our favorite tomato varieties and tomato spacing trick

 

this weekend we planted tomatoes. 48 tomato plants to be exact. hello, canned tomato sauce & salsa! 

we planted four varieties - cherokee purple, sungolds, celebrity and brandywine. those are among our favorites for eating & canning. they also grow well here in the south. what are your favorite tomato varieties?

with a daunting task like an evening of planting tomatoes, a helpful little trick is always nice. 

our garden is on the smaller size so we like to maximize our bounty with precise spacing. my husband came up with a fun idea i thought i'd share with you today.

we planted our tomatoes exactly 2 ft. apart. this allows our homemade tomato cages to fit perfectly while providing enough space for our tomatoes to grow. using a piece of dried bamboo, a tape measurer & pruning shears, we cut a piece of bamboo exactly 2 ft. long. we then used this measuring (bamboo) stick to measure the spacing between each plant. 

 instead of worrying about getting your measuring tape or yard stick out each time you plant, simply place the measuring stick at the base of your tomato plant that has already been planted. at the end of the stick, plant your next tomato. it's easy peasy & a great activity for the youngins in the garden!

happy planting!

- natalie

growing garlic

this is my first year growing garlic and having just harvested the two varieties i planted last fall, i would definitely chalk this up to one of my garden successes for the season.  as shari wrote last week, it's so easy to get caught up in all the things going wrong in the garden (and there are always things going wrong) that it's easy to forget your successes.  each year, i try to make a list of my successes, and there are always more than i expected once i list them out.  garlic is definitely on that list this year.

i planted two varieties: german extra hardy and georgian fire, last fall (i think it was late october or early november) at my community garden and at home, respectively.  immediately after planting, i thought the cloves had been dug up by squirrels because there were holes in the soil around where i had planted them, so come springtime i was not expecting anything to happen.  but then, one by one, sprouts began popping up, and i ended up with seven of each variety.  i guess the squirrels took one sniff and turned around!

in late june/early july, scapes can (and should) be harvested from garlic plants and used in cooking wherever you would use garlic.  i threw a handful in some hummus, and ultimately chopped up the rest and stuck it in a jar in the freezer.  i'm looking forward to throwing them in stir fries and soups over the winter.  garlic bulbs should be harvested when 1/4 to 1/3 of the leaves turn brown.  loosen the soil around each plant and pull up the bulbs.  do not wash the garlic, gently brush the dirt off (if you have a mushroom brush, this works perfectly).

i was really looking forward to braiding my garlic, but apparently that only works with the soft-necked varieties and i conveniently planted two hard-neck varieties.  oh well! instead of braiding, i wrapped the plants in garden twine and have just hung them to cure, which will take a few weeks.  once cured, cut the roots and stems off and store in a cool, dark place.

i ordered my garlic from seed savers last summer for fall planting, but i think this year i'll purchase new varieties from a local farmer who grows heirloom garlic.  i plan to save a couple of the bulbs i grew this year for replanting in addition to the new varieties i add.

have you grown garlic in the past? any tips or ideas to add?