Tag: Gardening

Planting Tomatoes

Tomato Plants in the Greenhouse

Our last two posts discussed choosing determinate or indeterminate and the benefits of heirloom varieties. Now you have chosen your tomato plants and it is time to get them in the ground. If you haven’t read those yet, click here and here.

Or is it?

To ensure the best chance of success follow the following steps:

Harden Off

The first thing to ensure success is the process of “hardening off”. This technique helps acclimate your plant to the world of weather outside. All tomatoes grown in Central Illinois are started by seed early in the year inside a greenhouse or other indoor setting. In these controlled environments, the plant does not have an opportunity to adapt to blowing wind or pounding rain.

Wait until the daytime temperatures are above 60º, then set the plants still in their pots in a semi protected but outdoor area for a short period of time each day. At first, the plant’s adjustment may make you think the plants have wilted or are not going to survive. Trust that they will perk up overnight and be ready for their next excursion outdoors. Increase the time outside daily. During this time, limit watering to bare minimums. The goal is to strengthen the plants but keep them alive.

After a week or so of this increasing exposure to the outdoor weather and when the soil temperature is above 50º at 4 inches (or threat of frost has passed), your tomatoes are ready for the garden or patio pot.

Prepare the Planting Bed

Tomatoes need calcium to protect against blossom end rot. Crushed egg shells work perfectly. Save approximately one egg shell for every tomato plant. When ready to plant, crush the eggshells and add a pinch of epsom salts for each egg shell. The epsom salts add magnesium and sulfur to the soil as a fertilizer and support healthy plant growth.

When ready to plant, dig a hole slightly wider than the pot the tomato is in and twice as deep for each plant. Divide the eggshell mixture among each hole and add water. Allow the water to absorb into the soil to dissolve the epsom salts and you are ready to plant.

Plant Deep

For the best strength and success, bury tomato plant to the first set of leaves. This may feel unusually deep but tomato stalks will grow roots all along the stalk and increase the ability of the plant to take up soil nutrients. Most tomato plants will require some type of staking or cage to ensure they remain upright and the fruit stays off the ground. It is best to add this now while the plant is small instead of struggling to contain a large unruly plant.

That’s it. Ensure adequate water if it does not rain and in about 6 weeks, you will be picking your own fresh, ripe tomatoes.

Stay tuned to our social media for progress on our garden and post pictures of your own. Five Feline Farm is on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Why Heirloom Tomatoes?

Heirloom varieties are all the rage, but are they really better?

Last week’s post discussed how the differences between determinate and indeterminate tomato plants. But what if you aren’t planting your own? How do you decide which type to choose? 

We prefer heirloom varieties.

First what is an heirloom tomato?

You may also see these referred to as “heritage” or “old time” tomatoes. These are the types that have been around for a very long time, as far back as the Aztecs and Incas. These are the varieties your grandparents would know and raise in their garden. Seeds from heirlooms can be saved to plant the next season and will produce tomatoes consistent with the variety. Non-heirloom or hybrid tomatoes will not produce from saved seeds.

Heirloom tomatoes are typically not those perfect globes found in mass market stores. They also have a shorter shelf life. 

Flavor. 

When we started the farm and began growing tomatoes, we conducted a taste test. We included a hybrid beefsteak tomato because of all the hype around those big red slicing tomato types like Better Boy. We lined up a slice from each with the variety name hidden and tasted. We quickly found our favorites. While the Better Boy had tomato flavor, it paled in comparison to the others. Our favorites were the German, which is a yellow tomato with a red stripes and Brandywine. These were bursting with full tomato flavor. We haven’t grown a hybrid since.

Your best bet to ensure a fresh, delicious, full-flavored tomato is to either grow your own or buy at a local farmer’s market. 

Five Feline Farm will be at the 18th Street Farmer’s Market all summer with tomatoes in season as well as other fresh produce. Stop by and see us. 

Planning Ahead

The menu challenge became really difficult this week. As in, couldn’t pull together a menu in advance, difficult.

There were so many tasks crammed into each day that I resorted to my old habit of planning one meal at a time. Even when I knew this would be the kind of week where a planned menu would have been helpful and possibly even save me from some stress. I commit to doing better next week.

Despite this momentary lapse on my part, there is still activity happening at the Farm toward future meal prep.

Gardening is the ultimate planning ahead.

Donna has been squeezing early spring vegetable planting into every spare moment of her day. Not that there are a lot of those spare moments, but because of her foresight, we have a tender green salad waiting in the refrigerator.

But that isn’t all.

Snap peas, radishes and spinach seeds, in addition to the leaf lettuce seeds, are nestled into dark rich soil. Tomatoes, peppers and herbs are growing in the greenhouse, just waiting for the threat of frost to pass. We will see the fruits of her labor on the table soon.

Taking a lesson about planning for the future, I believe I’ll start working on next week’s menu now.

You can keep up daily with Five Feline Farm activities by following us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

What is a Real Farm?

What is the definition of a real farm?

Is there a certain amount of acreage required? Maybe a minimum amount of produce raised? Perhaps keeping livestock meets the qualification?

We have asked ourselves these questions as we build this slice of the country we call Five Feline Farm. At first, we referred to it as just the “farm”; a tongue-in-cheek expression of our postage stamp sized property plopped in the middle of large fields of corn, soybeans and wheat. As we discover our mission to live a full life with a blend of old skills and modern conveniences, we also found the answer to being real.

Is there a minimum required acreage?

We have five and a half acres. From this fertile land, we can grow a lot of the produce, herbs, fruit and nuts we need to keep our pantry and freezers full. There is even enough excess to sell at the Farmer’s Market. It takes a lot of planning and hard work but it is a joy to bite into a warm tomato fresh from the garden or add home grown roasted peppers to a pot of chili in the depth of winter.

How about a minimum amount of production?

The line of products we offer in our Mercantile, whether on line or on site is limited only by our time and imagination. We sew cat toys from scraps of fabric and stuff them with catnip grown and dried on the farm. There are balms and soaps and jams and baked goods all created right here. We even offer farm roasted whole coffee beans.

Are livestock required?

Did you know honeybees are considered livestock? It’s true according to the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Beekeeping has changed our perspective on many things. We are better consumers and more aware of good practice in how we approach planting, fertilizing and particularly pest management. We use this practical mantra: “if it’s good for the bees, it’s good for us”. Plus, any excess honey harvested beyond what we personally use is sold. 

So our answer to the question….

Yes, Five Feline Farm is a real farm.

 

Five Feline Farm is growing beyond our wildest dreams. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for daily updates.