Chocolate Sprinkles Hybrid Grape Tomato

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder..... It's July 19th and we have our first tomato!  Its' called Chocolate Sprinkles (Hybrid Grape Tomato) - UT338B and as you can see, the tomato is beautiful. It bears red/orange stripes on a rich green background. The overall oblong size is 1-¼" long by 1" and it has a dark "chocolate" interior with few seeds. I found the skin a bit thick, however, it posed no problem when eating the fruit. The tomato is more meaty as compared to your average smaller "Sweet 100" cherry 1" style with greater  juice content.

This variety took some time to start growing as a seedling and when planted in the ground, however it has since taken off and is 5 feet tall with plenty of flowers and new baby toms. It is a new indeterminate variety offered by Stokes Seeds that should be staked and requires an estimate of 70 days from when the plant hits the ground to harvest. Seed suppliers claim it is resistant to fusarium wilt (F1), nematodes (N), and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and that can't be a bad thing.

I would recommend this marbled tomato for your salad because of it's taste and visual appearance. I'm also anxious to try them on a BBQ skewer. Their meaty interior may prevent them from "exploding" on the grill. A real beauty to grow, my friend.

Potato harvest in pots - 10 weeks growth

One potato, two potato, three potato, four...... you get the idea. After 10 weeks growth, two Yukon Gold seed potatoes in a pot has produced 15+ potatoes. This is good news considering we did not have potatoes for Father's Day at 7 weeks growth. The purpose of growing potatoes in pots, in my mind, is to have fresh potatoes from the garden in July. Once the potatoes have dried, store them in a brown paper bag at room temperature and clean them just before preparing them for the kitchen table.

One observation I made when harvesting is the dryness of the soil. I watered my pots almost every day, yet the bottom of the pot was dry. It's now apparent that the large potato foliage requires a tremendous amount of water when grown in a confined pot. However, the ratio of 2 seed potatoes to the 15+ harvested is reasonable. Now let's go BBQ, my friend.

How to grow climbing beans

Healthy Growth

This could be a bumper year for climbing beans in my backyard!  It has been 49 days since I planted climbing Blue Lake Pole Bean seeds and they are growing with exceptional vigor. The flowering vines have reached 10 feet in height and they are falling over the trellis reaching for the sky. I've also noticed that the leaves are bright green and free of insect damage. So what have I done differently this year to produce such awesome plants?

Before planting, I dug in a dusting of my magic formula of organic kelp, fish, alfalfa and bone meal combination. I also added some well composted farm manure that I collected from a local equestrian stable. In addition, had warm weather this spring and that has contributed to fast and healthy plant growth. When the plants were about 3' tall I applied 2-3 inches of manure compost to retain moisture and discourage the weeds. Shortly after this application the plants shot up! I can't help thinking of the magic beans Jack in the Beanstalk! 😄

Sunny morning after rainfall

I've also been watering them occasionally with a nutrient rich manure tea brew that is high in nitrogen. To make the brew add 2 shovels of composted manure into a large garbage can and fill it with water. Another option is to fill an old pillowcase with manure and tie it off. This will keep the solids from mixing with the tea but is not essential to the outcome. Using a stick or shovel mix the brew and let it sit.
The tea brew will be dark brown colour and should be mixed with water. I use a two gallon watering can 1/4 with the brew and top it up with water. The tea brew will look like weak tea and will go directly to the plant roots.

This organic fertilizer will provide your plants with a healthy dose of nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, magnesium and other nutrients to keep your plants green and productive. Feed your magic beans, my friend.