Tomato-why grow it?

As I have written earlier the tomato is one of the most popular vegetable garden plants. With all of the "things" that can go wrong in the growing season one may wonder why we plant instead of just going to the farmer's market and buying our vine ripe tomatoes there. In the long run, buying a tomato is probably  cheaper! I must admit the thought has crossed my mind these last few seasons for I have had the bad luck of blossom end rot and many of the other common maladies that can strike a tomato plant. I, however, am not one to quit just because the going gets a little tough so I plan to plant more tomato plants than I have in the past AND I am going to try starting my own from seed! I am going to take the tomato hornworm by the horns and toss it out of the garden when I see one! I am going to learn all I can to be successful growing, wonderful, delicious tomatoes in my own backyard and in soil!
Why grow your own tomatoes? Because you can! The process may not be as easy or as cheap as we would like in our modern instant gratification generation but it is a healthy process all the way from planting to eating! According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture today's tomato has 30 percent less vitamin C and thiamine and 62 percent less calcium than it did in the 1960's with a whopping fourteen times more sodium! (Hope my source is correct!) Even if the figures above are not correct, and farmers don't use all the pesticides that I read about and green house tomatoes are great and hydroponically grown tomatoes are super good I will plant my tomatoes in soil, enhanced with good compost, in my own back yard! Call me old fashion but there is something wrong with growing the food we eat in sterile, artificial conditions. A garden is in itself an artificial growing condition as we try to pull the weeds and plant what we want where we want. We do not allow nature to be will- nilly and grow what it wants where it wants. But my garden is as artificial as I want to get. I want to live with in the limits of what nature will provide for sunlight, water and nutrients (from good compost). The garden pest is a part of nature. Since the beginning of time there have been "garden pests" and nature has been able to keep things in check. If we step out of the natural setting to grow what we need to eat we will not pay attention to what is happening in our environment that may cause us great harm in the future. If we do not pay the farmer a just wage for the produce they grow they will look for cheaper yet higher producing foods at the cost of less healthy foods, more chemical fertilizers. The food chain is a very important part of life: it provides life! I advocate working the soil in a responsible, just way to ensure we have healthy food for generations to come. Plant a tomato for awareness of what it takes to grow our food and pass on the awareness to others who continue to eat mindlessly.
The journey continues!

Tomato-vegetable or fruit

To make my writing a little easier and perhaps a bit more accurate let me begin this post with a quote from Tomatoland ,by Barry Estabrook, 2011.
 "Of all the species that played a part in the great Columbian Exchange-the widespread mingling of plants, animals, and disease organisms between the Eastern and Western hemishperes following the establishment of Spanish colonies in the New World- the tomato surely would have topped the list as the least likely to succeed, never mind to becomes one of our favorite vegetables. Botanists think that the modern tomato's immediate predecessor is a species called S. pimpinellifolium that still grow wild in the coastal deserts and Andean foothills of Ecuador and northern Peru. Inauspicious and easily overlooked, S. pimpinellifolium fruits are the size of large garden peas. They are red when ripe and taste like tomatoes, but picking a handful of the diminutive fruits as a snack would take several minutes. Gathering enough for a salad or salsa wouldn't be worth anybody's effort." p.3
Over time this little tomato mutated into what looked like and tasted like our modern day cherry tomato. This early cultivated tomato was of the variety S. cerasiforme which is now considered a subspecies of
S. lycopersicum - the scientific name for the tomato we eat today!
Moving along it was Hernan Cortes who brought the tomato to Europe in the early 1500's. In 1692 the tomato made its first appearance in an Italian cookbook. The French coined the term "love apple" . In the United States the colonists called the "love apple" tomate, the Mexican name for the tomato.
The journey of the tomato is very fascinating. I highly recommend the above mentioned book, Tomatoland, to any one who would like to follow the tomato's history a little closer than what I have presented here. As to the question, is it fruit or vegetable the US congress of 1883 determined it was/is vegetable in order to protect American farmers from imports from the Caribbean growers of fresh winter tomatoes. In my research one could defend the tomato as fruit and/or vegetable! Its your call. For me I will refer to it as vegetable as I grow it in my vegetable garden.
The journey continues!

The Tomato

The tomato! Purple, pink, green, yellow, orange, stripped, black, chocolate and red! Early, late, determinate, indeterminate, hybrid, heirloom, disease-resistant, oblong, round, squat, patio, bush, climbing,
vining, horn worms, early blight, late blight, nematodes, blossom end rot, blossom drop, curling leaves, sun scald, leaf spot, flea beetles, stink bugs, aphids, blister beetles and Colorado beetles, fusarium wilt, mosaic, bacterial wilt, downy mildew, anthracnose, leafhopper, cutworm, tomato fruit worm, cages, stakes,
fresh, canned, cold hardy, heat tolerant, seeds, seedling, mature, deer, birds, and harvest! Fruit or vegetable?
It is estimated that 35 million Americans grow tomatoes in their back yard. World wide who knows how many! It is by far the most grown "veggie" in the back yard and the competition is mighty to have the first ripe tomato of the season!
So I begin my vegetable garden with the elusive tomato!
(No pictures at this time.)

City chicken run nears finish line!

Bottom wire completed Dec. 25, 2012

The bottom wire of the backyard chicken run was completed on Christmas morning. It was a beautiful day and I had some time before I went to family for dinner. This part of the project was challenging but I am confident that it will be secure. I am not so confident about the upper portion. I was not careful and picked up 2" x 5' x 50' chicken wire. I really needed 1"! The holes are very large and the wire a bit flimsy. I didn't realize my error until I had unrolled the wire and it was too late to return it.

I finished the frame for the chicken run today and started to install the chicken wire. I will use this wire and at a later date I will add a heavier layer over the bottom section. I am disappointed I didn't look closely at the size but it will be fine, just a little more work later. I am excited that the coop and run are just about finished but I am also a little sad that the building part is coming to an end as I have really enjoyed the mental and physical challenges of this project. It is far from perfect but I feel satisfied that it will stand up to the elements and provide a good home for the "girls".

Speaking of the "girls" I have made contact with a local (small) farm that may provide me with the hens I am looking for. I plan to visit in the next week or so to perhaps place my order for 2 day old chicks. You may check out the farm at www.sumner-byrdfarm.com . I know that I would like one of the breeds they carry, that being Ameraucana, I need to research the others.
The journey continues!

Chicks' Play Pen Part 3

Today's work on the city chicken coop run was some of the most challenging work to date. As noted in the previous post, I had the trench finished so I thought the fence would go quickly.

As it turned out the trench was not deep enough all the way around and I also needed to set the three remaining corner posts and attach the rail that would secure the fence. Working alone and trying to get the post straight was a challenge but with a little extra effort it was done. I still need to close the two ends and then I will begin the challenge of the chicken wire that will complete the enclosure.

After the enclosure is complete I will need to make the door to enter it (the run) and decide on the front door of the coop. I still need to add the roost bars inside, make a ramp into the run and fix the doors that open into the run from the coop. When these items are finished I think I will have what is needed for the "Ladies". With that done I can begin to have some fun and add pieces of "rick-rack" here and there.

The journey is good!

December 18,2012

Chicks' Play Pen Part 2

Backyard city chicken run update. This week I finished digging the needed trench to bury the hardware cloth the appropriate 12". Who would think so much dirt would come from such a small opening in "Mother Earth"! As you can see I got a little wiser this time and put a tarp down so it will be easier to put all that dirt back! When I did the shorter piece of fencing in the front I did not think to do this. It was not only more difficult to move the dirt back into the trench but I came up short! Some of the dirt of course became fixed where I placed it. Lesson learned; use a tarp.
Today is to be another beautiful day in Raleigh, NC so I hope to finish the bottom hardware cloth project. Once again I bought a 50 foot roll of 1/2" by 3'h hardware cloth. I'm fairly certain it will be enough to complete the bottom part of the fencing. The upper portion of the chicken run will be a heavy gauge chicken wire, that will be part 4.
The above picture was taken Dec. 16,2012 and shows the back of the chicken run.



Chicks' Play Pen part 1

It was a beautiful day in Raleigh, North Carolina today. The temp was 54 degrees and the sun was shining!

Great day to get a little more done on the City Chicken Cottage. I set the fence and attached it to the post and the bottom of the coop. It looks like this part of the fencing will be very secure, may the rest go so well!

Just a note, took time to total my expenses thus far and was very surprised and happy to see I am coming in under budget!

The journey continues!