Garden Tomatoes

Some gardeners worry how their garden will survive while they are away on holidays. With a little organization and preparation, you can go on holidays without worrying about facing impending doom in your veggie patch when you get home.1: Plan the timing of your holiday. Donâ??t decide to go lay on a beach somewhere when you know your gorgeous tomatoes will be turning ripe. Youâ??ll miss out on your harvest and be so disappointed (well I would!). I find the best time to go â?? if I must go in summer â?? is mid-summer. My spring vegetables are finished and my summer vegetables arenâ??t ready yet. 2: Adjust the planting of your garden. If you know youâ??re going to be away later in summer, then plant everything later so that it matures later â?? when youâ??re back and refreshed. This works well for tomatoes, capsicums / peppers, beans etc.3: Harvest before you leave. If youâ??re going to be gone a week or so, pick all your beans, even the ones that are too small to use. Beans stop producing when they are allowed to mature, so pick those that will mature while youâ??re gone. Do the same with eggplant. Tomatoes and peppers can generally either stay on the plant or fall onto the ground without harming the plants. Pick all the female flowers from your summer squash plants. Itâ??s amazing how fast a zucchini can grow into the size of a house when youâ??re not looking.

Take any fresh veggies along with you, especially if youâ??re visiting friends or relatives. Iâ??m sure theyâ??ll love it. 4: Get on top of the weeds. Pull out any larger weeds. You donâ??t want to come home to find your garden taken over by triffids. And gardeners know that one season of weed seeds, means seven years of weeding!5: Water deeply. Even if it has rained recently before you go away, you still should give your plants a healthy watering before you leave. Even better, is to have an irrigation system set up, with a timer â?? set and forget.6: Apply mulch. Mulch thickly (15cm / 6inches) with moistened pea-straw or similar after a good watering. Add some compost under the mulch as an extra bonus for your plants. The mulch will conserve water and prevent weeds. 7: Enjoy your holiday. Now you can leave your garden knowing that it has already been well cared for.

Imagine finding a way to save money, get some fresh air and eat healthier- all at the same time. The easy way to slash your grocery bill this summer is to grow a kitchen garden. A simple garden, that’s easy to tend to and maintain will supply you with an abundance of healthy vegetables and herbs all summer. Even a small investment of $50 in some basic supplies and seeds can result over $1200 in produce! That’s a huge return- plus you know it will all taste better than anything that’s been shipped to your local grocery store. There are three basic steps to get started. Plan, Prepare and Plant, it’s that simple. 1) Planning: It can be overwhelming to stand in front of a display of seeds and try to decide what to grab. First start with what you enjoy eating. There’s no sense in growing peppers if you won’t be enjoying them on your salad. You are in charge here and there is no obligation to grow certain things just because you think you should, or your neighbor is growing it. Sit down and really be honest about what you eat and enjoy. Start simple, maybe just go with two types of tomatoes, snap peas and green beans. Don’t go crazy and try to start with a dozen different vegetables, you’ll just get overwhelmed and not tend to the plants, or throw away excess. 2) Prepare: Head out into the yard and see what areas receive the most amount of sun during the day- Vegetable gardens need full sun! Now you’ll need to decide how much space you want to devote to your new garden. If you want to keep it simple, something as small as a 4 x 4 foot space would be enough. You could even get started with pots on a deck- the point it to just get growing! Next you need to dig up the soil and remove any sod (grass) from the area. Digging down about 6 inches to loosen up the dirt will suffice. Remove any roots, rocks and debris you unearth. To make sure you new plants are happy, you should amend the soil with some peat moss and compost. Compost is available for purchase, but starting your own compost pile is easy! 3) Plant: You know what you want to grow and you’ve got your seeds started, or purchased seedlings at your local greenhouse. Following directions for each to ensure proper spacing. Some plants will need some vertical support if they’re vining plants (i.e. green beans). You can string up trellis netting, or build a simple three-leg pyramid out of long branches. And keep up with the watering. Long hot stretches of dry weather will keep you plant too busy growing roots to find water, instead of growing up and producing! Put out some clean buckets and start catching free rainwater. Enjoying that warm juicy tomato you grew yourself will get you hooked on gardening forever. Maybe you want to have a more elaborate garden and are ready to take the next step beyond tomatoes and peas? Maybe you’re ready to get your own compost pile started so you can put that “black gold” straight into your garden? Go to: www.FirstLadyGardens.com for more tips and plans to create the kitchen garden of your dreams.

Having a vegetable garden also means that you will need to be on top of the situation – when it comes to checking and ensuring that your vegetables are disease free. It is an ongoing process to keep the fruits of your labor free from potential threats. Here are a few tips you can use.

With any type of gardening, it all begins with good soil preparation and choosing the right seeds. Also try to select the healthiest looking plants when transplanting. Immediate removal of diseased plants will protect your other vegetables as well.

Proper watering practices will help as well. You should give the plants moisture early to allow them time to dry before the sun sets. Careful watering can benefit your plants in a number of ways. If a plant is diseased, and water splashes from it to another plant, it could spread that disease. Think about how a cold is spread from a sneezing person to someone else. Spacing your plants properly should help reduce this possibility.

Viruses can be spread from plant to plant in many ways. Some are spread by insects, so controlling them will aid you in disease control. Other animals, as well as humans can spread harmful diseases among your plants as well. An example of this is tobacco mosaic virus, which can be spread by a gardener’s gloves or possibly on the legs of animals that walk through your garden.

Maintaining a tight check on weeds will help to lower the chances of diseases. This improves the health, as well as the beauty of your garden. Many organisms can move to your vegetables from the weeds they are so fond of. They are also transferable via other medium such as air, water and living organisms like bugs.

Knowing which diseases to look for on certain plants will give you a head start.

Lettuce mold will show up as a rotted wet spot at the base when the edges are touching the ground. The white mold is called Sclerotinia, and the gray is Botrytis. Remove the affected areas, or if it’s too bad, take out the entire plant.

Lettuce is also prone to the spinach mosaic virus. It will start with mottled looking leaves that, later, turn yellow. It begins to look limp and will droop. Some varieties are more resistant to this disease than others, so keep that in mind.

Wilting or rotting of asparagus may be caused by something called Fusarium. The shoots will begin to turn yellow and the spears will be spindly. Discolored and rotted roots may also show up. Remove the affected plants as necessary. The Puccinia fungus will cause another problem with asparagus called rust. Red spots on the shoots and spears will indicate this problem. Excess watering is sometimes the cause of this.

Tomatoes are commonly susceptible to blight and leaf spots, as well as others. Especially in cool summers, these diseases will usually show up by mid August. Certain soil fungi are common to only tomatoes. The roots of walnut trees sometimes carry a toxin that is potentially dangerous to nearby tomatoes. Making sure the leaves are dry before nightfall will help reduce this.

Knowing what to look for and how to avoid it will help you produce large and healthy crops.

You’ve struggled, you’ve toiled and, at last, you are satisfied with your garden. It just couldn’t be better. But what’s this? Pests! Now you’ve got to prevent the invasion of destructive bugs in your garden. Here’s the best kind of gardening advice you can find for that purpose: Try growing companion plants.
Companion plants are very useful to gardeners or farmers. They have natural substances in them that will repel or attract insects. In specific cases, they can even increase the growth rate of plants, even improve the flavors these plants produce. Not only that but they help to bring a balanced ecosystem to the landscape. Overall then, growing companion plants will result in much healthier and productive plants and better crop production.
There are many kinds of companion plants available. If this is the first you’ve heard of them, you’ll probably be very surprised by what you’ll find. These are some examples of companion plants:
- Tomatoes for cabbages. Some moths feed on cabbage leaves as well, producing the same problems caused by cabbageworms. Worse, moths give birth to larvae at such a rapid pace that a full blown infestation is almost always guaranteed.
Growing tomatoes alongside cabbage plants will help ward off moths. Tomato plant emit a particular odor that moths just can’t stand. It is loathsome to them. As such, moths will stay away from the garden and lay their larvae elsewhere. – Chives or garlic for roses. Roses are grown for their beautiful flowers. But pests can destroy these flowers and make a quarter of a year’s labor go to waste. Growing chives near roses will help repel the usual pests that feed on rose flowers.
Garlic is said to have the same effect of repelling such pests. Garlic actually collects sulfur, which is a natural fungicide, and can greatly increase disease prevention.
- Beans for corn. A pest infestation on corn crops can be very harmful, even dangerous for the entire farm or the surrounding area. Growing beans in the garden or backyard will help to attract beneficial insects that will prey on and help to eradicate the common pests that haunt corn fields. Armyworms, leaf beetles and leaf hoppers will all be but sad memories when bean plants accompany growing corns.
Sunflowers are also very good for corn. Just planting them around corn it is said will increase their yield. And if you’ve got aphid problems, you won’t for long. Your unknown friends, in the form of ants, will herd the aphids like cattle onto the sunflowers. It’s a curious thing. The sunflowers themselves are so tough that the aphids can do no more than very little damage at best.
- Nasturtiums for cucumbers. Cucumber attracts cucumber beetles. These are small insects which have strong jaws that are even able to cut right through the cucumbers themselves. Nasturtiums, on the other hand, drive off cucumber beetles and allow for the healthy development of cucumber plants.
These are only a few of the many types of companion plants that are available for you to use. Some of them are actually crop plants. Many can be found in varying types of vegetable gardens. Give yourself time to discover what these companion plants are. You may surprise yourself with the combinations you can create.

Bacterial Leaf Spot:  This is something that is common in some gardens and that many new organic gardeners will recognize immediately.  The leaves infected with this disease will have small, black or brown water-soaked spots.  The spots will eventually dry up; crack, and leave holes and the infected leaves will often drop off and die prematurely.  This disease is common with tomatoes, peppers, and members of the cabbage family.  The symptoms will often appear during wet weather and can be controlled by immediately removing infected leaves.  It can be hard to keep up with the disease during wet weather but it can be done.Late Blight:  This disease most often affects tomatoes and potato plants later in the growing season.  The disease will start out as wet grayish or greenish spots on the leaves and will progress into a white fungal growth that will form on the undersides of the leaves.  There are some varieties and tomatoes and potatoes that are resistant to the disease.  When these varieties are available select them regardless of the expense since you will benefit from a larger harvest.  If you are unable to find a resistant variety remove and dispose of any infect parts of a plant.  One way to help avoid this disease is to water plants early in the morning so that they have a chance to dry out completely during the day which will discourage fungus growth. Common Rust:  Rust will affect many vegetables so it must be watched for carefully.  The following vegetables are commonly affected by vegetables:AsparagusBeansCornOnionsThe primary symptom of common rust is a reddish brown spot that appears to be powdery.  These spots will usually appear on the leaves of the vegetables affected and will rub off when touch.  Hand picking infected leaves will help reduce the spread of infection.  Plants that are seriously infected should be completely removed and destroyed.  There are ways to avoid common rust completely.  One way is to make sure all plants have good air circulation so avoid planting your seeds to close together since this will lead to crowded conditions.  Also weed your garden often and prune plants to make sure plants continue to be well circulated.Anthracnose:  Organic vegetable growers in the United States will have to deal with anthracnose more often than organic vegetable growers in other countries.  This disease occurs in warm, wet climates and will affect the stems, leaves, and fruits of the plants.  Cucumbers, tomatoes, melons, and beans are the vegetables that are most often affected by the disease.It will begin as small spots on various parts of the affected vegetable.  Later pink spores will start to appear in the center of the spots.  Water with a bit of lime juice sprayed on the leaf buds will help reduce the chances of this disease starting or spreading.  Any seriously infected plants must be completely removed and destroyed.