Just Love your Blog!!!
I have had good luck with the tomatoes here, haven't planted anymore
seeds yet, too many birds/squirrels/deer here.
In My Garden Blog
Northern California Coastal & Inland Valleys
September 10, 2009
By
Kim Haworth,
San Bruno, CA
I share my humiliation so that other gardeners may benefit from my mistakes.
Failure and Success
Well, Henry's garden in San Mateo is looking heavenly, but my personal garden here in Brisbane is looking very sorry and neglected. Perhaps it's because stairs are involved in the maintenance process and my new knee is still a bit gimpy. The asparagus splendens is doing its best to escape up the banister, possibly to gather the hose and hoe from my office. Whatever the reason, the neglect is inexcusable! I shall endeavor to do a major clean up before we leave on vacation.
Smaller vs. Bigger
I'm glad I don't have a gigantic garden like Henry's. The side yards haven't even been considered as a place to landscape. Lord knows the soil below the west deck would probably be the best on the entire property. I have tossed more than a few failed projects down there, and many of our television guests did the same. It became a running gag on the show and my photographer/editor Art Takeshita wanted to do a montage of all the various plants flying over the balcony rail.
Work, Work, Work
My projects for this month include cleanup, light fertilizing, never-ending hand watering and cool-season planting. Fall is the ideal time to plant because the soil is still warm so that the roots can develop without the strong rays of the sun putting the foliage under stress while the plants try to get established. Strong roots mean healthy plants with good foundations.
Some of the things I'm planting in Henry's garden for fall are ornamental kale in the flower beds, stock, cabbage, peas, pansies, sweet peas (planted very deep so they have a good running start for spring), some snapdragons (although I never have good luck with them in winter), nemesia, and some root crops in the vegetable garden, including beets and carrots.
Humiliation and Delight
The tomatoes at Henry's were a dismal failure this summer. I'm going to plant fava beans in that bed to try to improve the soil over the fall and winter. There was a surprise bumper crop of red potatoes growing beside the spindly tomato plants. Perhaps the potatoes stole the nutrients from the tomatoes, but I think it was probably the combination of the existence of a fusarium fungus in the soil plus the surprise root crop. Fusarium fungus is a problem with members of the solanaceae family which includes tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplant. It has made a huge comeback with the popularity of heirloom tomatoes that have not been hybridized with fusarium-resistant genes. Mind you, I love a good heirloom tomato as much as the next guy, but I think I am going to have to select plants that are F-1 or V-1 resistant next year, if I decide to plant tomatoes in that bed at all. It's probably best to give the soil a rest for a year or two. Pulling out those plants is going to be a pleasure. They are semi-living proof of my failure as a gardener.
Success!
My friends Joyce and Gary allowed their tomato bed to rest for the past two years, planting fava beans there instead. This year, Gary has named his 'Arkansas Traveler' tomato Audrey, after the man-eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors. It is the most glorious tomato plant you have ever seen! It is well over 6 feet tall and still growing. I can't wait to taste the tomatoes from that plant. Heirloom vigor and flavor, yummy!
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Comments on Failure and Success
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We welcome your questions and comments about this column. If you have gardening questions unrelated to the column, please ask them on our message boards.
Patty Sankey-Rodoni
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kimmie haworth
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Thank you for the nice compliment! I love writing the blog. It makes
me look at the world as I pass through, trying to find new subjects
to write about.
I talked to Buzz Bertolero, the Dirt Gardener, the other day about
the abysmal year for tomatoes. It seems that you are lucky with
yours, congratulations! Buzz says that many people have been coming
into the nursery with samples of blossom-end rot and fusarium wilt,
so at least I don't feel alone in my failure! I really think the
tomato bed at Henry's is tired and should be retired for the next
few years. If I could only figure out where to plant them next year.
I guess I had better get started on amending the soil now. Maybe
I'll dig an area out of the lawn and plant the vegetable garden
there. I've never been a big fan of turf grass...
suzie in Monte Rio, CA.
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We're doing quite well with our tomatoes this year...in fact, this
is the only year in the past 3-4 years that we've had and continue
to have RED tomatoes. It's all due to the magic fertilizer we
bought from Brisbane Hardware...we must get more for next summer!!
Carol Kornfeld
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I was glad to hear of your "troubles' with the tomatoes this time
because mine were also not up to "snuff". I think I may have had
that fungus, too, and I will take your suggestion to rest the box
(we have above ground boxes) and plant fava beans. I planted 1 or 2
heirlooms but they were not that different. Ho Hum, there's always
next year!
Sparky
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I have just the opposite problem with tomatoes -- I can't get rid of
them! I have some volunteer tomato plants that came up between sand
cracks in my patio and it is like the attack of the tomato plants.
I keep pulling them out but they come back every year. I am also
allergic to the plants so now want to use something to spray and
kill them. Is roundup a good choice? There are no plants around
them.
kimmie haworth
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Such a problem we should all have! Sparky, RoundUp will take care of
your problem. Use according to directions please.
Pat in San Carlos
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Finale works as well as Round Up and breaks down more quickly.
If I plant fava beans to revive the soil, do I have to dig them back
into the ground in the spring? Can I just cut the tops off and
leave the roots, or pull out the whole plant, and still get the
benefits?
Your picture of the nasturtium (sp?) climbing the tomato cage
reminds me of one of my tomatoes that has been overrun by a
volunteer bird house gourd. It's lovely but not what I planned.
Pat
kimmie haworth
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Pat, Fava beans should be chopped up and tilled into the soil, tops
and all. It would be a shame to lose all that lovely free nitrogen.
Cut them down, the use a lawn mower to grind them up prior to
tilling.
kimmie haworth
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Pat, Fava beans should be chopped up and tilled into the soil, tops
and all. It would be a shame to lose all that lovely free nitrogen.
Cut them down, the use a lawn mower to grind them up prior to
tilling.
kimmie haworth
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Pat, Fava beans should be chopped up and tilled into the soil, tops
and all. It would be a shame to lose all that lovely free nitrogen.
Cut them down, the use a lawn mower to grind them up prior to
tilling.
kimmie haworth
Pat, Fava beans should be chopped up and tilled into the soil, tops
and all. It would be a shame to lose all that lovely free nitrogen.
Cut them down, the use a lawn mower to grind them up prior to
tilling.