Gardening Experiments

And so the gardening begins. This year, because we had such a warm spring in Omaha, I planted way early...like two weeks before mother's day, which most would say is at least 2 weeks early. I got lucky and my garden seems to be thriving. I already have little baby tomatoes on two of my plants (ooooo, I can't wait!!).

I am approaching the garden differently this year. I am testing different ways to grow my 12, yep, twelve different tomato plants. I've read a couple books that suggest different ways to prune and different growing methods, so I am trying three different ways. I have 4 of the plants staked, a Yellow Pear - which are cherry sized yellow tomatoes, a Sun Gold - which are cherry sized orange tomatoes, a Purple Cherokee - a large dark burgundy, almost purple tomato with an amazing flavor, and a cherry tomato plant. These I am pruning pretty hard taking all the suckers (new stems that grow at the axis of the main stem and the leaves) from below the first flowering point. I am aiming for these to have two or three main stems, this supposedly brings bigger fruit sooner, but yields won't be as high. I have 4 tomato plants in cages, and I am barely pruning these at all. Rumor has it (from the book The New Victory Garden) that this will produce large yields, of smaller fruit. The caged tomatoes are 2 Green Zebra's - sweet yellow and green striped tomatoes that are great for salsa verde, a Brandywine - which is a pinkish red tomato that is large and really tasty, and a Green Sausage tomato - which I've never planted before but looks just like it sounds, it is about 3 inches long and sausage shaped. Finally, I have 4 that have a string tied around the stem and tossed over a canopy (the bamboo stakes in the photo) wrapped around the top stake and tied to a rock in order to have stability. The logic behind this is that the wind can move through the plant easily and all the leaves are open toward the sun in order to photosynthesize and produce more sugar to make bigger fruit. These experimental tomatoes are: an Old German - which are yellow and red striped and get to be 1 to 2 lbs, a Black from Tula - which is a dark purple medium sized tomato, an Italian Heirloom - which is large, red, and great for canning, and a Big Boy - which is the run of the mill, dark red, juicy slicing tomato. These I am pruning, but not as hard as the staked tomatoes. I also planted a tomatillo, five different peppers, sugar snap peas, spinach, butterhead lettuce, random salad greens, 3 different kinds of eggplant, squash, beans, an artichoke, asparagus and cucumbers. No kidding. Sheesh.