Ask yourself two questions

If you want to grow tomatoes, first you have to ask yourself two questions:

1. What kind of space & time do you have?

It goes without saying you must have a sunny spot. Is this spot small or large? Tomatoes come in two types.

Determinate: Have a fixed size they won't grow beyond, and bear their fruit in a short time span.

Indeterminate: Will grow and grow unchecked unless you intervene, and bear their fruit in stages.

Determinates are best for small spaces, for when you don't have time to prune and manage, while indeterminates are great for large spaces where they can grow as they please (or, as you please if you have the time to direct them).

2. What are you going to do with the tomatoes?

Tomatoes also come in different varieties. Do you want to recreate grandma's sauce from the Old Country? Buy a "saucing" tomato. Do you like thick slices on your summertime BBQ burgers? Buy a "slicing" tomato. And so on.

As always, if you have any questions, ask your local nursery employee. They can point you to varieties that are best for your needs and best for your local weather. For example, here in Portland, varieties that fruit early and can tolerate cooler, wetter weather (such as the prolific Siberian choices) are popular.

I'm a tomato!

Love this t-shirt! Don't love tomatoes, not so much, no. Don't really even like them. But I'm from The South, and growing tomatoes is just what you do.

Besides, my friends love them and I will cook with them or make salsa, so it all works out.

I won't share all my tomato lore in this post, only just to say that it's time to choose my starts. And my favorite local nursery is ready to help me out with a perfectly timed event.

Tomatomania
Thursday, April 30, 5:00-7:00pm
Garden Fever, 3433 NE 24th

Refreshments and prizes from 750 KXL Radio. Choose from organic tomato and vegetable starts (it's time for peppers too!). I'll be there!

Join us for an evening of gardening fun with refreshments & prizes from 750 KXL Radio

Choose from a full selection of organically & sustainably grown tomato & vegetable starts.

Join us for an evening

Before & After - Weeding

This is the Southeast corner of the backyard, hosting a lilac tree and an assortment of hostas, astilbes, and hellebore, and plenty of blank spots for weeds to multiply. Filling those blanks spots is a task I will tackle this year. But first I have to weed, weed, weed.

Before the application of gardenbooty.

After the application of gardenbooty.

Before & After - Sunshine on apple trees

Who doesn't like a make-over? Here's the first of what will become a regular feature: Before & After.

Before the sunshine.

April 18

After the sunshine, 6 days later.

April 24

Tasks - 4/26/09

Today:

* Went to Garden Fever. Bought a few fill-in plants and a pair of cotton gloves.

* Killed and dug up one "granddaddy" blackberry root at the base of the house in my soon-to-be potting area. This is likely the root of the vine that grows out of the siding. Roughly 4 or 5 left to be dug out.

* Weeded from the lilac to the Cafe Ole roses. Moved a plant (not sure what it is? smells like a lemon sage, serrated leaves like a French lavender) to the green bed.

* Discovered some kind of winged mite on the Cafe Ole roses and blasted them with water. Will keep an eye on them.

* Discovered new shoots at the base of the dead, seemingly dead eucalyptus in the backyard. Hunh.

* Went out after dark to look for caterpillars, thought I saw their signature damage in the beds today. Found 4, as opposed to the usual 40 during a plague.

Sharing

One way to expand your garden on the cheap is to share and trade plants with friends and neighbors. Many plants spread and unless you have infinite room with perfect conditions, you'll have extra plants on your hands anyway.

Hostas are such a plant. Unless split vigorously, they will multiply in on themselves in an ultimately harmful way.

When the nubs first appear in March or April, you can divide the mass into smaller clumps and replant elsewhere. They survive the division very well.

The ones that can't be used in blank spots in my garden go into pots to share with my friends.