Hill Gardens of Maine -- Successful Vegetable Gardening, Part 4

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Asian Lily Beetles

A new scourge in New England ornamental and veggie gardens.

Japanese Beetles

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An effective Deer Fence!

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The Success-Oriented Vegetable Gardener, Part 4—Hints, Kinks & "Secrets"
by Fred Davis, MG, Hill Gardens of Maine (To view previous articles, click: Archives)

Getting tomatoes to set fruit indoors over winter

Welcome through Fred's Garden Gate! So far we've talked about some basics, a little botany and different types of mulches. This time, let's listen to what a few other gardeners have to say about what they've learned by years of experience and experimentation. But first, one small point neglected last time was the occasional pest problem associated with mulches, and how to deal with it.

Mulch provides the perfect environment for several insects, some harmful, some benign and others beneficial. Slugs can be a particular annoyance, hiding in the cool recesses of moist mulch during the day, venturing out at night to do their dirty work...and they love to lay their eggs (lots of them) in its cool, damp depths. There are a number of substances and conditions which slugs cannot abide, however, chief of which is alkalinity. They really prefer acid surroundings so, knowing that, their control and banishment from your mulched garden is to use materials which have a high pH - between 6.5 and 7.0 or higher. Finished compost tests out at about pH 6.5, and makes a beneficial and convenient slug deterrent. Wood ash is quite alkaline, and they can't stand the stuff. Just be careful not to spread them in abundance or your garden soil may shift too far into the alkaline range.

If compost is in short supply, try sprinkling some screened wood ash on the soil before you apply your mulch, then a little more on top.

Earwigs can be a perceived problem, too. Actually, to an extent, they can be beneficial, feeding on other insect eggs and larvae. On the other hand, they occasionally damage vegetables, flowers and may even come indoors to work on stored food.

One- to two-foot-long lengths of old garden hose, or sections of bamboo, laid on the ground near plants gives them a place to hide during the day. Simply make a habit of going out early in the morning to dump the wriggly contents into a pail of water with some salad oil floating on top.

Cutworms and the like may hide beneath mulch but, because they're larger and not so slimy, they're easy to see and gather up. Encourage large (inch-long), black ground-beetles in your garden - they feed on cutworms, grubs and slugs.

Now, the Hints, etc.

Tomatoes - Buy young plants, generally no taller than 8-inches, with white roots. Remove the lower leaves to about half their height and plant them deep, so the bottom remaining leaf is at ground level. Some prefer to lay most of the plant on its side in a trench, with just the top, few leaves above ground. Use a low nitrogen (not more than 5), high phosphorus fertilizer (at least 10...15 would be better) to encourage flowering and plenty of fruit instead of masses of leaves. Don't use fresh manure or other high nitrogen materials. Urea is a no-no - unless all you want is leaves. 100% finished compost poured into two old tires sitting one on top of the other in the hot sun (use a tomato cage) will give you an early and abundant crop.

Bell Peppers - get essentially the same treatment except for the deep planting. If you use lots of compost and a good phosphorus source, you'd better use a sturdy stake to hold up all the peppers. Remember, not too much nitrogen.

Potatoes - One gardener claims success planting his spuds inside tires and using huge amounts of compost. Avoid lime, ashes and manure with potatoes or you may end up with scab problems. As with tomatoes, be stingy with nitrogen, or you'll grow all leaves and no potatoes. Here's a nifty one: make a coarse wire "barrel" about three feet across, two feet high, parked atop cultivated ground. Place four inches of finished compost in the bottom, then lay potato "seed" two inches in and eight inches apart, all the way around the edge. Make another layer above that, just like the first - then additional layers until you reach the top. Plant "seed" all across the top layer - and water it all in. Watch the watering because it may dry out around the edges. Half-way through the season, you'll have scadzillions of tender new potatoes...and a real surprise when you pull the whole thing apart at harvest time! For the complete story about vertical potato-growing, including full instructions and photos, click here (there's a link to return here).

Carrots - If you have heavy clay, go for the little short varieties. Longer types will do better if about four or five inches of fine sand are added deep. For the best in appearance, thin to about four inches apart.

Beets - Work in about an inch of wood ashes before you seed. Ash is high in phosphorus and potash - big roots (beets!).

Corn - You'll get more, larger and nicer-looking ears if you don't remove the suckers which form at each stalk's base. I know...I was skeptical, too, until I tried it. Flies in the face of all I'd been taught...but it works!

Broccoli - Select early varieties; space no less than 18-inches apart; prepare soil deep and with abundant compost. Broccoli grows leaves in hot weather and forms its heads in cool weather, so plant it in your coolest corner with full sun until late afternoon. It wants to grow fast and steady; keep it moist and well-fed. Protect each young transplant from cutworms with collars (about six inches tall) made from tar paper, squirmed into the soil an inch or two. Contrary to popular opinion, cutting broccoli heads with long stems (eight to ten inches) will force much stronger side shoots from near ground level, and produce a second, later crop.

Finally, after harvest, immediately remove or till in all organic mulch and plant a dense cover crop to protect your soil and disrupt insect metamorphosis.

Now, because we encourage input from successful gardeners, here's one of many emails with the low-down on getting tomatoes to set fruit.

Pollinating Tomatoes indoors. (12/14/2004 Adrian L. in Illinois)
"I've tried to grow tomatoes during the winter on my heated sunroom for the last 2 years. The plants always looked healthy and they had lots of flowers but very few of them ever turned into tomatoes. They usually lasted a day or two then just fell off. One day this past November I was out there doing a thorough job of cleaning and had to move the tomato tub back and forth a couple of times, and SURPRISE! Every flower that was open at that time has now turned into little tomatoes that are so far about the size of marbles. I asked the owner of a small nursery in our town what made the difference and she told me that tomatoes are self-pollinating, but rely on either bugs or wind to jiggle the flower parts to get the pollen to dislodge and fall onto the right spot to get the job done. She said that the pros that grow tomatoes in commercial greenhouses walk down the rows of plants every day giving each one a good shake. Now that I know the trick, I'll be slicing my own red-ripe tomatoes into our salads all winter long!" (Back to top)

Next time we'll discuss insects and diseases, and their control.

Jump to Veggies Part 5—Controlling insects and diseases

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