Tomato Tips & Techniques

Adopted from the "Daily Dirt" Emails on http://www.mygardenguide.com/

TOMATOES

When to Plant:

• When the calendar says OK

Check our local region map for reccommended planting dates. Tomatoes do best when planted 10-14 days after the last frost date, ensuring that a late freeze won't kill your seedlings. They are a warm weather, warm soil plant.

• When the thermometer says OK

Be sure that our weather has been consistently warm both day and night. Cold shocks can set seedling development back by almost three weeks.

• When the weather says OK

Check our local two-week forecast before planting. Postpone if there is any blocks of cold & rain, your seedlings will be more succeptible to disease. Your perfect planting day will be a warm but cloudy/overcast day. If you must plant in the sun, avoid planting in the mid-day light to ensure that the seedlings won't be stressed by the strong light.


The Perfect Tomato Soil:

• Tomatoes thrive in rich soil

Plant your seedlings in soil rich in organic matter. If needed, ammend the top 8-10" with a mixture of compost, peat moss, humus, or other organic matter. Cultivating the soil is an especially important step no matter what soil type your yard has, keep reading to find out why.

• Tomatoes thrive in well-drained soil

 If your soil is too compacted, water will gather around the plants roots and suffocate them. If your soil is too sandy, the plants will not absorb enough water. Ammend with peat moss, humus, and compost. If your soil is too compacted, ammend with a small amount of sand, peat moss, and organic matter.

• Tomatoes thrive in slightly acidic soil

Tomatoes grow best in a slightly acidic soil, with a pH level between 6.0 to 7.0. Test your soil, If the pH is above 7.0, ammend with sulphur. If the pH is lower than 6.0, ammend with lime. The optimum time for ammending soils is in the late fall or early spring.

• Tomatoes thrive in warm soil

Tomatoes love heat. Prevent seedling shock by covering your tomato area with sheets of black landscape fabric, which will absorb the heat from the sun and accelerate the warming process.

Matt & Mary's Plant Picks, April 2011

Each month Matt Stedman & Mary Russell will select and highlight 3) Trees or Shrubs & 3) Perennials, Grasses or Ferns and for the warm seasons they will also feature 3) Annuals or Tropicals.
Note: We will note if they are natives to the Northeast.

Cedrus deodora ‘Feeling Blue’ – Dwarf Blue Deodora Cedar
Outstanding Silver, Blue-green foliage on prostrate arching stems that will spread to 6’ wide. This is an excellent accent or specimen plant where a colorful evergreen is desired, perfect for rock gardens, small spaces or a container.  This is a shrub form of a tree that has no upright leaders but can be staked to achieve a desired shape. It seems to be quite deer resistant.


Ilex pedunculosa – Longstalk Holly
A very unusual, under used member of the Holly family with leaves that remind me of the Southern and common houseplant Ficus or Fig. This handsome, very hardy evergreen holly is useful for a graceful screen planting in shade or sun. Females sport delightful bright red berries that droop from stalks in small clusters beginning in October. Grows almost as wide as tall and up to 12-15’ yet very easy to prune and shape as desired.


Lonicera fragrantissima – Winter Honeysuckle
A heavenly fragrance drifting thru the air on an early spring day alerts you that bloom time has begun on this large and adaptable shrub. Bushy, spreading, deciduous shrub with paired oval leaves to 3” long, dark green above, blue-green beneath. Tubular, 2-lipped, very fragrant, creamy white flowers, ½” long, are produced in pairs from the leaf axils in winter & early spring. Berries are dull red. Winter Honeysuckle is useful as a hedge or screen or as a handsome backdrop in the shrub border. A must for every butterfly garden, as the first butterflies to arrive in early spring make a beeline for the lingering small creamy white blossoms. Honeybees also appreciate the nectar. Amongst the most fragrant flowering shrub!


Mertensia virginica – Virginia Bluebells
Gorgeous Eastern US native with frosty blue-green shiny elliptical leaves that emerge in Spring and slowly fade to green before going Summer dormant. Striking Blue bellflowers open from Pinkish buds and nod gracefully. They can be seen sometimes in a rare pinkish or white flower. Grows best in shade to semi-shade and mixes beautifully with bulbs, Ferns, Hellebores, Candytufts, Phlox and Sedges.


Carex pensylvanica – Pennsylvania Sedge
This native grass is commonly found throughout our Oak, Hickory forests and woodlands. It is indispensable as a groundcover in shade areas. Glossy, evergreen foliage of thin grass blades gently weep to form a short fountain. Grows 4-8” tall and forms clumps that spread to eventually form lawn like patches. This is a cool season grass that wakes in the early spring and flowers with white-yellow fuzzy topped stalks. Plant in mass in shade gardens, at the base of shrubs or trees or as an alternative to lawn in those difficult areas where lawn grasses fail.



Trillium luteum – Wood Lily
This mid to late spring bloomer bears yellow blossoms atop a trio of leaves often mottled with a paler shade of silvery- green.  Groups of them make an elegant understory planting in a woodland or shady naturalized area. Trilliums go dormant in the summer, so plant them with other shade-loving perennials to share their space  until they reappear the following spring. Provide rich, moist, but well drained soil with a neutral to acidic pH. Mulch annually with rich organic matter.  Native to the Northeast U.S.

Cedrus deodora 'Feeling Blue'

 

Ilex pedunculosa

 

Lonicera fragrantissima

 

Mertensia virginica

 

Carex pensylvanica

 

Trillium luteum

Poison Ivy Removal

We have several approaches to removing poison ivy from your yards:

First, a short list of things NOT to do.
1) DO NOT burn any part of the plants. The toxins in the plant are oil-based and easily transported in smoke, and will cause significant health problems if inhaled.
2) There are several websites out there suggesting that you create a salt-based "weed killer" which can be sprayed on the plant. If you plan to plant in the affected area do not use this method. The salt will stay in that soil for some time, leeching it of its water.

Method 1: Round-up
Directions: Wait for a wind-less, sunny day. This will keep the chemical from being blown to the rest of your garden. Spray all exposed areas of the plant. Keep an eye on the area to note that the chemical is taking effect.
Response time: Several seasons. Be patient with this method. The Round-up will only spread down so far into the root system, so you will see new shoots coming up from the underlying roots. Re-spray these once visible.
** A note to those wary of such harsh chemicals: Although we specialize in organic gardening, we suggest this product since poison ivy is such a persisant weed and has such an uncomfortable effect on those who are allergic. However, the chemical is designed to break down within two weeks, which is generally not enough time to seep into ground water.
** I found mention of a similar weed killer, Brush-B-Gone by Ortho. This is a foam, which makes for less mess when applying.

Method 2: Hand removal
Directions: Dress in long sleeves, long pants (tucked into high socks), rubber boots, long rubber gloves, and a hat to keep your hair back. Choose rubber gloves similar to kitchen gloves, but not your favorite pair since you will be throwing them away when finished. Have a case of plastic trash bags, shovel, and hand trowel, and pocketknife on hand as well. Choose a wind-less, sunny day for this as well. Saturate the entire affected area, this should give you an easier time since all weeds are easier to pull when the soil is wet. Begin working at the most dense area and work your way out along the roots. Work slowly and patiently to avoid snapping the root you are pulling every two feet along. Put everything you pull into the trash bags and throw away with garbage. When you have finished, throw your rubber gloves away, being careful not to touch them to your bare skin. Leave your boots outside the door and immediatly throw your clothes into the wash by themselves. Then rinse all of your tools and boots used with rubbing alcohol.
Response Time: Immediate. This method will show immediate results in your garden. However, you should keep an eye on the area for the rogue sprout, should you miss a piece of the root.