By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Being brought up in the country I have a different viewpoint on deer damaging my garden especially my tomatoes.

My parents and I relished the times that the deer roamed freely across the yard.

And while we did loose vegetables and fruits to those beautiful deer it was a minor price to pay.

Some of my Dad’s neighbors shot the deer because they were eating into their farm profits and the law said they could do it without any repercussions but for my family the cost of loosing 1 deer over a few tomatoes was not worth it.

But as we as a society move farther into the country the encounters with deer increases. Some again will shoot the deer only to end up with a dead deer and missing produce. Some will try dogs, bullhorns Read the rest of this entry »

By Jenn Mercer

During the holidays, many people enjoy getting together for cookie exchanges.

The idea is simple and the logic impeccable.

When you make a batch of cookies, you get a lot of one kind of cookie.

If you want two kinds of cookies, you need to make two batches (mmm… no downsides here). But — if you want a dozen different kinds of cookies, your kitchen is going to be trashed; you’ll have cookies coming out of your ears, and your jeans will have suddenly shrunk two sizes.

As I tried to decide what kinds of tomatoes to grow this year, I realized I had a similar problem. Even the most expensive hybrids usually have 12 seeds to a packet. Why not have a Seedling Exchange?

As with a cookie exchange, laying out a few ground rules in the beginning can avoid a lot of disappointment later.

• Decide if this will be a strict tomato exchange or if other herbs and vegetables will be welcome. Read the rest of this entry »
  
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By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Hardening off is a step that many inexperienced gardeners skip as the “gardening bug” erupts as temperatures rise.

But this step is very crucial to a gardener’s success.

Hardening off is the process by which seedlings are gradually exposed to the outside environment.

Wind, temperature, and light intensity are all different outside then what the seedling is used to inside. If this step is skipped leaves get burned and the plant goes through unneeded stress that can cause death of your seedling. Hardening off is not a difficult process to fit into one’s busy schedule and in my personal opinion should take about 3 weeks total before you can safely leave them outside.

The schedule below should start Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

DIY tomato fertilizer is easy to make, inexpensive and not very time consuming.

Some of the fertilizer recipes below require ingredients that are in your kitchen cabinet or out in the barn while others can be found at the drug store or grown in your backyard.

But regardless of which one you decide to try you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.

Comfrey Fertilizer

Every garden needs comfrey. This very valuable plant is a very vigorous grower with deep roots that pull up nutrients from the subsoil. These nutrients are then stored in the leaves of comfrey. These leaves can be used as a nutritious mulch, compost activator or fertilizer for your tomatoes and other fruiting plants.

How to Make Comfrey Fertilizer

Harvesting comfrey is the first step in making this organic fertilizer. Comfrey is a very vigorous grower so this step Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Mulching was never something I did as a child when I used to help my Dad in the garden.

We simply took the plants out of their pots, teased the roots, wrapped newspaper around the stem and planted them in the hole.

But when I started gardening for myself I learned the value of mulching.

Mulch creates a moisture-retaining layer for the garden. Tomatoes love this and the constant level of moisture in the soil helps prevent bottom-rot. Mulch also creates a weed barrier that saves time and reduces plant competition so that your soil resources go to the tomatoes, not the grass in your garden. Finally organic mulch builds stronger tomato plants by building organic matter up the stem.

There are 2 general types of mulch. These are organic and inorganic. The organic mulch can be broken into grass clippings and straw while the inorganic mulch is red plastic. Each type of mulch has its positives and negatives so individual situations will have to be considered.

Organic Mulch

Grass Clippings

Grass clippings are great, cheap Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

As a parent and teacher I am always looking for that magically “teaching moment.”

Cinco de Mayo and the new series on the History Channel called America the History of Us started me thinking.

I have always planned and cultivated a culturally diverse garden.

Tomatoes, greens, peppers, onions, squashes, and many other edible plants have graced my land but none were ever native to my land.

Some have been heirloom plants whose seeds were carried across the seas by immigrants looking for a better life.

These immigrants came to America, to the melting pot of the world along with their hopes, traditions, and food. We as a society cannot separate pure “American Cuisine” without tasting, biting, and sampling something that was not native to America.

Our own culinary taste buds have become accustomed to the melting of cultural cuisine to form the American diet. So this year in remembrance of Cinco de Mayo try planting some cultural diversity in your tomato garden. This can be done by planting a plant that looks like a tomato but its fruit has a unique appearance. What could this be one may ask. The answer is simple the tomatillo or husk tomato.

How to Grow

Steps

1. Start seeds as you Read the rest of this entry »