Roma tomoatoes...*sigh*

Stunted roma tomato plants! I am not sure what the deal is - all of my other tomatoes grow well, but every year my roma tomatoes are puny and don't produce well. I add compost, add mulch, add, test the soil, add, add - all to no avail. It appears that I am cursed...or maybe there is a problem with my soil that only these plants are picking up on. So starting tomight ...I am going to try the whole bloodmeal treatment with one and bonemeal on the other. While I hate using any outside fertilizers (even "organic" ones), I am at my wits end and really want some of these tomatoes before the season is over.

On the bright side, my asparagus beans are producing insane numbers of these monsters. I was starting to worry about them a few weeks ago, as the plants were going insane but the blooms were lacking. Now we are running around trying to keep up. I guess I should be a bit more careful what I pray for (even though it doesn't seem to be helping with the romas).

Garden goodies: Summer squash, green beans, asparagus beans, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, home made pickles, corn

How my garden grows...

So, as a coworker of mine detailed his new flowerbeds and the joys of sod removal, I tried to describe how I would create a new flower bed (using no less than 4 different dry erase markers and much hand waving). Eventually I decided that my severely limited artistic ability, coupled with a 2 doughnut sugar rush - probably decreased my effectiveness in describing my garden in accurate detail.

Soooo, as soon as I got home (well, after my evening nap), I made my way out to an ignored corner of my front yard that I have been planning to put a new flower and herb garden in - but have been procrastinating on actually doing the work (because I am a lazy, lazy gardener). As you can see the grass was a bit on the tall side and hasn't been touched a mower in over a month. So, I stomped it down and called it a few names (yep, I like to talk trash to weeds) and proceeded with my normal routine:

First I threw down four five gallon buckets of coffee filters (I always sort them out of the grounds to use as my first layer). The filters will provide an excellent attractant for the large worms that will quickly move into the area and eat all of the sod - how nice of them!


Next came a healthy layer of newspaper, which I picked up from the local recycling drop off - I carefully sorted out any ad pages and used only the "non slick" pages. In this case I added around 40 pounds for the 8x20 bed.


I then added four five gallon buckets of coffee grounds.... as you can see I spread them on thick (I am never skimpy with the grounds!). I estimate the worms will work their way through the sod and filters around the end of September and I want them to continue to eat their way right through all of my layers of mulch, so the grounds are there to provide them with incentive to chew their way through the paper.

Last I layered on 8-12 inches of grass clippings -they will instantly heat up all layers below and provide a nice water holding mulch cover to speed up the entire process. Of note: the first round of clippings will break down quickly so I will do this all again in late September to provide the winter cover for this bed. In January or February I will top it off with 6 inches of chipped leaves to make my bed a bit easier on the eyes. (Note the time stamps...it took me a little more than 36min to make this bed from start to finish).

I will plant this bed in May and am expecting to find 4-6inches of black loamy humus to tuck my baby plants in.

So, no digging up sod, sweating, or even swearing at emerging blisters! Best of all, this will be a weed free bed, rich in nutrients and ready to produce healthy flowers and herbs for years to come. The only care will be watering and the occasional addition of fresh mulch.

Garden goodies: squash, green beens, cucumbers, tomatoes, asparagus beans, onions, potatoes