Gardening. Cornell Garden-Based Learning. How To Save Tomato Seeds {Plus Tips. When saving seeds from this year’s harvest for next year’s, you’ll find best results with heirloom tomatoes rather than hybrids (hybrids are typically the ones you purchase in grocery stores and regular greenhouse seedlings). Once you make your initial purchase of heirlooms, you’ll be able to do this year after year. Farmers markets are a great place to find them. Here’s how you do it: Cut tomatoes in half then squeeze out the pulp into a clear glass container (wide mouth mason jar or small bowl for example).Add a couple tablespoons of water (double the amount if there isn’t much juice) then cover jar or container with a piece of cheesecloth (a coffee filter will work well too), secure in place with an elastic band.Leave the container to sit at room temperature for about 4 or 5 days until you notice a layer of white scum/mold form on the top (this process is fermenting).Skim off the white scum then pour into a large bowl, fill with cool water and let sit for a minute or two.
A few tips: Best Garden Seed Companies - Organic Gardening. Whether your garden is frozen over or your first freeze is yet to arrive, it's never too early to start dreaming about next year's garden. If you set aside a little time this winter to plan what to grow next year, you'll be rewarded with an early start come spring. Plus, you can make your green thumb even greener just by reading seed catalogs. New gardeners, especially, should read seed catalogs to learn about fruit and veggie varieties that are naturally pest- and disease-resistant, are fabulously prolific, or offer superior flavor and nutrition.
It's also a good way to introduce yourself to underappreciated but fun-to-grow fruits and veggies such as kohlrabi and mouse melons. Lucky for us, it's easier than ever to find healthy garden seeds that were grown organically and come from solid, open-pollinated stock. Even some of the largest seed companies are beginning to offer a wider selection of organic, non-hybrid, and non-chemically-treated seeds. Seed Companies By State J. W. R. How To Garden. "How To" Tutorials added regularly, check back often! Email page | Feature Article - How To Tutorials - Question & Answer Quick Gardening Tip - Plant Gallery - Gardening Design Ideas Disease & Pest Control - Monthly To Do Lists Gardening Resources - Garden Clubs & Events - Climate Zones Maps Gardening Tips & Ideas Blog Contact us | Site map | Privacy policy © 1993 - 2013 WM Media.
ExtraShare. When growing seedlings, it's likely that you'll find yourself with many sprouting in close proximity. This is usually due to planting several seeds in a small area in case one fails to germinate. Left alone, the dense seedlings will compete for sunlight, soil and water, and eventually hurt one another's growth. By thinning and separating the seedlings, you'll reduce stress on the plants and increase their likelihood of surviving. Your seedling tray will probably look something like this a month after planting The materials required to transplant are similar to those that you used to start growing your seedlings .
When you've got everything ready in your workspace, begin by drenching the soil. Wet soil is less likely to crumble when you extract the seedlings Be sure to record the type of seedling you are currently working on, and attach a label to the destination. This will make things easier for you when transplanting into the ground Each seedling will need it's own home to grow in.
Blockbarter - trade goods from your garden with your neighbors. Disease Management in Home-Grown Tomatoes. A list of current publications from NDSU Extension Service. The materials on this site are organized by topic. Use the menu to browse for materials related to the listed topics. You'll find the most recent materials at the top of each list. The educational materials listed here have been through a thorough review process and are available in hard copy from the Distribution Center unless marked otherwise. Most are free in PDF format. Some are for sale only. Latest NDSU Extension Publications Safe Food for Babies and Children: Heating Solid Food Safely - FN715 Whether warming bottles or solid foods, it is ALWAYS important to use safe heating practices to keep your baby happy and healthy. Grass Tetany - V1703 This publication provides clientele with overview of Grass Tetany, symptoms of the disorder, and management guidelines to prevent the disorder.
Nourish Your Joints - FN1489 Most of us experience some joint stiffness during seasonal changes. Nourish Your Bones - FN1488. Tomato Disease Identification Key. Tomato: Disease Resistance Table. Defiant PhR (F1) (OG) - Johnny. Defiant PhR (F1) - Johnny. Understanding disease resistance codes for tomatoes. Tomato disease resistance codes are listed on tomato seed packets or on tomato seedling labels. They appear in capital letters. Here’s the dirt: many tomato varieties are bred specifically to resist particular diseases. This is helpful information if you want to grow healthy plants! You can choose tomato varieties that are resistant to diseases that are common in your growing region. When you see what looks like a confusing group of letters on plant or seed packets, never fear. Instead, you’re looking at disease resistance codes, which are special gardening lingo for “here are some really good characteristics of this plant.”
Here’s how to decipher disease resistance codes. Tomato Disease Resistance Codes V Verticillium WiltF Fusarium WiltFF Fusarium, races 1 and 2FFF Fusarium, races 1, 2, and 3N NematodesA AlternariaT Tobacco Mosaic VirusSt Stemphylium (Gray Leaf Spot)TSWV Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus An example may make things clearer Some explanation may help even more … More on tomato diseases. Recognizing Tomato Problems. Recognizing Tomato Problems by S. Newman and L. Pottorff * (5/13) Quick Facts...
Tomatoes are an easy and popular vegetable to grow. Tomato problems may be caused by nutrient deficiencies, diseases, fungi or insects. Assess the symptoms, then make the appropriate treatment. Despite the short growing season in many areas of Colorado, tomatoes are an easy and popular vegetable to grow. Improve garden soil by adding organic material such as compost. Failure to follow one or more of these steps can lead to pest problems.
To manage pests, identify the source of the problem by assessing the symptoms. Common Tomato Problems Phosphorus deficiencies (Figure 1) occur early in the growing season when soil is still cool. Curly top virus is transmitted by the beet leafhopper. Psyllids (Figure 2) are more commonly found in eastern Colorado and are seldom a problem in western Colorado. Flea beetles (Figure 3) are small, black or brown beetles that jump when disturbed. Check watering practices. 1* S. Www.extension.iastate.edu/publications/pm1266.pdf. Symptoms Of Tomato Blight, Powdery Mildew and Black Spot | Big Blog Of Gardening ~ organic gardening and organic lawn care. The most common fungal infections, blight, powdery mildew, and black spot, can be devastating in your vegetable garden, flower garden, or fruit trees. Here’s a primer on symptoms and prevention.
Consistently wet, humid, or damp weather creates a perfect environment for fungal infections of plants. Fungi spores grow rapidly in persistent moisture and at the very least create stress on the plant, leaving them vulnerable to secondary infections. Early prevention is the best defense, because once you actually spot symptoms, it’s usually a losing battle. Here’s what you should look for: Powdery Mildew infested this pumpkin in just a few days Symptoms of Powdery Mildew: White or gray powdery spots on the stems and leaves of your plants, which grow larger every day.
Symptoms of Black Spot: Affects roses and fruit trees and is very common in apples and pears. Black Spot infection in pear tree Click to learn the secrets of growing organic tomatoes in your garden Treatment: same as Black Spot above. Pruning Tomatoes. Side stems affect plant vigor As a tomato grows, side shoots, or suckers, form in the crotches, or axils, between the leaves and the main stem. If left alone, these suckers will grow just like the main stem, producing flowers and fruit.
Suckers appear sequentially, from the bottom of the plant up. The farther up on the plant a sucker develops, the weaker it is, because the sugar concentration gets lower as you move up the plant. On the other hand, side stems arising from below the first flower cluster, although stronger, compromise the strength of the main stem. For a multi-stemmed plant, your aim is to have all stems roughly the same size, although the main stem should always be stronger, because it has to feed the entire plant for the next five or six months.
I keep tomatoes free of side stems below the first fruit cluster. Determinate tomatoes need no pruning other than removing all suckers below the first flower cluster, because pruning won't affect their fruit size or plant vigor. We Need to Talk About Tomato Hornworm. First things first: I don’t have tomato hornworms (Manduca quinquemaculata) in my own garden. What you see above is a photo that I took a few weekends ago of a Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta) fatting itself up on my tomatoes. The caterpillars of these two distinct species of moth look very much alike and are easily confused. For reference, the tomato hornworm has v-shaped markings down its sides and a dark black/brown “horn” protruding out the back, while the tobacco hornworm [seen above] has diagonal strikes down its sides and a bright red “horn.”
Despite this distinction I decided to post under the name tomato hornworm because it is the most commonly known of the two. Needless to say, they are both gigantic caterpillars that devour tomato plants and just about anything in the Solanaceae family (tomato family such as peppers, eggplant, nicotiana, etc) so it really doesn’t matter either way.
Aren’t the markings incredible? The circles down their sides look like tiny eyes. Control: Using Milk to Control Powdery Mildew. By Arzeena Hamir Less than 3 years ago, researchers in South America discovered a new alternative to controlling powdery mildew. Wagner Bettiol, a scientist from Brazil, found that weekly sprays of milk controlled powdery mildew in zucchini just as effectively as synthetic fungicides such as fenarimol or benomyl. Not only was milk found to be effective at controlling the disease, it also acted as a foliar fertilizer, boosting the plant's immune system. Powdery mildew in the cucurbit family is caused by the organism Sphaerotheca Fuliginea. In his experiments with zucchini plants, Bettiol found that a weekly spray of milk at a concentration of at least 10% (1 part milk to 9 parts water) significantly reduced the severity of powdery mildew infection on the plants by 90%.
Scientist aren't 100% sure how milk works to control this disease. Milk used around the worldThe benefits of using milk to control powdery mildew haven't been isolated to Brazil. What kind of milk should be used? FlusterCorned's Field-Expedient DIY LED Lighting Guide : SpaceBuckets. SAG's plant lighting guide linked together : HandsOnComplexity. Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long, 2nd Edition: Eliot Coleman, Kathy Bray, Barbara Damrosch: 9781890132279: Amazon.com. Use Cold Frames to Grow More Food. By Barbara Pleasant, Illustrations by Elayne Sears December 2007/January 2008 Get a jump start on your spring garden by using cold frames to sprout seeds in a warm, protected enclosure and protect tender seedlings from wind and frost. Gardening guru Eliot Coleman asserts that “the basic cold frame is the most dependable, least exploited aid for the four-season harvest.”
We couldn’t agree more. This short series of reports includes news on MOTHER's choice for independent newsletters, includin... Freshwater fishing can bring considerable protein into your self-sufficient lifestyle. Corresponding with mounting concerns about food insecurity and about the climate effects of consumi... A Tennessee couple who devoted years to restoring Readyville Mill, an Oregon man who makes custom b... In this installment of a regular feature, readers wrote in to report establishing new businesses ma...
What can you sow in a cold frame? How Cold Frames Work Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next >> Free Cold Frame Projects & Tutorials. I mainly use my cold frame to start bedding plants a little earlier than my zone normally allows and they do work like a charm for that purpose. If you’d like to extend your growing season, these are an ideal solution. I’ve been searching online for simple, cheap plans that use recycled materials and are easy to understand, but it’s been a tricky task. A few of these come close since they use old storm windows or glass doors, while others are more advanced projects but still worth a look or two. I’ll be adding new projects to this page as I find them, enjoy! Homeenvy.com Recycled Window: Made with an old window, cedar fencing, cedar decking and 1×2 cedar.
Simple & Cheap: Simple design and made with recycled materials such as a sliding glass door (or any piece of glass) and framed with wood. Doorgarden.com canadiangardening.com Quick & Easy: A roomy 32 square feet, this is made with SUNTUF polycarbonate panels and lumber. Civileats.com ronhazelton.com sunset.com motherearthnews.com resene.co.nz. How to Build an Inexpensive Hoop-Style Greenhouse | Alberta Home Gardening. One of the most valuable assets in my garden is my greenhouse. It has allowed me to grow plants that I normally would not be able to grow, produce crops that the season is not usually long enough to produce, and protect my plants from frosts, hail, or other severe weather that normally would have destroyed my garden. But I don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on a greenhouse.
I just priced out an 8’x12’ greenhouse for $3,500. I would love to have a large, professional greenhouse, but that simply isn’t financially feasible for me. So, instead I’ve found a way to make a large greenhouse that is functional, easy to build, and inexpensive. Required Materials List Note: All wood should be green, treated wood to resist rot. . (4) 2×6 – 16’(2) 2×6 – 12’(14) 2×4 – 12’(19) ¾” x 20’white pvc pipe(9) 10mm x 10’ rebar(1) 20’x50’ roll of 6mm plastic(1) Bundle of 50 4’ wood lathe (or optional staples)Zip tiesNails or screwsMetal bandingDoor hinges and handles Step 1 – Laying Out the Frame. Geodesic Greenhouse for under $100 (X-post from r/DIY) : gardening. How to build a PVC greenhouse. What is thermal mass? - What is thermal mass? Thermal mass is anything in the greenhouse that absorbs solar energy and heat from the sun during the day and releases that heat at night. Using thermal mass can moderate greenhouse temperatures and may reduce energy costs.
Many things can act as thermal mass in the greenhouse, including wood, soil in raised beds, concrete, block, or brick foundations, or even the floor of the greenhouse. But the most effective and least expensive thermal mass is water. Water can store far more heat for a given mass than any other commonly available material. Water is also useful because of its latent heat; it release up a tremendous amount of heat energy as it freezes, and often this is just when greenhouse heat is needed most. FAQ Page GardenWeb Home Page | Forums | Forum. Passivesolargreenhouse.com. Desert Domes - Home. 10ft Wide Polytunnels - Polytunnels & Greenhouses - Grow Your Own - The Recycle Works Ltd. Growing Celery Indoors: Never Buy Celery Again. SPIN-Farming – A New Way to Learn to Farm. Urban Green: 8 Ingenious Small-Space Window Garden Ideas. How to Build A Window Greenhouse - Do-It-Yourself.
Sky Planter - Top plants. Volet végétal. A List of 5 Essential Medicinal Herbs for Spring. The Herb Gardener. How To Grow Moss | Moss and Stone Gardens. Bryophytes.science.oregonstate.edu/mosses.htm. Garden Foreplay. Welcome to Avant Gardens: Find rare, uncommon and unusual plants. How Heat Waves Affect Your Garden | Big Blog Of Gardening.