All the Dirt on Gardening

Lisa Merrell Tomato Man's Daugher Tomato and pepper plants are everywhere right now even though we have another below freezing night tonight. And, I bit the bait at Tomato Man's Daughter  on West 91st Street in Tulsa yesterday. The trek was worth the trip because I found what I was looking for and more. This link will take you to their Plant List for 2018. Specifically I wanted Tomato San Marzano This tomato: San Marzano : "Superb flavor preferred by chefs and home gardeners all over the world. Slightly rectangular shape (3” x 1½”) holds up well on the vine and in storage. Solid meat is great for canning. This is the most famous plum tomato for making sauce."  Tomato Black Cherry And, I wanted one cherry type. Lisa recommended  BLACK CHERRY  "We fell in love with this one the first time we tasted it!!! I think you will too. The complex rich, sweet flavor is just absolutely luscious. Plants are loaded with perfectly round cherry tomatoes with th...

Most of the popular vegetable gardening how-to books are written on the east or west coast and have to be interpreted for the Midwest, upper south and south. For example, Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman (east coast U.S.), Gardening When It Counts by Steve Solomon (northwest U.S. and New Zealand), and Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew (northern Utah). Gardeners in the rest of the country rely on local university extension office publications. In our area we are fortunate to have both Oklahoma State University and University of Arkansas to provide relevant instruction in print, online and through workshops. Jim Wilson, the former host of “Victory Garden” and his partner Jamie Lynn Mandel, garden in Missouri. Wilson, 83, is the author of 14 gardening books. And he still has an organic garden that is 1,000 square feet divided into mini plots to grow herbs and vegetables for their table and to donate to the hungry. Wilson’s new book, “Homegrown Vegetables, Fruits and Herbs: A B...

The garden blog, Eat Close to Home , has posed a victory garden challenge and the author offers personal assistance to the first five responders, even if you do not live close to Ann Arbor Michigan. Such a deal. Photos: Snow pea and pole bean flowers last spring. Foodshed Planet is the originator of the idea and becoming a Companion Planter is at the core of the plan. The basics include the fundamentals of community building at its best. Help each other; be part of a shared effort to help more people grow and eat home grown food. Create a planting bed for someone else, share some of your perennial plants or annual seeds with them. Pass on gardening books and magazines. Share the produce from your garden or make something out of them and share the prepared food. A quote from the blog, "My mom had a garden that she called her Friendship Garden because everything in it had been g...