Saturday, March 22, 2008

Seeing RED

We are seeing a lot of red in our gardens this year. We are trying out several new red products that are suppose to help our tomatoes produce more fruit and stalkier stalks. We have each tried red plastic mulch under different plants in each of our gardens. We are also trying the Tomato Automators under a few tomatoes and growing some with nothing. Michael is using the red plastic under his strawberries and Ferne is using it under her squash plants. We will post the results when we notice any, if nothing else it will keep the weeds down.

We planted tomatoes in each of our plots this weekend. We are trying a few new varieties for us this year, one that we are excited to see the results of is the German Tree tomato. It was growing quickly and had a nice thick stalk on it when we took it from our nursery on the deck and planted it in the gardens.

Working at a nursery where we can share our tips and enthusiasm for growing plants and especially fruits and vegetables is just the greatest job at this time of year even though it is quite busy and doesn't leave much time for our own gardens sometimes. It will sure be nice to enjoy the fruits of our labor and share them with friends and family.

A note from Ferne:

I posted a while ago about my digging fork and how I didn't own a hoe. Well, I must make a correction here, one of my most favorite tools that I own is a triangle hoe. I can't believe I even forgot about it. I painted my handle red so that I could see it and not step on it or leave it behind. I also have a digging knife that I love and painted its handle a bright turquoise color because I have lost it so many times. These are my favorite garden tools and they all travel with me to all places that I garden and are often kept in the trunk of my car ready to be used in a moments notice. My trusty garden fork has made a few more appearances over the last week, it was put to use removing a few old plants and digging in some compost. One appearance was in the flower bed around the nursery sign and more appearances in my garden plot.


One more bit of red found in my garden was a centranthus rubra that has made a comeback from last year and is already in full bloom. What a hardy and beautiful plant this is.

Well, this post was about seeing 'Red', but not what you might think of when you hear that comment this was all about seeing 'Red' in a good way!

Happy Gardening!

2 comments:

Colleen Franklin said...

I've got a few red anemones that are making things cheerful in the garden right now, but the real color's coming from the grape hyacinths and forget-me-nots. Your March pot is gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

I'm going to try red mulch for my tomatoes this year too. Great advice.
Shirley