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Peter, Peter Pumpkin Greeter
Yeah, so it rained a little on Sunday - Giving Garden Day at the Chicago Botanic Garden. OK, sometimes it even poured. But I still had a lot of fun, as did other folks (I think!) And some really neat things took place. See this cool pumpkin? (The one sitting in a puddle of raindrops next to my umbrella). Look in wonder, then catch up me with further along …..
Hey there, again - THAT is an “etched pumpkin” created by loyal Giving Garden donor Tom Anderson of Palatine and hand-delivered to me, personally, at the Botanic Garden. He etched the words into the skin when the gourd was just a pumpkini (that’s Cathi-speak for baby pumpkin), then as the skin grew, the words expanded and scarred over. What a great idea! I'm sure everyone's going to be seeing a lot more of this little pumpkin. I promise. I know we’ll have more photos of the experience (including Flipper’s loyal fan club!), but I just wanted you all to see this cutie-patootie post-haste. Happy growing!
It’s Suri time for public outing Posted Thursday, Sept. 7, 2006 The world finally has its long-awaited photos of Tom Cruise’s little chiclet, Suri. Now you, dear Internet, can have a live, up-close-and-personal experience with Flipper! Oh, the joy! How can you stand it? Yes, Internet, Flipper is leaving the house and heading to the Chicago Botanic Garden for a one-day-only public appearance. Giving Garden Day, this Sunday, will feature his blossoming presence. So come on down for a visit! We’ll be hanging around the Regenstein Fruit and Vegetable Island with all of our friends
Growing up and leaving the nest Posted Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006 Nothing fazes me any more. I imagine this happens to parents when they hit, say, their sixth child. "Hello officer, you say he’s been arrested? OK. Could you just send him home on a bus?" Remember the days I fretted and worried over every wrinkled leaf, spotted fruit and blemished branch on my two airborne tomato plants? Yeah, those days are long gone. Check out at Flipper and Topsy now.
And I’m perfectly OK with that! I gave them a good dose of fertilizer last week, but aside from that, I’m leaving them to their own devices. It’s working out pretty well, really. I’ve got a steady crop of tomatoes — and the food pantry’s are getting a steady stream of donations. What more can a parent ask? Reader Dolly Lehner’s in the same boat. "I planted a Chef Jeff's Patio Tomato in a bucket in early June. I used garden soil along with a layer of worm castings every perhaps 6. My plant has grown quite well. It is very dark green, has quite a few tomatoes on it and is setting more young ones.
"I made a mistake in turning it upside down too soon and found it struggling to catch the light. I took it off the shepherds hook and let it sit on the deck for a couple of weeks until it grew taller. (Me, too, Dolly!) "I did not have a lid for my bucket so I used a heavy plastic sheet to cover the top of the bucket and cut slits in the plastic for water. I have not had any problem with watering it. It seems like the bucket I have is quite heavy and as far as I can feel the soil seems to stay moist. I water it each day about a quart of water at a time. "We have had about eight tomatoes already and they have been very tasty: the skins are much thinner than normal. Both my husband and I have really enjoyed watching the plant grow. Our neighbors come over every so often to check out the plant: I hope they will try it too next year. I know I will. This way is much easier & more fun." Thanks, Dolly!
And the winner is... Posted Monday, August 28, 2006 Bunches of folks who donated veggies to food pantries through the Giving Garden program this summer will get to visit the Chicago Botanic Garden free of charge for a year. If you haven't taken receipts after dropping off donations, you should. At the bottom of the receipt is an entry you can clip and mail in to the Herald for drawings for one-year memberships at the garden. Those lucky winners who've done so already include: Tom Anderson, Palatine Kristine Davis, Palatine Terri Beth Beasley, Palatine George Meyer, Des Plaines Susan Champagne, Arlington Heights Patricia Davis, Round Lake Nancy Pardo, Mt. Prospect Patsy Lyons, Barrington Joe Becker, Des Plaines James Knoll, Lake Villa Robert Hagenow, Buffalo Grove Shari Fellows, Spring Grove Susan McCarren, Wheeling Frank Bauer, Wheeling Thanks for participating and I hope we see all of you out at the Botanic Garden on Sept. 10 for Giving Garden Day!
We are the champions Posted Thursday, August 17, 2006 I’m tickled pink to know there are other wacky people out there — and ones who grow upside down tomatoes with me this summer are my current favorite! And that there's now proof my coffee addition can be put to good use... To wit, this just in from alert reader Patty Hamilton from Hanover Park. "Each year in my vegetable garden I like to try something different, so when this article showed up in May’s Daily Herald I knew this was my different project of the summer. The tomato was planted on June 1 (left).
Wondering what would happen to my U shaped stem, it eventually straightened out as it grew. In the last picture taken August 4, you can see I have ripe and delicious cherry tomatoes. If you notice by the stems on the upper left, you’ll see the tomato worm also liked my plant. Thanks for giving me such a fun project. Hope to do the upside down tomato plant next year." I agree, Patty, now that my tomatoes are actually healthy, it IS fun! And speaking of healthy, all those coffee naysayers need to take note of this tidbit: Elaine from Naperville says: " I have a composter in my yard, but, even if you don't have room or the time for composting, you can make a great mix by saving all your egg shells and coffee grounds, mix them together, and throwing them around the base of the tomato plants. Do this especailly as thay are starting to grow fruit. You will get bigger and sweeter tomatoes! " Hey I'm happy if all the black, rotten spots go away, but that's just me!
Dressed for success
Who’d a thunk it just a few short weeks ago, when rotten tomatoes were practically jumping off the vine and galloping out of my yard. Yet there they are, four perfectly formed, albeit small, ripe tomatoes ALL from Flipper and Topsy, this summer’s hanging tomato representatives. Perfect fruit surrounded by unmarred skin. Yeah, those bad boys are dressed for success. And in this case that means my next meal — though I did bring a few of the tomatoes into the office to pass slices in a jubilant taste-test celebration. The verdict? Yep, they’re tomatoes.
We are not alone
No, I haven’t been visited by aliens. I am not, however, the only one growing tomatoes either upside down or in an EarthBox, as was clear this week by the number of emails I received from readers. I even got photos, like these from Jim McKenna of Arlington Heights. He planted upside-down peppers and tomatoes over Memorial Day and reports no “spotty” trouble ala’ Cathi’s plants. Hrrmph!
“I basically water them with a 1/2 a gallon of water between the two of them. I do this every other day or when the tomato leaves look wilted. I water them in the evening. Next year I want to try the bucket thing but instead of the coffee filters you suggested I will use sponges. I will, also paint the buckets red, as they have shown that it helps the tomatoes for some reason.” This is true. My friend at a newspaper out West is doing a similar tomato experiment using red mulch and reports that, indeed, there is a noticeable improvement in those plants surrounded by the mulch. Speaking of successful growth, Alison Norwood of Elgin believes I’ve given the EarthBox a bad rap. “For five years, I grew in the Earthbox. The first year I did this, I almost got fined by the condo association because the plants got so big. I grew enough tomatoes following their advice to can 12-14 pints of spaghetti sauce and give away many, many tomatoes and cukes.” “This year, since I am moving into a house, I planted in flower pots. I have 1/8th the yield,” she reports. Actually, I agree with her, if you’re going to grow vegetables in pots, I’m a confirmed EarthBox devotee. Remember my tomato plant name? Godzilla. (Though he’s a little more tame since his recent haircut and staking.) There is no doubt, however, that I’ve had my fair share of problems with blossom end rot in all three of my containers, the EarthBox included, and even the folks at the company agree it might have been from excessive early rains. Of course there was also that issue of me over watering….. Since I’ve taken a more moderate approach, the tomatoes on all three plants are looking more healthy overall. There are still some with those weird leathery spots, but I’ve decided to let them hit maturity and turn red anyway. The spots don’t seem to go into the fruit at all and I thought I’d wait it out and see if it is just a surface blemish. There are at least four tomatoes turning shades of orange as of today. And that tasty looking EarthBox tomato from last week? It was mighty fine!
Victory Posted Wednesday, July 26 2006
It's taken three months to get just that one, little, happy tomato and I figure it's got to be worth well over $100 at this point when you take in all the supplies and time involved. I'm almost afraid to eat it. At least now I can just imagine it tastes great. Maybe I'll pick it tomorrow.... This one hails from the EarthBox. The hanging twins still aren't anywhere near ready to produce anything ripe since being subjected to the great Blossom End Rot purge. There's progress, though. Lots of little green guys. No brown spots. So far.
Love hurts
Internet, I’ve had a dysfunctional relationship with my tomatoes. But I'm ready to change. Really, I am. Please turn your attention to exhibit A:
The victims - as the evidence clearly shows - died a horrible death. Too. Much. Love. (or water, in this case.) Growing container tomatoes is H-A-R-D!!!!!!!!! Forget about the miracle of science, nature is SO much easier. You buy the tomato. You stick it in the ground. You periodically throw mushroom compost and water at it. End of story. When the plant gets too large you strap it to the fence. Does that mean I’m a lazy gardener? Remember the lime I was supposed to buy? Well, that wasn’t so easy. I stopped off at an Ace Hardware, thinking this was an easy acquisition, only to be regaled with tales about the clerk’s "crazy landlord" who murdered her attorney and threw his body in the bathtub. The point? Police found a bag of lime nearby she’d planned to use to dispatch the evidence. He tells me this as we’re standing next to a 20-lb. bag of lime. I only needed 1ž2 cup!!!!!!! Then he said "You know this is what the Mob uses to get rid of bodies, too?" Yeah, I left the lime in the store. Visions of FBI agents digging up my backyard flashed before my eyes.
I ultimately found this:
It’s supposed to be safer. So how come when I mixed it with water it found a crack in the epoxy covering on my $50 Haws English Watering Can and peeled ALL THE EPOXY OFF THE INSIDE?!?!?! Epoxy…skin…epoxy…skin. I’m thinking about wearing gloves next time.
Anyway, I added the lime to the EarthBox as directed, then spiked Topsy and Flipper as well, figuring I’d avert future disaster there. Googling "Blossom End Rot" taught me inconsistent watering was another cause. Remembering the few times the plants dried out a little before I got home, I determined to prevent any future dry/moist/dry/moist scenarios.
I started watering all three bad boys every day until excess water drained out the bottom. I was taking no changes.
All of a sudden, this appeared:
It was getting WORSE. And accelerating.
Before, the spots slowly appeared, increased in color, then spread. These icky things popped up over night and took over. Every time I checked a new tomato, it was being enveloped ala an alien pod invasion
That’s when two dear friends, Wally Schmidtke of Pesche’s Garden Center and Bill Aldrich of Chicagoland Gardening magazine, performed interventions.
I’ve been, they said, killing my plants with kindness.
"Inconsistent watering," it seems, is code for "overwatering." Well, Internet, why didn’t you just say so?
Now I’ve drained all the excess water back out of the EarthBox, stopped watering the hanging planters for the moment, and am giving everybody a moment to catch their collective breaths. I'm sure we'll all recover.
Is there a 12-step group for this?
Today’s painful but appropriate lyrical tribute:
"Too Much Love," by Queen
"I will survive"
Trees fell. Electricity failed. Havoc was wrought.
And yet...
We survived.
Oh as long as I know how to thrive
I know I will stay alive.
I've got all my life to live,
I've got all my fruit to give,
and I'll survive.
I will survive.
Hey hey!
What is 8.5 feet long and blooms like the dickens?
Answer: Don Suchy’s tomato plant.
He was virtually swimming in tomatoes.
Suchy counted a whopping 426 cherry tomatoes by the end of the summer. Yes, I said 426 of the little buggers!!!!!
Long after the tomato plants in his garden were finished for the season, the eight-foot long plant hanging from his deck was still blooming like mad and producing fruit.
"I got fruit for months off that darned thing," Suchy said, chuckling.
This year, he tried another cherry tomato and added a second hanging basket with a beefsteak tomato plant as well. Now, the bigger tomatoes generally aren’t recommended for the hanging planters because they are so heavy they’ll fall off the plant - but Suchy said his aren’t that large yet and they’re still doing fine.
And in a gratuitous nod to my parents - hey, it is my blog after all - here’s how their upside down tomatoes are doing as well:
They tried two Topsy Turvy planters and so far their tomatoes are going great guns. I’m talking L-O-A-D-E-D with tiny tomatoes and blossoms.
As in I’ve got tomato envy.
THEY haven't had aphids. THEY haven't had blossom end rot.
Hmmpph!
Flinstone's Chewable Vitamins anyone?
I’m hardly an expert on such things, but even I can recognize that the shot below isn’t pretty. (no offense intended to the photographer, of course!)
Yes, dear Internet, those are tomatoes.
Who’d a thunk it, huh?
Don’t mock me. The wounds are still raw.
Internet, meet Blossom End Rot.
Blossom End Rot, meet the fiery confines of … oops, sorry… family newspaper…
Yes (waving fist at sky) it’s true, one of my plants has a disease.
And the worst part is that this time, it’s the representative in my trio that has given me the fewest problems. I bet that happens in families also.
Anyway, this time, the Plague has infested the EarthBox tomato - he of the otherwise unblemished record.
One quick call to Molly Philbin at EarthBox and she assured me I wasn’t evil, incompetent or cursed - at least not as far as my tomatoes are concerned. It seems that when we had all that rain a while back, it threw off the growing system just a tad because the rainwater was getting to the soil through the slits in the cap.
That means the plant was getting its nutrients from the top down, rather than the bottom up. And the system isn’t designed to work that way. The tomato needs to draw water from the well at the bottom to acquire the proper nutrients to prevent such icky things as Blossom End Rot - which happens around the bottom of the tomato.
Apparently it has an easy cure.
I need the equivalent of a Flinstones Chewable Vitamin for tomatoes.
I’m to mix one-half cup of hydrated lime into a gallon of water and pour it into the EarthBox water reservoir for a quick boost designed to cure what ails ‘ya.
She said it would even work if Topsy and Flipper start showing signs of the same thing.
Now all have to do is find hydrated lime. Do you think they carry it at the drug store?
The stork’s arrived!!!!!
Not that I'm biased or anything, but I've got to say that as far as baby photos are concerned, this has got to be one of the cutest ones out there. Am I right or am I right?
Topsy's procreating. See her healthy glow? (and burgeoning size, not that we want to point that out or anything).
And Flipper's doing a pretty fine job himself - see all those healthy leaves? Yeah, the aphid invasion is history. Once those lush green leaves arrived I picked off the old ratty ones just for fear they might harbor some hidden infectious and nasty bug cooties.
I think he's growing pretty darned well. I lift the big old bucket and twist it around on the hook periodically just so it's at least somewhat sun-balanced, but I'm not sure how much longer that will last. That big boy only gets heavier with each passing day. Look at all those leaves. He's budding out, quite well, too.
Flipper has one nice-sized tomato - probably about an inch across - but I'm having a heck of a time getting a photo of it. You try leaning off a deck, holding a digital camera out at the end of your arm and getting a clear shot of a tomato tucked between a bunch of leaves and see how many blurry shots you get! Suffice it to say I've gained an entirely new respect for our photo staff… I don't think the two hanging tomatoes are going to make their Fourth of July timetable. But I'm completely OK with that. They're healthy, they're filling out and they're producing fruit. We're all good. The Earth Box tomato on the other hand very well might produce fruit next week if we get some good heat. It's CHOCK FULL of tomatoes!
It's taking over my deck!!!!!!!!!!! What's up with that? Anyone see three pepper plants in there. Anyone? Yeah, me neither. I really need to call the EarthBox people and see if there's some way to contain Godzilla. Not that I'm displeased with his production of at least a dozen golf-ball sized tomatoes, but, um, is the growth going to stop soon?
Growin' in the Wind
I must admit that in all my fretting about and puttering around the upside-down kids, I've just sort of left everyone living in the EarthBox to fend for themselves. Probably not exhibiting the best of parenting skills, eh?
Seriously, as far as no-maintenance goes - this baby takes the cake. I think I've added water to the planter once since April 26th. It's survived cold, rain, neglect and quite a fair amount of wind out on a corner of my deck.
You can see the tomato is growing like gangbusters.
In fact, I've had to do some judicious pruning as it's trying to take over the peppers and the cilantro. Oh, yeah, the cilantro. He's new.
Remember back, if you will, to when this whole experiment started and I planted tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in the EarthBox. Yeah, well, kiss the cucumbers adios. I'm not sure exactly what happened to them but within two weeks they just shriveled up into little leafy balls and died. I'm probably a little off on the chronology there. Anyway, that's when I had an opening and added one cilantro plant.
Then there was Lefty. Now he had some serious issues. No matter what happened, he leaned. And then his leaves started wilting for no reason when everybody else in the planter was just growing right along. So when the cukes bit the dust, I made Lefty a Righty. The change of identity did him a world of good. While he's behind his peers somewhat on the size percentage scale, he's now full of blossoms and showing no sign of slowing down.
Lefty and his posse' recently showed signs of having some spotted thing goin' on - I'm guessing measles - but I'm sure the master gardeners will disagree.
BTW, if you'd like to give the EarthBox a shot, manufacturers are just starting to market their product through local garden centers this year so you might have to call the toll-free number on their web site to find area retailers as they add themearthbox.com They're also available online.
It takes a village
Most people have a lovely bouquet of peonies or irises on their desk right about now. Not me. I've got some wilted and spotted tomato plant limbs.
Wouldn't you would have thought someone would have noticed the difference? Not a peep.
Anyway, after the weekend's Great Invasion, I took my spotted tomato-limb-filled vase down the road to the Growing Place for a quick medical checkup where, I believe, the entire staff took a gander at Flipper's limbs. We really couldn't get a consensus on the root of the damage: early leaf spot, aphid after-effects and even (drumroll, please) a bad sunburn were some of the suggestions. So, like any good mother, I left no stone unturned in my quest to cure my baby. I felt so Susan Sarandon ala' "Lorenzo's Oil."
The University of Illinois extension program has a drop-in plant clinic every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, and as Flipper's already been turned upside down, I thought he'd be a perfect candidate for dropping-in, as well, no?
I'm not sure, but I believe there was a microscope involved.
My new best friend, Nanette Kalscheur, a master gardener, alerted me that the brown spots on Flipper's foliage were courtesy of mesdames and messieurs aphid, who favored the tender flesh on the underside of the leaves. Luckily, though, they didn't invite the full family.
Oh yeah, and the chartreuse little bugger I carried in to the office in Ziploc bag for scrutiny? Definitely an aphid.
I believe that now makes the score Edman - 1, Aphid - 1. 'Cause I'm pretty certain the Master Gardeners don't have a catch-and-release program and that bad boy's history.
Bugger off
Gardening is a never-ending learning process: always has been, always will be.
Some days, though, it seems like more a battle than an education. And today I'm standing smack dab in the middle of the fighting.
Yes, Dear Internet, Flipper - our beloved tomato plant - has a social disease. And I, for my part, am mortified.
I suspended our new company mascot/tomato from its designated summer home on my deck this weekend, then proudly showed off its profusion of buds to a friend.
"Not BUDS, BUGS!"
I can't even begin to speculate on what my neighbors thought I meant by that outburst, but I was well past the point of caring. I frantically scrutinized the now-exposed underbellies of Flipper's leaves and realized to my horror that some, if not all, were graced with little flourescent green dots.
Lime green day-glo dot = an aphid, the sap-sucking bug that attaches itself to the stems and leaves of plants and literally drains life away one slurp at a time. Think Dracula with a few extra sets of legs.
Normally I'd just hose the plant off and let it recover. No one would know. Life would proceed uninterrupted.
Now, however, because I'm all about Flipper's daily happiness and survival I called Pam Hoehn, the annuals manager at The Growing Place Nursery in Naperville. She recommended one of two things: A. spraying the plant with water that's forceful enough to blast off the buggers without harming the vegetation or B. buying a box chock full with ladybugs with an instiable appetite for Aphids.
I'm opting for the water treatment. Setting loose an indiscriminate slaughter in my backyard, even of the bugly sort, didn't hold much appeal at first blush.
Nonetheless, I'm slicing off one of Flipper's limbs, er, branches, tomorrow and taking it to Hoehn for a full medical workup. I want to gauge just how much damage the wicked little beasts did our poor wittle tomato plant before plotting my course of attack.
Aphids - 1, Edman - 0. For now.
Did I really say that?
In the spirit of revisionist history, I'd like to ask you forget I ever recommended you need to wait until tomato plants are a whole foot tall before flipping your planters upside down.
I don't know what I was thinking: 8-10 inch is a fine start.
I've tried to wait for a full 12" of growth . Really I have.
Every day I march outside with my little ruler and find the tallest possible branch. Every day I'm depressed.
And I've been waiting to hit the magical height since April 26th!!!!!
So at a whopping 10" we're taking the plunge. Or the flip, whichever you prefer. I took this photo Thursday May 25.
On Tuesday, below, it was barely at 9" but the heat did it a world of good. The little bugger shot up a full inch in just 48 hours.
Some folks who didn't want to follow my home-made planter directions asked where they could buy a Topsy Turvy locally. I found them at Pesche's Garden Center & Nursery, 170 River Rd., Des Plaines (847) 299-1300.
And don't forget - if you're planting upside down tomatoes in either planter, please send in photos and let me know how they're doing!
A little sun, some water, and Prest-o, Change-o
Any good gardener knows that mistakes happen, which is why I didn't completely panic when - 41 minutes after the Great Experiment started - all of my plants keeled over.
"WWAAAAAAAAAA," I howled as I flew out the back screen door.
I'd only gone inside for a drink of water and to check my work email. What in the world could possibly have happened between the time I left the plantlings and the time I returned?
I lifted up one of the limp little bodies and, "phlump," it hit the plastic mat with a sound that broke my heart.
Oh yeah, nothing like public humiliation.
Generally, when these sorts of natural disasters happen, I'm the only one who knows about it. My yard, my shame. This little saga, however, was going into print.
"Please little plantees, don't die," I pleaded.
Oh my. I was talking to planters on my deck.
Not. Good.
Worse still, I started looking askew at the jalapeno plant on the far left side of the EarthBox, the one that refused to stand upright. The one that leaned. Slackard! "Lefty" had a bit of an attitude, I thought.
I bet Lefty staged this little death protest as a mutiny of sorts: "Free us or we'll die!" Get a grip, Edman. Plants aren't organized.
I'd simply planted them mid-afternoon, in the sun, they were in shock, and they'd recover. I hoped. So I gave them a big drink of water and left them alone.
Look what happened a few hours later?
All I have to do now is keep them that way through the rest of the season...
I've only hit two snags to date (well, aside from the whole spontaneous death thing. But who's counting.)
I noticed after a week that the above scenario was gone and my poor plant was all contorted and hugging the underside of the bucket. Yeah, that's not a good feeling. I unhooked him and flipped him upright next to Mr. Homemade Bucket. It took a few days, but all the branches started to straighten out and he seems to have survived.
B. I lost a cucumber plant. One of the two cucumber plants I put into the EarthBox didn't make it past Week One: it just shriveled up and "poof" disappeared. As I've already deviated from the strict EarthBox planting directions, I don't need to be careful with a replacement _ it needs to be something relatively small that won't crowd out all the other plants. I'm thinking I might try cilantro. That gives me half the ingredients for a good salsa. Now, if only I could cook…
So, after two weeks, here's what the gang looks like:
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Would you look at that!
The lovely red tomato you see before you might very well be the most expensive one in all the Chicago suburbs.
A. I prematurely hung the Topsy Turvy planter upside down. I knew I needed to let the tomato in the bucket mature for a few weeks before flipping him upside down, but for some bizarre reason I assumed that was only so the roots could take effect and prevent fall-out. The plant in the Topsy Turvy was squeezed in place with a sponge contraption so it clearly wasn't going anywhere. Unfortunately, you really DO need to let the plants mature before doing The Big Flip _ but that's so they can grow big enough to reach the sunlight.
