The Garden, Week 8: Tomatoes in Bondage

It had to happen sometime. We coddled them, cooed over them, fed them their favorite foods. But it's time for them to deal with the harsh realities of life, face the music, do or die.

Nighttime lows have crept up into the mid-50s here in the northern Willamette Valley and it looks likely to stay that way for the duration. So off came the Walls O' Water and in went the heavy-duty cages we got last year that seemed to hold up much better than those wimpy little circular cages. Tomatoes, you're on your own!

Second crops of radishes and greens also went in, which might or might not do well depending on how hot it gets and how soon, and the peas are starting to blossom. The peppers are just kind of sitting there until it starts baking, and then we'll see if they've got the right stuff. (C'mon, Jimmy Nardello's!)

The Garden, Week 5: Big Developments

Our best ideas, at least around here, often get put on what we not-so-jokingly refer to as the "Mañana Plan." That is, it's something we'd genuinely like get done but because of lack of funds or bad timing or just plain old laziness, we don't quite work up the wherewithall to accomplish.

At first it seemed like the whole tree removal, hedge destruction and planting bed project could end up in the pile of good intentions gone awry, and it made me especially nervous to commit to it in print. But maybe the specter of having to face the humiliation of questions ("How'd that tree project come out?") or, worse yet, jokes ("Remember that tree project you wrote about?") galvanized us into action.

So Saturday bright and early found Dave driving out to Home Depot in his trusty truck, returning with a rented rototiller which he diligently used, along with a pickax and ax, to turn the patch of grass and a tangle of hidden tree roots into a new planting bed. Then it was my turn, while he had a well-deserved hot-bath-with-a-beer-back to soothe his sore muscles, to plant the tomatoes and peppers I'd purchased from the tremendous selection at Garden Fever.

The five tomatoes, Green Zebra, Early Girl, Cherokee Purple, Sungold and the wild card, a French Carmello, are now happily ensconced in their walls of water (above, left) with some of Dr. Kobos' Magic Dirt to help them along. The peppers I chose were two Jimmy Nardello's that I'd become addicted to last summer after finding them at the Gathering Together Farm booth at the Hillsdale market, and then two anchos, a pasilla, a jalapeno and a paprika.

The raised beds continue to thrive (right, above), and it's almost time to start harvesting the first chard, arugula and radishes. So exciting!

The Garden: Week 2

Like finding a penny on the sidewalk (and, by the way, I don't buy the face-up is good, face-down is bad addendum), it looks like my garden luck has turned. Not that last spring's cold and damp was my fault, by any stretch, but there are signs that this year may be very, very good for our dinner table.

Going down the planting list, the carrots haven't poked up yet, but the radishes, arugula and mesclun are all popping up, and it looks like the volunteer chard from last year has survived after a bit of an early scare. No snap peas yet, but the rhubarb is unfurling several new leaves.

And those other grand plans? Well, you'll be pleased that I've got two bids from landscapers to remove the parking strip tree that's heaving up the sidewalk and shading my beds, not to mention taking up valuable south-facing soon-to-be tomato beds. Now I'm waiting for the city to approve a permit and it (and the arbor vitae hedge) will be history!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Sometimes there's a pony or a shiny bike under the Christmas tree, and sometimes you get socks instead. Expectations are like that and, as hard as I try to cultivate that "que sera sera" attitude, the fact that last year our tomato plants looked like survivors of a nuclear blast (and produced about as well) was, frankly, a big disappointment.

And knowing that even the pros, and I mean some large-scale farmers, here in the valley had an equally crappy season didn't make me feel any better. I mean, I wanted my heirloom tomato salad to be made from my heirloom tomatoes. Is that too much to ask? (The answer, apparently, was "Yes.")

But because home gardeners are an optimistic, some would say delusional, lot, this year, dang it, is going to be different. This last weekend we hopped in the truck and drove to our neighborhood garden center, picked up some seeds and soil amendments and got to work. Within a couple of hours Dave's most excellent raised beds (in their third year and sturdy as ever, thank you) were weeded, amended and planted with what, I hope, will be a productive and delicious crop of:

• Carrots (Parmex) - an orange variety from Nichols Garden Nursery; 1 row
• Carrots (Atomic Red) - red, Nichols Garden Nursery; 1 row
• Carrots (Purple Haze) - purple (is that cool or what?), Nichols Garden Nursery; 1 row
• Radishes (Crimson Ladyfinger) - New Dimension Seed; 2 rows
• Mesclun Salad Mix - Seeds of Change; 3 rows
• Arugula (Apollo) - Seed Savers Exchange; 2 rows
• Snap peas (Sweet Xing) - New Dimension Seed; 2 rows
• Chard - three volunteers from last year
• Rhubarb - a cutting from my pal Lindsey

The rest of the story is that the hedge of arbor vitae (on right in photo at left) that has screened our back yard "dining room" is going to be torn out with plans to replace it with an espaliered black mission fig. And the ash tree in the parking strip that is buckling the sidewalk and, worst of all, shading the boxes for a few hours a day, is going to come out this year.

I'm hoping to do (mercifully short) weekly reports on the progress of all these grand schemes, and I'd love to know what you're up to in your gardens this year in your part of the world. So let's start talking!