Year: 2011

Jim: I love to see teens experimenting!  It’s a very good thing.  Learning how to propagate plants from suckers/leaves/etc is a very useful skill. But an easier way to maximize your tomato harvest easily is to grow from seeds – I keep extra seedlings around (still have some!) to pop into any spare space that turns up. And the best way to extend your harvest is to make sure that some of your plants are indeterminate. Those of us who can tomatoes plant a lot of tomato varieties that are determinate – the bulk of the tomatoes on the plant …

Sir: We live in a rental property that unfortunately has a lawn that was poisoned by several years of chemicals sprayed on it to kill weeds. So, we have tried to grow a few items in raised beds. One learning experience we had may keep someone else from making the same mistake. We had never heard of black walnut trees causing a toxic effect on tomatoes. They all died because we have three black walnut trees in our yard. Cabbage, eggplant, peppers, and potatoes are sensitive to the toxins plus a few fruit and field crops. We planted the tomatoes this year far away from the walnut …

I’ve always wondered why some people tend to plant all of their garden at one time. It never made sense to me. Why have 30 pounds of tomatoes come in at once, only to can it all? Sure, canning is great (in fact we just put away 14 quarts of peaches today), but fresh is better than canned, 100% of the time. And yes, I understand home canning is so you have food to eat in the winter. But why not get fresh for as long as you can? But just hold on, we’ll get back to that later on. …