A Little Bit of Whimsy

Just for fun!

 

 

Make a large batch of soup. Freeze the excess in muffin molds. When you want soup again, simply pop out a couple pucks and reheat. Also, the frozen puck is a great long-lasting snack for your dogs!

 

Getting to the ROOT of the Health & Wellness industry. 

4000 years of ancient remedies can't be wrong!

 

 

 

Cut spool in half, add dirt, a seed, a little water and LOVE

 

 

Yummy Snacks!!

 

 

Funky and Cool, a container garden for you!

 

 

 

We love to ReCycle !!

 

 

Living the Life of Tomato

 

 

 

So Adorable I just want to plant him in the garden!

 

 

 

 

 

Up To Our Elbows In Bee's Knees

Looking out my office window right now I have an amazing view.  The young fruit trees that we planted our first spring here at Two Crones Farm are showing just the hint of buds about to bloom.  The lush green field grass that whip at their trucks is waving in the early morning breeze.  Riki Kitty has joined me, unusual for her since she is one of the "Don't Touch Me" types.  I guess even she can't resist the view from her perch on my desk.

Borago Officinalis

Then there are the wild flowers, some seeded last season from a random packet I picked up at a garden show, some brought in on the wind and the wing.  The borage  is in full regalia, bright blue and tasty like fresh slices of cucumber.    I added borage as a companion planting for our strawberry bed last year and it has reseeded itself magnificently.  It is said to protect or nurse legumes, spinach, brassicas. It is also said to be a good companion plant to tomatoes because it confuses the search image of the mother moths of tomato hornworms or manduca looking for a place to lay their eggs.  While the large stand of borage has drawn our fair share of pollinators all winter long, we don't often stop to consider that this incredible display is all an attempt to attract bees and other pollinators. These displays don't just consist of things humans notice. There are also patterns in the ultraviolet spectrum, petal temperatures and textures and shapes.

Salvia leucantha

The Mexican Sage (Salvia leucantha), planted last spring, has taken on a life of it's own of course.  It fully consumes 1/3 of a corner bed, besides being easy to care for, Mexican sage reaches full blossoming in the early fall and lasts until late fall. This is an advantage to gardeners seeking some color in flower beds when most other blooms have faded.  Another great addition to entice the bee's to visit.

I don't know the name of this pretty orange flower but it has popped up in several spots in the yard.  The stem is just tall enough to stay above the field grass, giving the blooms support and adding a bit of whimsy to the waves.  All in all, how our little flower garden grows is up to Mother Nature and wherever the blooms arise, the bees find them.  Here's to Bee's Knees and all the good fruit that their labors ensure!

 

Growing Awesome Tomatos - 10 Tips For Growing The Best in the West

 

 

It's that time of year when gardeners all around are longing for the ground to be warm enough to begin planting.    At our house the memories of the how much work it was to can or freeze the bounty have faded into the mist.  As we prepare the seed boxes we fantasize of the moment that we are able to pop that first sun warmed juicy tomato into our mouth.  Why is it that what we were so done with just a few short months ago has been romanticized into an quasi religious experience?

 

     As we pour over our garden plans, plotting where each little sprout will reside for the summer, the tomato is our centerpiece, our Garden Alter if you will.  All other equally delicious, nutritious, and beautiful vegetables pale in comparison to our fixation on where the tomatoes will be planted this year.

 

Here are 10 simple tips for your best tomatoes ever from one of my favorite garden magazines, Organic Gardening .

 

1. Choose a bright, airy spot.   Plant tomatoes where they will get at least 10 hours of light in summer. And leave room between plants for air to circulate.

 

2. Rotate even a little.  Alternate your tomato bed between even just two spots and you diminish the risk of soil borne diseases such as bacterial spot and early blight.

 

3. Pass up overgrown transplants.   When buying tomato seedlings, beware of lush green starts with poor root systems. They will languish for weeks before growing.

 

4. Bury the stems.   Plant your tomato seedlings up to the first true leaves. New roots will quickly sprout on the stems. More roots means more fruits.

 

5. Water deeply but infrequently.   Soak your tomato bed once a week, or every five days at the height of summer. Water directly on the soil, not on the leaves.

 

6. Pinch the suckers.   Prune off these non-fruiting branches. This directs the tomato plant's energy into growing bigger, better fruit.

 

7. Stake them high.   Use 6-foot stakes for indeterminate varieties like the 'Brandywine' tomato. Put in the stakes when transplanting to avoid damaging roots.

 

8. Add compost and trim.   While the first fruit is ripening, encourage new growth and continued fruit set by scratching compost around the stem, and trim some of the upper leaves.

 

9. Plant again.   Three weeks after you plant tomatoes in your garden, put in another set so all of your harvest doesn't come at once.

 

10. Pick ripe, but not dead ripe.   Heirloom tomatoes that are too ripe can be mealy. Harvest them when they're full size and fully colored.

 

For more information about growing tomatoes, check out Organic Gardening Tomato Growing Guide.

 

For Tomato, Peppers and other starts visit our friends Kelley & Arti's Plants in Concord. 

Backyard growers and sellers of tomato, pepper, herb and other edible seedlings. Supporting local, sustainable food sources, edible landscaping, and alternatives to industrial food.