What did you do in the garden today?

[Swiss]

Has anyone ever seen this before? I have a sucker growing out of a flower stem on 2 of my indeterminate tomato plants. Should I pinch it off?

Also one of my determinate plants is as tall as my indeterminates! Should I pinch the growing tip off?
I've never pruned tomato plants before. Does anyone prune their determinate patio varieties?

 

[gtaus]

I am going to be off grid (no electricity) in my new place. but I already have water there. as the land is sloped I plan to dig swales to harvest water. already made 3 even levels so that I can build coops and drive a non 4x4 car. it is about 1,5 acre.

unfortunately these episodes are not available on line here.

As you can imagine, the title of "Homestead Rescue" implies the homesteaders are not doing so well in their off grid homesteads. In the episodes I have watched, mostly it is people who decided to live off grid as a dream, but really had not much knowledge or preparation for that life style.

I spent my summers as a young man living with my grandparents on lake property without electricity or running water. We used kerosene lanterns, pumped our water from a well, and had an outside biffy as a toilet. We took our baths in the lake. We had a wood cook stove which grandma cooked on, but it also took the chill out of the air on cold mornings. I cut down enough trees and split enough wood in my time at our cabin. And I loved every minute of it.

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus, DH is a BIG fan of Homestead Rescue. I watch it fairly often too. He's gotten some ideas from that show that we might/might not use, but it's very interesting nonetheless.

I still laugh when I think of the daughter's name: Misty Rainey.

I find the series entertaining. It gets me thinking about what I could build using stuff I have sitting out behind the garage. I am fairly new to gardening, so I like watching what Misty comes up with for garden ideas to feed the family.

 

[gtaus]

I love this show [Homestead Rescue] too! I watch for tips on predator control, up cycling & gardening! Like my $1 potato towers, made w a dollar store laundry basket & grocery store brown bags taped inside (didn’t find it on the show but with limited garden space the vertical towers save me room for tomatoes & peppers! That show gives me ideas!)

Sounds like you have some good ideas. I have been saving my empty chicken feed bags for reuse, repurpose, up cycling. Maybe someday I'll find a good project for them. I'm sure they would make good liners for a potato tower like you made. Never know when you might need a good empty feed bag for something. On that day, I will have lots of bags to choose from.

 

[Iluveggers]

Has anyone ever seen this before? I have a sucker growing out of a flower stem on 2 of my indeterminate tomato plants. Should I pinch it off?View attachment 2741244
View attachment 2741245
Also one of my determinate plants is as tall as my indeterminates! Should I pinch the growing tip off?
I've never pruned tomato plants before. Does anyone prune their determinate patio varieties?

I pinch off all the suckers from my indeterminate tomatoes, although I’ve never seen one on a flower stem. It’s a personal choice, but I string train them straight up & can plant 1 per foot that way! Only 12 feet & 3 rows for 36 plants! Don’t prune them on determinate ones though, I use cages for them. Hope that helps! I love growing tomatoes more than anything else!

Sounds like you have some good ideas. I have been saving my empty chicken feed bags for reuse, repurpose, up cycling. Maybe someday I'll find a good project for them. I'm sure they would make good liners for a potato tower like you made. Never know when you might need a good empty feed bag for something. On that day, I will have lots of bags to choose from.

They would seem to work well for potato bags! Great idea! I’ll have to remember that next year!

 

[oldhen2345]

This afternoon, need to return to clearing the Asian jasmine- am heading around to the front yard so yay. My tomato bushes got so big they overgrew the cages, knocked them over and have sprawled over everything. Note to self- six cherry tomatoes is 3 too many

 

[Iluveggers]

This afternoon, need to return to clearing the Asian jasmine- am heading around to the front yard so yay. My tomato bushes got so big they overgrew the cages, knocked them over and have sprawled over everything. Note to self- six cherry tomatoes is 3 too manyView attachment 2741587

I’m so jealous you have red ones already! (Up in zone 5, we wait what feels like forever!)

 

[Swiss]

I pinch off all the suckers from my indeterminate tomatoes, although I’ve never seen one on a flower stem. It’s a personal choice, but I string train them straight up & can plant 1 per foot that way! Only 12 feet & 3 rows for 36 plants! Don’t prune them on determinate ones though, I use cages for them. Hope that helps! I love growing tomatoes more than anything else!

They would seem to work well for potato bags! Great idea! I’ll have to remember that next year!

I've heard of people pruning their determinate by taking off all suckers below the first set of flowers, but I think I'll just prune the leaves for better airflow (I wasn't expecting them to get so big because they were never this big in previous years).

 

[Sueby]

Has anyone ever seen this before? I have a sucker growing out of a flower stem on 2 of my indeterminate tomato plants. Should I pinch it off?View attachment 2741244
View attachment 2741245
Also one of my determinate plants is as tall as my indeterminates! Should I pinch the growing tip off?
I've never pruned tomato plants before. Does anyone prune their determinate patio varieties?

YES! I saw that for the first time this year. I pinched off 2 of them - I can't remember if they were the brandywines or the sun golds. But I thought I was going crazy, so thanks.

I have lost a bit of control over how many stems I have, I always prune to just have one but I swear they got all crazy overnight so my maters are a mess - that added to me thinking I was crazy.

 

[vall]

Well, this is Kandy Korn after all. Ferry-Morse didn't bother mentioning that it is red but other seed companies did once I searched a bit more. You'd think they would want to advertise that it's ornamental as well as tasty. Even some of the kernels are pink! I'd grow it again, germination wasn't that great but there are two ears on each stalk so that made up for it.

Count the passion fruit. Going to be plenty in about a month.

Still picking lots of cukes, it is definitely the year of the cucumber. I have cucumber salad, two cold cucumber soups, and three kinds of pickles in the fridge. Need to do another round of canning over the weekend.