Thought we would join in the Thursday Thirteen fun this week. Instead of 13 things about Me - I have created The Garden 13 with 13 interesting gardening tips and tricks I’ve come across over the past week.

To start off our second Garden 13 - we’re talkin’ organic gardens! Organic gardens can be attractive and productive. Well-managed soil nurtures healthy plants and pesticide-free gardens have predators to deal with pests. The ten steps below will help you make your garden organic. Since now is the time to be thinking about preparing your garden bed for next year - - here we go . .

Here are 13 fabulous tomato varieties (the first 6 are in my garden):

1. Improving the soil - Whether you have heavy clay or light sand, you can’t do much about your soil texture. However, you can do something about the structure and quality, and any improvements you make to the soil will have a direct effect on the health of your plants.

   Soil conditioners, such as leaf mould, composted bark, homemade or municipal compost, benefit all soils. They can be dug in or simply spread on the surface where the weather and soil-dwellers, such as earthworms, will work them in. Their bulk will improve the drainage of heavy soils and help dry soils to hold on to moisture and nutrients.

2. Garden nutrients - Gardeners worldwide know the value of home-produced garden compost. It nourishes the soil, supplies it with nutrients and improves its structure, giving plants ideal growing conditions. It also helps combat soil-borne pests and diseases.

   The time to apply compost is when plants are actively growing, not during late autumn and winter when long wet spells will wash its valuable nutrients deep down into the earth, out of reach of next season’s crops.

   Organic gardeners recycle everything through the compost heap, only discarding badly diseased material. Mature compost looks and smells like good garden soil, but is a phenomenal mixture that is high in nutrients and teeming with the micro-organisms your soil needs to keep it in good condition. If you don’t have one already, start your heap off this year - you won’t regret it.

3. Making compost - Compost-making is a year-round activity. The secret to success is to have a good mixture of material. If the heap is too wet, you’ll end up with stinking sludge; if it is too dry, composting will be very slow. If you’ve got a lot of wet stuff, such as kitchen waste or green weeds, mix it with dry material, such as egg boxes and crumpled cardboard. Old envelopes are particularly good for mixing with grass clippings.

   You can use a container or make a heap directly on the ground. Add to it whenever you like, remembering to avoid very thick layers of anything very wet or very dry. If you have a large quantity of any one material, such as grass clippings or woody prunings, make a separate pile. Wait until you’ve got the balancing stuff to go with it, then add it to the main heap.

   If you’re energetic you can turn the heap around, mixing it all up occasionally - but you’ll get equally good compost by letting nature do the work for you.

4. Weed control - Organic gardens are not unkempt, but neither are they free of all weeds, since many are very useful. For example, nettles support aphids for early-feeding ladybirds. Thistles provide food, in the forms of nectar and seeds, for many different creatures, and butterflies breed in flowering grasses
5. More Weed Control - Once again, the key is to aim for a balance. If weeds are likely to compete with your plants for nutrients, they should be controlled. So-called organic herbicides don’t exist, so other methods must be used: 1. - Keep bare soil covered as weeds will seed in any open space. In ornamental areas, use ground cover plants or a mulch to smother weeds. Mulch around vegetables with leaf-mould or hay. 2. - During winter grow a green manure, such as clover, where you have no crop cover. As well as keeping down weeds, it stores nutrients in its roots. These are returned to the soil when it is uprooted and dug in during spring. 3. - Hoe off weeds as soon as they appear. All the green waste can be added to the compost heap where any minerals and other nutrients they have absorbed during their short growing time will be recycled for the benefit of your garden plants.
6. Seed and plant choice - Always buy plants that suit your site and soil, and choose disease-resistant varieties whenever you can. Seed catalogues offer a huge range of plants, both ornamental and edible, that have natural resistance to all sorts of problems. There are even a couple of potato varieties - ‘Cara’ and ‘Remarka’ - that are resistant to blight.
7. Changing perspectives - Organic gardeners want their plants to grow well, but not at any cost. Rather than rely on an arsenal of pesticide sprays to deal with problems, they use other means to achieve success. They also accept and tolerate a certain level of imperfection.
8. Chemical issues - There are many organic pesticides and fungicides available but these products last only a short time in the environment. If absolutely necessary only use them as a last resort.

   Chemicals, even organically acceptable ones, can cause more damage than we realise. Contact killers can often hit non-pest species, while treatments designed to combat fungal problems can be washed into the soil, damaging worms and other soil-dwellers. The best technique is to deal with problems early on, thus avoiding the need for chemical treatments.

9. Pest management - Don’t rely on just one method of pest control, as the best results come from using a range of techniques. Traps and barriers, naturally resistant varieties, biological controls and crop rotation are just some of the ways to keep pests at bay. Vigilance is crucial. By checking your plants often, you’ll spot problems in the early stages when they are easier to deal with. Often you can allow nature’s armoury of natural predators to work for you. Also, it pays to take good care of your soil, because healthy soil will produce strong plants that tolerate some pest attack.
10. Dead Bugs - My mother-in-law spreds dead bugs across her garden. Seriously. She collects the bugs in a jar. When she gets enough - she grinds them and then sprinkles the dead bug mixture on her garden. The theory? Live insects can smell the dead carcuses of their buggy friends and steer clear of the burial site. For her, it really works!
11. Disease management - There are several ways to combat diseases naturally. Always change the position of your vegetable crops each year. By doing this, you’ll avoid a build-up of soil-borne problems. Keep plants growing steadily by never letting them go short of water. Dry roots lead to stressed plants that are ready to succumb to any disease. Keeping the soil well-composted will help suppress many diseases as well.
12. Encourage wildlife - Organic gardens are vital havens for wildlife. Grow a range of plants providing food and shelter and see how quickly the creatures arrive. Aim to attract as wide a range of wildlife as possible, because greater diversity will produce better balance, allowing natural predators to keep pests under control.
13. Organic Gardening - Organic gardens can be attractive and productive. Well-managed soil nurtures healthy plants and pesticide-free gardens have predators to deal with pests. The ten steps below will help you make your garden organic.

Happy Gardening!

Thought we would join in the Thursday Thirteen fun this week. Instead of 13 things about Me - I have created The Garden 13 with 13 interesting gardening tips and tricks I’ve come across over the past week.

To start off our second Garden 13 - we’re talkin’ tomatoes! I’m a BIG fan of all types of tomatoes and have planted 6 different varieties in my own garden. I’m listing them here - along with 7 other fabulous varieties that I wish I would have planted, but did not have the room

Here are 13 fabulous tomato varieties (the first 6 are in my garden):

1. Beefsteak Tomatoes - This surprisingly compact plant (20-24″) is just loaded with large flavorful tomatoes. Combines big meaty fruit (8-12 oz.) and early maturity on a dwarf plant, perfect for a small garden and patio containers. Yeilds perfect slices for sandwiches!





2. Roma Tomatoes - Bright red, plum shaped, paste-type fruits with meaty interiors. Determinate plants. Ready to pick about 76 days after plants are set out. GARDEN HINTS: Fertilize when first fruits form to increase yield. Water deeply once a week during very dry weather.





3. Cherry Tomatoes - Scarlet, cherry-sized fruits are produced in long clusters right up to frost. 70 days. Bursting with sugary flavor. Scarlet, cherry-sized fruits are produced in long clusters right up to frost. Grow on stakes or fence.





4. Grape tomatoes - these are my favorite! I can pick these and just eat them right off the vine! nce upon a time, grape tomatoes were considered a specialty item. Now, as the word about grape tomatoes is catching on and are more mainstream.





5. Fourth of July Tomato - The first tomato to ripen by Independence Day! Be the first on your block to have vine ripened red, luscious tomatoes by the Fourth of July. Enjoy the plentiful harvest about 49 days after setting plants in the garden. Indeterminate plants produce fruits that average 4 ounces all season long. YUM!





6. Tomato Viva Italia Hybrid - The best tomato for soups and ketchup. Vigorous plants yield an abundance of 3 oz. fruits. Disease resistant.





7. Tomato Heatwave - Grow great tasting tomatoes in the most intense summer heat even at 100°F. Round, 6-7 oz. fruits on com pact plants are extremely disease resistant.





8. Tomato Sweet Tangerine Hybrid - Gorgeously golden and astonishingly sweet. These delectable tomatoes also ripen early for so large a fruit. The determinate plants set very heavy crops, even in hot weather. Strong disease resistance. Ready to harvest in 68 days.





9. Yellow Pear Tomato - This extremely old variety makes a vigorous plant, which bears enormous numbers of bright yellow, bite-sized fruit. The flavor is deliciously tangy. Perfect for summer party hors d’oeuvres.





10. Pink Belgium Tomato - A succulent and enormous dark 1-1/2 to 2 lb. pink tomato that many gardeners prefer to the more acidic varieties. The flavor is sweet and very mild, and the large fruits are very attractive. Indeterminate. Pink-skinned tomatoes occur as a result of a clear skin over red flesh. (Ordinary red tomatoes have yellow skin over red flesh.) When ripe fruits retain green pigment, tomatoes take on purple and brownish hues.





11. Brandywine Tomato - Exceptionally delicious pink fruits, up to 1 lb. each, grow on indeterminate plants.





12. Brandy Boy Tomato - Many gardeners consider Brandywine heirloom tomato (above) to be the best tasting of all tomatoes. But as all tomato connoisseurs know, Brandywine has its drawbacks. The tomatoes are often misshapen with uneven shoulder ripening. The plants grow wildly, set fruit late in the summer and yield a sparse crop at best. But not Brandy Boy! Our new hybrid Brandywine produces loads of large pink fruits, up to 5½ inches across, that ripen evenly, with soft heirloom texture, thin skin and that same incredible Brandywine flavor. Better yet the plants sport an upright more manageable growth habit. Brandy Boy is an indeterminate variety, ready to pick 75-78 days after setting out plants. If you love tomatoes like we do, and especially the rich, tangy-sweet taste of Brandywine, don’t miss Brandy Boy!





13. Tomato Tomande - Tomato connoisseurs rave about the flavor of these broad-shouldered beauties. Fleshy, juicy and flavorful,’Tomande’ will treat gourmet gardeners with both heirloom taste and abundant hybrid yields.

Happy Gardening!

Thought we would join in the Thursday Thirteen fun this week. Instead of 13 things about Me - I have created The Garden 13 with 13 interesting gardening tips and tricks I’ve come across over the past week.

To start off our first Garden 13 - we have information on cutting flowers from your garden. Nearly any flower, twig, berry or leaf can be brough indoors and put in a vase. If you have the space, you can indulge in a cutting garden just for flowers from your regular beds and borders. In fact, cutting them makes your garden prettier, because it encourages flower production. Another way to grow flowers for cutting is to plant them in rows in your vegetable garden. This is especially practical with fast-growing annuals planted from seed, such as zinnias and cosmos.

Here are thirteen great flowers for cutting:

1. Aster
2. Baby’s breath
3. Black Eyed Susan
4. Dahlia
5. Gerbera Daisy
6. Iris, all types
7. Lavender
8. Lily-of-the-Valley
9. Peony
10. Roses
11. Shasta Daisy
12. Snapdragon
13. Sweet Pea