This morning, I decided that it was time to chop up the tomato and pepper plants. We had a frost and there is no way they are going to produce any more vegetables.
I got the garden shears out and cut them down to nothing. I found a few hidden tomatoes and peppers while I was cutting them down. I removed the plant supports and placed them in the garage until next year. It looks so bare out there now.
It was a good year! Now I have all winter to decide what I will plant next spring! Now.....to figure out what to do with all these tomatoes and peppers.
It is the end of October and the first frost is near. My tomatoes have grown so big that they have fallen down on themselves, even with all of the support I put up for them. They are still producing tons of tomatoes, but I think a bug is getting all of the tomatoes.
My Pepper plant is still going strong. It's still producing peppers. It did not produce as much as my tomato plant did and I have 3 pepper plants! Tomatoes are definitely more hardy and prolific.
I am starting to think about chopping the plants up and digging them into the dirt so they can give some nutrients back to the dirt. We had a good run.
We may be moving soon and I will hopefully have a larger yard. Next year, I hope to have a larger garden and also grow zucchini and a few other vegetables, like green beans.
My pepper plant has been producing wonderful green peppers. The only problem is that when I go to pick them, there are holes in my peppers surrounded by slime. I suspect slugs are doing this!
I spoke to a lady who has been gardening for 70 years and she told me to put a small saucer with sides about one-inch tall on the ground near the plant stem and fill it with beer.
Slugs are attracted to the beer, but they cannot get out of the saucer when they are done.
I am going to try putting a saucer of beer out after dinner tonight. Wish me luck!
Tomatoes split their skin when they have not been watered regularly. If they have gone through a dry spell and then are suddenly watered, the tomatoes skin may split.
I once had a tomato plant that I forgot to water for a week. When I realized how dry the soil was, I watered the tomato plant immediately. Within a few hours, all of the tomatoes fell off my tomato plant. I didn't get any tomatoes that year!
Lesson learned: Water your tomato plants regularly!
When I was a new gardener, I would water the plants leaves and the dirt because I never knew where to water. Now that I have been gardening for decades, I have learned where to water the plants.
When you water your garden, water the dirt! The water is pulled into the plant by the roots. The roots are what need the water.
Watering the leaves of a plant could actually damage it. It could promote mold growth. The only time I recommend watering the leaves is if you have aphids.
You could normally find aphids on the underside of the leaves. Give them a strong spray of water to knock them off the plant.
We planted our Big Boy Tomatoes in early spring. I am just now seeing our first red tomato of the season! Yay! Our tomato plant produced and is still producing enough tomatoes to get our whole family (of 4) through the summer. As you can see, our tomato plant has already reached the top of our privacy fence. It must be the Miracle Grow Soil and the fact that I didn't overcrowd the plant this year.
Our Pepper plant has doubled in size since my last post. Two of the pepper plants have flowers only on them and one has flowers and peppers!
Last month, I had an infestation of aphids. I had read something about mixing water with Dawn dish washing detergent to spray on the aphids. Well, I didn't read how much Dawn you were supposed to add to the water.
The result of adding too much Dawn? All of my tomato buds fell off, but the tomato plant was OK. The pepper plants suffered even more. The luster and shine disappeared from the surface of the pepper leaves. Then holes developed in the leaves and the leaves thinned down. Two days later, my poor pepper plant no longer had leaves.
I was about to throw in the towel and buy two new pepper plants to replace the ones I thought I killed, but then I saw new leaves budding where the old leaves had fallen off. I talked to a Horticulturist who told me to give the plants a chance. Now it has been a few weeks and it looks like the pepper plants are coming back to life. We will be a few weeks behind on getting peppers from the plants, but that is OK.
Lesson learned! I now know that I should add one part Dawn to every 100 parts water. The Horticulturist told me that if I am in doubt, buy the store bought aphid killer. It is already pre-measured and will not kill the plant. Another tip I received from the Horticulturist was to spray the aphids with water from the hose. They will fall off from the pressure of the water. You will need to check the leaves for aphids every couple of days though and repeat as necessary.
My tomato plant is doing wonderfully! It has grown almost a foot since last month and it is covered in blooms. I even noticed a few small tomatoes starting to grow out of those blooms! I am so excited to have fresh, homegrown tomatoes and peppers soon!
I was checking on my tomato and pepper plants today when I noticed aphids on the underside of the leaves. I was out of my normal bug spray and needed something quick. I did a little research and found out that I can make my own non-toxic bug spray at home!
Here's how: mix one part Dawn (blue) liquid dish soap with 100 parts water. I mixed the Dawn and water in a spray bottle and sprayed my plants. The aphids died instantly.
To keep the aphids from coming back, spray your plants weekly. Make sure you get the undersides of the leaves since aphids like to hide there.
To start seeds indoors, you could use a cardboard egg carton. Fill each cup with dirt and place a seed in the egg cup. Water regularly. You may want to put a tray underneath the egg carton in case it leaks.
Once you are ready to plant the seedling, cut the carton so each individual cup is on its own. Cut the bottom of the cardboard cup off to give the roots room to grow into the outdoor soil. Plant the cup and a 1/2 inch to inch of the stem in the dirt.
It has been raining for two days straight in Northern Virginia. I checked on my tomato and pepper plants between downpours and they look healthy and bigger! My tomato and pepper plants have doubled in size since I planted them about a month or so ago. I can't wait until the blooms come in and the vegetables start to grow on them!
It has been raining all day, so the garden is getting some much needed water and I am getting a break from watering the plants. Every time it rains, my pepper and tomato plants grow another inch or two!
If you are wondering when you can begin planting your garden, burpee.com has a great tool. Once you get to their website, enter your zip code into the Growing Calendar and it will tell you your ideal planting date for your area.
I used Burpee's Growing Calendar to find out when I needed to plant my garden!
Here are a few pictures of my tiny container garden in our backyard. Our yard is as big as a postage stamp (we live in a townhouse). My Kids, Husband and I picked out the plants, then I planted everything while they went out golfing. Here are a few flowers that we picked out. We made sure to get full-sun flowers since they are in a sunny area and it gets pretty hot against the privacy fence on most summer days.
We added a few rainbow fans to keep bugs away (plus the kids love to see them spin when the wind blows).
Below, you will see our two pepper plants. They are both Sweet Bell Peppers. One is going to produce orange peppers and the other will produce yellow peppers. I put a cage up in advance to support the peppers when they get to their full height. Last year, they grew to about a foot over the cage! Since the pepper plants do not take up as much room as a tomato plant, I was able to put two peppers in one pot. Last year, I had three pepper plants in one pot and it got a bit crowded!
Below is our tomato plant. I think it is a Big Boy Tomato. It said that it was a good container plant and it produced large tomatoes, so here it is! I bought a better cage this year. Last year, my tomato plants grew to over 5 feet tall and they were cascading all over the grass from over the cage. This year, our pepper plants are using last years tomato cage. This year, I bought a five foot tomato cage. I could move the side supports up as the tomato plant grows which is nice. The reason I only put one tomato plant in the container this year is because I went overboard last year. I think I had 3 tomato plants in this one pot and they went crazy! The tomato plants were so big that they grew over the cage and along the ground. Tomatoes were falling off under the plant and I couldn't see them. The bugs loved it and aphids finally took over the plant. I will have to make sure the tomato plant isn't crowded and growing on the ground this year!
I found the tomato cage on sale on Amazon for $8.79! It's well worth it. That is about what I paid for it at the store. I would definitely recommend this tomato cage. It's so much more supportive than the round metal tomato cages.
Since we moved to Northern Virginia from Indiana, our planting season has begun earlier than I am used to. I looked up when to plant a vegetable garden and found that I can begin now!
I was so excited that I ran out to my local Lowe's to get a tomato plant and two pepper plants (yellow and orange sweet peppers). I also went to Costco to get a few bags of Miracle Grow potting soil for $9 per each huge bag.
The reason I am planting so little is because when we moved to Virginia, we ended up in a town house. Our yard is very small and I do not trust planting a vegetable plant in the ground since it is a new construction area. I have been told not to plant anything you will eat in newly developed ground.
Last year, I ended up with pots everywhere. All of my vegetable plants grew like weeds, then crowded each other out and died. This year, I am going to have a very simple garden: one tomato plant, two pepper plants and some nice flowers.
Last year, my tomatoes grew so tall that they were falling over the top of the tomato cage. This year, I bought a tomato cage that is 5 feet tall! I already have it set up around my tomato plant in its own large pot. I have my old 3 foot cage around my pepper plants in my other large pot.
After planting my tomato and peppers, I watered them until water was running out of the bottom of the pots.
I am so excited to start a new gardening season!
Has anyone else started planting their vegetable garden? If so, where are you (generally) and what did you plant?
3 Chicken Breasts
2 tbs oil
1 lb of small sweet (red, orange and green) peppers
1/2 small onion
1 clove garlic
3 green onions
2 cans of stewed tomatoes
4 cups of rice
Instructions:
- Prepare rice and set aside
- Cut vegetables
- Slice chicken breasts
- Sautee vegetables in pot with 1 tbs oil until tender
- Remove vegetables
- Sautee Chicken in pot with 1 tbs oil until cooked
- Add sauteed vegetables and the stewed tomatoes
- Simmer for a minute or two
- Add about a cup of rice onto each dish
- Spoon Chicken & Vegetable mix onto rice
