Hello, Springtime! Love, Maggie

Spring seems to have finally clicked here in the NW, and this weekend I got an itch to start working outside and logging some really good yard work time. Since my gardening resources at home are limited, and last years 'crop' was a bit of a bust I decided to go with another route this year. I am planning to do a larger garden with some friends on their small family farm (which luckily is nearby) so I didn't need to really have veggies outside my door. Herbs, however, I use constantly. So having a small herb garden, and even a few tomatoes, made sense.

I (with quite a bit of help) threw together some wood boxes, and planted basil, mint, thyme, rosemary and parsley. I still have a bit of room in my planter boxes, and I'm hoping to find some good cilantro plants soon.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow!

Topsey turvey update

So it turns out the problem with my smaller tomato wasn't too much water. The wind had broken the stem. The sponge hadn't been correctly put in and I think that is why it happened. I bought a new plant to replace it. This one had two stems just in case one broke again, lol. A few days later, one of them did so it was a good thing. Both plants are doing well and growing like crazy. My one tomato is growing big and I cannot wait untill I can turn it into an amazing BLT. The big plant has been covered in blossoms for the last three weeks or so and I think it is going to be quite the producer. Just in case anyone wanted to know, the big plant is a Celebrity, the one that broke and died was an Early Girl and the new one is a Jet Star.

Topsey turvey tomato update #2

I have a tomato! It's small and so far only one, but the bigger plant is getting lots of blossoms. The bigger plant is doing fantastic. For some reason the smaller plant is not doing so well. I noticed yesterday that despite all the water it has been getting (five days worth of rain running off from the roof and straight into the planters) it is wilting. I am thinking after looking inside the planter today that it is needing more soil. All of the water has packed down and the planter is now probably less than half full. So when I am running errands today I will pick up another bag and hope that helps.

Topsey turvey tomato update

So my tomatoes have taken a sharp U turn. Literally. The tops are growing up. Makes sense, but I just wasn't expecting it. You know for that infomercial they took full grown plants and put them in that planter. I hope that when the tomatoes start growing, they don't break the top of the plant off. I guess we shall see. I will also need to put more potting soil in now that its all settled. Will update when there are new developments.

topsey turvey

I ordered a couple of these things online a week or so back. Of course the next day I find them at our local Walmart, go figure. Anyway they came in the mail and today I bought two tomato plants to put in them. It's pretty simple to set up and get going. We will see how well the tomatoes do. You get three basic parts; the topsey turvey itself (going to refer to it as TT), and two pieces that will form the lid.

You are supposed to use seedling plants but of course I was impatient and bought plants that were almost grown. I had to gather the leaves and gently push them through the opening in the bottom of the TT. I did good and only broke one branch on the biggest plant. You then add the dirt. I found that the 8qt bag fills the TT almost to the recommended depth.

Use the hook they sent with it or something equally strong. It gets HEAVY at this point. Put the green ring part of the lid on the top and line up the wire hangers in the slots. (If you buy this you will understand) Hang the TT and put the other lid part on lining up the slots with the slots on the ring part. Congratulations! You have an upside down garden!