A Bluestocking Knits

Memorial Day

Straw-bale Tomato Bed: Week 4

Both of the straw-bale plants have blossoms now in Week 4, though the ones on the left are a little sad-looking. I've noticed that even on our bed-planted tomatoes a number of the blossoms are dropping; apparently this can be due to excessive temperatures, and we've been having a bit of a heat wave this past week, with temps in the high 90s F. (mid-30s C) though it's still May.  I'm watering the bale every morning, since it doesn't hold as much water as soil would.

Only the cherry tomato in the back has fruit on it yet, but that is running rampant -- all green though, as we planted a bit late in the season.

Straw-bale Tomato Bed: Week 3

Here is week 3 of our straw-bale tomato experiment.  The smaller plant did not like being transplanted, and wilted quite alarmingly for almost two days before perking up -- the days were fairly hot, though, so that had something to do with it, I'm sure.  We have only one metal cage at the moment, so it went on the bigger plant.

The acidanthera in the background decided to come up after all, though there are only a few patches of them this year, instead of the full swathe of 120-bulbs-plus-descendants that I planted two years ago -- I was glad to see them as they are very pretty.

Straw-bale Tomato Bed: Week 2

On Days 8 and 9 of our straw-bale experiment, we continued to sprinkle the bale with a quarter-cup of bone meal, watering it in well.  Day 10 was watering only.  On Day 11, it was ready to plant.

We debated for a while about whether to place the bale "strings down" or "strings around", but decided to put the bale with the strings parallel to the ground -- that is, with the strings running around it, and the bale on what looks like its side.  This leaves more room to maneuver around the bale, and more space for roots, as I hear that tomatoes are deep-rooted.

There was conflicting advice about whether or not to plant the crops in soil in the bale, or simply straight into the straw, and so since I did not happen to have any clean potting soil, I chose the latter.  (It's an experiment, right?!)

I suspect that the smaller of the two plants might be a bell pepper, not a tomato, as it doesn't have that distinctive tomato-plant scent, but time will tell.

You can see a number of green weeds poking up through the straw here -- I didn't see them before I took the photo since I was admiring the plants from the top, but I've picked them out since.  Don't know if they are invaders or from seeds left in the straw; they are all the same kind, long and narrow blades.

I couldn't resist showing off this --

the "Gertrude Jekyll" rose growing on a trellis on the side of the house.  The blooms are full and gorgeous, and the scent is so strong that I can smell it down at the end of the drive.