Tomatoes: Growth Habit

Gardeners love tomatoes.

Growth Habit:

There are three basic choices, determinate, indeterminate and semi-determinate.

Determinate: varieties are often referred to as bush tomatoes. This is because the terminal (top and end) buds end in a flower cluster that produces fruit. The plant will stop growing when the terminal flowers develop. The fruit then develops and ripens over a short period of time, depending upon the weather. Tomatoes like heat so in cooler summers this process will slow down. The determinate varieties usually mature early and will produce small plants with generally smaller fruit. The small size means they do not need to be pruned or staked and can be great for a balcony or patio, especially if space is limited.

Indeterminate: these varieties are very popular with home gardeners. The indeterminate varieties will they often produce high-quality, flavourful, desirable fruit; they do mature later in the season than the determinate varieties do. Indeterminate refers to the continual growth habit of the plant which will continue to grow and flower until a killing frost. These are tall plants and will require staking for best results. Pruning is also vital if you want to enhance quality. Both flowering and fruiting occur over a longer time period.

Semi-Indeterminate: the name says it all they have characteristics that are intermediate between determinate and indeterminate. Basically indeterminate in nature, they will need staking and pruning in order to improve quality, but this is not essential. The indeterminate varieties are also very popular with home gardeners as they can provide a fairly early and good-quality yield.

I generally grow Camp Joy Heritage Cherry Tomatoes. They have performed well for me over the years and I first grew them in containers on my balcony. I could sit on my chair watch the Lake and pick a tomato for a quick snack. Add some fresh beans and a bit of lettuce and an instant balcony salad was created.

I have also grown Camp Joy indoors with less success but one plant did continue to produce fruit for nearly eight months, mind you for the last few weeks it was one tomato at a time but when you consider that was in winter that was a gift.

How To Attract Butterflies

 There are two things that butterflies are seeking: one is nectar, the food that adult butterflies need, and the other, host plants, the place where the female will lay her eggs and the food that caterpillars need. Both are necessary to create a successful butterfly garden.

It does take some thought and a bit of planning but then so does any successful garden. You need to know which butterflies are native to your region. You need to know what they like to eat and where they sleep, in short, you need to know butterfly habitats and habits.

Your public library or nature-society can be a very useful source of this information.

Let's start with a look at the butterfly.

Adult butterflies and moths have mouthparts that are shaped into a long, coiled tube. Butterflies feed on liquids (nectar) and they get all their food through this tube.

Their offspring or larvae, on the other hand, have chewing mouthparts, which they use to devour leaves.

The eyes of the butterfly are large, rounded compound eyes. This allows them to see in all directions without turning their heads. Butterflies are nearsighted, like most insects, and are more attracted to large stands of a particular flower than those planted singly.

Butterflies do not see the colour red as well as we do, however, they are able to see polarized light (which tells the direction the sun is pointing) as well as ultraviolet light, which is present on many flowers. This helps guide them to nectar sources.

Butterflies use their antennae to smell and their sense of smell is well developed. All butterflies' antennae are club-shaped, as opposed to moths, which can be many shapes but often are feathery.

Nectar Preferences (food)

Different species of butterflies have different preferences of nectar, in both colors and tastes. If you want to encourage different butterflies to visit your yard then your best bet is to supply them with a wide range of nectar source or plants.

Diversity is the keyword here, ecosystems thrive on biodiversity. This is an opportunity to explore and have some fun and a chance to engage your imagination.

Consider a circular garden bed that is just off of centre in your front or back yard. You can use twine or even a garden hose to lay out the circle. It does not have to be a perfect circle. A diameter of 4 to 5 feet is sufficient to add beauty and function to the yard.

If you combine wild and cultivated plants and use plants with different blooming times of the day and year you will encourage a wider range of butterflies to stop by.

When you plant your flowers in groups of the same plants this will make it easier for butterflies to see the flowers than singly planted flowers would.

Housing:

If you want the butterflies to stay in your garden and raise a family then you need to provide them with food plants where the females can lay their eggs. Some females are pickier about which host to lay their eggs on than others.

The butterfly larvae are also distinctive. Some caterpillars have hairs or forked spines, which may be or may not sting (often the hairs are just for show).

Certain swallowtail caterpillars imitate snakes or bird droppings. Other caterpillars, like sulphurs, blend into their surroundings very well.

If caterpillars are eating excessive foliage from a prominent or desirable part of a plant and you want to place them elsewhere then use gloves to move them if they're hairy to the backside or another less noticeable portion of the plant.

All insects are cold-blooded and cannot internally regulate their body temperature. Butterflies will readily bask in the sun when it is warm out, but few are seen on cloudy days.

It is a good idea to leave open areas in a yard for butterflies to sun themselves, as well as partly shady areas like trees or shrubs, so they can hide when it's cloudy or cool off if it is very hot.

A flat rock placed in full sun will provide the spot that butterflies need to bask. Butterflies like puddles. Males of several species congregate at small rain pools, forming puddle clubs.

Permanent puddles are very easy to make by burying a bucket to the rim, filling it with gravel or sand, and then pouring in liquids such as stale beer, sweet drinks or water. Butterflies love overripe fruit, that has been allowed to sit for a few days.

Garden Design Fundamentals

There are two things that you need to remember when designing a garden. Pay attention to both and you will create a space that you and your family can enjoy.

The first one is simple: It’s your garden. You do not have to please anyone else with your plant choices but yourself.

The second one is what I call the right plant right place rule or RPRP. When you place a plant where the conditions give it what it needs (water, soil, light) that plant will do well and reward you with fruit and flower throughout the season.

For RPRP to work you need to know three things:

One: what are the conditions where you are planning to garden, for example how much sunlight and/or shade?

Two: Be sure the plant gets the water it needs. If you are in a dry area, use plants that can tolerate the dry conditions, if the site is wet, use plants that like it wet.

Three: will the plant grow in your garden hardiness zone.

More on zones in a future hub,

Talk with the staff at the local plant nursery, ideally seek out the manager or owner when you have specific questions.

Now that you have the bare essentials we will move on to the other design elements that will help you create a garden that everyone can enjoy.

Basic Garden Design Elements:

· Line is likely the most important design element and certainly is the one you will most often use in your design. For an informal look use, a curved line, for a more formal one use straight lines..

· Texture is defined in 3 categories. 1-Coarse includes plants, structures and hardscapes that are bold and large. 2-Medium texture takes in many plants and smaller structures. 3-Fine includes plants such as ferns and grasses and structures that are thin and delicate.

· Form is the shape and structure of your plants, hardscapes or garden structures.

· Colour is the visual POP in your design. Blues, Purples and Greens are calming and seem to move away from you. Whereas warm colours like red, orange and yellow seem to bring things closer to you.

· Scale or proportion in the landscape is simply the size of your plants or structures and how they relate to each other and the area you are landscaping.

You now have the basics. It does not matter whether or garden is large, small or somewhere in-between if you follow RPRP and apply the five design principles you will enjoy the results. Happy gardening.

The Food Chain

If you want to understand an animal’s behaviour, the most effective way is to observe that animal in its natural habitat, its ecosystem. For example, watching what an animal or bird eats will give you important information about that animal.

The food chain, or what eats what is the living part of an ecosystem. A food chain shows how each living thing gets its food. Some animals eat plants and some animals eat other animals.

Al of this is possible because of the relationship between the Sun and the Earth. The Sun reaches the Earth and provides the energy that ecosystems need to produce the green leafy plants that form the basis of our food system. This process is called photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis converts light energy into chemical energy; the leaves of green plants receive energy from the sun and transform this into food that animals and humans, for example, can consume.

In photosynthesis, the energy absorbed by chlorophyll transforms carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates and oxygen. Chlorophyll channels the energy of sunlight into chemical energy.

All the food that people eat is dependent upon plants for their basic energy source. This is true whether people consume plants, animals or both. The animals that we eat, eat the plants or derivatives of the plants, to produce the food (meat) that we turn into steaks, chops and burgers.

Vegetarians and carnivores may argue over what makes an acceptable meal but both rely on photosynthesis for supper.

Just where do human sit on the food chain? Well, food chains are composed of producers, consumers, which are broken down into herbivores and carnivores, and decomposers. All are essential for the circle to keep on turning.

Humans fit into the consumer category and humans are both herbivores and carnivores and some will say that humans are actually omnivores, because when faced with starvation, we will eat just about anything, including each other.

I often hear people refer to humans as being at the top of the food chain, but consider this; you are out walking along a forest or mountain trail when suddenly just up ahead there is a grizzly bear looking straight at you, who is higher on the food chain at that moment/

You are swimming in the ocean and are suddenly confronted by a shark, who is lunch?

Okay, these are extremes examples and properly trained and armed the human is likely to come out on tops in either encounter.

Let’s look at a smaller example, the mosquito, they feed off of us and other warm-blooded animals, sure we can slap them and spray them and coat ourselves in lotion to keep them at bay but should one get a good drink from us and we may become ill.

Lyme disease is another threat carried by very small beings and to get even smaller still what about the colds and flues that assault humans every year? Where do they sit on the food chain?

By studying food chains and the interconnected relationships between the various members of the chain we are able to gain an understanding of how Nature works.

Everything eats and this is the common ground that connects us all together. Everything plays a role and we do not really know what role anyone element plays until after it vanishes and things begin to change.

What we do know is that creature had someone for lunch and was someone else’s lunch? Who will go uneaten and who will go unfed if that creature is removed from the ecosystem?

What effects will these changes bring? These are questions that need to be answered before we shrug off a species’ disappearance from the Great Food Chain that is Earth.

Earth Day

On this 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, I am taking time to reflect on the society we have created. I say, we, it is correct to blame corporations and governments for the mess we are in, but, we elect the politicians and many of us work for corporations and consume their products.

If we really want to make a difference, shop local as often as you can. Encourage others to do so. Talk with local merchants, when you cam, and tell them you prefer local products.

In this vein grow as much of your food as you are able to, and buy from local sources when possible. These acts will make a difference. 

Consider taking a cooperative approach to meeting your basic needs. Talk with family, neighbours and friends about bulk buying, sharing space for growing, for example. I know you may not be able to act on this now but we can talk with each other and discover our common ground. The need for food, water and shelter are common to all who live.



#Earthday2020

Paw Paw Experiment

I am growing paw paw trees, for the first time, this year. Pawpaws are the largest edible fruit trees native to North America, specifically the temperate climes of the eastern parts of the United States, though you won't often find them near the coasts.
They should grow here.

 I have started two seeds out of the five I purchased. I will post updates, with photos, as this experiment moves along.

Planning a new or First Garden?

It is not difficult to grow your own vegetables, flowers and herbs. There are three things that you must consider if the garden is to be successful; the sun, soil and water. The garden will need six to eight hours of sunlight per day in order to produce vegetables or flowers.

Soil comes in three basic types, clay, sand or loan. The ideal soil is a sandy loam. There is a simple way to determine the type of soil in your garden. Pick up some soil with one hand, roll it into a ball. If it forms a ball that breaks apart readily it is loam. If a ball does not form, it is sand. If a ball forms but does not break apart easily, it is clay.

This primer will help you plan and design your first garden; it does not matter what you decide to grow, vegetables, flowers, herbs or all three, the steps are the same.

Step One:

There are two questions you need to answer at this point.

1- What do you want to grow?

2- How much time to you have to garden, each day, and week?

It is important to match your schedule to your interests; you do not want to start a garden that is too big, as it is likely to become a burden and that will take all the fun out of the project.

It is equally important not to put in a garden that is too small as your yield, what you get back for your labour, will be smaller than you expected and you will be disappointed and perhaps discouraged.

Step Two:

Now is the time for the garden plan. Don’t panic, this is simple; a plan helps you stay on track, makes maximum use of your gardening time, is fun and can be changed whenever you desire.

You now know what you want to grow and how much time you are willing to commit to the growing and maintenance. Now you must determine:

1- Where will your garden grow? The backyard most likely but were, well for most cut flowers, herbs and vegetables you want a spot that gets full sun for 5-6 hours a day, minimum.

2- How big will it be? The size depends upon what you want to grow and how much. A good cut flower garden can be fairly small in feet 6x6 will do; same for a herb garden. Now unless you are prepared to convert your whole backyard into a vegetable garden and even then, you are not going to grow all the food your family needs, so pick you 3-5 favourite vegetables and focus on them.

3- Homework time. You need to know the plants you plant to grow, the public library can be a great source of information as can the Internet. You can also visit a local plant nursery and have a chat with the manager.

4- Put the right plant in the right place and it will thrive.

Read this hub, for details on building the garden bed. Speaking of reading, if you are planting seeds read the seed package. The information there is meant to be followed, so do so. If you are using plants then read the tag that should be in the pot with the plant, the same story; If it is not then ask.

Gardening is a rewarding activity that does not have to be difficult or time-consuming, just be sure to build the garden that matches your needs, wants and schedule.

Consider keeping a journal. Record what you planted, how it fared and anything else that you notice. This information will be valuable when planning next year's garden.

Native Plant Gardening

Ecosystems are complex, possibly too complex for us to be able to understand all the connections and actions and interactions that take place within them.

If we do not know what will happen if something changes, it makes no sense to rush in and make those changes.

Pollination:

Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the anthers of a flower to the stigma of the same flower or of another flower. Pollination is a must if the flower is to be fertilized.

Fertilization is necessary if the plant’s flower is to produce seeds and seeds are needed to produce more plants.

The honey bee is not a native to North America and our growing dependence upon the honey bee to provide pollination services as lead to our forgetting the native bees that are able to perform this function and in some cases even better than the honey bee.

Now, one way that the gardener can attract native bees such as the bumblebee or mason bee is to create a garden that appeals to them.

This is a fundamental principle for attracting any type of wildlife whether it is, bee or butterfly the garden will design a garden that meets the needs of the beings and they will move in.

Bees on Sunflowers

Bees on Sunflower | Source

The Native Plant Garden

You do not have to include only native plants in the garden. If your garden is already established, no problem, add a few natives in the border or at the back, wherever they work best in the overall design.

If you include native plants that appeal to native bees and other pollinators in your garden you will be encouraging the native bees to visit and that is all you need them to do, drop by and do their thing and then move on.

If you grow vegetables on any scale adding some bee plants to the edges of your vegetable patch will bring the pollinators your way.

When you garden in this ecological manner, and by that I mean you think about creating an ecosystem rather than a garden, you move closer to being one with Nature and serving a vital role in the food chain that goes beyond personal consumption.

What the gardener is in fact doing is creating an ecosystem that meets the pollinators' needs. The pollinators reward the gardener by fertilizing the plants and thus making sure they grow and produce flowers or fruit.

The best way to attract native pollinators is first finding out what pollinators are native to where you live. Then find out what attracts them or what plants they like. A trip to the public library can help or horticultural society or perhaps even a garden centre.

The third step is to design a garden that incorporates a few of those plants that the bee is attracted to and plant them.

Creating a native plant garden is no different than creating any other garden. If you are new to gardening or looking for a refresher check this post out.

Ground Nesting Bees

When we talk about pollinators, the honey bee is usually the star. However, there are others. Bumblebees, beetles, orchard mason bees, butterflies and one that you rarely hear about ground-nesting bees.

Pollinators move pollen from the stigma to the anther, the female and male parts, respectively of flowers. This transfer is essential for plants to produce seed and fruit.

There are three types of ground-nesting bees. Digger bees (family Anthoporidae), sweat bees (family Halictidae), and mining bees (family Andrenidae).

Females dig their solitary homes in dry soil and mound the loose soil around the nest entrance. Pollen and nectar for her offspring are collected and stored.

While ground bees are solitary, it is to find dozens of ground bee nests in one area if conditions are suitable for nesting. Males may fly over the burrows, patrolling for potential mates.

Ground bee queens are docile. They present little or no threat to humans. The males may seem aggressive as they buzz around looking for a female, but they do not have a stinger.

Ground-nesting bees are active foragers of nectar and pollen from flowers, making them beneficial pollinators.

Their nests are small mounds of soil a few inches across. The nests may cause a visual concern for a while, they actually help to maintain a healthy lawn. The nests aerate the soil, enabling water to enter.

When the nests are abandoned in the spring, a rainfall will wash all traces away. If you can’t wait for nature, grab the hose and do the job yourself. But before you spray remember, these bees help you put dinner on the table.

While they may briefly detract from the aesthetics of a well-tended lawn, they do absolutely no harm to the grass or soil—even improving it as their nests function as aeration holes, improving the penetration of water and nutrients. Eventually, as the nests are abandoned after the spring nesting season, the soil washes back into place with rain, disappearing completely.

These are NOT docile ground-nesting bees, they are yellow-jackets and are bad-tempered and aggressive. Do not confuse them with docile ground-nesting bees or you will have a very bad day.

If you feel you must get rid of ground bees even for the brief time they live in your lawn, there is no need to use pesticides of any kind. Ground bees prefer dry soil to nest in, and simply watering the area that they have chosen will cause them to move to another area. If you find ground-nesting bees return to your lawn in large numbers year after year, run a sprinkler on the area before they show up; ground-nesting bees prefer dry soil to wet soil and will look elsewhere to make their nests. (Make sure that you are evicting ground bees and not yellow-jackets. Yellow-jackets reaction to a water eviction will not be “non-aggressive” by any means. A yellow jacket nest will look like a busy airport with many insects entering and leaving in a constant stream, and entrances can be well over an inch wide. Only one ground bee will be seen leaving and entering a hole only about ¼” wide.)

Even better, leave the ground bees to go about their business-they won’t be around long, and will even benefit your lawn and garden while they’re visiting. Just like robins, they’re another welcome sign of spring.

Organic Fertilizers

The following products are used in the production of organic fertilizers.

Blood Meal is dried blood as a by-product of the meat industry and contains approximately 13 per cent nitrogen; not for vegetarians.

Colloidal phosphate is clay that is washed from rock phosphate when the rock phosphate is mined. This is a good source of phosphorus.

Cottonseed meal is a waste product that is left over after cottonseed oil is pressed out of cottonseed, this may contain chemical residues and not be suitable.

Fish emulsions are a liquid by-product of the animal feed industry and are made from fish and a good source of nitrogen.

Greensand is a mined mineral deposit that is a good source of potassium and other minerals.

Guano is aged and dried bird or bat droppings that is high in nitrogen and phosphate.

You can make your own organic fertilizer from selecting the appropriate material in the right combinations. This is just like cooking just follow the recipe.

You will need to supply your soil with the three basics nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous.

The following is a formula or recipe for organic fertilizer.

2 parts of blood meal OR 3 parts of fish meal. This is your nitrogen source.

3 parts bonemeal 6 parts rock phosphate OR 6 parts colloidal phosphate ( phosphorous source)

1 part kelp meal OR 6 parts greensand (potassium)

Be sure to wear gloves, a dust mask and safety goggles.

Once you have chosen the 3 materials that you are going to mix then mix them be sure to wear the mask, gloves and goggles. Remember safety comes first.

Now you have your own custom mix which you may apply around the base of your roses, fruit trees or perennials. If you are starting a new bed you can mix some of the fertilizer into the soil before you plant your flowers or vegetables.

Another great source of organic fertilizer is the grass clippings produced when you mow your lawn. That is providing you do not sue any chemicals on that lawn. Let them lay where the mower tosses them.

If you want to can rake some up and move them to your garden bed. Spread them around so that water and air can get through and enter the soil.

Another excellent way to grow healthy plants is to use a foliar spray.  Plants are able to absorb nutrients through their leaves and they do this very well. This means that foliar spraying, spraying the leaves, can be very effective when used at the appropriate time.

The appropriate time is when the plants are growing fast and getting ready to bloom. This is the perfect time to spray a fine mist of liquid seaweed or compost tea being sure to cover all the leaves. Do this either in the early morning or the late evening as that is when the leaf pores open to regulate the passage of water, oxygen and carbon dioxide through their leaves.

Starting Seeds Indoors: Podcast

Hi, please check out my first podcast working with the Renfrew Public Library. Here

Started Seeds Today

This year, my plan is to start all my seeds, ornamentals included, indoors. The following will go on my front deck.

 California Poppy
Zinnias
Agastache foeniculum.

Why, curiosity, Photos will follow.

Added glass gem corn to the starts.

Food Forest: An Introduction

This video will introduce you  to the Food Forest. 

Soil Health

Ths video with Dr Elaine Ingram discusses soil health, worth watching. let me know what you think in the comments section.

Bob