What Do Tomatoes Do For You

Each variety has their own unique taste. Jimmy's grandmother, Elouise Watson, shared this precious heirloom with him in the 1950-60s. There are 256 pages chock full of information on growing heirloom and open pollinated tomatoes.

Looking for a boost to your farm business? Small loans mean less paperwork and a simpler, streamlined application process. The microloans program illustrates a small but significant positive shift in funding opportunities within the FSA as the agency...

So you see, you'll have to read the whole article to learn the identity of your own state's favorite. The coloring is dull brown or tan with a green lateral stripe along the edge of the wings.

To control the spread of sumacs, many trees are pruned down to the ground. When pruning your sumac, wear thick garden gloves to protect your hands. Cut this growth off at the base.

The base of the flower lies above the cluster of leaves. You can snap off the spent blooms, or use pruning shears if they don't break off easily. (Growth buds look like tightly compacted sets of leaves around a stubby stem.) This light pruning encourages...

By the time the blossoms at the bottom of the flower spikes have opened, the ones at the top are usually spent and unattractive. Cut all of the flower spikes down to the top of the foliage using your garden shears.

Protect yourself with thorough, documented research to help avoid costly mistakes. For example, salsa might require simpler kitchen regulations because canning high-acid items is generally a less-complex, lower-risk process than preparing a lower-acid...

Fertilize them regularly, following the package directions for the proper amount to apply.Water marigolds well immediately after planting them in the garden, both to settle the soil and to hydrate the roots.

Orchid fertilizer should be used occasionally and in accordance with the product's directions. Depending on the amount of sunlight, temperature and moisture in the air, orchids should be watered at least once a week.

American Farmland Trust is raising awareness about local farmers' markets while raising money for the farmers who keep the markets afloat. “The ‘I Love My Farmers Market' celebration is about celebrating the unique qualities of farmers' markets throughout...

We've determined that even before we plant seeds or invite chickens to come live on our farm, we need to prioritize building up our driveway so that a river doesn't run through it every time a “gully washer” hits.

Caging or staking tomatoes rather than letting them sprawl could also improve air flow as well as getting the foliage further away from soil that may harbor disease. You don't want to remove the plant and keep the disease!lan next year's garden to reduce...

To obtain this depth of root growth, dig a planting hole that allows you to set the seedling so the first set of true leaves are just above the soil line. Tomato plants that are in the fruit-producing stage require more water, up to 1 gallon per day.

Commonly affected landscape plants include:It may be difficult to completely eradicate ringspot virus in annual plants that are replaced frequently, but by removing any volunteer plants and not saving seeds, you can keep the virus from spreading to more...

Growing tomatoes and sun is necessary, but the fruit themselves do not need sunlight to ripen.Tomato fruit actually ripen fastest in the absence of sunlight. Therefore, the more sunshine they get, the more energy they have and the more fruit they can...

I also have an unrelenting curiosity for the nature around me. (Not quite true.) He doesn't like to ruffle feathers, and he keeps a cautious distance from those bigger than him. A neighborhood raccoon wants to become one of the family, so I guess we're...

This chemical breaks down when the beans are cooked.The last way to harvest shell beans is to pick the beans as dry beans. The best time when to pick beans for eating like snap beans is while they are still young and tender and before the seeds inside...

I also left behind a promise to drop off a raspberry cream cheese pie and a set of raspberry plants I was clearing out. What I didn't have was a clear idea of how I was going to get the manure down the hill to my gardens.

From top to bottom, you will find the grip, then the handle, which varies in length, with longer handles better suited to digging deep holes and shorter handles better suited to precise tasks.

It's best not to wash them if storing is necessary. The exact time for scallion picking varies upon personal preference but is usually within about 60 days after planting.Scallions can be harvested several times throughout the season depending on their...

The plant is difficult to raise in the home environment once it has been removed from the commercial greenhouse but it can be maintained through the holiday season.Water the poinsettia when it feels dry to the touch.

Plants that receive frequent pruning are healthier and feature more new growth.Cut the lilies back in fall, after the first frost of the year, when the foliage is dead and comes off easily with pulling.

The question is: Which of these tools might you find useful on your hobby farm? Here's a quick rundown human-powered cutting tools and their main uses. A “cutting mattock” has a small axe blade on one side and a mattock blade called an “adze”...

Seeds saved from OP or heirloom plants will produce fruits true to the parent from year to year unless a lot of cross pollination has occurred. All heirlooms are open pollinated, but not all OP plants are heirlooms.One of my favorite aspects of heirlooms...

This too can lead to tomato sunscald, as the fruits have no cover from the sun's blaring heat.Finally, when did you last fertilize and with what? At this stage, the fruit becomes more susceptible to secondary fungal problems, likefreestar.queue.push(function()...

When a tomato has reached full size (called mature green), pigment changes occur – causing the green to fade in color before changing to the appropriate varietal hue such as red, pink, yellow, etc.It's true that you cannot force a tomato to turn red...

Recipes always call for large eggs, without any other options or substitutions. When urban dwellers stopped keeping chickens and bought their eggs in stores, all the large eggs their recipe books called for came from just one breed that laid large white...