Oh, you’re screwed”. Yep, pretty much.
Groundhogs are a lot faster than they look
I ended up hiring Critter Control to come trap them, but it wasn’t cheap. The hard part was convincing the SGF that they were being released at a groundhog sanctuary upstate. I don’t think she believed me, but it did solve the problem, except one did elude capture. I’m just hoping he doesn’t come back to enjoy the garden buffet this year.
Broccoli picked clean by a groundhogWhy did God make groundhogs so cute?
