Planning for our vegetable gardens

LOL, it is so funny. I lived in Moses Lake for a year when my husband was in the air force and stationed at Larson AFB. My daughter was born there so you know that was over 50 years ago. I had never heard of the potholes so don't know if they had developed the area for fishing at that time. Probably not as Moses Lake itself had not been cleaned up and smelled so bad. We rented an apartment right on the lake itself. Nasty. Now it looks pretty nice when you drive by.

So, years later when I first heard of the potholes I wondered why I had never heard of them when we lived there. Couldn't imagine people vacationing out in the middle of the desert. Someone once told me that when they staked their tent for the night and went to bed they were the only ones there and by the next morning when they woke up there were wall to wall tents.? Is that possible?

It is very hard for me to imagine.

Good evening Katye,

My raised beds are 50" wide x 16' long x 20" deep. It looks pretty silly when I plant the tomatoes and you can barely see them sticking out of the ground but there are these enormous cages around them! If I had the room I would prefer to space them farther apart such as you. As it is I get a pretty large plant with good circulation, I think. Something tells me you only plant two per 4'x8' bed for a good reason. What is your experience?

I went the opposite way with my tomatoes last year with good luck. I planted 5 indeterminate tomatoes (mostly cherries) at the foot of those colorful twirly plant supports (from Gardeners Supply) about 1 foot apart, staggered. I did not allow any of the 'crotch' suckers to grow and kept each plant to a single vine. This was in about a 4' x 2' bed right next to my back door with a rock wall behind it and sidewalk in front of it. The tomatoes got lots of sun and heat from the rock/cement, and lots of daily attention, as this is the entry I use most often. Got tons of tasty tomatoes.

Bonehead, I did the same thing, and in a similar bed with the same conditions as yours. I planted 5 as well - all indeterminate - 2 cherries and 3 others. I got tones of tomatoes and they were delicious. I also planted parsley and basil in front of them and those did great as well. I don't have a lot of space so I decided to pack them in! This year I will have a few more raised beds to play with.

Portland, which varieties did you plant? I had best results with Sweet 100, good results with Yellow Pear and Christmas Grapes, and not so hot results with Early Girl and Cherokee Purple - neither climbed very well and both cracked really bad. I was going for lots of color, so will add in an orange this year and try another purple. I like the idea of basil at the feet - I did short marigolds which blended well with the orangy colors in the tomatoes.

I planted Brandywine, two I don't remember, and Sun Gold cherry toms. The Sun Gold are my favorite. I also did San Marzanos in big big pots and they did well. I roasted those to use in sauce. One thing I tried that I will never do again is one of those hanging tomato things - it was difficult to water because I had to hang it so high since the plant grew so long, and it took lots of water, and it didn't produce enough tomatoes to make up for the gangly ratty appearance. I do pinch off those "crotch" suckers on all the tomatoes. Also, I got some spray from the nursery that helped to prevent the tomatoes from cracking and that seemed to work. Oh this talk is making me anxious for a nice red juicy sun-warmed tomato!

Happened across this tip in one of my herb books, "Soak comfrey leaves in water for 4 weeks to make perfect fertilizer for tomato and potato plants, owing to high potash content." Alternatively, "Pick leaves, allow to wilt for 48 hours, then apply as a mulch."I have a huge comfrey plant (do they come any other way) and am always looking for ways to use it. I'll give these a try this year.

I am very surprised that comfrey isn't invasive on your side of the mountains. It is here. Very hard to get rid of too.It spreads. One bed was used by the deer to bed down in at night. I think it made them feel good. Don't know if there was some healing properties to it or what but they sure liked it. Maybe soft and comfortable? LOL, or warm? Don't know.

Comfrey has tons of healing properties - both the leaves and the root. Another common name is knitbone. I have commonly used it by crushing a leaf and laying it over a bruise, sprain, or cut.

I grow a lot of potentially invasive plants (most herbs are in that category), I just am ruthless with their boundaries. Last summer I did move some comfrey down to my pond area and will see how much it spreads out on its own. Did the same with excess rhubarb this spring, neglected to dig it in, but it apparently found its own way to root and is growing away.

Bret - I plant them that far apart because they get quite large in my soil.
2 years ago - not the best tomato weather (!) 'Juliette' was almost 7' tall and as wide. I have found them to fruit better when further apart, and it eliminates problems due to poor air circulation. I try to keep them covered all the way to the end of June, which minimizes early/late blight.
I have enough room to do this, so I give them plenty of space. I have dug them up in late fall to check the root systems - HUGE & they go deep. Tomatoes & peppers are the 2 most important crops for me, so they are given the most space.
easier to harvest, too.
"Texas tomato cages" are wonderful - they are quitestrong, tall, & hold the indeterminate types very well according to those folks that use them. I'm going to try to source them locally, but they are available online.
Bret - have you ever grown melons?

Katye,

I have never seriously grown melons. Do you have a suggestion on growing some? I think I will have some more garden space next year and may be open to growing some. The only reason I don't now is there are several farmers in the area that do grow melons. What got me started on the tomatoes was a friend of mine brought some to Oregon from California and I had forgotten how good a real tomato could taste. Are Melons the same way?

Bret

Kathy, I've been growing the Juliet for several year, I buy the seed through John Scheepers seed catalog, I'm getting the same results as you. I use the cement reinforcement in 4' by 8' scheets and the pound in rebar in the ground and fasten the grid to the rebar. they always grow over the top of the grids in August so I cut the tops, I can't count all the tomatoes, in the hundreds. the clusters weigh several pounds. I think the reason you can't find them in the nurseries is that the seed is so expensive. that's why there's only about 25 seeds in the dackage, but that's a lot when each plant grows so huge and produces so many tomatoes. the other one buy is the Jelly Bean tomato. they're really tasty and do look just like a red jellybean, Jim

JIm - thanks for the heads up on the Jelly bean tomato - I'll try to source some seed. Apparently I have made inroads with several different people about growing their own tomatoes. Space is an issue for a couple people, so a smaller determinate variety would work well. I WILL find Juliet this year - I will I will! she was awesome in every way a tomato could be. And then there's the culinary aspect......

Bret - Melons do well here IF we have a nice warm summer. Choose varieties that are "personal" melon size. Lil Loupe is a really cute canteloupe. The Galias are very tasty, too.
I hope to have hit on an effective hotbed solution, without requiring heating cables. A raised bed (2 - 3') filled half-way with fresh manure. Added compost & soil on top of that, and finishing off with a heavy straw mulch. I will need to make a cover for it as well, to keep everything dry & the heat in for the night. Timing is essential : the vines escaping the perimeter of the bed coincide with summer temps. An experiment to be sure, but I do enjoy them as I learn much this way. Also successful is using dark plastic trash cans, 1 melon per unit. Also can be done by using straw bales to create the bed & same procedure with manure, etc in the middle. Straw is then usable the following year, or as a fabulous mulch. But then I am a Ruth Stout fan - never enough straw!
In my opinion, even if I only get 2 or 3 melons, it is worth the extra effort!