Drought Stricken Tomato Giving Up

One of my two Cabin tomato plants is giving up the fight for water!

The basil is badly gone to seed as well. It’s hard to convince the plants to play nice when they are seeing extreme weather and all they really want is some water.

However, on the other other end of the patio, this Cabin tomato is looking healthier than ever.  It’s basil is horrible, yes, but the tomato is doing FINE.  It has just reached 8 feet tall and I expect it to live through fall.

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The Tomatoes are putting on size

Giant Syrian Tomato, May 2012

Big Boy Tomato, May 2012

The tomatoes are starting to grow well for me in their new boxes.  As you might be able to see I have planted each one with two basil friends to keep it company, and nature has planted several annoying wanna-be friends in there too.

The wire tomato cages are only there to steady the plant long enough for it to grow strong outdoors.  I expect these tomatoes will end up 8 feet tall, up and over the roof by August.

The boards are warping a bit, so I think I’ll have to hit them with some sand paper on a nice dry day to even things up again.

Crowded Seedlings Need Replanted

I have been neglecting my seed starting room!  I need to get this jungle tamed soon and then start some more things!

Meanwhile, the weather man is forecasting a low of 37 [edit: 35!] with possible frost tonight!  I guess I’ll be covering as many flowers (strawberry, cherry, apple, berries) as I can with old sheets and blankets.

Moving tomatoes

My tomatoes have been getting blight (I believe it’s septoria leaf spot) earlier and earlier each year.  I decided that I need to move them completely out of my main garden area this year.

I built these four 2 foot by 2 foot raised “bed” boxes up by my back porch.  They’ll get great sun and they’ll be in new dirt that shouldn’t already be innoculated with whatever blights my other soil is carrying.

The tomatoes will grow up these uprights and shade our picnic table. I’ll just tie them up as they grow.  Tomatoes need at least 4 square feet when placed next to each other in a raised bed garden.  But since these will have lots of airspace all around them, I’m planning on planting each of these boxes with 1 tomato and 2 basil.

Oh Sweet Basil!

Basil is too important to put just in one place.  This will be growing in my wife’s herb bed, of course, but we’ll also have some basil in each of the 3 kid garden beds too.

Kid’s Garden Planner

I am adding two new 4 ft x 8 ft garden beds this year, so I decided to let my kids each plant one.  I’ll also let our wonderful friend and neighbor, M., plant one of my existing 4×8’s.  These children are 8, 6 and 6 years old, so I made them up a planning guide that you see above (and in color below).

I helped them cut out the plant rectangles that are sized to cover 1, 2 or 4 square feet in the bed, and then let them arrange them any way they pleased.  So far, two of the three are finished:

Kids' 4 x 8 foot garden plans

Feel free to take this idea and run with it, but make your own.  Absolutely all of the pictures in mine were “lifted” gently from Google searches, so I have no permission to use them.