Planting "leggy" tomatoes..
Like the ones we have in the Fiberglass house just off the main
aisle.. :)
Long, overgrown, tomatos actually outperform smaller plants. Here's how you do it :)
If you inspect the lower section of the main stem
you will notice that the plants in antempt to support themselves
are sending roots out from the stem. These start as small whitinsh
bumps on the stem and develop into full grown root systems.
Any sturdy house is built on a solid foundation and so it is with
plants! Simply remove any leaves on the lower portion of the stem
and plant the plants deep in good soil. This will cause development
of a root system two to three times that of a smaller plant starting
from just the roots it has in a cell pack or small pot. Once these
roots take hold in about a week to ten days the plants will explode
with new growth on top! Once fruit set begins there is now the
sheer power of this enormous root system to feed the fruit giving
you, the gardener, a bountiful harvest indeed! This method is
tried and true and some savvy gardeners have been taking advantage
of this for many years now with the success I mentioned above
:) Now you can too!
Enjoy!
Here are a couple of items I found recently and thought you might find of interest :)
* Gardening and weight training are the 2 physical activities
most
effective at preventing osteoporosis in women 50 and older, according
to researchers at Univ. of Ark. The study, which included more
than
3,300 women age 50 and older, compared bone-density readings of
women who participated in various exercises. Lead researcher Lori
Turner said, "there's a lot of weight-bearing motion going
on in the
garden -- digging holes, pulling weeds, pushing a mower."
An
additional benefit of outdoor gardening: it exposes the body to
sunlight,
boosting vitamin D production, which aids in calcium absorption.
lori@comp.uark.edu; http://pigtrail.uark.edu/news/2000/apr00/
The following items are reprinted from gardenwire published by National Gardening magazine.
Link to them from our links page here on the site. Very informative site :)
PINCH PLANTS FOR COMPACT FORM - Midwest, Northeast, Northwest
To keep chrysanthemums and annual flowers bushy and compact, pinch
the branching tips now. Pinching chrysanthemums will stimulate
better branching and ultimately a bushier plant with more flowers
later in fall. By pinching annual flowers, such as impatiens,
you
may loose a few flowersnow, but in a few weeks you'll be rewarded
with many more blossoms.
CURLY TOP VIRUS OF TOMATO - Midwest, Northwest, Southeast
This disease is terminal for tomatoes. Symptoms include stunted
growth, foliage turning dull yellow, leaves rolling upward, fruit
production and ripening ceasing, and the plant slowly dying. The
virus is spread primarily by leafhopper insects, so by protecting
your plants from the insects, you'll reduce the chances of infection.
Discourage leafhoppers by keeping the garden weeded, covering
tomatoes with a light shade cloth, and planting tomatoes later
than
usual to avoid the leafhoppers' population peak.
(Alice's insight - safer soap applied when insects are present
is an effective organic control for leafhoppers but be sure to
get it on the bugs since it only works on contact)
SHEARING HEDGES - Midwest, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast
Now that new growth is appearing on hedges, it's a good time to
shear them and keep the hedges in shape. Using a hand-held or
electric trimmer, trim evergreens, such as yews and cedars, so
that the bottom is slightly wider than the top. This will help
prevent the bottom branches from dying from lack of sun. For
berry-producing plants, such as pyracantha and cotoneaster,
try not to remove the new berries when shearing since they
will provide fall color.