Tomato Bed and Potato Bugs

The mortgage lifter tomato plants are very happy in the raised bed and growing nicely. But what are these insects on the potato leaves? Yuck. Ewwww.

Potatoes Ranch

Some of the potatoes in containers are starting to bloom. The raised bed potatoes have grown to the second level now. We added a 2 x 8 row, and filled with more soil mix. The 2 other raised beds have tomato plants, although 1 of the tomato plants was eaten by someone so only have 3 tomato plants left in this area.

Potato Growth - Tomato Beds

Well the one potato bed is growing fast and furious, but the other potato bed barely has 4 plants out of 20 that came up. Not sure why, and now I forget which bed was gold and which bed was russets. I think the bed on the left is russets but not for sure. The 2 new beds that went in today are for tomatoes. Will plant 2 per bed and then use 2x2 lumber to build a cage around the plants for support. More to come on that as they grow. Happy Gardening!!!

Tomatoes Going Bananas

Just when we think we have seen it all, the day of 9/9/9 hits and our tomato harvest is exactly 100 in a single day!!!!! Wow. It took three bags to haul them in the house. We counted the batch here one time and it turned out to be exactly 100. Some of the tiny ones we do not count, but it is stunning to have so many in one day. We have been sharing, and tomorrow sounds like another good day to share. Happy Gardening from Our Suburban Garden.

Tomato Tuesday

Today was a big tomato day. 36 picked and 300 year to date all together. Wow!! Mortgage lifters in front of the blogging machine. Japanese black trifle on top of the keyboard. Volunteer tomatoes on the right side in front of one sad looking cucumber. My opinion: mortgage lifters are huge, tasty and shaped weirdly. Black trifles are a little disappointing in the size and low output, but we'll happily take what we get. This is one of those days when the picking basket just isn't big enough. Happy Gardening!!!!!

Another Tomato Cage Design

We started with those little wire cages from the store. But then the plants grew taller so we added the wide leaning wooden cage. Just recently we added the supports up high so the plant has something to lean on. This is our first Mortgage Lifter tomato. Looking forward to tasting these soon. Enjoy your garden!!

Tomato Thursday

Here is our second Mortgage lifter tomato which has climbed above the 6 foot fence. There's a sidewalk along the fence, so our suburban walkers will have easy pickins without stepping a foot on our land. Have not been posting much due to more out of state travel. It's a shame to be away from Our Suburban Garden when so many veggies are coming in. We'll get a look tomorrow at our harvest. Yay!!

Tomato Thursday

What a beautiful sight. Yum.

Tons of Tomatoes

Each of the 5 tomato plants in Our Suburban Garden is full sized and ready to bear fruit. Here is a photo from the Early Girl plant. I wonder what is going to happen in August. So far 98 percent of our tomatoes have come from the volunteer plant. The volunteer plant must have at least 80 more green tomatoes right now. Pretty soon the other plants will begin to produce. We already picked 80 tomatoes. Once August hits, how many tomatoes will we get? Can not imagine having so many tomatoes. Can anyone say tomato juice?

Volunteer Tomato Covers Window

Back in May we put in the bigger better tomato cage. Turns out it was not big enough after all. The 7 foot tall tomato plant here is the same one shown on the top of the blog growing amongst the carrots. A photo from May is below. Wow!!! You can also see the rapid growth of the straight 8 cucumber plant to the right. Pretty soon we will get the first taste of those cukes!!!Below is the same plant from May 9th. Wow, it actually covered the window. And it is producing great tomatoes. Yum!!! And the cucumber plant is so tiny compared to now.

Bigger Better Tomato Cage

The tomatoes that grew by themselves this year are almost up to the top of the 3 stakes we've been tying them to. So what do we do next? Well we decided to go big. The bigger better tomato cage is obviously a quick creation. And we hope it is strong and holds up the tomatoes and allows easy access for the harvest. It's hard to believe these 2 plants grew by themselves. It's hard to believe the one on the left survived the move in March. Let's see if we can grow these plants all the way to the top of this big cage. The little wire cage next to this is guiding the cucumber plant up. Soon we'll need a bigger better cage there also. Happy Gardening from Our Suburban Garden.

Playing and Planting in the Garden

That space that we began double digging a month ago after the broccoli was harvested is finally done. First we set up Gretsh and some warriors to fight over a lemon. Later we planted a Japanese black trifele tomato, and an Ambrosia muskmelon cantelope. To fill in the gaps, we also planted more onions, more spinach, and more leaf lettuce. All in that small area. No that's not all. We also put in a row of Blue lake bush beans. We are so glad that we got this section cleaned up and re-planted.We want to stay on top of the harvesting schedules and have as much of a continuous harverst as we can.

The next photo is further off to the right of the first area. It shows the attack on the Mortgage lifter tomato that we planted as a baby transplant in March. It is growing nicely. The Mortgage lifter is flanked by the celery farm on the left and the onion ranch on the right.

For the Little Gardener

While Dad was working the soil, removing rocks and roots, Lil Bro was out helping in the suburban garden. Next to the Early girl tomato and spinach seedlings, Lil Bro planted a rocket, a lego space dude's head, and various pots. When you have help like this, what can you say?

Here is a close up of one spinach seedling. And of course the lego space dude's head in the pot and his rocket. The best part was the glee and excitement he expressed for gardening. Thanks son!!!

Patch Work In Progress

We made some progress in the garden which is always a treat. The broccoli and carrots were delicious. Steamed broccoli and carrot juice. Um Umm. The plant material was cut in small pieces with the hand pruner and is now in the active compost bin.

Next step is to turn the soil, sift out the rocks and grubs, and ammend with compost. You can see our tools here. In the suburban garden, we are slowly turning the awful rocky soil into awesome fertile soil. But it takes a lot of time.

With such a small garden space it's no wonder that we've taken up container gardening too.

Hope your weekend was happy!!

Next Patch To Work

The broccoli and carrots in this section of the garden are coming out this weekend. The new early girl tomato (baby) is visible on the right side of the picture with tiny spinach sprouts between the tomato and the brick. This patch will soon be home to some green beans. You can see how crowded the garden gets. Suburban Gardener wants to make the most of every inch.

Tomato Move Update

Well, the little tomato that unexpectedly emerged in the carrot patch this winter seems to have survived the move. He is standing tall next to the much larger tomato plant which also grew all by himself. As you can see, the carrot patch now has 6 little romaine lettuce plants and there are 2 rows of miscellaneous carrot seeds in the wet section in front of the tomatoes. Isnt' gardening rewarding?

Tomato Plant Move Project

Over the weekend we harvested a whole section of carrots. Yum. Then had to deal with the 2 tomato plants that grew by themselves among the carrots. The tomato plant in the front corner was way too close to the edge for comfort so we took a chance and moved it back near the other natural plant. Planning to build a cage around both plants and have them merge into one gigantic mega plant. The transplant was hard on the plant, but after one day the plant sprung back to life and is looking ready to grow! Yay!