How i Seed a Tomato

This is how learned to get seeds from a tomato. Im sure there are several ways to do this but this is just the way i have been doing it.

1st.
I have already cut up the tomato. I ran my finger up in each section removing the liquid sections into the bowl. The liquid sections have the seeds. When your done you should have the meat of the tomato left. I then add water. I usually add the same amount of water that there is tomato liquid in the bowl. But i don't think there is a science to the water part. This tomato was called a Kellogg Breakfast. I bought it at a farmers market just for the seeds.

2nd.
The second step i didnt take a picture of. I forgot. But just imagine the above bowl sitting somewhere kinda warmish. I use the top of my refrigerator. Let it sit there for a couple of days. It will start to ferment and stink. You want it to ferment because this is when the seeds will separate from their little gel sacks that they are in. I let this one sit for 5 days.

3rd.
Pour your bowl of fermented tomato seeds into a strainer. Make sure the strainer will not let the seeds slip through its holes.


4th.
I rinse them with cool water for a while.
5th.
I put them on a piece of newspaper to dry back out before i put them in a jar or an envelope.
I have dried them before on a paper towel but because of how paper towels are made it was really hard to get the dried seeds off of it.

My label is in the bowl under the newspaper. Nothing worse then to seed a bunch of different tomatoes and then forgetting which tomato seeds are which. The seeds pretty much look the same.

Dwarf Citrus Trees

This is my Dwarf Citrus Trees. I have had them for one season now and since arriving they have tripled in size.

They did not produce this year so, I am hoping for next year.
The place we ordered them from said they will be dwarf in there size but will produce full sized fruit. (the also said they will produce in year one)

I have ordered live plants from eburgess and Direct Gardening before. Unfortunately 70% or all live plants that i have purchased from these 2 places have died or arrived dead. Getting a refund or a replacement is a headache so, its just money lost. So these citrus trees are surprising me that they are living. Althought the Meyeri Lemon has struggled since it arrived.

Valencia Orange

Lime

Meyeri Lemon

Tangerine

Sorry about what the blog might look like. This really isnt working the greatest for me. Im not to happy with this editor. The words and pics dont really go where they seem like they should in compose vs preview.

Red Corn

My "Red Corn" has started to loose a lot of its green in the leaves and stalk so, i am assuming that its time to harvest.
They only produced one ear of corn per stalk. I guess that is normal.
I planted them this year as a test to see how well they might grow in my garden next to the house.
Next year i will use more of them on the ends to act as a wind screen.
Another odd thing is, i feel like they didn't root very deep.

I pulled my first one off last night. I didn't take a picture with it next to anything for a size comparison but its only about 6 inches long.

I haven't tasted it yet so i cant comment on its flavor. I'll have to get back to you on the flavor.

Bugs in the garden

Powdery Mildew - The end to Melons, Squash and Cucumbers

We had different varieties of melons, squash and cucumbers growing. The we started noticing this white powder on the leaves. Before we knew it, it was on ALL of the leaves and the stalks. Then what was once a beautiful green was now turning a limp yellow with crust brown edges.

Before:

After:
(although this isnt really after. This is during. After is just a picture of dead brown)

I can not confirm that any of the following statements are fact.
We read that it (the powdery mildew) is from the south. When we had hot days and rain Or when you get your leaves wet, it helps to spread this.

We couldn't find a sure fire way of curing it, stopping it, or preventing it.
Some remedies were to us 1 part baking soda and 9 parts water.
another one was a milk and water mixture.

We did use the baking soda remedy and it did seem to slow it down. Some times it seemed to reverse it but i think we were just seeing what we were hoping for.

In the end it brought all those infect to a short life with a sudden end. :(

If you have any info or insight on this I would love to hear it.

Watermelons

In the start of spring we planted a watermelon plant in the front flower garden. It was really just a test to see what it would do. I had very low expectations for the outcome of our watermelon crop. Not until about 2.5 weeks ago the plant really started to grow and then finally it put on a melon. I really dont expect it to ripen before our first frost but its fun to watch. It really grows in size fast.

4ish days ago. Melon1

same melon from about, pic taken this morning. Melon1

a new one i saw this morning.  Melon2

I have started cutting off all of the new shoots of growth.  Trying to make the melon plant focus on the fruit and not growing the leaves larger.

Overview 2 "whats growing"

Whats growing?

Whel that changes kind of often around the house.
Quick List:

Tomatoes

• Sarah Black
• Beefsteak Heirloom (my uncle in law's)
• Cherokee Purple
• Green Zebra
• My Fat Cherry (there is story behind this name ill get into later)
• Jubilee
• Unknown Tomatoes being a Topsy Turvy- im testing these contraptions
• White Wonder (all season it has struggled to live, i doubt i will get my one white tomato)

Corn

• Sweet Corn
• Red Sweet Corn

Okra - the seed packet i had just said 'Okra' so that is all i can go on.

Squash

• summer squash (again this is what the packet said)
• Heirloom Lemon Squash
  

Cucumber

• Space master
• Emperor Alexander
• pickling
• cucumber (its what the packet said)

A variety of Hot peppers and Bell pepper. (ranging in all colors)

Eggplant -- what ever the most common North American variety is? assuming 'dark purple' I bought these plants at a farmers market

Ground Cherry - This is my new favorite thing to grow. This year was just a tester but next year I will plant much more of these.

Dwarf: Meyer Lemon, Orange, Lime, and Tangerine

Dwarf 5-on-1 pair tree: Bartlett, Kieffer, Moonglow, Orient and Ayres (this is still small and in a bucket. When i got it in the mail, it was about 24 inches long. I planted it like the instructions tole me to. Then with it came to life all the new growth start from the base. So i have new growth and 24 inch stick in the middle.)

Basil:

• Holi
• Sweet
• Lettuce Leaf
• Thai
• Lemon

Stevia

Prescott fond blanc melon

Oregano

Many of the above are planted multiple times. I am able to squeze all of this down the side of the town house, under the back porch and on top of the back porch. Good news is that soon we are getting a fence put in and then the garden can really spread out.

Hot Stormy Day

About a month ago we had a pretty bad storm come through our area. It was fast moving and only lasted a short 15-20 minutes.
In those minutes it dumped a very significant amount of rain, hail, high bursts of wind, and the loss of power.

I did have some damage done to the garden. I lost some corn. It completely blew over 2 of my tomato plants that were in cages and those cages were staked in the ground. I was able to save those tomato plants. Many plants looked like they were shot with a BB gun. Just had little holes all in the leaves.

This is the storm cloud starting to roll in.

There actually isnt much time between these pictures. 30 seconds. so you can see the speed it was moving.

Cherokee Purple

One of the new varieties for me to try this year was the Cherokee Purple tomato.

It had a semi ish sweet flavor. This is quickly turning into one of my new favorites tomatoes to grow.

When i find pics

I will be posting more pictures of my garden this year as i find them. So with that said, my posts for this years garden probably will not be in chronological order.

As it started in 2009

This was the first year i decided to try and grow corn. i live in a townhouse SO.... i have to be creative on where i can plant things. Luckily i am the end unit so i do have a very small side yard. That is now a raised box garden 3.5 feet by 16ish feet. Well back to my point. Corn. I read that corn can make a great barrier from the wind. So im growing some this year as a test. All goes well, next year they will be my garden end caps.

I had already started the garden this year and then i heard about the corn trick.

This is a Sarah Black tomato plant.

Half Sour

I grow my own cucumbers so we can make half sour pickles.

Its a cold process. Mainly cucumbers, pickling spice and salt. Let it sit for roughly 3 days and your ready to check it.

Overview 1

After the success of sowing some tomato seeds, I decided to start growing as much as possible in the little space that I have available to me.

Im going to sum up the past 2 years in the next couple of posts until i reach my present time.
I like pictures so enjoy the pictures and less of my typing. On thing I have a difficult time spelling and making sentences that aren't run ons.

above: eggplant

above: Green Zebras, Cherry Tomato, and Heirloom Beefstake

above: Okra "i love some Okra"