The late spring/early summer garden routines are underway.

As I write this I am listening to a wonderful band called Hammock - an album of theirs called Oblivion Hymns. It is quite indescribable, haunting, peaceful, and beautiful. 

It's hard to know where to begin. The magic combination of well-hardened seedlings, appropriate planting mix, black containers, sufficient direct sun and warm temperatures is literally launching the tomatoes (and to a lesser, slightly delayed extent, peppers and eggplant) upward and outward. Though it was a relatively cool, wet spring, recent weather is about as good as it gets for vigorous growth, good fruit set and a low incidence of disease.

What routines are referred to in this blog title? Daily garden walks, plant tying and pruning and troubleshooting, watering - and weekly feeding. I am also beginning to create new hybrids for our dwarf tomato project, but really thinking outside of the box and looking to incorporate some very unusual foliage characteristics. I walk around with a hand held recorder and make observations (at night I transcribe them into my excel garden log). Documentation through pictures and videos will soon follow. It won't be long before harvesting, tasting and seed saving joins the routine. 

If it isn't evident in my words above, I will say it here - I love this time of year. I love all parts of the year related to the garden, but this is the best - noticing the daily changes, feeling excitement in the anticipation of the unveiling of mysteries - and this is a garden loaded with mysteries, mostly early generations from our dwarf project. I can't recall a garden with more interesting (to me, anyway!) little projects woven in to the overall plan. There will be so much for me to share with you in the weeks ahead, and I can't wait.

Here are a few pictures taken today, and my first cell phone camera video update.  I have a few more to post in the coming week - one on pruning suckers that is an improvement on my previous one, and today's garden walk about.

View #1 of the driveway on June 4, 2016

View 2

All in the families - a look at progress with some cherished driveway tomatoes

I've blogged before about the "family" section of my driveway garden - a selection of named varieties shared with me during the past few hears via mail, at speaking engagements - each one representing the truest, most appropriate term of "heirloom" tomato. 

Each is off to a great start - and here are the pics to prove it. If you click at each edge, you can advance the carousel of pics.

Pictures above are Abraham Brown, Aunt Edna, Uncle Joe, Maris Family, and Swolka family.

But wait - there's more (of course). I also took pics of some that, despite not being family heirlooms, are special for various reasons.  You can see these below.

This grouping includes Abraham Lincoln, Everglades, a High Anthocyanin Pink Cherry, Stick and Yusopov.

Finally, a few view of the driveway and the bales, so that you can gauge progress.

After watering, I spent some time doing an audio update, which I will transcribe tonight. I was very pleased to note how many plants had buds, flowers, and even in some cases, small fruit! 

A driveway of many projects, now planted. Bring on the sun and warmth....

As I sit here listening to the incredible new Radiohead release (A Moon Shaped Pool, one of those musical creations that gets better and better with each listen), it feels like a good time to share news from the garden. The season gets so busy so quickly that information gets lost. From planting to staking, tying to watering, feeding to troubleshooting to harvest, it all becomes a blur. 

Let's start with a picture.

This is what the driveway garden looked like on May 21

Planting began on May 9 - most of the garden edging bales were planted with dwarf tomatoes. Most of the indeterminate non-dwarf tomatoes were also planted, in 5 gallon grow bags, on May 9. Another significant planting into grow bags occurred on May 12 - newly made dwarf crosses (my work last summer) - all of the new hybrids - as well as the first of the dwarfs from those crosses (F2 generation), as well as peppers and eggplant. A few remaining tomatoes went into bales a few days ago (see - I already am confused by exactly what I did when!).

Planting is one thing - getting it all into a final arrangement is quite another. That work happened on May 20 and 21. The driveway is now a combination of rows (eggplant, peppers), and rows of plant clusters (tomatoes) - each cluster of plants around a large container of spent planting mix, into which went the supporting stakes (that happened the last few days). Today I took my big ball of twine and did my first supporting tie for those indeterminate tomatoes that have adjacent stakes. Lots of staking remains - and once staked, regular tying and pruning (removal of suckers) and eventually, topping. This is the work that stretches out delightfully all summer long, culminating in the eagerly anticipated harvest.

The final count for this year's garden - 164 tomato plants, 35 pepper plants, 18 eggplant. That's a whopping total of 217 plants, 50 of which are in straw bales, the rest in containers of various sizes, most of 5 gallon capacity. I am going to be doing a bit of watering, I suspect!

Here are a few more pics - the eggplant and pepper rows, and a "tomato plant cluster". Just click on the pic below and it will change to the next one in the sequence - total of three pics.

Home sweet home. A rainy day in the garden

Where are we? Back in Raleigh?  Saturday's near 7 hour drive was followed by Sunday's 6 hours at Longwood Gardens, followed by yesterday's near 7 hour drive home. But was it ever worth it. More on that in a future blog - I've got loads of pics to download from both of our phones. I want to do justice to the magnificent garden that we just visited, and to the three hour course on tomatoes that I was so fortunate to be able to deliver to over 30 fellow gardening enthusiasts.

Here's what I returned to: a garden that was well-tended by my daughter and her boyfriend, a set of tomatoes still adjusting to their new homes in straw bales....indeterminate tomatoes clearly loving their new 5 gallon grow bag homes....peppers and eggplant still trying to decide if they are happy or not in their new locations.

Today it is gently (and occasionally a bit more vigorously) raining, and the plants are loving it. I've heard pileated woodpeckers whooping it up in the woods behind our house. Cardinals and brown thrashers are singing their little hearts out. I've got a to-do list a mile long. Big plant donations, so SEEDS and at the Durham Main Library, will take place on Wednesday and Saturday (our annual morning Plantapalooza!), respectively. 

The plant donations formally end our seedling season but open up space in the driveway for my garden to expand into roomier groupings and rows, and that is what will keep me busy in the coming days and weeks. Positioning the plants will be followed by staking, then tying, pruning, feeding - culminating eventually in harvesting, tasting, seed saving and preserving. It is all a continuum - the February seed starting was preceded by months of planning, which came after assessing the previous season. There is no time off from gardening - each month carries with it a critical step. Every one of those steps is enjoyable, informative, challenging, and something to eagerly anticipate.

It's mid May, it's raining, everything is getting ready to blast off into vigorous growth. This is a great time in the never ending gardening calendar.

...and now for something completely different - getting ready for Longwood Gardens

Sue and I are ready for a big time blast of nostalgia. Before putting down roots of surprising longevity in Raleigh (with its clay and rock-filled soil, plethora of weather events - at least since we've been here - and infinite list of tomato growing challenges), we lived in Pennsylvania. We started in Villanova, eased westward to Berwyn, then finally West Chester, and our 8 years there were delightful; it is where I first joined the Seed Savers Exchange and dove head first into heirlooms. It is where our daughters were young (Sara), or just entering the world (Caitlin). Tomato growing has never been easier than those PA gardens, especially after working 16 yards of mushroom soil into our garden. Oh, to have been able to relocate that soil when we moved down here.

Over our 8 years, regular visits to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square was a constant. We experienced it often in each season, and we ended our days there exhausted after so much walking, but exhilarated by that which we saw - whether it be the azaleas, various themed rooms in the big glass house, water lilies, or endless beds of colorful flowers.

I've been spending much of today getting ready for a long-awaited return trip to Longwood Gardens, and Sue and I can't wait. The reason for the visit is that I was asked to provide a course on tomatoes - and on Sunday, at 1 PM, that is what I will be pleased and fortunate to do. This will be my first long duration (3 hours - better make my jokes good ones...), demo-filled opportunity to take a group of gardeners from history through selection, from seed starting to seed saving, aided by a presentation. To call this a personal bucket list event is an understatement. It will certainly be a trip, and event, I will remember always.

As for today in the garden....I just came in from watering everything. A second motion detector sprinkler is now in place, since a visit by deer now would be quite devastating. One week from today I will be bringing loads of plants to Durham for our annual Plantapalooza...more on that when we get back. It feels good to have most everything in place and settling in, though the real work begins next week - getting it all arranged, staked, and ready for daily observations, nurturing, and maintenance. The clock is ticking - ripe tomatoes are now only a few months away!

From picking a leek to a perfectly timed thunderstorm - what a day

The garden is planted (well, nearly - I've got a few more bales in preparation that will be planted mid next week). What a relief...I will feel better on our short upcoming trip knowing that a huge piece of work is behind me. The transition will now be from planting to maintaining and observing, which is a favorite part of the season.

The day started with me noticing that the leeks in our front half whiskey barrel are starting to produce a flower bud, so I picked one. It was gorgeous (and had a long life - mid summer planted seed, seedling planted in the fall, wintered over and picked this morning). It is ending with a nice thunderstorm (no hail), another lopsided Red Sox victory, and if all goes well and I can keep my eyes open, another look at the slides I will be using in the tomato course at Longwood Gardens on Sunday.

Progress - the driveway garden after the mass planting

Once we get back from our trip, I will set to rearranging the grow bags into clusters, in rows. Also remaining are a few major plant donations, which will free up all of the space I need....then turning to placing the supporting stakes behind the bales and in the center containers (which is more work to be done - filling large pots with used potting mix and placing them in the driveway).

As far as the last piece of my planting puzzle, the following were planted today:  Eggplant Listada di Gandia, Rosa Bianca, New York Improved and Prosperosa....peppers Brazilian Starfish, Bianca F1, Corbacai, Fish, Cornito, Sweet Banana, Shishoto, Campadre, Bulgarian Carrot, Chinese Five Color, Sweet Chocolate, Royal Purple and Purple Beauty.

Tomatoes planted were Teensy F3 dwarf cherries in colors purple, yellow, green and red, new F1 crosses that I made last year Addy, Fishy, Artsy, Sandy, Acey, Emmy, Sissy, Roddy, Sorry, Arcky, Leafy, Betty, Speckly, Worry, Scary, Burly, Teensy, Tiggy, Dummy, and Priddy. Then from dwarf hunting, the following F2: Burly regular leaf, Betty chartreuse leaf, Roddy, Scary regular leaf, Reddy, Speckly, Chocky regular leaf, Ruggy, Dummy regular leaf, Tiggy potato leaf, Worry regular leaf, Tiggy regular leaf, Teensy, Ruggy F3 from last year's chocolate fruit, and Sissy. Awaiting planting when the bales are ready are Sun Gold (two plants) Mexico Midget, Egg Yolk, four F2 dwarfs from Steamy, and a selection from Morty and Chocky and other F2s from dwarf hunting in last year's new hybrids - probably a total of 14 more plants to be planted.

I also planted 5 burgundy Okra seedlings in two large pots...we fell in love with Okra last year, but it was a typical green type.

I'd like to do a final count but I am too tired - I keep making mistakes, and need to redo my gardening log..it is a mess, and will be put into Excel once I rearrange the driveway. I suspect there will be around 220 or so total plants. That will keep us busy - and hopefully end up being quite delicious, and have a few great surprises. One thing I just did estimate - there are 130 plants, and that number will increase, that are part of the Dwarf tomato project....Wow!

Returning to planting - the garden is nearly in

Tuesday was busy with a plant sale at The Flower Shuttle on Ridge Road at the Moravian Church (such nice people doing such important work) and lunch with a friend. That's fine, since my Monday planting marathon left me a bit sore and in need of a day off.

To finish the list of what I did plant on Monday - the following went into 5 gallon black plastic grow bags:  Stick, Rose Quartz Multiflora, two different Variegated plants (one from a gardening friend, and one I've had for some years), two different Honor Bright (one from Victory, one from the USDA collection), Surprise, Carrot-Like, Blue P20, Everglades, High Antho pink cherry given to me by a gardening friend while at the NWFGS, two from an odd green cherry sized tomato that volunteered behind my driveway (one regular leaf, one potato leaf), an orange cherry that volunteered near my side garden composter, a tomato I call Jenny that is very likely Kimberly (she found it mixed into a commercial sample of Lillian's Yellow Heirloom), Caitlin's Lucky Stripe, Large Lucky Red, three plants from two different dwarfs out of Ferris Wheel (one last year had regular leaf foliage and white fruit, the other potato leaf foliage and yellow/red bicolor fruit - both tasty).

The next grouping planted Monday are from my great tomato genealogy work - going back to check on how the following varieties are faring after growing them out so many different times - three different Little Lucky, five different Lucky Cross, three different Cherokee Purple, four different Cherokee Chocolate, two different Cherokee Green and three different Brandywine. In some cases I went back to selections very close to when they were sent to me or discovered - there will be a LOT of good eating out of these.

Finally, my Monday planting finished with some familiar names and new family heirlooms: Andrew Rahart Jumbo Red, Aker's West Virginia, Lillian's Yellow Heirloom, Dester, Opalka, Eva Purple Ball, Gallo Plum, Uncle Joe, Aunt Edna, Maris Family, Abraham Lincoln, Yusopov, Hege German Pink, Abraham Brown, Walt Swolka, Springston Heirloom, Czech (from a local friend), Boronia selection from a cross discovered last year (two plants), and Banksia Queen.

That takes me to today - and I decided to focus on peppers and eggplant. Planted in 5 gallon black plastic grow bags were peppers Chocolate Bell (my own from a hybrid - two different ones), Amethyst, Fire Opal, an unusually shaped pepper from my friend Bob M, Brazilian Orchid from a fruit given to me at the Mother Earth News FAIR in Seven Springs last year, Bulgarian Carrot, Gusto, Royal Purple, three plants from saved seeds of the Bianca hybrid, three Billy Goat (SSE asked me to work on this and save lots of seed of the most typical one), Datil, Lemon Drop, Peter, and eggplant Midnight Lightning (three different ones), Twilight Lightning (three different ones), Skinny Twilight, Green Ghost, Mardi Gras (three different ones), a purple and a white from Greece sent to me by a gardening friend, and the weird Rio Market, from a fruit collected on a visit to SSE in Iowa last year.

Driveway at the end of work on Wednesday

All that remains to be planted (all?!) are last year's new F1 dwarfs I created (if I can fit them), F2 dwarf selections from the new hybrids (probably totaling up to 50 plants), and 18 more peppers, including those I am growing for my Canada garden writer friend Niki.

A few things: the plants are not in a final location or arrangement - I just wanted to get everything into larger containers before my Pennsylvania trip. Next week I will be putting them into rows of clusters of four grow bags, using a center pot of last year's planting mix to hold the stakes.

I also have a layer of mulch (grass clippings) in eat grow bag, and around each bale tomato. I strive to keep splashing medium off of lower foliage to slow the onset of early blight. Finally, though they are 5 gallon grow bags, I only fill them to half to two thirds, because the planting medium can get costly, and the idea is not to maximize yields so much as get ripe fruit for observations, photography, tasting and seed saving. It really is a research and development garden, and I just love doing it this way.

mulched grow bag tomatoes

Please check out the Upcoming Events page - there are some new things appearing, including a tomato dinner at Acme in Carrboro, tomato day at the Carrboro Farmers Market, and a Southern Season cooking school with Kevin, chef from Carrboro. What is not yet listed is a likely tomato dinner at The Bridge Club by Ashley Christensen - last year this event was spectacular, and I am so excited that it could be happening again.

bale-grown Dwarf tomatoes adjusting quickly

There's no day like tomato planting day!

Wow, am I sore. Lugging 50 lb bags of composted cow manure, filling my most wonderful new Gardeners Supply Company garden cart with Super Sod compost (this is a first for me - I was generously donated a Big Yellow Bag full last fall and seemed like really nice planting material) and then mixing with the manure, soreness is a given (I am certainly over my winter time out-of-shape condition!). But is a really "good sore" - evidence of lots of progress.

Today was the end of straw bale preparation, meaning that they were ready to host Dwarf tomato plants. Everything was therefore in place - bales, planting mix, and 5 gallon black plastic grow bags from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. 

This morning, I woke up with the garden consisting of last fall-planted garlic in straw bales and pots of greens and beets in the back yard. As I finish this brief blog, added to this and ready to grow are 36 Dwarf tomatoes in straw bales and 72 tomatoes in the grow bags - 108 plants. That represents roughly the half way point....so there is much to be done!

One view of today's progress

No planting is on tap for tomorrow - I will be bringing a selection of plants available for sale for The Flower Shuttle members, then lunch with my wife and a friend, ending the day as a guest on a radio show. I really want to finish planting on Wednesday and Thursday, because I need to get ready for my tomato course at Longwood Gardens on Sunday. 

So - what did I plant today?  

In the straw bales are newly released dwarf varieties Kangaroo Paw Yellow, Kangaroo Paw Green, Kangaroo Paw Brown, Loxton Lad, Loxton Lass, Dwarf Mahogany, Tanunda Red, Waratah, Kookaburra Cackle, Sturt Desert Pea, Dwarf Orange Cream, BrandyFred, Tennessee Suited, Dwarf Golden Gypsy, Dwarf Crimson Sockeye, Dwarf Wild Spudleaf, Lucky Swirl, TastyWine, Maralinga, Dwarf Russian Swirl, Dwarf Lemon Ice, and Dwarf Scarlet Heart. Joining those new releases are a few that are close but still in development - Dwarf Beauty King, Dwarf Caitydid, Dwarf Firebird Sweet, and Saucy Mary. Then there are those that didn't do well, or my plant was crossed, last year - these are therefore released varieties that I want to take another look at...Chocolate Lightning - two different striping patterns that emerged on my single plant last year (could be a mutation - so confirming if these are different), Wilpena (looking for a red tomato - still could be some pinks mixed in), Sweet Adelaide, Boronia striped cross from last year (I suspect it was Boronia X Sarandipity), Rosella Crimson, Dwarf Blazing Beauty, Dwarf Pink Passion, and Sweet Scarlet Dwarf.  That should total 36 plants, 2 per bale.

That's enough for now - tomorrow I will blog about what I planted in the grow bags today. 

This was a great day - feet and hands stubbornly stained with planting mix, and persistent sound of the birds still echoing in my ears, the warmth and humidity of a typical early May day in Raleigh....the promise of the harvest to come.

Well, I was right - it IS really busy. But it is also planting time....

I know, I know...it's been two weeks since I last blogged. Maybe that's why I woke at 5 AM today with a buzzing brain. It's time to share not only some recent highlights, but my immediate plans to get things planted ASAP. Looking at last year's garden log, I am a bit behind.

Two weeks ago we just returned from a great time speaking in Charlottesville and veggie seedlings began finding their way from our driveway to long time gardening friends. Plenty remain...if you are nearby and need to fill spots in your garden, be sure to email me for information. Between greeting annual tomato friends, sharing gardening stories with youngsters on Earth Day in a Durham library, a morning workshop at the Well Fed Garden in Raleigh, hosting Joe Lamp'l and his film crew (he of Growing a Greener World - more on that below), and yesterday's workshop at Atlantic Ave Orchid and Garden....planting time has been scarce. But there is now a two week window before our trip to Pennsylvania to provide a course at Longwood Gardens.  I better get to work - there is much to do.

I am thrilled that Joe Lamp'l wants to feature my tomatoes and book on an upcoming episode of his show. He and his film crew arrived last Tuesday just in time for the completion of a large chipper/shredder activity in our neighborhood. We found a way to work around the noise and dust and had a really productive day. 

Wednesday morning - 6:30 AM - gorgeous, perfect conditions, a brown thrasher providing the soundtrack - all wired up and ready to be interviewed - and the chipping and shredding started anew. We found a way, thanks to a neighborhood friend jogging by, to bribe the crew into a few hours of silence - and we got through the morning, into early afternoon. It was all such fun, so wonderful to get to spend some time with Joe (we first met in Seattle at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show a few years ago, then last year at the Seed Savers Exchange Campout). It is such an honor and privilege to have the opportunity to be on his show. There will be two more filming sessions....capturing the entire process, seeding to tasting and seed saving.

 Yesterday was such fun at Atlantic Avenue Orchid and Gardens, as I provided two workshops  on growing vegetables in containers. And I am about to receive a call from my Nova Scotia gardening pal Niki Jabbour to chat spring gardening on her show The Weekend Gardener. 

OK - enough book, workshop and talk stuff.  As far as gardening - I've got more varieties to grow than I can reasonably fit into the driveway....but has my gardening strategy ever been reasonable? I've begun treating straw bales, into which will go all of our new Dwarf Project releases and some works in progress. I've got pots to fill with last year's potting medium for lettuce, kale, and beets - those are destined for the back yard. The garlic planted in spent straw bales planted in the fall are looking great. Then there are the indeterminate tomatoes, the peppers, the eggplant. It is going to be a really packed two weeks.  But you will hear about it as I make progress.

Filming day - setting up and pondering the chipper shredder situation....then Joe Lamp'l and I on day 2 with things progressing well.

It's about to get really busy....

Sue and I are just back from a quick but really fun trip to Charlottesville VA. I was fortunate to have an opportunity to bring my tomato tales to the Piedmont Master Gardener group there on Thursday night. But now we are home, and here we will stay - at least until my next trip, to Longwood Gardens in PA, in mid-May.

But between now and then - yikes. This may be one of the most challenging springs ever for me in terms of ending up with handsome, healthy seedlings. The whole year since starting seed has been a bit out of synch for me, impacted by speaking events that, timing- and duration-wise, didn't mesh well with the critical steps of seed starting, transplanting and hardening off. The unusual temperatures - too high early, too low later on - and windy, cold rain took their toll as well. 2016 will not go down as a banner year for my seed starting and seedling creating activities.

I spent hours today working through my seedlings, noting varieties that really didn't fare well at all. The week that they spent in the garage, combined with the heavy dose of windy, cold rain the day they went back outside shows in the foliage, and in the number of seedlings that didn't make it. I actually wonder if a bit of sub 32 temps crept into the garage, looking at some of the damage.

Enough seedling sob stories - the sun is back out, we should (finally!) get some mild to warm evenings, and all will be well. I have more transplanting to do, bales to order, place and treat, greens and beets to plant, and events to prepare for. The next month will certainly be a blur....but if all goes well, once mid May is reached, all will be planted and Sue and I can anticipate the harvest to come.

It turns out that the decision to say "goodbye" to the From The Vine seedling sales was well-timed, coinciding with such a challenging start. I like change, and it felt like it was time to simplify things a bit (though nothing feels particularly simple right now). I do think that this garden will be smaller, less complex, less ambitious than recent efforts...and that may end up being a good thing. I do worry about the increased squirrel population in our yard, and there are a few rabbits about. 

I am still trying to figure out how we can be moving into late April - when it feels like we just flipped the page into the year 2016.