tomatoes tend to babble

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have you grown tired of my babbling on about plants yet? sorry. i am just so happy to have things growing after so long a break from my garden & farm. that, & the fact that i would much rather babble on about my plants, than about my frighteningly filthy home. not that i am admitting to the filth, mind you.

this babble is about my tomatoes. i love seeing tomatoes growing on their vines. it screams of summer. this year i am even more in love with the sight, as last summer i could not eat tomatoes. long story. i just wish i did not so dislike the smell of the plant's leaves. blech.

the above plant is a better boy. we have eaten these from friends' farms, but never have tried growing this variety ourselves. the plant is indeterminate, meaning it has the ability to get up to 10-feet tall. well, long, really. tomato plants don't grow thick trunks, so in nature would not get tall. they would grow across the ground. it raises the risk of disease & infestation to grow it that way, hence the tradition of growing tomatoes in cages, & up structures. this one is being trained up a tall shutter. i have it held up with twine, but need to replace it as soon as possible. the twine is too harsh for the vine. i like to use stocking, cut into rings, instead.

these are the container tomatoes i told you about not too long ago. sorry i don't have the link for that post handy. the variety is patio bush, i think. it is determinate, meaning its size is set, creating a shorter, bushy plant. this specific one is meant to grow in a large container, so will be smaller than the average determinate tomato. though the plant itself will stay small, the fruit is full-sized. & look how prolific it is! there are already more fruits on this than on the larger better boy. we have grown this one in past summers, & hope to do so in the future. i may save seeds from this plant, i love it so.

there is a third tomato growing, a cherry. i am not sure which kind of cherry tomato it is, because i lost the marker that came with it. i only purchased the plant last week, so there was no fruit to photograph. thehobbit loves the tiny tomatoes best. when we had a plot in a community garden it was the only tomato we grew. he would just sit (he was a little thing at the time) next to the plant, picking the fruit, & popping it into his mouth. i doubt either manlyman or i ever had more than a handful ourselves. he was not nicknamed thehobbit for nothing!

thank you for allowing me to babble on about my maters. do you have a favorite?

~peace.

thursday things - inexpensive frivolity

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for the most part i buy only plants that will give us something we need: fruits, veggies, herbs. i love a pretty flower as much as the next guy or gal, but i always feel a bit like i am wasting water when i tend ornamental plants. i know, silly.

the flowers i have planted have all been drought-tolerant. i do live in los angeles, after all. i have the same feelings about having a green lawn, but that is a chat for another day. in the past week i surprised myself by purchasing not one, but two plants that will give me nothing but something pretty to look upon. hoorah, frivolity!

these mums were found at trader joe's. a 5-inch pot for only two dollars? are you kidding me? hell yes i bought one. thehobbit was shocked that i chose this color over the white, but there was just something special about them. i don't know how to describe it other than they made me smile.

he was right to be shocked. i love white flowers above all others. my dream flower garden is all whites & creams. the euryops that line the front of the house were for manlyman. when we moved in he asked if i would plant yellow flowers there, & so i did.

more shocking to thehobbit than the purpley-pink mums? i also bought these this week, at a local dollar store:

there, too, i chose this plant over the same in white. two plants for frivolity's sake, & neither white?! start hoarding coffee people, the world has turned upside down.

this week's thursday things - where to get flowers, inexpensively.

* grocery stores - i have found that large stores usually charge vastly too much for flowers, cut & potted. check smaller grocers in your town. the trader joe's by me had other potted plants at good prices, though none as good as the mums.

* farmers' markets - i have only ever bought potted veggies & herbs from my farmers' market, but have seen many flowers, priced well. if your plant seller only carries veg & herbs, ask. they just may not bring their flowers to your specific market.

* nurseries - yes, i know they are wont to charge a small fortune for flowers, but! they do have fabulous sales, so get on their e-mailing list. a few months back i scored two large tomato plants for only a dollar each. the next time i popped in, the same plants were priced at $5.00. now that is a sale. 

* loved ones - you can create whole new plants from taking a bit off an existing plant. here is the more detailed how-to. i have only done this once. i had success, but i am too much an instant-gratification-gal, so buy my flowers already started. the exception: succulents. thehobbit & i love popping off pieces of succulents & sticking them in pots of soil. it is propagating for the lazy set ;)

every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.  ~gerard de nerval

~peace.

gardening with found objects

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it's no secret that i love to surround myself with old things. i don't know what it is that draws me to them, but draw me they do. in thebelfry i try to keep my love of the shabbier things to a minimum. i do decorate with mostly old, thrifted, found, rescued, etc objects inside, but i save the more rustic treasures for outside. poor manlyman can only be pushed so far. he's a dainty thing ;)

thehobbit, aka my partner in treasure hunting, spotted the chair a few weeks ago. someone was actually throwing it away! it has no broken bits, & is as sturdy as can be. because it has lots of rusty metal fancies on it though, i opted to not use it in any of the seating areas. i'd hate for someones clothing to snag, or for elfling to scratch himself. it makes a fabulous plant stand, don't you think?

another recent curbside treasure was a pair of 8ft tall wooden shutters. we toyed with turning them into a headboard, but that would require actual time in which to get things done. instead i leaned them against the garage wall, & planted a tomato at the bases. this variety is indeterminate, so my hope is it will grow up the shutters, then onto the garage roof.

this area is thehobbit's pride & joy. please ignore the tall grasses growing through the nasturtium, & up behind the chairs. he wanted a shelf on which to display his succulents, but we didn't have anything that suited. i remembered that we'd used 2 kiddie chairs pushed together, as a plant stand, elsewhere, so thought i'd give it a try here.

luckily it worked! i had a pair of wobbly chairs that were perfect, except for their rush seats. well, to be  honest there was so little rush left that they pretty much had no seats. the top from a wonky table fixed that problem, et voila! a hobbity shelf.

what you cannot see through the tall grasses in need of pulling is on what that fern is sitting. it's an old metal stool that i rescued from a curb long before i had a partner in treasure hunting. wow. i almost wrote a tiny partner. sometimes i forget that at 13 thehobbit is now my height. not so tiny.

there are, to the bewilderment of my sweet husband, many more found treasures in the garden & on the farm, but those will have to wait for another day. have a lovely one, do!

~peace.
because i know some will ask :: the pretty glass things on thehobbit's shelf are his telephone pole insulators. my mother-in-law has a vast collection, & has lovingly shared a few with him.

the great reclaiming has begun

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our backyard & farm have suffered from neglect since elfling came along. for a few months i did try to keep things in shape, but eventually i gave in. it took no time at all for the wild to take over.

i cannot be without my farm any longer. fortunately, this late start to summer allows me to get the beds cleared, & things in the ground. i'll have to start most of it with plants from the nursery, but things like lettuce, chard, etc can begin with seeds.

that photo above is the first pile of wild to be cleared. thehobbit was shown how to use the lopper, & set loose. we had to stop him, because the pile will only just fit in the green bin. i don't know if i should be pleased that he enjoyed using the lopper, or afraid.



this is another photo of the pile. behind it you see how much is left to clear on that side. i was standing behind our backyard to take this photo. let me to explain to the newbies: we have a giant yard. from the back of the house, to the back of the garage, is what we call the backyard (grass, potted plants, where we play). from there, to the back fence is what we call the farm. the beds are to one side of this, the butterfly garden buried beneath overgrowth on the other. we use the center for sprawling veggies, but will be building new beds in the spring.

here is more to be cleared. those are not lilacs, they are evil nasties, & shall be cut down as well. it is hard to see in these photos, but those nasties are 6-8 feet deep!

this photo is shameful. my beautiful farm beds are filled with weeds, plants gone to seed, & plants that have died. there are four in need of clearing & amending. behind the beds is 8 feet of nasties needing to be cleared. (the future home of my chickens, shhh.)

i thought you'd like to see what an artichoke looks like if not cut from the plant. isn't it gorgeous!? sadly, i didn't like the taste of this plant's arties; which is why it has been left to flower. it takes up too much space in the beds, so is being cut back, & moved to the front yard. my plants in front are only drought-tolerant ones, so the artie will thrive there.

that brings us to the end of my embarrassing farm tour. we have a great deal of work ahead of us, but if we stay organized & do a little bit each day, we will get there. don't feel too badly for me, i did purchase a tomato plant the other day. it's a container variety that i've had success with in the past. i cannot eat it, but the menfolk can, & i can enjoy pampering it.

the great reclaiming has begun!

i want to live vicariously through you. what are you growing right now?

~peace.