Balloon Fiesta is here and it's bloody cold

Mother nature always knows when Balloon Fiesta comes to town. The first week in October is always colder than the rest of October. Sunday night will be our first hard freeze of the Fall here in the mountains. They are predicting mid-20s here, which is always a couple of degrees high. It will be low-20s and the end of the tomato season.

I have been bringing the tomatillos in at night for the last couple of weeks. They are doing quite well. I hope to keep them going until the end of November. At that point, it will be so cold in the morning that I won't be able to put them out in the morning before work without the threat of freezing.

The Tomatillos Are Loaded With Fruit

The tomatillos are as prolific as I was led to believe. It might be a little hard to tell in this picture, but there are lots of fruits on each plant.

I've never grown tomatillos before and I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew what they looked like ripe at the grocery, but had no idea what the intermediate stages were like. This is my chance to figure it out.

Tomatoes are pretty easy to figure out: The blossom cluster forms, the blossoms open, the blossom self-pollinates, the sepals curl way back and the tomato fruit starts to grow. If the sepals don't curl back, then the flower probably didn't pollinate and the blossom will close, dry up
and fall off. Sometimes it doesn't pollinate, but it also doesn't close and fall off. These are interesting because the ovum tends to swell a little bit, but it doesn't really grow that much.

Tomatillos are harder to figure out. It's hard to tell how the fruits are progressing, because they are shrouded by a husk. The progression goes something like this: blossom forms, blossom opens, blossom pollinates from the other plant, blossom closes a little, the husk grows crazy fast and the rest is a mystery :) I hope the fruit is growing in there, but you can't tell.

The husks are very cool looking. I spotted one that looked like a little hot-air balloon - the dried up blossom looked like a little basket hanging down. It lost the basket and totally changed shape by the next day when I had the camera with me. The plant with the more vine-like growth has really great looking husks (left below). The other plant with the large leaves and more vertical growth has husks that aren't as variegated (right below).

But the nights are getting cold around here. We're looking at the low-40s for the rest of September and down into the low-30s the first week of October. I'm determined to get some ripe fruit off these plants. So I think my plan is to bring the tomatillos plants into the garage at night and put them out during the day.

Catching Up on the Tomatoes

It's been a while since I've written anything. There hasn't been much going on. Just eating tomatoes for lunch and making sauce.

I thought I was loosing tomatoes to BER after the Phoenix trip. The tomatoes were wilted and pretty sad looking when we got back. I did suffer some genuine BER, but I also got hit by some sort of bacteria or fungus. Here are some pics. Notice that it is throughout the fruit. I guess it would eventual take over the whole fruit.

I have tossed a lot of them. Some are OK when I cut them open. They go in the sauce pot. Haven't eaten any fresh.

Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with my first year. End of year summary coming soon.

My Tomatillo Plants Don't Look Related

These are my two tomatillo plants next to each other. Click to see them larger.


The left plant is very much a sprawling vine. If not for the cage, it would just sprawl on the ground. The plant on the right has thick stems and holds itself up. The leaves are the most striking difference. The sprawler has small medium green leaves and the other has large dark green leaves. Weird.

Hornworms Suck

What else is there to say? I caught a big one before he could eat the whole plant, but he ate most of the top half. Luckily, it was Celebrity #6 which is the straight bucket container and as a result is the smallest plant with the smallest fruit. On the other hand, I want some fruit off Celebrity #6, because it is the only straight bucket. Does that effect flavor?

And the wasp larva got a small one before he could even get started.


Here's the big one on a branch that has been stripped of leaves and a small fruit that was starting to blush.

So How Do They Taste?

So blogging and taking pictures and fawning over tomato plants is fun and all, but the whole point is tomato sandwiches. BLTs. Tomato and cheese. Just plain tomato on toast. That's what I'm talking about.

Early Girls are not that great. They go from hard to mealy. Not very sweet, but go pretty good with mayo. And the skin is annoyingly thick. If the tomatoes were truly early, I'd let the rest go. But they aren't that early. A week earlier than Celebrity and Big Boy? I'll probably try something else early next year.

Celebrities are pretty good. They are a little sweet. Not too juicy for a sandwich. The meat is tender and there aren't too many seeds. Really good on a BLT. These also get pretty big for the size of the plant. Pretty good 5 gallon container plant. Will probably plant a few next year and take better care of them.

Big Boys are pretty good too. A nice balance of acid and sugar. Kind of juicy, but not too bad. Based entirely on the name, I was expecting larger fruit. They remind me of the Jetstars that my Dad grows. Mmm, good.

Bigger Big Boys

I complained here that the Big Boys weren't very big. Well, as the season has progressed both the Early Girls and Big Boys are producing larger fruit. Nothing approaching 1 pound, but around 6 ounces. A decent slicer.

Don't Leave Your Container Tomatoes Alone for a Long Weekend

Pam and I had a great time in Denver. I didn't play golf, because I was recovering from a nerve injury. But I did get to walk the first few holes and watch the team. They placed third, so we won't be going to Portland for the nationals. We got to see Bert and Lisa and Tank, which was fun too.

But the tomatoes didn't have such a good time. I don't have any kind of automatic watering system. The containers were pretty dry when we got back Sunday night. The Early Girls and Big Boys were very wilted and slouching on the stakes. The Celebrities were also wilted and falling out of their cages. A very sad sight. A couple of the Celebs dropped small green fruit. They have all since recovered to one degree or another. All the blossoms have dried up and no new fruit has set in the past couple of weeks. It hasn't been that hot, so I don't think it's a problem of sterile pollen. I has been rather humid for a week or so. Maybe the pollen is clumping and won't pollinate. One of the Big Boys is having Blossom End Rot (BER) problems. All the fruits that were small when we were gone are showing BER. That's too bad, because I like the Big Boys best.

The Celebs are still looking rather haggered. They are semi-determinates, which I understand to mean that they will stay compact but produce until first frost. Looks like they may not make it to first frost.

Why call it Big Boy?

The first blush has shown itself on Big Boy #4. That's 73 days from transplant. These are small tomatoes. Not much bigger than Early Girl. 6oz at best.

Celebrity Blush

Those big beautiful Celebrity tomatoes have started to blush. That's 72 days from transplant. I sure hope they taste as good as they look. I'm looking forward to these. We'll be in Denver for a golf tournament this weekend, so I hope to come home to a BLT.

More Harvest

Picked the first fruit from Early Girl #2. It's still orange and ripening.


The first couple fruit from Early Girl #1 have ripened on the counter after a couple of days and we had our first bite of fresh tomato. The larger one was ok. A little mealy. The really small one (0.9 oz) was really bad.

The Harvest Begins

The first blush came on Early Girl #1 on July 20th. I picked the first two orange fruit today. I picked early in fear of birds. That's 66 days from transplant.

Beetle on my Tomatillos

I found this guy on my tomatillos.


I think it is this three-lined potato beetle.

Tomatillos

I got a really late start on the tomatillos. I think they were too old for transplant, but it seemed like a fun experiment. They were pretty sad looking after transplant. One came back very nicely and has lots of buds showing (first pics in the strips below). Another has been struggling along with a small amount of new growth and a couple of buds (middle in the strips below). The third is still looking pretty sad (last in the strips below). After transplant, all the leaves dried up, got crunchy and fell off. The stem was thick and healthy looking. A couple of days ago I was examining the stem and notice some new growth at the base of the stem. The new growth has since dried up. At last check, the stem was starting to wither. It can't be good.

Day of transplant


Today


Tomatillos are not self-pollinating like tomatoes, so I have to get at least two of these plants to bloom. The first plant has started to bloom. Some friendly flying critters would be helpful as well. To that end I am trying to figure out what is going on with the less happy pair.
The struggling middle plant and the stem are both in 5-gallon Self-Watering Containers (SWCs). The water reservoir was looking green, so I opened it up. The reservoir was green with stinky algae. I took the SWC with the struggling plant and converted it to a regular 5-gallon top watered container. 24 hours after repotting, the plant is looking good. Maybe I'll repot the stem tonight.

I've completely lost control...

...of the indeterminates. Having multiple stems has turned out to be a bigger problem than I first thought. I chose one stem as the main stem and trained it up the stake. To choose the main stem, I looked for the one that had the best shot of climbing the stake. Some of the secondary stems had some nice fruit on them, so I didn't completely remove the secondary stems. I did prune the growing tip out of the secondary stems and tied them up as much as I could. I had to use bamboo stakes on a couple of them. I was hoping to keep the extra stems from toppling over and keep the main stem cleaned up. But it didn't work out so well. A couple of the secondary stems broke off.

This one had a decent sized fruit on it, so I couldn't bring myself to prune off the whole stem. Also notice that all the leaves on this stem are curled and leathery. Probably stress related, but I'm not sure if it's the excess water mentioned here or if it's something else.

You can see here that the stem broke and then scarred over.

Tomato Lessons Learned - Early Summer

The fruit is setting and the indeterminates are growing out of control. A couple of more lessons learned.

1. The Early Girls are happy to set fruit even when there is a large swing between day and night temps. Don't get me wrong - they set better once the temps stabilize, but it's sure is nice to see some small fruit in mid-June.
   
2. The Early Girls are significantly earlier than the Big Boy and Celebrity varieties. The Early Girls are loaded up with nice medium sized fruit. The others are playing catching up.
3. The Early Girl fruits start to grow very quickly once the flowers are pollinated. Maybe this is why they are earlier than the other varieties.
   
4. It's a completely unscientific experiment, but the Celebrities seem to be just as happy in a 4 gallon SWC as in a 5 gallon SWC. This doesn't say anything about whether they would be happier in an 18 gallon SWC. Here happiness is defined as producing lots of flowers, setting fruit and growing that fruit without catfacing/BER problems.
   
5. In a similarly unscientific experiment, the Celebrity in the regular 5 gallon bucket (not an SWC) is not unhappy, but is not as happy as the ones in the SWCs.
6. I said it last time, but it bears repeating: If your seedling has more than one main stem, trim it back to one. It will only lead to trouble.
   
7. Don't buy the last three crappy looking tomatillos and transplant them at the end of June. It's just too late.

Miracle Grow with Moisture Control holds too much water

I noticed that the potting mix had settled and was no longer mounded at the top. Since the monsoons will be starting a couple of weeks, I thought now would be a good time to add some more potting mix. If the potting mix isn't mounded, then water can collect on top of the plastic mulch and effectively top water. This can cause too much of the fertilizer strip to dissolve and over fertilize. I have also noticed that the Big Boys have symptoms of Leaf Roll (not Leaf Curl) and the lower leaves are yellowing/browning. This isn't much of a problem with the Early Girls (same 18gal EarthTainer) or the Celebrities (5gal SWC). One possible cause is too little water or too much water, so while I had the boxes open I checked the moisture levels. The potting mix was more than moist or damp, but not wet. It was the same in all the 18 gallon SWCs and the buckets. I can't know for sure, but I blame the Moisture Control. I'm using 50% Miracle Grow Potting Mix with Moisture Control and 50% regular Miracle Grow Potting Mix. I have read other reports that the Moisture Control formula wicks and holds too much water for SWCs. I'll phase it out over time by mixing in more regular potting mix at the beginning of each season.

More Desert Beauty

After the last post, I decided to start a new series about the beauty of the desert. It will probably revolve around the beauty I find around our house. We'll see how far it gets. All the posts will be labeled "desert beauty".

I was out admiring my tomatoes again this afternoon and I found a couple more beauties.


This is a beauty to be. When the flowers open, I'll try to get another shot. It can be tough though, because desert beauty doesn't last very long. The yellow beauty was shriveled up the next day and fully closed today.

Desert Beauty

I love living in New Mexico. The weather is awesome. There aren't a million people getting in my way on my drive to work. And I don't have a lawn. 2 acres and not of a blade of Fescue or Kentucky Blue. People spend tons of time and money trying to grow grass around here. Why? I cut grass my whole life. What a pain in the ass. I'm surely not going to work to grow grass, so I can turn around and spend my weekend cutting grass. Screw that. Besides it's not like I have some HOA nazis forcing me to grow grass.
Despite what the east coasters think, it's not brown here. It's just a different shade of green. Here are some pics of the yard around here.


It's all natural. If you're not a tomato plant, you better take care of yourself. I will not provide aide and comfort to freeloaders.
While I was out comforting my tomato plants this evening, I caught a flash of bright yellow out of the corner of my eye. It was this beauty.

While I'm Waiting...

While I'm waiting for that first bite of tomatoey goodness, I've started planning for next year. I've learned a lot this first year. One of the most interesting things, I've learned it that there are more than 1000 varieties of tomato. And they are not all red. Who knew? In addition to red ones, there are black ones, green ones, yellow/orange ones, pink ones and striped ones. And there are giant ones that regularly produce fruit in the 2-3 pound range.

I've started gathering recommendations on GardenWeb. There are lots of opinions, but after reading many posts some trends start to surface. Here's my list so far. In each category, I have listed the varieties in order of preference (most desired first).

Giant tomatoes are the thing of dreams. Can you really grow a 7 pound tomato? If you want to give it a try, you have to start with a variety that has the genetics to make it possible. 4 pound Big Zacs are not uncommon. Here's what I'm considering.

1. Big Zac
2. Omar's Lebanese (introduced by Dr. Carolyn Male)
3. Porterhouse
   

Red tomatoes (these are mostly beefsteak) don't have to be run of the mill. These get high marks for both poundage and flavor. I'm growing Big Boy this season. If it does well, it may move up the list.

1. Neves Azorean Red (introduced by Dr. Carolyn Male)
2. Earl's Faux (Red Brandywine)
3. Jetstar (hybrid - recommended by Dr. Carolyn Male)
4. Supersonic (hybrid - recommended by Dr. Carolyn Male)
5. Big Boy (hybrid)
6. Mortgage Lifter
7. Big Beef (hybrid)
8. Beef Master (hybrid)
9. Brandy Boy (hybrid)

Now things get interesting. Black tomatoes. Some are a bit more purple than black. Either way they look very interesting sliced a plate. I'm in for at least two of these varieties.

1. Carbon (larger than Nyagous)
2. Nyagous (more poundage than Carbon)
3. Cherokee Purple
4. Black Krim

Pink tomatoes are like reds except the skin is clear, so the color comes from the meat of the tomato.

1. Arkansas Traveler

How do you know when a green tomato is ripe? It doesn't change color. Some of them develop stripes of a different shade when they are ripe. Others just have to be squeezed.

1. Aunt Ruby's German Green

Yellow/Orange tomatoes are supposed to have a sweeter, less acidic, fruity flavor.

1. Kellogg's Breakfast
2. Aunt Gertie's Gold
3. Pineapple

And every tomato addict needs at least one early variety to feed the hunger until the mid-season varieties come through.

1. Big New Dwarf
2. Early Girl
   

Here's my problem - I can't just buy a few seeds of each. Seeds come in 20-30 count packets for $2.50 to $3.00 per packet. Or I could buy plants from a place like The Tasteful Garden, but they are way more expensive and I'm not excited about the prospect of plants shipped through the mail. Seeds last a few years, so I can just start a few of each and keep the rest for the next year. And I could send a few of each to my Dad. He might enjoy a few gardening experiments.

If nothing else, I have plenty of time to decide which varieties and how to get the seeds.

Still Waiting...

The same Early Girl mentioned here now has more than 6 fruits. The other Early Girl has a few flower clusters, but no fruit. Along with the 2 Big Boys, it is dropping blossoms. We had a few cold nights last week, which might be contributing. It was very warm over the weekend and will continue to be warm this week. Hopefully, that will help. The 4 Celebrity's have a few blossom clusters each, but no fruit yet.

No sign of the Ruby Queen yet. It's only been in the ground 12 days, so it may still come up. There are no signs of critters digging in the bed, so I believe the seeds are still there.

Pioneer DEH-5000UB Car Stereo Install

(Original Install: 5 Apr 2008)
It has been a few years since I have done an aftermarket radio install, so I was a little concerned. The Crutchfield installation instructions for Pam's 2005 Honda CRV are spot on. It was not nearly as difficult as I had expected. The pictures made it clear how to properly remove the faceplate. There is a warning regarding the airbag sensor coming on after installation, but I didn't have any problems.

Disclaimer: Pam and I are not part of the iPod generation. I still use a 2nd gen Nano and my wife still uses a 1st gen Nano. Neither of us plan to upgrade until we must. We buy and listen to these shiny discs called CDs.

The DEH-5000UB has three key features - USB/iPod control, AUX input and optional XM receiver (currently free after rebate).

1. AUX input - a basic 1/8" stereo mini headphone input. Works great. You have to turn the iPod volume all the way up. The AUX input on my F150 factory headunit is the same way. I think it's typical.
2. MP3 CDs - What can I say? Burn a bunch of files and/or folders to a CD-R, insert, play. The up/down buttons change the folder, left/right changes tracks or FF/REW (if held down). The Display button switches between a bunch of combinations of track info. Very complete. Not complicated. Works great.
3. USB with memory stick - Works great with a 4gig Kingston DataTraveler. With the USB stick, you just plug it in and it automatically switches the source to the USB input. The up/down buttons change the folder, left/right changes tracks or FF/REW (if held down). The Display button switches between a bunch of combinations of track info. Very complete. Not complicated. Works great. Like many CE devices that play from a USB stick, the tracks are played in the order that they are copied to the stick. If you want to sort them alphabetically (critical for audiobooks), get a small utility called DriveSort (http://www.anerty.net/software/file/DriveSort.php). When you change the source away from the USB stick or turn the car off, then return to the USB source it picks up right where you left off. This is great if you are listening to an audiobook. The root directory is directory #0 followed by the rest of the directories in the order they were added. DriveSort will sort the directories as well. The easiest way to use DriveSort is configure it to sort all directories and subdirectories. Then you just open the stick, click Sort, click Save and you are done. The List button shows a list of the current directory contents. Scroll through the list and pick a directory or song.
4. USB iPod control - works great with both 1st and 2nd generation Nanos. You can only control these particular iPods from the headunit. When the iPod is plugged in, the iPod gets charged just like when the iPod is docked on your computer. If you were listening to your iPod before plugging it in, it picks up were you left off. However when you disconnect the iPod, it goes back to the Main menu. The Now Playing menu option is available so you can get back to the track you were listening to, but it forgets where you were in the menu structure. Because of this, we will probably use the USB stick more than the iPod. For iPod playback, we will probably use the AUX input. I did some experimenting anyway and here are the results. If you are listening to your iPod and switch to the another source or turn off the car, disconnect the iPod and later reconnect the iPod, the HU will remember the last track and position. Pressing the List button gives you the top level iPod menu (Playlists, Artists, Albums, etc). Using the up/down buttons or turning the dial will scroll through the menu. Enter (or Center push) will select the menu item on the top line of the 2-line display. The left/right buttons change tracks or FF/Rew, just like the playing a mp3 CD or memory stick. If the iPod is plugged in and the ignition is turned off, the iPod disconnects and turns off in the usual amount of time. iPod battery drain shouldn't be a problem like some have reported with other headunits.
5. XM Receiver - The CRV already had a SkyFi2 installed, but all the extra wires and the mediocre FM modulation really prompted this headunit upgrade. The XM option for the DEH-5000UB is the Terk XM receiver(XMD1000)+Pioneer adapter(XMDPIO110). I read a lot of complaints about the unit on other websites, but I haven't had any trouble with this one yet. And besides, it's free after rebate. There is no way to directly access a channel (no number keys on the remote). Scrolling through all the channels to setup your presets is painful. There are 18 presets. The display options are also pretty limited. The display button switches between Artist/Track Name/Category. Only one shows at a time, because the top line of the two line display always says XM Tuner. The USB input has lots of combinations for display. I had already installed the XM antenna for the SkyFi2 and assumed it would work with the Terk receiver. The Terk receiver and antenna have a purple plastic clip that surrounds the real connector. The real connector looked just like one on the existing antenna, so I trimmed back the purple plastic on the receiver just enough and the existing antenna fit right in. No problems. The sensitivity of the receiver seems comparable to the SkyFi2, which I think is great. I haven't figured out a way to see the signal strength, but I manage to get a signal inside the garage with the door shut.
   

Cool Crutchfield Bonuses:

1. The factory headunit is double DIN. The (free from Crutchfield) installation package that came with the unit has a small cubby hole underneath the opening for the Pioneer that is perfect for coiling up USB and AUX extension cables. Drill a 3/4" hole in the back and feed them through.
2. The (free from Crutchfield) installation package that came with the unit allows for ISO (instead of DIN) mounting. This is a huge bonus for stability after installation.
   

Annoyances:

1. You have to pick between showing the clock and the info related to the current source.
2. The Terk XM receiver+adapter is really big. And the cables are bulky. The cables are just short enough that they won't reach under the seat. On the other hand, they are too long to bundle up and hide behind the dash.
   

Install Updates:

1. XM Update 1 (21Apr2008): It's been a few weeks since the initial install and I still haven't found a good place to put the XM receiver+adapter. I sent Crutchfield tech support an email requesting additional info about disassembly of the CRV dash. They responded quickly with the info.
2. XM Update 2 (27May2008): Still haven't tried to find a better install location for the XM unit. But the XM unit isn't working. A little investigation showed that the fuse holder for the XM unit behind the dash cracked and couldn't hold the fuse securely. Probably my fault. I think I had it in an odd position that put stress on it at the point where the two halves twist together. I'll have to pickup a new one at Radio Shack.
3. XM Update 3 (14Jun2008): Bought the new fuse holder at Radio Shack yesterday. Installed this morning. No problems. I taped everything real good and made sure the wiring harness is in a good place.
   

EarthTainer Lessons Learned - Part 1

I like the DIY EarthTainer. I like it a lot. It does a very good job of maintaining consistent moisture levels even on hot, dry, windy Albuquerque Spring days. I hope it continues to satisfy as we go into the blazing hot summer. There are a couple of things I've learned.

1. The screen that separates the soil from the water reservoir needs to be supported as close to the edge as possible. Otherwise, the weight of the moist soil will cause the edges to sag and possibly block the overflow hole.
2. The potting mix will settle as it moistens. Keep extra on hand to top-off.
3. Before you plant or place the fertilizer strip, mix a small amount of fertilizer, epsom salts and garden lime into the top third of the potting mix.
   
4. Planet-Friendly Totes from Lowes are 99% post consumer product. Great for the environment, great for holding solids, not so great for holding liquids. One of mine leaks. So I lined all of mine with large contractor trash bags. I also put a folded up trash bag on the bottom before I put the screen in. I don't know how puncture resistant the trash bags are, but I figure the extra layers will keep the screen supports or fill tube from wearing a hole in the liner. The downside is figuring out the overflows. I pushed the liner through the overflow holes and trimmed off a little bit of liner. The hard part is keeping the liner from pulling back inside the tote. Still working on this.
5. I pulled out the 54" cages from Lowes in favor of stakes. In retrospect, I don't think it was such a great idea. The cages were pretty solidly anchored in the screen. I don't think they will tip that easily. Next season, I'll use cages and recycle the 1/2" EMT as stakes to secure the EarthTainers.
6. If you want to use stakes that are driven into the ground, don't center the plant in the EarthTainer. Put the plant near the edge, so it is easy to train up the stake.
7. I might try to build an internal staking system from 1" PVC. Or I might try a PVC cage like the one pictured here. Or I could create a trellis like this with clips like this. Or the trellis could be used to do a Florida Weave. Or I could just use the cages :)
8. Plant deep! Solid root development is critical!
   

Tomato Lessons Learned - The Early Season

After last year's disaster with the Bush Goliath, I decided that this year I would grow tomatoes in containers where I can control the soil, fertilizer and water. After hours of reading, I still didn't get it all right. Here's what I learned about the early part of the season.

1. Keep better track of expenditures. I do it for fun and great tasting, Salmonella-free tomatoes, but I like to know how much I paid for all the gear.
   
2. Keep better track of dates. Seedling purchase, pot up, transplant, etc.
   
3. After the seedlings have made it passed the cell pack stage, put each seedling in its own pot. This seems obvious now, but I didn't realize how fast the roots would grow. I put 27 seedlings in an 18 gallon EarthTainer. In 4 weeks when it was time to transplant, the roots had spread through the entire container. More importantly, the root had gotten intertwined and it was a pain separate them. In the process of separating them, there was lots of root damage. Probably set back growth significantly.
4. When the seedling goes in the pot, only fill the pot 1/3 full of potting mix. As the seedling grows, add more potting mix. This encourages a strong root system.
   
5. Indeterminates with multiple stems are bad in two ways. First, the plant spends lots of energy maintaining multiple stems. Second and probably more important, it makes managing the growth way more difficult. Each stem should have it's own stake or the cage is much more dense. They are basically suckers that grow right out of the ground. If the seedlings show multiple stems, prune back to a single stem.
   

Check back later for Mid-Season and Late-Season Lessons.

The Ambrosia is Gone

Something ate all the Ambrosia sprouts. I don't know if it was large or small. If the Ruby Queen sprouts, I'll have to put some cages around it.

Let the Counting Begin

I went out to check the plants this morning. One of the Early Girls has a couple of very small fruits on it. These Early Girls claim to be 55 days from transplant to first fruit. These plants were planted out on 18 May. Today is 25 days. 30 days to go. Not much chance of getting fruit by July 4th. More like the 10th or 12th of July.

Great Expectations

I got a little concerned about the stability of the cages to support my indeterminates. So I stopped by the Home Depot to see what I could find to use as stakes. I wanted at least 4 feet above the top of the EarthTainers. The EarthTainers are about 18" high. And I figure I'd drive them about 24" in the ground. So I was looking for something on the order of 8'. Not much to be found at 8'. On the short side are things like T-posts, which are 6' long. On the long side you have things like EMT conduit at 10'. I picked up 4 lengths of 1/2" EMT. Cheap at $2.77 per piece.

So I moved the cages to the buckets that have the determinates and commenced to drive the EMT. The first 18" went pretty well. The remaining 6" caused the pipe to bend in kind of an S shape. I wound up with 2 S shaped stakes and 2 that are pretty straight. If there's a next time I'll have Pam hold the middle section of the pipe so it doesn't flex when I hit it with the post driver. That should help deliver all the force to the ground.



Tying plants to the EMT is a little interesting, because it's slick and the cotton strips don't have anything to grip. Very low friction compared to say a cedar stake. But I'm a geek and have tons of cable ties. So I put a cable tie around the pole and under the tie. Clamped it down real tight so it won't slip down and so far it works great.

Planted Ruby Queen Today

Made 4 pairs of furrows - 3 with 4 mounds, 1 with 3 mounds. Expecting germination by 18 June. Expecting to pick a few ears by the end of August.

Bad news - no transplant

When I went to transplant, I discovered that my errant seedlings were Ruby Queen not Ambrosia. So I'm stuck with 4 Ambrosia mounds. Hardly worth it, but I don't have another use for the plot so I'll leave them be.

Corn transplant looking likely

There is more corn sprouted in the old spot than in the new. Hmm. We are going out of town this weekend. If we get back on time on Sunday and there aren't many sprouts in the new area, I'll transplant. Then plant the Ruby Queen in the old spot. The old spots total area is larger, so I expect to plant 8 rows, 4 mounds each.

All tomato transplants looking healthy

It been real windy here for the past week. The other day the plants looked really beat up. Drooping is probably the best way to describe them. I fashioned some individual wind blocks around them and they have gotten much better.

I packaged up the remaining plants for coworkers and friends. All should have good homes by the weekend. I had a single 5 gallon bucket and some potting mix left over so I planted one more Celebrity. The tomatoes are all taken care of for this year.

Pam noticed the corn seedlings and wasn't impressed

Pam has informed me that if we decide to move we can't sell the house with all my gardening projects in the backyard. Particularly, the stand of corn which is right outside the back door, near the hottub. I guess they are a bit unsightly. If we decide to sell the house, the gardening projects don't matter anyway, because we'll be too busy to tend to a garden.

It sure got cold here

It's been cloudy and raining here for a couple of days. They are predicting freezing temps and possible snow in the area. Pam and I brought all the plants into the garage. I'll probably keep them close to the house for the time being - even after this cold snap clears out. Too much hassle to haul these EarthTainers around on a dolly.

The Ambrosia has sprouted

The Ambrosia corn has sprouted. Some in the new spot and some in the old. Actually, there are quite a few in the old spot. At this point, it looks like I'll be transplanting some of my Ambrosia seedlings.

It's time, it's time!

I think I'm past any chance of frost, so I planted my containers.



I found a PDF file that describes how to build a few different types of EarthTainers. I wound up with 4 of the 18 gallon tote style (design 3 on page 18) and 3 of the 5 gallon bucket style (design 1 on page 9).

The 2 on the right have Early Girls (indeterminate), the 2 in the middle are Big Boy (indeterminate) and the 3 on the left are Celebrity (determinate). Since the Celebrities are determinate, they should be pretty bush like so I didn't put in the cages.

I made a mistake when I put all 27 seedlings in an 18 gallon tote. I didn't think they would be in there so long, but they were. They grew quite well. Maybe even too well. When I went to transplant them, the roots had spread through the entire container. There were lots of broken roots left in the potting mix. Next year I'll know better and pot up into individual containers.

The Early Girls didn't take to being transplanted very well. Very wilted. They took nearly the whole day to stand back up. Some of the leaves are completely dried out and crispy. I have lots of extra plants, so if any of the plants don't look too good after a couple of days I'll plant a couple of the others.

Had to replant the Ambrosia

Today I unplanted the Ambrosia corn . I decided to move the Ambrosia, because I wasn't making very good use of the space. I dug up as many of the seeds as I could find, but I know I missed some. If they sprout and I don't get enough in the new spot, I'll try the dreaded transplant. If I get good germination in the new spot, I'll just pull the errant sprouts. Good news, the new planting of Ambrosia is 3 feet from the Ruby Queen, so I have increased my separation by 1 foot and decreased the chances of cross polination by 0.00000000001 percent :)

The new planting is 2 rows, 4 mounds plus 2 rows, 3 mounds each.

2008 Corn: First Planting of Ambrosia

Today I planted the Ambrosia corn. 4 rows, 6 mounds, 4 seeds each. I still have a bunch of seeds left.

I think I'll plant some corn too.

I was at the Lowes today for something unrelated and wandered out into the garden center. Seeds intrigue me. Very small seedlings cost a few dollars for a 9 plants. That's not too bad. Larger seedlings cost $3-$10 each. I just can't brig myself to pay that. The whole point of growing your own is to save some money. A package of seeds goes for $1-$2 and there are many (>20) seeds in a package. And there are some plants that just don't transplant well. Corn is one of those plants. If a corn plants root system is damaged, it doesn't recover very well. In addition to the usual roots that grow near the surface, the small plant sends out a tap root shortly after germination. Any roots that are damaged during transplant (including the single tap root) won't grow, so if you are going to transplant you have to do it when the plants are still very small. And besides, corn has a very high germination rate if you wait til the soil is nice and warm.

So I bought two packs of Burpee's sugar enhanced corn. I grew up with Burpee's Silver Queen, but they didn't have any of that. I bought 1 pack of Burpee's Ambrosia, which is an 18 row white/yellow hybrid. The other pack is Burpee's Ruby Queen. It is supposed to be like Silver Queen, except the kernels are a nice ruby red color. Each pack was < $2. Nice.

After I bought my 2 packs of corn, I was investigating when to plant. During this time, the obvious became obvious to me. If you plant to different varieties of corn close to each other (where close is <600 yards), there is a pretty good chance of cross pollination. The closer together the higher the chance. Duh! My two varieties will be about 2 feet apart. Hmm. The solution seems to be to stagger the planting. Corn is generally fertile for about 2 weeks. So if the second planting goes in 3 weeks after the first planting, I won't get any cross pollination. To help my chances, I'll wait til all of my first planting sprouts or June 1st, which ever come first.

Getting the Nutrients Just Right

Successfully growing tomatoes in containers means plenty of water and the proper balance of nutrients. EarthTainers (aka self-watering containers (SWC)) take care of the water. Nutrients is another thing. Miracle Grow potting mix contains a very generic set of nutrients (0.21-0.07-0.14). Too much nitrogen causes tomatoes to grow fast (good), but the resulting plant will be all foliage and little fruit. To grow abundant fruit, the tomato plant needs plenty of phosphorus. A lack of calcium causes blossom end rot (BER), so a supplement like garden lime is required. To provide some of the other micro-nutrients, I'll add some Epsom salts.

The EarthTainer system uses a band of fertilizer that is placed opposite the plant and 1"-2" below the surface. Over the course of the growing season the fertilizer will slowly dissolve and disperse through the container.

Colorburst fertilizer has a nice balance for growing tomatoes (15-30-15). I'll use 1 cup of that plus 1/2 cup each of Epsom salts and garden lime.

Where have all the Roughnecks gone?

I couldn't find any real Rubbermaid Roughnecks, which are far and away the best of the storage totes. Sterilite makes a decent clear tote, but the rest are cheap knock-offs. I drove around today looking for Roughnecks and there aren't any to be had. I found some 18 gallon "Planet Friendly" totes at Lowes. They're made of 99% post consumer product, seem pretty strong and at $4.47 each they are in my price range.

I picked up some other components including 1.5" black ABS pipe, perforated pipe, 54" tomato cages and some Miracle Grow with Moisture Control potting mix. The Moisture Control formula has coconut coir (shredded husk?) in it that is supposed to increase moisture retention without being soggy. Time will tell.

EarthTainers are way cooler than a TopsyTurvys

After I bought tomato plants yesterday, I started investigating Do-It-Yourself upside-down planters. www.gardenweb.com is a great resource for gardening information. After coming to the conclusion that upside-down ain't so great, I started looking at alternatives. The most interesting is the EarthTainer. I'm going to base my EarthTainers on the designed layout in a message by dennisj550 in this thread on gardenweb. It minimizes the construction expense, because you only need one Roughneck.

Pam is going out of town this weekend, so I'm going shopping!

It's Spring! I should grow something!

Last year I was wandering through the Home Depot garden center and decided I was going to grow some tomatoes. It didn't turn out, so great.

The other night I was watching TV and saw an ad for those upside-down tomato planters. $19.95 plus shipping. It got me thinking that I could build my own for way less. More importantly, it got me in the mood to start preparing a garden.

I was back at the Home Depot garden center today looking at tomato plants. Large plants are around $5 each. And it's not even close to a safe time to plant out. In this area, it's at least 6 weeks til it's safe to plant. But they had 9 packs of small seedlings for $2.98. Now we're talking. The plants are much more affordable and I can satisfy my need to grow something.

I picked up 3 varieties - Early Girl, Celebrity and Burpee's Big Boy. The Early Girl is an indeterminate and is supposed to ripen faster than a mid-season (50 days from transplant). The other two are mid-season varieties with Celebrity being a determinate and the Burpee's Big Boy being an indeterminate.

Let the growing begin!

2007 F150 Mileage Update

I've been tracking the gas mileage of my new F150. It has the 5.4L Triton V8, so I wasn't expecting that much. So far, I'm pretty happy. I drive pretty much the same route everyday, so I don't know where the outliers (18 and 17.6 MPG) came from. The overall mileage is inline with reports I found on the internet while researching trucks.

Date	Odometer	Gallons	MPG	Overall
08/30/07	19.6
09/28/07	341.7	19.402	16.601	16.601
11/02/07	574.0	12.843	18.088	17.193
11/07/07	754.4	11.894	15.167	16.647
11/14/07	964.2	11.924	17.595	16.849
11/15/07	1031.4	4.637	14.492	16.669
11/21/07	1248.4	12.886	16.840	16.699
11/28/07	1612.9	22.156	16.452	16.642
12/21/07	1888.3	17.743	15.522	16.466
12/24/07	2033.8	5.704
12/28/07	2206.7	14.819	15.514	16.321

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

I've started toying with a Dark Chocolate Ice Cream recipe. I haven't perfected it yet, but I'm having fun trying. Here is how it stands for now.

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

1	qt	Half and Half
8	oz	Unsweetened baking chocolate (may need to up this to 12oz)
3/4	c	egg yolks (about 10 egg yolks)
1	c	granulated sugar
1	c	Hershey's cocoa powder

Place the sugar, eggs and cocoa powder in a stand mixer and whip for the whole time that it takes to scald the cream. The eggs will get very light and fluffy. If the egg mixture seems a little thick and it is not getting fluffy, add a couple tablespoons of cream to the mixture. While the eggs are whipping, place the cream and baking chocolate in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. Whisk constantly until the chocolate melts. After the chocolate melts, wait for the cream to scald (wait for small bubbles to form around the sides, but don't simmer or boil), stirring frequently.

When the cream is ready, turn the mixer down to low. Rigorously, whisk the cream mixture to ensure the chocolate is incorporated. Very slowly drizzle 1 cup of the hot cream into the eggs. If you do this very slowly, the eggs won't scramble. Add another cup of cream to the eggs. At this point the eggs should be very warm. You can safely add the rest of the cream. Make sure it is all thoroughly mixed.

Cover the mixture and place in the refrigerator. Chill to at least 40F. Follow your ice cream maker's instructions for freezing.

This recipe is based on this recipe from chef David Blaine's blog.

Peppermint Ice Cream

The Christmas season is the perfect time of year for all things peppermint. I think it's all those Christmas candy canes, we eat as kids. Every year I make a batch of peppermint ice cream in mid-December. It usually lasts until New Year's.

Peppermint Ice Cream

1	qt	Half and Half
3/4	c	egg yolks (about 10 egg yolks)
3/4	c	granulated sugar
1 1/2	c	peppermint candies, crushed

Place the sugar and eggs in a stand mixer and whip for the whole time that it takes to scald the cream. The eggs will get very light and fluffy. While the eggs are whipping, place the cream and 3/4 cup peppermint candies in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. Stir frequently until the candies dissolve. After the candies dissolve, wait for the cream to scald (wait for small bubbles to form around the sides, but don't simmer or boil).

When the cream is ready, turn the mixer down to low. Very slowly drizzle 1 cup of the hot cream into the eggs. If you do this very slowly, the eggs won't scramble. Add another cup of cream to the eggs. At this point the eggs should be very warm. You can safely add the rest of the cream. Make sure it is all thoroughly mixed.

Cover the mixture and place in the refrigerator. Chill to at least 40F. Follow your ice cream maker's instructions for freezing. When the ice cream is almost ready, add the remaining 3/4 cup peppermint candies. Don't let the ice cream maker go for too long or the candies will begin to dissolve.

This recipe is based on this recipe from chef David Blaine's blog.

Bourbon Ice Cream

Have you ever sat there at the Thanksgiving table with a slice of pecan pie and thought, "This could use some bourbon." But pouring a shot of bourbon over your pie will likely overwhelm the pecans. You need that great bourbon flavor without being too strong. Ice cream is the answer.

Bourbon Ice Cream

1	qt	Half and Half
3/4	c	egg yolks (about 10 egg yolks)
3/4	c	granulated sugar
3/4	c	brown sugar
1/2	c	Maker's Mark Bourbon

Place the sugars and eggs in a stand mixer and whip for the whole time that it takes to scald the cream. The eggs will get very light and fluffy. While the eggs are whipping, place the cream in a sauce pan over medium-low heat and scald (wait for small bubbles to form around the sides, but don't simmer or boil).

When the cream is ready, turn the mixer down to low. Very slowly drizzle 1 cup of the hot cream into the eggs. If you do this very slowly, the eggs won't scramble. Add another cup of cream to the eggs. At this point the eggs should be very warm. You can safely add the rest of the cream and the bourbon. Make sure it is all thoroughly mixed.

Cover the mixture and place in the refrigerator. Chill to at least 40F. Follow your ice cream maker's instructions for freezing.

This recipe is based on this recipe from chef David Blaine's blog. I mostly adjusted proportions for my ice cream maker.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

I don't know anyone who doesn't like ice cream. Even in the winter when it's cold outside, people eat ice cream. There is lots of good commercial ice cream out there - Breyer's, Haagen-Dazs, Ben & Jerry's, Cold Stone. They're all good and have some wacky flavors (Cold Stone's Cake Batter, for instance) that I would never make at home, because they are a little too niche. Don't get me wrong, I really like Cold Stone's Cake Batter, but mostly with other stuff mixed in. But the basics and some not so basic flavors can be found in my freezer year round.

I've tried lots of recipes from lots of sources. Books, magazines and websites. There are lots of good ones. They fall into two categories - custard-style (with eggs) and Philadelphia-style (without eggs). I like the custard-style, because it won't turn icy when you churn it. You do have to be careful that you don't scramble the eggs, but with a bit of practice you'll get the hang of it. And you can always put the base through a strainer if you have a little trouble tempering the eggs.

I found an ice cream base that I really like on a chef's blog called From the Back Kitchen. This is a bourbon ice cream recipe that I started tweaking when I wanted bourbon ice cream for Thanksgiving. So most of the credit goes to chef David Blane.

And the last thing you need is an ice cream maker. I have a Cuisinart ICE-20 1.5qt ice cream maker that is great. I bought a second bowl, so I can make two batches at a time. But I have recently seen a combo pack at William Sonoma that has an extra freezer bowl included for free. Check it out if you're in the market.

Each recipe will go in a separate post so they can be linked to separately.