Onions

My son recently had a garden onion taste testing. We planted four different onion varieties, red, candy, white, and shallot; with only three shallots planted, I wouldn’t let him pick one. He devoured an entire candy onion announcing its flavor to be as sweet as its name; it did not have an overpowering aroma or taste. Next he tasted a red onion, declaring it less sweet than its candy relative but still not strong enough to keep him from eating the whole onion. Lastly, a white onion was picked, peeled, and slightly nibbled; it had a pungent aroma, sharp and spicy flavor with a tangy aftertaste and made my son’s face contort into all sorts of silly ways. “You can have this one mom,” he said.

I don’t have room in my yard for traditional composting, but I do have worms that work faster than any other composting method I’ve previously used. Believing that organic sustainability does not have to cost a lot of money, I made two worm bins using large storage totes with lids. Holes were drilled around the top 4 inches of a container as well as throughout the bottom; in another bin, I put two bricks on the bottom to allow for drainage and put the drilled bin on top so it nest inside leaving at least the top 4 inches exposed; this ensures an oxygen flow that worms need to survive. I then filled the top container with a mixture of grass clippings, last year’s leaves, a handful of sand, a handful of dirt, some leaf hummus and kitchen scraps (again, no animal matter, oil, ads or construction paper.) Mix it all up, add 500 red wigglers, and watch the wonderful power of worms. Known as vermiculture, composting organically with worms reduces waste. Feed your worms at a 2:1 ratio. One pound of worms will consume ½ pound of organic waste per day. After tunneling though the loose mixture and eating whatever else you feed them, they leave behind castings (AKA worm poop). You could use castings as an addition to your potting soil; about 20% worm castings added to whatever else you normally use should show significant results. Usually I just add a light layer to the garden's topsoil allowing rainwater to work it further down.

Today, I spread one bucket of worms (both red wigglers and young night crawlers)along with their castings and fresh compost to my garden. Last Monday, I released approx. 100 worms along with food scraps and a nice layer of partially decomposed leaves. I'm really working on the new soil of our community garden plot. It still needs much amending; at least that's what my tomatoes are telling me.

Middle 7-1-10

West 7-1-10

East 7-1-10

More tomatoes

Tomatoes; how many will each plant produce? How long does their growing season last? To answer these questions, start by determining whether your variety is indeterminate or determinate. Most of the varieties I planted are indeterminate, meaning they will continue to flower and produce fruits until the local growing season has ended with frost. They grow six feet on average, requiring support by either caging or staking. Continue tying-up growing stalks to support their weight. The earlier they get planted, the earlier they mature, the more tomatoes you can harvest.

My tomatoes: Brandywine, a pink heirloom variety and Cherokee, a purple heirloom are both indeterminate, should begin ripening within 3 weeks; I suspect it may take longer for Cherokee. Sun Gold and Sweet Million are both hybrids, indeterminate, and already producing. Jubilee, indeterminate, expected within 4 weeks. Grape tomatoes are indeterminate; they are already producing. Roma, my only determinate plant, can be expected within 3 weeks. Determinate plants ripen entirely within a few weeks time before going dormant; they produce fruit quickly then stop. I remove the suckers from the bushy tomato plants; these are green leaves with no flowers that suck nutrients away from the fruit producing leaves; not always recommended for determinate varieties.

Put the leaves along with any other garden debris into a compost pile. If you don’t have time, energy, or space for composting, there are two bins located at the community garden that will happily accept your scraps. Be sure to leave out all animal products, oils, newspaper ads, and construction paper.