PlanterTomato Vegetable Gardening

Vegetables In The Shade

Another crazy idea to grow vegetables in the shade.

If you have limited light in your garden you may already know that you can grow vegetables such as lettuces, spinach, kale and cabbage in partial shade.

However, here's an idea for an edible that can be grown full shade.  If you have no light in your garden, or if you have a shady area that you want to enhance as part of your edible landscaping plan, consider adding some Ostrich ferns. 

Ostrich ferns can sometimes be found in specialty grocery stores and are usually sold as "Fiddleheads."  They are available for only a very short period of time -- generally just two or three weeks.  This New England delicacy is harvested in the spring when the fronds of the fern are just about to unravel and the little coiled heads are then cooked by sauteing them in butter. 

However, there are other ways to prepare them, such as making them into soup.  You can find a bunch of interesting recipe ideas at About.com

By the way, About.com says that fiddle heads can be eaten raw.  I wouldn't do this.  My understanding is that they contain toxins which are neutralized during the cooking process.  For safety's sake, cook them.  And one more thing....You eat just the coiled head, not the stems or uncoiled fronds.

Fiddleheads grow in full shade, mature quickly, and are will grow in hardiness zones 2-8.  My garden is in Northern California (zone 9), which is technically a little too hot for fiddleheads, but planted them this year anyway as a test.  If you are in a colder climate you should have no problem growing these.

 

Special Note To Those in the San Francisco Bay Area:

My friends at Common Ground Garden Supply and Educational Center asked me to let you know about upcoming gardening classes.  You can find the complete listing and registration information at the Common Ground Web Site.  Upcoming classes including offerings such as Patricia Becker's upcoming Yoga for Gardeners Class and Jody Main's Herbs In the Garden, Herbs in the Kitchen and many other interesting and helpful courses.

Failure Is An Orphan

Not everything planted ends up being a success.  In this posting, I share the sad story of my first attempt to grow sweet potatoes and a my strategy for ensuring overall success of my garden.

There's an old saying, "Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan."  The same is true with vegetable gardening; look at catalogs, books and blogs and you see gardens abundant with perfect lettuces, mouthwatering tomatoes and tall and tempting sweet corn.  But the these are the gardening success; what isn't shown or talked about are the orphans -- the lettuces that were devoured by slugs or the spinach that bolted due to a hot spell. 

I think the downside to orphaning of failures is that it sets false expectations for new gardeners who think that they should get perfect results like the ones the see in these catalogs, books and blogs.

So without further ado, here is a candid admission of my first gardening failure of the year.  This year I planted sweet potatoes for the first time.  Unlike Irish Potatoes, which are planted with seed potatoes, sweet potatoes are started from "slips" which are the sprouts that grow out of older potatoes. The slips are cut off the potatoes and planted directly in the ground. 

I ordered my sweet potato slips from Steele Plant Company in Tennessee.  They are shipped via Priority Mail because It's important to get the slips in the ground as quickly as possible.  Mine arrived in early May and I planted them the day after they arrived.

Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate.  Rain, heavy winds and cold temperatures pounded these poor sweet potato slips for two days.  This is exactly the worst thing that can happen to sweet potatoes which are originally from South America and are a tropical plant.  They like warm weather, and they didn't get it.

The net result is that half of the plants died and I was forced to reorder new ones.  The ones that lived are recovering, but we continue to have a very cool, wet spring which is really impeding their growth.  If I harvest sweet potatoes this year, it will probably be a very modest crop.  Maybe none at all.  And the cold weather bodes ill for watermelons and squashes which I also planted this year.

The morale of the story is that in gardening like in other endeavors, things don't always go as planned and you should expect some failures each year.  Weather, aphids, slugs, whatever, something in your garden is going to take a hit.

My strategy is to grow a variety of vegetables to hedge my bets.  The key for every gardener is to get the proper balance -- more vegetable varieties provides a hedge against failure, but they also mean more work for the gardener.  Everyone will be different in this regard, but as a starting point, I would recommend you consider growing about 6-8 types of veggies for any particular season.

Although my sweet potatoes are likely to be a flop, I've already harvested sugar snap peas, four varieties of lettuce, pak choi (bok choi), broccoli raab, strawberries, kale and chard.  My Irish potatoes are doing well, beans and peppers in the works, and I have tomato plants that have already begun to set fruit in the greenhouse. 

All in all, it's shaping up to be a pretty good year -- a bunch of success and a few orphans too.

Curing and Smoking Bacon at Home with Mesquite or Alder Wood

An experiment in smoking bacon with non-traditional woods.

In a prior posting, I provided a recipe and instructions to cure and smoke your own bacon.  I really like this recipe because it provides a perfect balance of the flavors that make bacon so incredibly wonderful -- fatty, salty, and sweet.

As I also mentioned in that  posting, I am not a big fan of apple wood for smoking bacon and so for my first batches were made using hickory wood.

Hickory is the traditional choice and the wood used to make most store-bought bacon.  However, there are other wood options and I thought I would try some of these to see if I liked the results. When I made our most recent batch of bacon I smoked half in mesquite wood and the other half in alder wood. 

Mesquite Wood

Mesquite is a drought-tolerant deciduous tree that grows primarily in Texas and the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico.

If you're from Texas, where barbecue is traditionally done using mesquite, you're going to love mesquite smoked bacon.  But you don't need to live in "The Lone Star State" to find mesquite wood or enjoy mesquite smoked bacon.  Mesquite chips are widely available at stores that sell barbecue grills. Mesquite gives a distinct and extra smokey flavor to bacon. 

Red Alder Wood

Alder is a deciduous tree in the birch family.  In the United States, red alder grows primarily in the Pacific Northwest. 

For making bacon, Alder is definitely the more off-beat choice of the two woods I tested.  Alder is recommended widely for smoking pork, but in candor, my prior experience with alder wood has been exclusively as a wood used to make salmon on the grill. 

I was a bit surprised at how well alder works for bacon;  it gives the bacon a slightly sweeter and more mild flavor than either hickory or mesquite. 

You can find alder chips at local grill stores, but it is less common, so you may need to hunt around to find a supplier.

In the future, I'm going to try cherry, pecan and other woods to see if I can arrive at a personal favorite.  But any way you smoke it, bacon is pretty terrific stuff.  I can't wait for fresh summer tomatoes to make bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches.

Recipe for Curing & Smoking Bacon

For the recipe and step-by-step instructions on how to cure and smoke bacon at home, see my original post "Bacon, Proof of the Existence of God."

Watch Honey Bees On This Live Web Cam

Update November 2010: Bees are not active when the temperature falls below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  You will not see much, or any, bee activity right now.  Please check back in the spring!

A few days ago, I attempted to place a live web cam of my honey bee hive on the internet for readers of this gardening blog to view.  Due to some technical issues, the camera was not broadcasting on the internet, and it took a few days to find the solution to that problem.

The Bee Cam is now live and can be viewed by clicking on the below link and entering the user ID and password below (case sensitive).

Web Cam Link:          PlanterTomato BeeCam

User ID:                     Guest

Password:                 Beecam

Best Times To View Beecam

The bees start their day when the air warms to over 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  Right now, that means at about 9:00 am U.S. Pacific Time (4:00 pm Greenwich Mean Time).  However, the bees are most active, and therefore best viewed, between the hours of 11:00 am and 5:00 pm Pacific U.S. Time (6:00pm to 12:00 Midnight Greenwich Mean Time)

It goes without saying, the hours between 8:00 pm and 9:00 am Pacific U.S time are not good times to view Beecam because there is not sufficient light and/or the bees are not active.  My plan is to run Beecam throughout the summer months, barring any technical or other issues.

The week on May 24th, 2010 promises to be rainy and cold which will dampen bee activity, so I've also posted a video to YouTube which you can watch anytime, day or night. The link is below.

PlanterTomato YouTube Video (May 24, 2010)

Special thanks to the folks at Parsons Farmstead who were kind enough to assist me in testing the camera.

Grow More Tomatoes: A Product That Increases Yield

Bonide sells a product that offers the prospect of growing more tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other veggies.  Find out if it really works in this posting.

I recently found a product at our local garden store that claimed that its application would result in a higher percentage of flowers setting, more fruit and fewer seeds.  It is also claimed the product helps gardeners with less than perfect weather conditions get improved yields. 

The product, Bonide Tomato & Blossom Set Spray is a foliar.  It comes in a pump-type spray bottle and the instructions are to spray the flowers and adjacent leaves.  Bonide claims this will increase the yield of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, melons, beans, okra and strawberries.  However, the package did specify the active ingredient or provide any information on why the product works.

Not Much Information on the Internet

Eager to learn more, I went to the company's web site but found no additional information regarding the product or evidence to suggest that it really works. 

However, Gardener's Supply, a retailer that sells Tomato & Blossom Set on its web site, listed about 50 customer reviews where the average rating for the product was 4.5 out of 5 stars.  Furthermore, those customers who gave Bonide Tomato & Blossom Set Spray a poor rating generally complained about defects in the spray bottle, not the actual product itself.  So overall, customers were very happy with the product.  The Gardeners supply web site also provided the insight that Tomato and Blossom Set Spray contained Kinetin, a naturally occurring plant hormone.  

While customer reviews were a strong indication that the Tomato & Blossom set works, I was still hoping to find something a little more scientific to  support the claim this product would produce bigger yields of tomatoes. 

Digging on the internet, I found alot of extraneous information about Kinetin and a family of plant hormones called Cytokinins.  But not information on whether application of this to tomatoes would result in higher yields as the product claimed.

Evidence from The University of California

The closest I could find was a research proposal by Dr. Carol J. Lovatt, Professor of Plant Physiology at The University of California, Riverside, who did  study on avocados.  So I wrote Dr. Lovatt and asked her about Kinetin.  Her full response is listed at the end of this posting, but the bottom line is that she has conducted tests and believes that use of Kinetin will result in higher tomato yields. 

"We have done research on the effects of cytokinins on tomato plants (an indeterminate cherry tomato type was used in our research) and cytokinins increased the number of flowers per plant, number of fruit per plant and the size of individual fruit. Thus, total yield was increased. There were no negative effects on fruit quality." - Dr. Carol J. Lovatt

Based on this scientific evidence and favorable customer reviews, I'm going to try Bonide's product.  You may decide to give it a try as well.  A 6 ounce spray bottle of Bonide Tomato & Blossom Set Spray costs $6.95.  It's available at garden centers and online retailers.

Dr. Lovatt's Detailed Response:

Kinetin was the first cytokinin hormone recognized for its growth promoting effects on plants. It was discovered as breakdown product of herring sperm DNA applied to plants. Other naturally occurring cytokinins in plants have been discovered since: isopentenyladenine and isopentenyladenosine, zeatin and zeatin riboside and dihydrozeatin and dihyrdozeatin riboside.

Just recently kinentin was found in plants. Cytokinins are essential for cell division and growth. They are important for sink strength --- the capacity of an organ, e.g., flowers, fruit, leaves to import the materials (building blocks) necessary for growth.

Cyokinins also prevent senescence and keep tissues young. Because senescence is increased in plant tissues and organs in response to stress (lack of water, high temperature, low temperature, salinity), cytokinins can help to mitigate the effects of stress on plants to improve productivity under stressful conditions and to improve recovery from stress.

We have done research on the effects of cytokinins on tomato plants (an indeterminate cherry tomato type was used in our research) and cytokinins increased the number of flowers per plant, number of fruit per plant and the size of individual fruit. Thus, total yield was increased. There were no negative effects on fruit quality.

With avocados, the application time we use results in a greater yield of commercially valuable larger size fruit.

Announcing Beecam: Live Web Cam of A Honeybee Hive

Update November 2010: Bees are not active when the temperature falls below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  You will not see much, or any, bee activity right now.  Please check back in the spring!

Watch bees at work on this live web cam or see a recorded view on YouTube.

In a prior post, I told you about all the equipment you need to keep bees.  In this post, I'm announcing the PlanterTomato.com Beecam, streaming video of the bees in one of my hives. 

Beecam is currently positioned at the front of the hive and lets you watch the bees entering and existing the hive in real time.  In future posts, I will move the Beecam to another position so you can see the bees building honeycomb.

Why Do A Beecam

My seven year old daughter is fascinated by the bees, but also a little scared of the large swarm that forms in front of the hive when hive activity is at its peak.  I decided to build a web cam so she could view the bees from the safety of the computer in our study.

Beecam Views

 Most of the action occurs at the front of the hive and that is the view that is presented currently.  You'll see bees leaving the hive to gather what they need to survive -- water, nectar, and pollen.   If you observe carefully, you'll see that some of the bees have yellow bumps on the backs of their legs.  This is the pollen stored in pollen baskets on the backs of the bees legs. The pollen is a source of protein for bees.

In the future, I'll change the position of the Beecam to show a different view of the hive's activity.  Specifically, some of the activity within the hive.  To do this,  I cut a number of windows into one of the deep hive boxes and covered the holes with Plexiglass.  We can now look into the hive to see the bees building comb for honey storage and for raising additional bees (see second photo attached below)

How To View:

To view the Beecam click on the below link and then enter the ID and password.

Link:              PlanterTomato Beecam

ID:                 Guest

Password:     Beecam

Best Times To View Beecam

The bees start their day when the air warms to over 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  Right now, that means at about 9:00 am U.S. Pacific Time (4:00 pm Greenwich Mean Time).  However, the bees are most active, and therefore best viewed, between the hours of 11:00 am and 5:00 pm Pacific U.S. Time (6:00pm to 12:00 Midnight Greenwich Mean Time)

It goes without saying, the hours between 8:00 pm and 9:00 am Pacific U.S time are not good times to view Beecam because there is not sufficient light and/or the bees are not active.  My plan is to run Beecam throughout the summer months, barring any technical or other issues.

Viewing & Technical Issues

My previous posting on "What Equipment You Need to Keep Bees" has been extremely popular.  I suspect that Beecam will attract a large audience and traffic to the web cam is likely to be very high.  However, Beecam is not hosted using a professional service, so I do not know what level of internet traffic will cause the system to slow to a crawl or crash.  If you experience difficulty viewing, please visit on another day or see the recorded view of the hive on YouTube.

YouTube Recorded Video of Hive

You can see views of the outside entrance, and inside views of the hive front and side that was recorded on May 24, 2010.  The link to the YouTube video is:

PlanterTomato.Com Honey Bee Video

Russian Roulette: A Kale I Know You'll Love

A different variety of kale that will win you over.

In the past, I've posted about Siberian Kale, a winter hardy Brassica (Member of the cabbage/broccoli family) that is a big favorite in our house.  We love this veggie because it is packed with nutrients, is so cold tolerant it can be grown during the winter, and is a great ingredient in soups and stir fry dishes.  Oh and did I mention, it's incredibly easy to grow and resistant to most pests!

You may also be familiar with some other varieties of kale such as Lacinato, which also goes by the name Toscano or Dinosaur kale, Dwarf Blue kale, a dark curly leafed variety, and Redbor a finely curled almost magenta colored kale.  All are winter hardy and all generally require cooking as they can be a bit woody.  They are also all varieties from the same specie -- Brassica Olaracea.

Red Russian Kale

This spring, I tried a a new type of kale called Red Russian.  This kale is very different from the all of the previously mentioned varieties, including it's Siberian namesake, because it is a different specie of kale -- Brassica Napus (versus Brassica Oleracea for all the other varieties).  What I really like about this type of kale is that it is so soft that it does not really need to be cooked.  You can eat it raw as a salad green or toss it into soup during the last minute of cooking.  

Red Russian kale has a broad flat leaf and a silver-green color.  The stems and veins of the leaves are light to dark purple, giving this kale an almost ornamental appearance.  In fact, I think this would make an excellent addition for gardeners that are engaged in "Edible Landscaping," creating gardens that are beautiful to the eye, but made with edible, rather than ornamental, plants.

I like Red Russian kale so much, I will probably grow it as the primary type of kale I put into my garden in the future.

If you have not grown kale before, consider adding Red Russian kale to your garden this fall.  I know you will really enjoy it.

Rare And Unusual Lettuce

Four Rare & Unusual Lettuces

This year I'm growing a variety of heirloom lettuces that are not your typical fare.  I wanted to compare these to see if I could find a new favorite in the mix.

Brune d'hiver -  Introduced in 1855 it has green leaves tinged with a reddish-brown blush.  Brune d'hiver, which means "Winter Brown" in French, is a bibb or butterhead-type lettuce that is often planted in the fall because it is cold tolerant, but I started it early in the spring and it has done quite well (We are having an unusually cold, wet spring and it's been a benefit to this lettuce). I found it to be a very soft lettuce with a bitter finish but not as bitter as Forellenschluss.

Forellenschluss - This is an Austrian heirloom romaine-type lettuce with mottled red spots.  The name means "spotted like a trout" and indeed the lettuce has markings similar to that of a trout.  It too is a very cold tolerant variety.  The leaves were a little tougher than the other varieties and it was also little more bitter.  What makes this variety a standout is the unusual coloration and I think it add great visual appeal to a salad.

De Morges Braun - A Swiss heirloom romaine-type lettuce with green leaves and slight reddish tinging in areas.  Leaves are soft and the flavor was mild.  This was the least distinct tasting of the four lettuces in this sample.

Little Gem - An English romaine-type lettuce with a compact growth habit and light green leaves.  This was the sweetest of the lettuces of the group and even the stems are quite sweet.  This is probably the most kid-friendly of the four lettuces, followed by De Morges Braun.

All of the lettuces were easy to grow and I believe most were ready for harvest in about 50-60 days.  I've noted some of the taste and texture differences between these lettuces, but in candor, the Little Gem is probably the one that is most distinctly different.  In a salad, with other ingredients and dressing, I think it would be hard to distinguish one from another.  I would recommend any of these to you.

If I had to choose a favorite, I personally would go with the Forellenschluss for it's beautiful color.  I have to admit, I'm also drawn to it because I like the name "Spotted like A Trout."  It reminds me of the beautiful paintings of trout by author and artist James Prosek (see photo)

Strawberries: A Look At Strawberries And Their Alpine Cousins

Two types of Strawberries Compared

This year I'm growing three pots of strawberries.  Two are ever bearing varieties purchased at the garden store this earlier this year and one is an Alpine variety (Mignonette) I planted from seed last year.

What most of us call "strawberries" are varieties that have been bred to produce large sized fruits -- an inch or more in length.  These are the kind you are most likely to find as plants at the garden center and they are absolutely the ones that you'll buy as berries for consumption at a farmers markets or grocery store.

Growing these strawberries in containers is not particularly difficult and they tend to produce nice sized crops of berries.  The "June Bearing" varieties produce one large crop of berries in the late spring/early summer.  "Everbearing" varieties tend to produce two, smaller crops of berries during the summer.  Finally, "Day Neutral" varieties produce berries consistently throughout the growing season.

There are many different varieties of June, Everbearing, and Day Neutral strawberries to choose from. These varieties have been bred to produce different characteristics, so you'll find some that are sweeter, some larger or more red,  some that have a longer shelf life, or are better for freezing or making jam.  Common varieties include Albion, Earliglow, Seascape, Allstar and Winona.

Alpine strawberries or Fraises du bois (strawberry of the woods in French) are very different from what we normally think of as a strawberry.  Alpine berry plants produce tiny strawberries -- in fact, smaller than a raspberry. 

I would almost classify alpine strawberries as ornamental, except for one small detail -- they produce fruits that have an intense strawberry flavor that is unlike other types of strawberries.  It's a gourmet taste experience, but If you grow an Alpine strawberry variety, you will probably use the berries to top ice cream or some other dessert, as you will not likely have enough to make a dessert of the berries alone.

Given the low yields, Alpine strawberries are not a commercially viable crop for farmers; if you want to try them, you'll need to grow them for yourself.  You can sometimes find Alpine Strawberry plants at a garden center or you can order them through an online retailers as either plants or seeds.

I generally don't shy away from growing a particular variety of vegetable or fruit just because it has a lower yield.  However, in the case of Alpine strawberries, the yield is so very low, that I can't recommend these to most folks. Unless you have alot of space in your garden, or are just dying to try these gourmet Alpine beauties, I would recommend sticking with the more common, larger strawberry types.

Bertie Wooster's Watercress Sandwiches

Watercress & Watercress Sandwiches.

I like watercress, but I have to admit that whenever I eat it it, I can't help but think of Bertie Wooster,  the affable and eccentric twit featured in a series of stories by author P.G. Wodehouse. 

As you may already know, Wooster is a caricature of the idle rich British aristocrat who spends his days getting into trouble, avoiding his overbearing aunt Agatha, and eating finger sandwiches  served to him at tea time by his loyal butler, Jeeves.

So what's the association between Bertie Wooster and watercress?  Well, it's those darned finger sandwiches which Wooster was always eating -- these are often made with watercress as a key ingredient.  Now I just can't think of tea sandwiches without thinking of Wooster and watercress.

Sadly this connection is an unfortunate one for me since it paints watercress with a patina of snobbish foppery that it frankly does not deserve. Watercress is a nutrient dense veggie which adds a peppery flavor to soups, salads and, of course, finger sandwiches. 

It's a semi-aquatic member of the Brassica family with dark green leaves and a fast growth habit.  It's not hard to grow and is one of the things you can harvest early in the year.

How To Grow Watercress

Watercress generally makes its home adjacent to streams, but you don't need to live near water to grow it.  I grew my watercress this year using Autopot hydroponic containers which work brilliantly for this water-loving veggie.  However, you can easily grow watercress  in traditional containers if you keep the soil wet enough.

According to eHow.com, one trick is to plant your watercress in a traditional pot but then place that pot into another container that is filled with water, thereby creating a miniature island in a pond. 

To plant watercress, directly sow your seeds at a depth of 1/4 inch in the early spring.  Place your container in an area where it is in partial shade.  Watercress germinates in 3-15 days, and you can begin to harvest in about 60 days.  It does best when the air temperature is 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit, so plant based on your local conditions.  

Benefits of Watercress

Watercress is a super food -- high in Vitamins A and C and iron.  In fact, it has more vitamin C than oranges and more calcium than milk.  As an herbal remedy, watercress is thought to cleanse the blood and also to prevent scurvy (makes sense given that it's high in vitamin C)

Watercress Sandwiches for Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea is an English tradition of a bygone era; it's a light meal enjoyed between 3:00-5:00 pm where, small crustless sandwiches made of smoked salmon, cucumber, watercress and other goodies are served along with scones and tea. 

If you want to have the full English tea experience, you can still sometimes find it offered in some hotels in the UK and Canada.  But if you'd like to just try it at home, it's easy to pull together and many of these sandwiches are a good showcase for you watercress.

If you would like to try making finger sandwiches, here are links to a few sandwich recipes that use watercress as a key ingredient:

• Cucumber, Watercress, Salmon Sandwich
• Watercress Sandwich with Chili Lime Butter
• Goat Cheese & Watercress Sandwich

Now all you need is a Jeeves to serve them.

 

How To Grow Potatoes the Easy Way: Potato Containers for Couch Potatoes

Learn an easy way to grow your favorite variety of potatoes in containers.

In early April, I was visiting our local garden center and I saw a container system designed specifically for potatoes.  It's essentially, a fabric bag with handles.  You fill the bag with 6 inches of soil and plant 3 or 4 seed potatoes in each bag.  Cover with soil and add additional soil as the plant grows.  By adding soil progressively, you create additional space for the plant to send out roots.  As a result, the plant produces more potatoes. 

Versus growing in traditional beds, the container systems offer the advantage of being space efficient.  They also make harvesting easier because the bags have flaps on the side that are secured with Velcro.  To harvest, you can just open a flap, stick your hand into the center of the bag and feel around for potatoes.  Alternatively, you can just spill out the contents of the bag and hunt around until you find the potatoes.  Either way, makes harvesting potatoes easy for both hard-working gardeners and couch potatoes alike.

The purchased containers are convenient, but there are less expensive alternatives if you are on a tight budget; people grow potatoes in plastic garbage bags, trash cans, and I've even heard of folks stacking old car tires to create potato beds. 

Growing Information

• Buy seed potatoes.  These are small potatoes grown specifically for planting.  They differ from potatoes you buy at the grocery store in that they have been inspected to insure they are not carrying any diseases that could effect future crops of potatoes.  They are also not treated, as are many supermarket potatoes, with chemicals to prevent sprouting. 
• Plant in the spring when the soil temperature is over 45 degrees Fahrenheit.  To get things moving quickly, put your seed potatoes in a sunny warm environment (70 degrees Fahrenheit) for 1-2 weeks, prior to planting.  You want them to sprout and send out shoots. 
  
• Plant using a mixture of garden soil and compost.  Fill the bag with six inches of this mixture and then put 3-4 seed potatoes on top.  Cover the seed potatoes with compost.
  
• Water every few days so that the soil stays moist.
• Add additional compost as the potato plant grows so that you fill up the bag over time.
• After the plant has flowered, it will die back and turn brown (generally about 90 days).  Potatoes are now ready to harvest. 

Potato Varieties:

I added potatoes to my garden this year as an impulse buy and so I'm growing pretty standard Russet and Yukon gold varieties.  However, there are many, more interesting, varieties you can grow.  Next year, I'll probably try a few varieties that are a bit more exotic like All Blue - an heirloom variety with dark blue skin and a lavender colored flesh, or Desiree, a red potato that's a favorite in Europe.

If you are interested in learning more about potato varieties, the University of Washington has a comprehensive list of potatoes with a description of each and generally a link to a picture.

By the way, you'll probably harvest about 3-5 pounds from each container... and that's no small potatoes.

A Last Minute Gift for Mother's Day Under 30 Dollars

A Last Minute Mother's Day Gift That Will Be More Appreciated Than Flowers and Costs Under $30.

Two weeks ago, I posted ideas for really great Mother's Day gifts that can be purchased for under $30.  These could be ordered online and be delivered in plenty of time for Mother's Day.  If live in a major urban area, you can probably still get some of these gifts in time for Mother's Day at a local specialty shop. 

However, here's an idea for a last minute Mother's Day gift that can be purchased at any garden center, anywhere in the US...

Italian & French Herb Gardens In Containers

• Create a container herb garden using a pretty 5 gallon container of your choosing.  A 14-16" terra cotta pot will probably cost about $20.  If you can't find one that's large enough, or within your budget, consider getting several 6" pots. 
• Potting soil - about 5 gallons for a 16" pot.
• Herb plants - generally about $2-$3 each.  You can get any herbs you like but here are my suggestions...
• French Herb Garden: Chives, Marjoram, Chervil (All plants do well in partial sun)
• Italian Herb Garden: Oregano, Sage, Basil (All plants do well in full sun)

If you decide to create your own mix, keep in mind that you'll want to choose herbs with similar light requirements if you plant them in one container.  Below is a handy list to help you:

Full Sun: Anise, Basil, Calendula, Catnip, Cilantro, Dill, Fennel, Lavender, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Savory, Tarragon, Thyme.

Partial Sun: Chamomile, Chervil, Chives, Garlic, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Mint, Parsley.

Happy Mother's Day to all from PlanterTomato.com

A Dwarf Chinese Cabbage That's Convenient For Recipes

I really like the dwarf forms of Chinese cabbage.  These are cute little veggies that grow to a height of just 2 to 4 inches.

There are a number of dwarf varieties on the market.  This year, I tried one called Extra Dwarf Pak Choy sold by Baker Creek Seed Company.  It's a lovely little cabbage with wrinkled dark green leaves and a bone-china white stem.  It's mild tasting and finishes with a slight mustard-like flavor.

Why I Like Dwarf Varieties

The dwarf varieties offer a number of advantages:

1. They mature in a short period of time -- generally about 30 days.
2. Kids love them because they are mini-sized vegetables.
3. It's easy to cook with them because they don't require much chopping; just make one cut at the base of the stem, and the cabbage separates into individual leaves that are bite sized and ready for cooking. 
   

Chinese cabbage is part of the Brassica family that includes broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and kale.  There are two forms of Chinese cabbage:

• Brassica Rapa Chinensis - This is the style featured in this post.  It looks similar to celery in that the leaves grow on a stalk.  The English spelling of this form of cabbage varies widely, so you may need to try several spellings if you are looking for it in seed catalogs or online.  Common variant spellings for Boc Choi or Pac Choi, include versions of both the first and second part of the name such as: Bok, Boc, Pac, Pak, Choi, and Choy.  If you do the math, you'll see there are 8 possible combinations of the above and I'm sure someone really creative might be using Bach (like the composer) or Bock (like the beer from Germany).  You get the idea; it's confusing, so try several spelling variations before giving up on any particular seed company catalog or online merchant.
  
• Brassica Rapa Pekenensis - This looks more like a traditional cabbage and often is sold as "Napa Style" cabbage.  A very good cabbage as well,l but my preference is for the the Brassica Rapa Chinensis, particularly the dwarf varieties.
  

Nutritional Information:

Spell it any way you like, Chinese cabbage is tasty and is high in Vitamin C and Calcium.  For those interested, below is the full nutritional information provided by the US Department of Agriculture.  The serving size is 1 cup, uncooked:

Three Radish Varieites & A Pickling Recipe That's Great for A Vodka Martini

In this posting, I'll describe three radishes I'm growing this year and provide a very unusual recipe to pickle them.

Radishes are a great thing to grow in your garden because they are easy to grow, quick maturing, and among the first things you can harvest in spring.  I've already described how to plant and grow radishes in a my posting on French Breakfast Radishes, so I won't cover that here.  However, I did want to tell you about the varieties I'm growing and provide a novel way to pickle them which will allow you to store them for about 1 month.

Three Radishes Compared

Our old standby radish is the French Breakfast.  It's a beautiful radish with a white bottom and a red top.  We've planted these for years, so I wondered if other varieties would be as good, or perhaps, even better.  So I planted French Breakfast, White Icicle and Saxa to do a taste test.  All are heirloom varieties, but they have very different appearances.

The French breakfast is a oblong radish with a white bottom and a red top.  The White Icicle is shaped like a carrot but is pure white with a little green at the top.  Finally, the Saxa is a round, bright red European variety that is reputed to mature in just 3 weeks. (see photo)

I harvested my radishes when they were about 30 days old and did a taste test.  I found all the radishes to be mild flavored with a bit of a spicy, radish after taste.  In candor, it would be hard to tell these apart in a blind taste test.  The only real difference I noted, was that the Saxa radish was firmer and more crunchy than the rest. 

At this point, if I were forced to pick just one radish I could grow, the Saxa would win by a whisker.  One thing that I would mention, was that based on just one experience growing Saxa's, I did not find them to grow any faster than the other varieties and they produced smaller radishes.  

Now on to a really unique way to preserve your radishes.  This recipe comes from Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It by Karen Solomon.  I've shared some of her other recipes with you such as how to cure bacon, and I highly recommend Ms. Solomon's book;  it's fast becoming a go-to source for preservation ideas in our family.

Recipe:  Quick Pickle Radish with Lemon

Ms. Solomon's recipe calls for Daikon radish, but I found it to work quite well for all of the radishes mentioned above from a taste perspective.  I would concede that white radishes such as Daikon or White Icicle, make for a better presentation because they don't turn pink during the pickling process as do the French Breakfast and Saxa.  That said, all made for very good tasting pickles.

What makes this recipe so surprising is that the flavor profile of the pickle is dominated by lemon, so it's has a very bright taste.  You would not know you are eating radishes if I didn't tell you.  In my opinion, I would serve these to close a meal because of the nice, light, lemon flavor.  Or perhaps as a nice additive to a vodka martini.

The recipe is so simple, it's ridiculous.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds radishes
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemons
• 1 cove minced garlic
• 3 (2 inch) pieces of lemon zest

Instructions:

• Place the radishes in a colander in the sink and toss with salt. Let rest for 15 minutes to extract some of the water.
• Mix the sesame oil, honey, vinegar, lemon juice and garlic in a bowl and set aside.
• Rinse the radishes and dry with a paper towel.
• Add the radishes to the pickling mixture you created.
• Add the lemon zest.
• Place into a Ball jar and let marinate at least 1 hour.
• Refrigerate to store.  Lasts up to 1 month.

These are really quite good and the lemon flavor is a real eye opener. 

Not Radishes, Again!

I just planted another type of radish called Watermelon Radish which has a green skin and a red interior.  I'll let you know if I like them in a subsequent posting.

Bon appetit.

How To Make Tomato Cages: Big, Sturdy & Cheap

Learn how to make awesome tomato cages for 30% of the cost of those sold at the garden store.

If you've been to a garden store recently, you may have noticed that good grade tomato cages are selling for between $20-$30 each.  If you plan to grow ten tomato plants, that a $200-$300 investment. 

But there's some good news for DIY enthusiasts;  if you are willing to do 10 minutes worth of work, you can build a high quality cage for about $10.  Here's the materials list and the instructions:

Materials:

• 7 foot x 3.5 foot Mesh Mini-Panels - these are used to reinforce concrete in construction work and are available from home improvement stores like Lowes and Home Depot.  The wire is very sturdy and the openings between the mesh measure 6 inches by 6 inches, making it easy to get your hand into the cage when you prune or pick tomatoes.  Buy 1 panel for every cage you want to make.  Each panel should cost about $7.
• Double Loop Bar Ties - these are like the twistees that you use in the grocery store to tie off plastic bags, except for the fact that they are industrial strength.  You'll use these to fasten the two ends of the mesh mini-panels into a tube to form your cage.  You'll need 5 bar ties for each cage.  I think they are a few dollars for a package of 100.
• 3 foot long metal stake - one for every cage.  About $3.
• Plastic zip ties - two for every cage you want to make.
  

Tools:

• Bolt Cutter - This is a heavy duty wire cutter.  You'll need one to trim the mini-panels. (see photo)  It costs $20-$30 if you need to buy one.
• Bar Tie Twister Tool - a hand tool that makes it easy to twist the bar ties closed.  It will probably be sold in the same section of the store where the mini-panels and bar ties are sold.  Cost is about $7.
• Pair of work gloves.
• Hammer or sledge hammer

Directions:

To make the tomato cages, you will pull the long-ends of the mini-panels together to form a tube and connect them using the bar ties.  The detailed instructions are as follows:

1. Place a mini panel on the grass or driveway.  Step into the center of the panel and stand toward the top end of the panel.  Grab the edge of the panel along one of the long sides.   Using your feet and body weight to hold down the panel, bend the edge of the mini panel towards yourself.  Step to the side, grab the next section of the panel and bend towards you.  Continue until one of the long sides of the panel are bent towards the center. 
2. On the same long side, grab the panel 6 inches below the edge and repeat the same procedure as in step 1.  This one side should now be bent inward and be rounded.
3. Now move to the other long side of the panel and repeat steps #1 and #2 for this side. 
4. Pick up one of the long sides of the panel and bend it toward the other long side using the ground to hold the opposite side down.  At this point the panel will look like a tube.  You should do this at the top, middle and bottom of the panel.  When you are finished the panel should look like the letter "U." (see below photo)
5. Starting at the top of the mini-panel, grab both long ends and hold them together to form a tube.  Using your other hand, grab a bar tie and wrap it around the end of the mini-panel so that the loop of the bar ties are aligned.  Use the bar tie tool to twist the bar tie so that it fastens both ends of the mini-panel together. You do this by putting the pointed end of the tool through the loops of the bar tie and twisting.
6. Move down the mini-panel about 1.5 feet and repeat step #5. Do this until the entire mini-panel has been fastened into a tube. You now have a 7 foot high cage with a diameter of about 14 inches.
7. Using the bolt cutter, trim off the bottom edge of the cage so that you are "spikes" at the bottom to hold your cage into the soil. (see photo)
8. If you would like your cage to be less than 7 feet high, use the bolt cutters to trim the top of the cage to whatever height you desire.
9. Use a hammer to put a metal stake into the ground about 7 inches away from your tomato plant.
10. Place the cage over the tomato so that one edge of the cage touches the edge of the metal stake.
11. Use two zip ties to fasten the cage to the metal stake.  You now have secured the cage so that it can withstand the wind and the weight of all the tomatoes your going to grow this season!

If you decide to make your own tomato cages, let me know if you like them by leaving a comment.  If you have questions, also feel free to ask by commenting.