Farmer: Sod Busted Daily

From Garden 2009

Today I "plowed under" all but three of the tomato plants and cleared the way for my yellow multiplier onions and French shallots. Most of the organic material I'd left in the garden, aside from the tomato plants and root balls, was easily chewed up and mixed in with the soil. I've been told, by an experienced tomato grower, that you should always remove the entire tomato vine roots and all to prevent disease which I have done.

I also added a bit of organic fertilizer to the salad greens, radishes and turnips. The turnips are start to look nice with the largest approximately the size of a racquetball. We continue to enjoy the first batch of radishes and the second crop is coming along nicely.

From Garden 2009

The weather is turning cool but the garden continues to produce. I full expect to keep harvesting tomatoes until the frost kills the last few plants. The radishes are a nice size now and I pulled a few of the larger ones for a sample, while the second crop continues to do nicely. I also, once again, thinned my turnips and selected around a pound of greens for the pot. The purple tops are really liking the organic fertilizer and I expect to have some super large ones in a month or two if we don't experience a hard freeze.

From Garden 2009

I'd previously sampled my fall lettuce crop, but today was the first harvest. I picked enough to fill a large Tupperware bowl and should have plenty of greens for the next few days. I also thinned the turnips and radishes and picked a few more tomatoes.

From Garden 2009

Today I harvested the last of the Purple Beauty sweet bell pepper. It was the second time around and some of the peppers were a bit deformed. Since we're only 25 days away from the first frost I decided to take them as they were since I doubt they will bulk up much more due to the cooler weather.

In other parts I thinned the radishes, which are looking quite nice. Resowed some mixed greens in the bare spots and tilled in some organic matter. Which brings me to my proud new addition of my very own "suburban tractor". I purchased a Troy-Bilt TB 144 4-cycle cultivator on super sale at the local Lowe's. I'd been eying this model for some time and managed to catch a nice price break during seasonal clearance.

The cultivator has a 6" depth and is much lighter than the beast I used to break ground earlier in the year. It also has an edger attachment which I'm largely inept with since I'm not a native suburbian and have always relied upon a string trimmer for edge work. Regardless the tiller is easy to use and perfect for the a small garden or plant beds.

The last item is the status of the straw bale garden. The Aunt Ruby tomatoes continue to produce, however two plants were at and end. I carefully removed the stakes and plants and discovered an interesting thing. Below the typical root ball near the surface where several very long, sometimes very thick roots. The roots reached the bottom of the straw bale and had many thin or fine branches. Obviously the loose composition of the straw bale allowed the plants to root more easily and this improved water uptake ability. I'd officially call the straw bales an all around success and have already planed for another one next season.