Well, well, well. Do you know what vegetable plants really like? Water. Every morning it seems, especially when early summer temps soar into the 90′s. I was trying to keep them hydrated while ‘encouraging their roots to reach deep into the soil to encourage root growth.’ That seems to be the wrong approach when you have new plants that are residing in a good amount of peat moss and not too much else. We seem to be using the live and learn philosophy.
Everyone is looking better after the last few days of extra hydration and have started growing like crazy. It’s so much fun to watch! I feel like I have extra kids. Wonderful ones that are quiet, stay in one place and don’t make a mess, and feed ME for a change. 
Little Miss Katie cannot contain her excitement and squeals as only a 4 year old can when we go out in the morning to hang the clothes to dry and check the progress of the garden.
Yesterday we found the coolest thing!!! Our first tomato is ripening!
Commonplace for some of you. Massive achievement for us.
I also learned that ‘Red Robin’ tomato plants are a dwarf determinate cherry variety. In plain speak, they are teeny tiny bush-type plants and produce cherry tomatoes. That explains why they are so mini but have a bunch of small tomatoes already on them. I find it hilarious, because I couldn’t figure out why they were behaving so strangely. Where are my huge plants that need to be staked? I have chalked that one up to gardening mistake #327.
Tomato plant no. 2 made a better comeback than tomato plant no. 1 over the last few days. Tomato no. 1 still looks a bit more scraggly. I will amend the soil with more compost, add bone meal (hopefully homemade if that’s not a no-no), and cover with mulch as soon as they are in their permanent place. I said that like I actually know what I’m doing. For those of you harboring that misinformation, I don’t.
Hubby requested time off from work so we could take a mini-vacation up north next week for the holiday (4th of July). ‘Up north’ for you non-Michiganders is anywhere north of the middle of the state where most of us use as a getaway spot. Many people have property up there to get away from suburbia. It is BEAUTIFUL. Lush, often forested areas that wrap you in green splendor and explode with color during early autumn.
The best-hubby-ever agreed to stay home instead to let me get some major projects done. My two most important tasks are to take pictures and submit my kitchen for Cheeseslave’s Real Food Kitchen Tour series (so cool, right? I know!) and finish the garden to do list. I will finally move the rest of the compost from the pile to the garden, hand till it in with the peat moss and the rest of the soil hidden under all the peat moss, set up the square foot markers, and…plant the fall garden!
I will be able to salvage my first ever Organic Heirloom Garden with a full autumn harvest. If it grows. After a wonderful reader gave me the timeline of fall seed planting, two articles popped up and reinforced the decision to start this year instead of waiting for next, John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds and Keeper Of the Home’s It’s Not Too Late to Start a Garden.
Our little lone ‘Early Red’ bell pepper is growing too. The progress it has made in four short days is amazing. I don’t even need to circle it for you to see it anymore!
I posted a picture of the cucumber plants from four days ago and this morning’s just below them. I don’t have two of the same angle, but I think you can still see how much they have grown. It looks like at least an inch. We will measure all of the plants tomorrow and keep track as part of our homeschooling lesson and for the fun of it. I will build trellises once the plants are moved to their final home.
Are you a new gardener too or well experienced? If you are either, stick around to offer advice or stumble along with us as we become master gardeners!
This post is part of The Morristribe’s Homesteader Blog Carnival, Traditional Tuesdays, Fat Tuesdays, Tuesday Garden Party, and Homestead Barn Hop. Visit these wonderful blog hops and discover something new!
ok, my little gardener-in-training, be careful about adding compost to your ‘maters. It’s best to mix it into the soil b/c if it’s not fully broken down it could burn the plants. Bone meal you need to be careful with b/c it will draw critters to your yard & they will dig things up. You could also consider saving your egg shells, grinding them up really fine and digging those down in the soil. Tomatoes like the calcium (hence, the bone meal). If you haven’t bought any bone meal yet, try the egg shells. Both will draw critters if you’re sloppy with them, however. (dang, that was wordy!)
:scribble, scribble: mix compost in soil :scribble: eggshells (have to get from farmers or in-laws, since we’re egg-free) :scribble: watch for critters til fence is up. Thank you Oh Wise One. You rock lady!
Dorothy, thanks for the tip about the egg shells. I’ve been saving a bunch in my freezer with grand plans to use them in my garden, but no idea how fine to grind them or how to do it. Any recommendation on how to grind them?
Tilney, once they are dry you can either put them in the food processor or coffee/spice grinder until they are powder. If you are feeling very industrious, you can powder them in a mortar and pestle.
P.S. Jen, I am so jealous of your veggie garden! It’s looking great! My backyard is full shade…one year I attempted growing tomatoes in a spot that gets maybe 1 hour of dappled light each day. They grew big on the vine, but stayed green and hard as a rock for 3-4 months!
You think it looks great? I like you even more than I did before!
I can’t wait until the end of summer when the fall garden is going like gangbusters. That will be the fun stuff.
You could try to grow some things in the front yard or on the porch. I plan to replace the lawn over the coming years and mix some edibles in with the ornamentals. Our front flower box is where my herbs are, and our blueberry bushes are snuggled in there too as they grow.
There are some veggies that will grow in 3-6 hours of full sun too like lettuces. Take a look at different growing conditions and you can start to tucks some plants here and there around the house. Come homestead with me! Oh, and don’t forget Red Robin tomatoes if you want something small. lol
Jenifer, it’s so nice to meet you through the TGP (thanks for linking up!). I’m so glad you’re willing to learn how to grow your own food – it’s worth it, even when it is hard.
And there is a learning curve, so don’t get disappointed! Like, you’ve already learned to know your varieties. 
That’s one of the reasons I like to start things from seed.
My biggest suggestion would be regarding watering- I find that a combination of soaker hoses (or a drip irrigation system) and red or black plastic mulch for tomatoes and peppers helps to keep the soil evenly moist without the “feast or famine” cycle of hand watering. Plus, you’re not enslaved to daily holding the hose (or setting the sprinkler) over them. And it’s not good for tomato leaves to get wet, too. You can get a timer and make it even easier.
Also, be careful about adding one soil element at a time- it’s easy to do too much and mess up the balance. I find that my plants do well with a yearly addition of compost and an all-purpose organic fertilizer added at planting, plus maybe one more time during fruiting (if I’m really with it – which isn’t often!). If you’d like to make your own fertilizer, I’ve written Steve Solomon’s recipe (founder of Territorial Seed) at the end of my Organic Gardening Year-Around Checklist ( http://www.anoregoncottage.com/2009/05/organic-vegetable-garden-checklist.html ). You might find this helpful even though you live in MI – just adjust the dates according to your frost dates (which won’t be as off as if you were in, say, Alabama).
Well, I don’t want to overwhelm you, so I’ll leave you with that. If you have any other questions, I’d be happy to help, ’cause I love seeing others embark on gardening! And of course, I look forward to seeing your posts at more Tuesday Garden Parties.
Eek- I just realized I misspelled your name! Sorry, Jennifer. {blush}
Jami, no worries about the name.
Thank you so much for having me over at An Oregon Cottage! I am excited to share information with more experienced gardeners and see more of your beautiful home. As you can see, gardening is a new area for me. I have figured out the decorative plants and herbs and am now moving on to vegetable gardening and herbal foraging. It should be fun once I get a little more comfortable with it and get past most of the oopsies.
I will look into making our own soaker hoses for all three boxes. Everything has turned into a homeschool lesson recently.
It will definitely save us quite a bit of work and time when the full garden is planted! The tip on soil amendments is a good one too. I am still working on my initial mix. Sigh. I roto-tilled my soil, added peat moss, and still have to move the compost from my pile over to the garden to mix in. I will definitely try the fertilizer recipe! I love the idea of having a ready-made general recipe to start from that I can use in the whole garden. I would rather do that and tweak here and there for individual plants.
And feel free to overwhelm! I will look forward to your advice, so I can get some of my own food on the table for once!
I think whether you are new, experienced, or whatever….that the first vegetable or flower etc is still always exciting! I was thrilled to death to pick my first zucchini yesterday!
It really is Debra! I’m so happy to share the joy of new pursuits. It’s what makes blogging so wonderful. Congratulations on your first “baby” too!