Are They Tuff Enuff?

Vegetable Plant Starters-Bird Back 40

Texas-based Blues Rock and Rockabilly band The FabulousThunderbirds posed this question to the rest of America with their first and only Top 40 hit, and it's the same question the Birds are now posing to our 2014 summer vegetable crop. At this moment these tender, leggy veggie starters have been moved from the safety and warmth of their office-converted-greenhouse, to a shady spot in the Bird Back 40.

To throw these babies into full sunshine would be cruel and unusual punishment as well as foolhardy. Do that and the starters we've been nursing since mid-February would perish in a day. Nope -- wheeling our crop outside to a shady spot is just the first step in a gardening dance called "Hardening Off." It's a Texas-style two-step that we've come to learn quite well through the years (and a number of dead or shocked starter plants in the process).

Three rows of a Summer Garden

One wrong move in this process and we're heading off to a nursery later this month to purchase our summer starter plants.

So what are the Birds tending this summer? Just the most delectable of summer garden selections found in any Sacramento area backyard. There's a selection of new varieties -- a selection of old-time favorites -- big tomatoes -- small tomatoes -- hot peppers -- warm peppers -- sweet peppers -- you name it and we probably have it stuck in that rack somewhere.

By our count that's 34 varieties of tomato plant starters (two of each variety), 14 sweet, hot and warm peppers and six varieties of basil. Because what's a summer garden without at least six varieties of basil? That's right! BORING! Oh -- and did I mention the eggplants? Throw four or five varieties of eggplant starters into the mix as well.

Blue Beauty Starter Plant

This month represents one of the most crucial months in the "grow your own" summer vegetable garden movement. Should a sudden snowstorm or freeze strike the Bird Back 40 this month -- it means big trouble. Because, as of right now, these starter plants are not "Tuff Enuff." They will be by the end of the month, that much I can promise you. But as for right now? The first day and first week in Sacramento's natural elements? There's a whole HOST of things that can go wrong.

And they have before.

Starter plants grown sans a true greenhouse are leggy, weak and not ready for prime time. But the goal -- over the course of this next month -- is to toughen up those leggy stems. The goal is to prepare those leaves for the shock of true sunlight and the UV rays that come with it. The goal is to produce a starter plant that is tuff enuff to not only withstand everything that Mother Nature can throw at it -- but thrive in these conditions.

Pepper Plant Starters

The wife that is Venus and I will keep the plants in the safety of shade and away from the winds that can tear those tender stalks into so much kindling. At some point, the metal rack holding our starter plants will be covered with a a plastic sheeting that is used by painters and sold in any Big Box hardware store. After five or six days under the plastic cover in full sunshine? The once- weak and leggy starter plants are completely hardened off and feature thicker stems to boot.

The suggestion to use plastic sheeting -- I must admit -- was not a Bill Bird invention. Nope -- like most good ideas I STOLE IT from someone else. In this case? I stole it from a retired engineer turned gardener who lives in upstate New York. I love retired engineer-turned-gardener types. They have a solution for just about every problem -- and in this case? The advice was right on the money. After five or six days under the cover of 4 ml translucent sheeting purchased from my nearby Home Depot? The once-tender starters were indeed "tuff enough" for the 2013 summer gardening season.

Heirloom Tomato Starter Plant Forest

And 2013 was one of our best years ever, I might add.

And so my friends, while I could write more, I'm afraid that weed-pulling project in the vegetable garden deserves not only my time but attention as well. Because -- after a warm spring day like this one -- the weeds that await are certainly "tuff enuff."

Starring in the Bird Back 40 This Season:

Tomatoes:

1. Azoychka
2. Black and Brown Boar
3. Black Sea Man
4. Blue Beauty
5. Blueberries
6. Brad’s Black Heart
7. Brandywine OTV
8. Campbell’s 1327
9. Cascade Lava
10. Copia
11. Costaluto Fiorentino
12. Fireworks
13. German Johnson
14. German Queen
15. Giant Belgium
16. Green Zebra
17. Grushkova
18. Indian Stripe
19. Janet’s Jacinthe Jewel
20. Lemon Boy
21. Limmony
22. Lush Queen
23. Lynn’s Mahogany Garnet
24. Martha Washington
25. Paul Robeson
26. Pineapple
27. Pineapple Tomatillo
28. Pink Berkeley Tie Dye
29. Pork Chop
30. Porter’s Pride
31. Purple Bumble Bee
32. Royal Hillbilly
33. Sioux
34. Solar Flare

PEPPERS:

1. Alma Paprika
2. Anaheim Pepper
3. Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper)
4. Big Bertha Bell Pepper
5. California Wonder Bell Pepper
6. Chinese Giant Bell Pepper
7. Early Jalapeno
8. Early Sunsation Bell Pepper
9. Merlot Bell Pepper
10. Mucho Nacho Jalapeno
11. Pasilla Bajo
12. Purple Jalapeno
13. Sunbrite Bell Pepper
14. Sweet Red Bell Pepper

BASIL:

1. Corsican
2. Dark Opalka
3. Genovese
4. Lemon
5. Lime
6. Siam Queen

Locked and Loaded!

Venus and Sara: Gardening Girls Gone Wild

Hello! Welcome to yet another adventure in "Extreme Gardening." This week in the Bird Back 40? It's Garden Girls Gone Wild and guess who the lucky man behind the camera was? If you're guessing a one Bill Bird, you just might be correct. And, despite hands that trembled with excitement, I'm here to tell you a satisfying tale in both pictures and words.

Those two young ladies pictured above right played a starring role in Garden Girls Gone Wild. You may have noticed that one on the left is none other than the lovely gardening wife that is Venus. But that girl to the right may not be as familiar. Her name is Sara. And she is a charter member of GWG -- "Gardeners Without Gardens."

Heirloom Tomato Starter Plants

I would meet Sara some years back when she magically appeared from nowhere with an offer of free heirloom tomato starter plants for an annual tomato plant handout that I once hosted at the State Capitol. It was Sara who gave us the brilliant idea for our seed starting rack. And it's Sara who gave us the inspiration for what took place in the Bird Back 40 last weekend.

Yes -- we jumped the gun a tad. Tomato plant out in the Sacramento area normally takes place with the start of May. But the weather isn't cooperating. It's been downright gorgeous for most of the month of April, other than a few blustery days. But there's been no rain to speak of -- certainly no frost -- and we've been blessed with mostly warm temperatures and abundant California sunshine.

Can you blame us for getting a head start?

Return of the Mantis Rototiller

After giving the Mantis rototiller a good workout in three different raised gardening beds, I put Venus and Sara to work. And, make no doubt about it: This was WORK. It was hot, sweaty, grungy, get down in the dirt and DIG DEEP type of work. Quite simply? This is unlike any summer garden planting process we've gone through before.

It's not like we've never planted heirloom tomato starter plants before. We have. If you've read this blog a time or two, you've probably figured out that Venus and I have planted our fair share. But when it comes to the world of extreme vegetable gardening, there's always something new to try. A new approach beckoned. "Be one with the Earth, William," both Sara and Venus whispered.

They Work-I Watch

As it turns out -- I let the two gorgeous gardeners be "one with the Earth." I just snapped the photos and earned a rather brutal sunburn in the process. That's the luck of the Irish for you. Irish people don't tan. They turn a bright shade of redneck red. They peel. And then they burn themselves silly again. Insane Irish.

Last week's post related a special story of a Homer five gallon bucket that was packed with fish parts. It had fish heads. It contained fish tails. One could find fish skins, fish entrails, fish poop and all parts of a fish that people just won't pay money for. We'd let our tightly covered can of smelly fish parts sit and cook in warm sunshine for a full day before we finally popped that lid off.

Smelly Fish Parts!

What an aroma! We drove neighborhood dogs and cats wild with envy. My neighbors thought -- and still think -- we'd gone half mad. And they just might be right.

Although I always amend our raised gardening beds with proper and equal amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium every spring, Venus and I had never taken that extra step of adding additional amendments to each hole that we dug when it came to plant our heirloom tomato garden. The standing order of business had been the following: till up the garden with the Mantis, add amendments, then proceed to use the Mantis again to till everything together. The beds were then raked smooth and planting would then commence.

Venus Prepares to Plant: Bird Back 40

Venus and I would each dig a hole anywhere from eight to 12 inches deep -- place our treasured Brandywine or Lemon Boy at the bottom of the hole -- cover with dirt and move onto the next hole. It's the same step we repeated day after day, year after year. We didn't vary much. It always worked, so why mess with a good thing?

Why mess with a good thing? Because better things can be had. Sara came armed with some pretty good ideas. She's not the first person to employ this technique. She certainly won't be the last. But this was a departure from what we've done in the past.

I knew this was going to be a different gardening experience when Sara approached me with a request for a shovel. I handed her our standard gardening trowel. She proceeded to launch said trowel into orbit with a retort of something along the lines of: "Not this wimpy thing, I mean a SHOVEL!"

One Cup Liquid Fish Parts

She wasn't kidding.

Sara wasn't content or happy with digging a hole of eight to 12-inches. Sara demanded a hole two feet deep and two feet wide. Since most of my raised beds don't stand taller than 14-inches, I informed her she was going to hit some nasty hard clay at the bottom of her quest. No matter. She cut right through it. Sara and shovels are no mystery to one another.

When I indicated earlier this was real grunt, sweaty type of work, I wasn't kidding. Digging a two foot deep and two foot wide hole isn't hard. But try digging 26 of them. In hot sunshine. One after the other. See what I'm getting at? This was no vacation. By the time Sara and Venus were finished cutting through the clay soil line, my once nice and level gardening beds had been transformed into a series of sharp, mountainous peaks.

Fish Parts Added

Why dig a hole two feet wide and two feet deep? Recall that story about a Homer 5 gallon bucket full of fish parts? Those parts, plus other amendments were destined for the bottom of these holes. These had to be placed deep, lest neighborhood critters steal in during the dead of night to dig them up for a "snack."

If you once believed that those 18-ounce Red Solo Cups were reserved for one purpose and one purpose only (PAR-TAY!), guess again. The gardening girls needed something to transfer smelly and by now quite liquidish fish parts from bucket to gardening hole -- and the red solo cups were it. And so it went. The girls, who wore plastic gloves for some protection, dove into that bucket again and again and again. Ever tried swimming in liquidish fish parts? Oh, the fun we have here in the Bird Back 40!

Aspirin Amendments

Each hole demanded a cup of fish heads and fish parts. Each hole received a cup of fish heads and fish guts. Venus and Sara then topped off each hole with two aspirin, a quarter-cup of fine bone meal and a bit of amended dirt to make everything nice and level. What's the aspirin for you ask? That's a good question. You may ask. I make no promises of answering.

However, if you take a gander at this article from Science Daily -- the aspirin supposedly adds to a plant's immunity, thereby reducing the need for pesticides to control bad bugs and bad fungal diseases. Heirloom plants are unlike their cousins, the hybrids, in that they are highly susceptible to many bugs and fungal diseases. I still think it's a bit odd to place two aspirin next to the root ball of an heirloom tomato starter plant, but I'm willing to try anything once I suppose. As for the bone meal? It's high in phosphorus, which tomato plants need to survive and thrive.

If you're asking why we didn't throw the kitchen sink into the bottom of those cavernous holes, you may ask.

The final step: Planting

With holes dug, fish parts, aspirin and bone meal distributed, it was now time to get down to the task of why we gathered in the Bird Back 40 on this particular day: It was time to plant our leggy heirloom tomato plant starters. Those leaf sets that I had lovingly cared for during the seed-starting growth process last winter were clipped and tossed aside. Into each hole went a very long and skinny starter plant, with a few leaves remaining at the top.

Tomatoes are one of the few vegetable plants that will develop additional root systems. The stem will actually take root, provided you plant it deep enough. And two or three sets of root systems are better than one as the old saying goes.

Sara in Her Element

Why go through this process for a simple tomato plant? Because Sara and others have promised this particular method of planting will result in end-of-season stems that are as thick as small trees. Why do the stems get this thick? They are needed to support the plant because it's busy producing a whopper of a heavy tomato harvest.

That's all the argument Bill Bird needs. Please bury me in various colors of heirloom tomatoes people and leave me in heavenly peace. One part of the summer garden -- the most important part some would say -- is now in. Bring on the peppers and basil and other summertime bounty. The job of planting our summer garden continues.

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