And So It Begins...

Bird 2012 Heirloom Tomato Crop (Partial)

Ready or not kids -- the 2012 summer gardening season is now swinging into full gear. Got those tomatoes planted yet? Check! What about those cucumber vines? Check! Watermelon and pumpkin seed planted? Check! Green onions? Carrots? Squash? Beets? All in? Good!

Now you can take a trip to the Bird Back 40 and give Bill and the wife that is Venus a hand! I'd like to tell you that the garden planting is all done but truthfully, with a garden this large and this diverse, there is always another seed to plant and another chore to accomplish. Short and sweet? It never seems to end.

I get the most joy out of watching the wife plant the heirloom tomato seedlings that we nurtured through the winter months. I'm still a poor study at that "hardening off" process, with leaves me with starter plants that look like they went through a northern squall before they reached the Backyard of Bird.

First Stage PVC Cage Construction

Rather than those green, leafy, picture-perfect starter plants that you see by the thousands at your local big box stores and area nurseries -- my plants are more like poor cousins. They are the "poster children" so to speak of a grower who turned on full bore sunlight before the plants were ready for the "Full Monty."

No matter I suppose. They look pretty darn good after the wife gets done with planting them. Add in some tender care, a fertilizer supplement or three, lots of prayer and just good fortune and the little darlings look pretty darn good. I was forced to install the first 16 PVC cages before the month of June -- which is a pretty good start by our book.

The First Stupice of 2012

Not only are they growing large, green and lush, nothing brings a smile to an heirloom tomato growers eye more than the site of actual TOMATOES forming on those great looking plants. Tomatoes we have Ladies and Gentlemen. You can always count on the Czech import "Stupice" (Stoo-Peach-Kah) to produce an early bushel. I discovered this after growing this variety for the first time last year. It's back for a second run in 2012.

Venus and I have set about 28 plants into the ground so far and we are slowly clearing out spring garden space for more. Because in the world of heirloom tomatoes, the mathematical equation of "X number of heirloom tomatoes" yields the answer of "Never Enough."

Tomatoes Love Radishes

I wish I could tell you the exact names of every variety I've planted, but that would force me to run outside with a flashlight to read little sticks where the wife has scribbled something closely related to chicken scratch. I would be forced to return with the report that we're growing the varieties of "Blargh" and "Snizzle," which wouldn't be exactly correct.

It's safe to say that we're growing a lot this year -- which includes a lot of new varieties like the Indigo Rose. This isn't exactly heirloom territory. The Indigo Rose is a rather new entry into the world of tomato culture. Recently developed at Oregon State University, Indigo Rose is the first, true "designer tomato" in garden culture if you will. It turns dark purple when ripe and is supposed to contain high levels of antioxidants.

Indigo Rose Tomato

I guess that's supposed to be good for you, right? I'm all for healthy eating. Especially because I don't do nearly enough of it. I do know one thing, however. It probably won't improve the wife's writing. Which means I'm looking forward to my first bite of "Blargh."

All fun and pranks aside, May marks the start of my favorite gardening season. Gardeners dream of a bushel of tomatoes and peppers every summer -- and that elusive goal of making your own fruit salad with everything harvested fresh from the backyard.

A thick slice of freshly harvested beefsteak tomato on my backyard barbequed hamburger? Sounds like healthy eating to me...

Monsters in the Backyard

PVC Support Cages-Bird Back 40

Eye popping. Astounding. Scary.

No -- I am not referring to the size of my stomach. Though that does need some work -- and is monsterish in a monster sort of way -- the monsters I am referring to are pictured to the right. This scary mass of growth is the Bird 2011 heirloom tomato garden barely five weeks after plant out.

Yes -- those are the famous Thomas Matkey PVC cages that have now been installed. This is just the first tier. The second tier will come in another few weeks. Setting this up -- this year at least -- was no easy task. The cages in front of you took the better part of two days to install.

And they are not installed as well as I would like.

Assembled Matkey PVC Cage Tier

In a "normal" tomato year (what year is really normal?) -- I lay the first tier construction over the plant -- mark off the holes with stakes -- remove the tier and pound PVC supports into the ground where the stakes have been placed. This usually makes for a fairly good fit -- although it never is quite "perfect." But -- PVC is forgiving. It bends. So -- if a post isn't exactly straight? You can bend it somewhat to where the first tier assembly will snap right on with no problems whatsoever.

But -- again -- this is a "normal" tomato year. This year has not been "normal" by any stretch of the imagination. Rain and hail have wiped out a couple of weekends that would normally be reserved for gardening purposes. Family issues -- such as cleaning out the house of my dear, departed father-in-law -- have claimed another couple of gardening days.

Lush 2011 Heirloom Tomato Garden

And so -- when I finally did find the time to start assembling the PVC supports -- I discovered (much to my chagrin) that every single plant had grown far to large and far to lush for me to place a tier assembly over the top of said plant. Any attempt to fit that square peg into a round hole resulted in (HORRORS!) broken branches -- bruised stems -- torn leaves -- blossoms knocked to the ground and early season production pounded into the ground.

Instead -- I was forced to adopt a tactic that I employed some two years ago when I again waited far too long to put the PVC cages on.

This little installation trick involves putting the entire cage together first -- attaching four 30-inch vertical supports to the assembled first tier (pictured above) -- and then hammering it into the ground from above. This is difficult as you need to drive all four PVC supports in at the same time -- all at the same level. One wrong "THWACK" with the rubber hammer can (and did) cause the assembled tier to suddenly break apart.

Pound! But Don't Break!

Extra care and attention must also be given to the entry points for each 30-inch PVC vertical. The tomato plants had grown so large and lush that many had grown right into one another. We don't want to be pounding stakes through branches, now do we? We also don't want to drive stakes through the drip irrigation sprinklers that are now buried under massive, lush tomato leaves and branches.

Dear neighbors: If you were wondering why I was using a flashlight to peer into tomato plants during the light of day -- now you know the reason why. It wasn't a sudden fit of insanity -- though that probably isn't far off.

Early Season Production: Green Zebra

And now? A bit of good news! All 24 PVC cages are now assembled and hammered into place. Despite the crummy May weather -- the rain and hail hasn't stunted growth nor has it led to the onset of disease (which is always possible when you're cramming tomato plants into a small space). Most plants are now three feet tall, with the exception of the Marianna's Peace, which is closer to four.

Installing PVC cages from above also means a close inspection of each plant, which revealed quite a bit of early season production. Nearly every plant has set at least two or three early season tomatoes. The early producers like Bloody Butcher, Tigerella, Stupice and Early Girl have set decidedly more.

The monsters are growing. Beware.

And now -- to answer a few questions:

How much to these PVC Cages Cost? Each cage costs $7 to $10. The most expensive pieces -- the PVC Cross -- sell for $1 each. Each cage requires four crosses. The top tier is constructed with PVC T's -- which are decidedly cheaper.

How strong are PVC Cages? I've never lost a single one. They hold up to strong winds, heavy crops, marauding cats, whatever Mother Nature can throw at them.

Are the PVC pieces glued together? No -- otherwise I'd never get them apart. They hold together quite well without glue.

How many years have you used this design? This is the fourth year of use for these cages. Not one piece has ever broken or so much as cracked.

What is the biggest drawback? If there is a drawback -- it's the time involved. Each piece must be cut to size. Putting each cage together also takes time.

How do you build these cages? Step-by-step instructions, with photos, can be found here.

An Interesting Observation....

An early morning walk through ye olde vegetable garden can yield many interesting discoveries...

First -- my thanks to sister-in-law Leana Barrantes -- who was kind enough to gift me with an old digital camera she no longer uses. It just happens to be the best camera I've ever had -- and the photos prove it.

This camera appears to be idiot proof. I should know -- since I'm an idiot -- First Class.

My friends -- the photo to your immediate right represents one section of the Bird heirloom tomato garden in early August. I have quite the conundrum here. Perhaps you can help me figure it out?

By looking at the first photo above -- you'll notice that the tomato plants in the raised bed to the right are much taller than the plants in the raised bed to your left. The taller plants represent the starter plants I received earlier this year from Farmer Fred Hoffman. The plants to your left represent my starters.

This comes as no surprise to me whatsoever. Fred's starter plants TOWERED over our sickly offerings this year. Although my plants are now catching up and fruiting quite nicely -- they still haven't caught up to Fred's starter plants and may never catch up to them.

Here is the same shot of the two beds taken at a different angle. The bed containing my starter plants is in front. Fred's starter plants are located the next bed over. The PVC cages that you see in these photos stand about six feet high. The starter plants from Fred Hoffman have grown through the top of these PVC cages and stand at a height of about eight feet.

My starters -- meanwhile -- have barely begun to approach the six foot level.

Why is this so confusing? Well -- to be honest -- it's not. I expected as much. When you start with tall and healthy starter plants -- you're bound to get better growth. The proof is in these two photos.

BUT -- that's not all.

There's another section in the Bird Back 40 also dedicated to our heirloom tomato efforts. It's yet another raised bed located on the other side of the backyard. This is an 8X8 wide raised bed that we use for growing tomatoes -- and another section has been reserved for all things melon.

The plants located in this bed -- pictured to your right -- are not Fred Hoffman's starter plants. They are -- or were -- our sickly starter plants. Notice how these are growing through the top of the PVC cages. And -- keep in mind -- that this bed was planted one week AFTER we planted out in the two beds pictured above.

The tomato plants located in this bed are about the same size of the bed that contains Fred's starter plants. These starter plants were just as sickly as the rest of our starters. They were nowhere near as tall or lush as the plants gifted to us by Fred -- yet as the photo clearly shows -- they are now just as tall as Fred's plants if not taller.

How could this be. Why are these plants so lush -- green and tall? Why are they so much larger than my other starters in the photos above?

But that's not all.

The tomato plants located in this bed -- again pictured to your left in a somewhat wider shot (those are wifey's sunflowers in the background) -- were slow to produce fruit this year. I had blamed the lack of production on the weather (which continues to be less than ideal) -- but yet another strange development took place about two weeks ago.

These plants -- after growing to a height of six or seven feet and not producing much -- suddenly set a large and surprising crop of tomatoes. I'm not complaining mind you -- no not at all. Some of our best heirloom offerings are located in this bed. That includes the time-honored classic of Brandywine and other varieties like Tigerella, Arkansas Traveler and German Orange Strawberry (a new addition to the Bird heirloom tomato garden this season).

In fact -- the numbers of tomatoes that have formed on the German Orange Strawberry would bring a smile to the face of any heirloom grower. The plant is simply loaded with fruit from top to bottom. The same development has taken place with the Brandywine -- which is planted right next to it and the Tigerella (which is rather hard to reach because it's blocked by melons).

So -- what gives? Well -- to be honest -- I'm not sure. This has happened once before -- with a black tomato variety that Venus and I planted two years ago. Oh -- the plant grew to an impressive size sure enough. But production was lacking. In fact -- to be honest -- this black variety didn't produce a single, solitary tomato.

But -- upon reaching a height of five to six feet -- the tomato plant stopped growing and suddenly fruited a crop of 30-40 tomatoes within the space of a week. It went from the "least productive" category to "Whoa" in the space of a few hours. I still haven't figured out how or why that happened.

It just did.

If I had to guess? I think I may have been a little too *generous* with the amendments that I added to the soil last spring before Venus and I planted. The 8X8 bed was amended with chicken manure compost -- which is a tad hotter than the steer manure compost that I normally use in the other beds. I may have also added in a tad too much in the way of pelleted fertilizers -- which I also use when I recharge our raised beds for the upcoming season.

Too much nitrogen will result in a strong and healthy tomato plant with very little fruit set. I do like to experiment somewhat when recharging these beds for the upcoming growing season (you learn through screwing up) -- and it's possible that I "crossed the line" when it came to the all important nutrient of NITROGEN. Yes -- it's essential for tomato plant growth or any vegetable plant growth.

But -- to be honest? This is really just a guess on my part. It could be too much nitrogen. It could be something else entirely.

Your thoughts?

To Prune? Or Not to Prune?

I was inspired to write this entry about pruning tomato plants after reading Farmer Fred Hoffman's take on the issue. Bottom line? I'd listen to Fred. Fred doesn't prune. He doesn't advocate the pruning of tomato plants. In fact -- he's got the scientific research to back up his claims. I've been burned far too many times by ignoring that man's good advice --  so whatever he says? Take it to heart. It's the real truth.

But -- at the same time -- I am also reminded of a very good gardening friend by the name of Tom Matkey. Tom was fortunate enough to recently retire from the rat race of a 9-5 job -- and now splits his time sitting on a beach in Hawaii or tending his tomato plants in the backyard of his Craftsman home in the Southern California community of Glendora.

Where did I meet Tom? Where I meet most of my gardening friends on the internet: which is usually some chat room dealing with one of my most favorite subjects in the whole wide world: Heirloom Tomatoes.

Tom had posted up some pictures of a unique looking tomato cage that looked strangly like 3/4 inch PVC. I wrote to him and asked, "is that really PVC?" Sure enough -- he wrote back -- and it was PVC indeed.

Tom had come up with a unique design for a PVC cage that just looked -- well -- rather ingenious. I'd had some troubles keeping my plants standing straight up in those dinky wire cages the previous year -- a situation that he also faced. That's when he informed me that those dinky wire cages are like a modern-day slinky -- and will fail the moment you need them the most.

So -- being the good gardener that I am -- I copied (ripped off) Tom's cage idea and continue to use it to this very day. I've never lost a plant since -- not even during a rare windstorm in late August. The PVC cages stand up to every challenge that has been thrown at them. As a matter of fact -- this will be my third year of using the PVC cage design -- which you can access here or read more about here.

But there's another tip that Tom also passed along with his cage design: Tom prunes his tomato plants. He doesn't just prune. He REALLY prunes. I mean -- a HARD PRUNE. As Tom explains: "I never let my plants get beyond four leaders (stems). Every other leader that develops gets pruned off immediately."

Now -- I had heard of pruning before. But never pruning in a method such as this one? FOUR LEADERS? That's ALL? My tomato plants usually grow into a jumbled mess of nearly 100 LEADERS by the time growing season is in the books. I can't imagine the kind of work it would take to prune a tomato plant to just four leaders.

But then again -- there's no arguing with the results. You can plainly see them in this photo. This is a photo of Tom's Tigerlla tomato plant taken in 2007. I was amazed by the fruit set on this one plant. I may have come close to duplicating this feat last year -- which by the way was one of the best on record. But I don't get this kind of fruit set every year.

Tom -- it appears -- does.

That's not the only photo Tom would sent of the tomato garden in his Craftsman home backyard. The luscious Lemon Boy harvest in 2008 also caught my eye and attention. And again -- Tom used the same method: Tomato plants were pruned to four leaders and four leaders only. Each leader was then tied to one of the four PVC uprights and trained to grow straight up and out.

All tomato flowers and subsequent fruit were generated from just those four leaders.

I've never seen anything like this before. To this day -- despite my various conversations with heirloom tomato lovers from around the world (there are a lot of us folks) -- I've never come across anyone who does a hard prune like this and keeps it up through the entire growing season.

Oh sure -- there are people who do prune. There are also advocates of pruning. But not anything like this. Do the math people! If you're growing 30-40 heirloom tomato plants in the backyard -- and you're pruning to just four leaders? You're out in the garden every darn day and pruning those tomato plants whether you like it or not!

For me? I think I'm going to stick with Fred's advice and leave my plants alone. They're been doing just fine without human interference for centuries -- so why upset the apple cart? Plus -- Fred -- as a Certified Master Gardener -- has the scientific evidence and study to back up his claims.

Then again -- a picture says a thousand words -- doesn't it?

ANNOUNCING: The 2009 Bird Tomato Garden!!!

I feel like I've been run over by a Mack Truck.

Twice.

Yet, strangely, I feel satisfied. This is how I normally feel after a weekend of intense gardening therapy in the Back 40 backyard of Bill & Venus Bird. And, yes, it is therapy. I enjoy it. No matter how much by back hurts nor how much the shoulders peel from sunburn on sunburn, there is a strange and perverse satisfaction to planting a tomato garden in the backyard.

This is one whopper of a garden. We outdid ourselves again. There are 37 tomato plants that found homes in our backyard this season. That's ten more than last year. That's thirty more than six years ago, when the wife and I both discovered a shared love for all things heirloom tomatoes.

Not only is the garden in -- it's PRODUCING. Yes -- you read it correctly. The 16 plants that Venus and I stuck in the ground four weeks ago, with the exception of just one, are PRODUCING tomatoes at a rapid rate.

This is a first for me. It's a first for Venus as well. I've never seen heirloom plants produce quite this early. In fact, as a rule, most of them generally don't start producing small fruits until June or even July. We enjoy late harvests in August and September, but at our current rate, we'll be harvesting buckets of heirloom tomatoes in June. Who knows -- we might even get something at the end of May.

The picture to your right is a pretty good indication of what I discovered last weekend when I was staking up 16 tomato plants that had been blown flat by a weekend storm of rain and wind. That, my friends, is the Azoychka tomato plant. And those are three to four Azoychka tomatoes -- good sized tomatoes at that.

I'm still not quite ready to install my PVC tomato cages just yet -- and they take time to put up. I needed a quick fix. So -- off to Home Depot I went this past weekend for some bamboo stakes and garden twine. Both items are a gardener's best friend. Upon pulling up the tomato plants that had fallen to the ground, I discovered a treasure trove of production that, quite frankly, surprised me.

Each plant had not only flowered, but many of those flowers had resulted in fruit. Most of the plants had no more than three or four tomatoes, but in some cases there were more. The Druzba -- for example -- has thrown out ten tomatoes. And the Black Cherry plant you see to your left? That's just one of several clusters of cherry tomatoes that have developed so far.

What did I do differently this year to get such early production? I'm not really sure. Could it be that I recharged each raised planter bed with three bags of steer manure compost and other pelleted fertilzers? Possibly. Could it be the Omega 666 and Maxicrop liquid organic fertilizers? I suppose? Is the new hive of bees going to work on the tomato flowers? I suppose anything is possible.

At any rate -- we're off to a great start this year. And we're just getting started. It's barely mid-May. We've got a good five or six months to go! And now, without fail, here's a list of what we're growing in the Bird backyard this season and where the plants came from.

Almost all were started from seed. Some of the plants were grown by Farmer Fred Hoffman. Some were grown by Bill and Venus Bird. Still others were grown by Nels Christenson.

1. Arkansas Traveler (Farmer Fred)
2. Azoychka (Farmer Fred)
3. Beefsteak (Bill & Venus)
4. Black Cherry (Farmer Fred)
5. Black Krim (Farmer Fred)
6. Bloody Butcher (Farmer Fred)
7. Brandywine (2) Farmer Fred & Bill & Venus)
8. Campbell’s 1327 (Farmer Fred)
9. Clint Eastwood’s Rowdy Red (Farmer Fred)
10. Cosmonaut Volkov (Farmer Fred)
11. Costoluto Genovese (Farmer Fred)
12. Dixie’s Golden Giant (Farmer Fred)
13. Dr. Wyche’s Yellow (Farmer Fred)
14. Druzba (Farmer Fred)
15. Giant Belgium (Farmer Fred)
16. Green Zebra (Bill & Venus)
17. Japanese Black Trefele (Nursery purchase)
18. Jelly Bean (Farmer Fred)
19. Jubilee (Bill & Venus)
20. Kelloggs Breakfast (Farmer Fred)
21. Lemon Boy (Farmer Fred)
22. Marianna’s Peace (Farmer Fred & Bill & Venus)
23. Peppermint Quitos Strain (Bill & Venus)
24. Pineapple Beefsteak (Nursery Purchase)
25. Pink Ping Pong (Bill & Venus)
26. Red Reif Heart (Bill & Venus)
27. Santa Sweet (Bill & Venus)
28. Sun Gold Cherry (Volunteer)
29. Winsall (Nels Christenson)
30. Zapotec Pleated (Bill &Venus)

Before I sign off -- I want to add one other note. The photos above represent tomatoes in raised beds that were planted exactly one month ago. Not all of the garden looks this nice. Not all of the plants are THAT tall, THAT lush, or look THAT good.

Here's a good example of one bed, to your left, that we planted this past weekend. What will this bed look like in another month? Good question. As you can tell by the photo to your left, these tomato plants were NOT planted into a raised bed. Nope -- these plants went directly into cruddy, crappy, North Natomas clay soil.

Keep in mind that I amended this soil with LOTS of compost (four bags) and LOTS of steer manure compost (ten bags). But, even with the good stuff, it's still crappy, cruddy, Natomas clay sludge soil. Who knows what these plants will look like in another month? Will they survive? Will they thrive? The answers will be provided in time.

In short -- this is a "test" bed. It's an experiment to utlize every section of our backyard for growing purposes. If this works, like I hope it will work, we will amend other sections of the yard in future years to expand our tiny, but always growing, garden.

Stay tuned. The 2009 fresh-off-the-vine tomato season is now underway.