Scores of tomatoes

Scores of tomatoes
Originally uploaded by rllayman

This year we built one raised box for vegetables, based on the Square Foot Gardening method, where you create a raised bed, with soil you make out of 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 compost (5 different kinds). The point by the author, Mel Scott, is that it takes 7 years to get regular soil right, through trials and tribulations and adding various things to make it work (amending). Instead, he gives you a recipe to make your own soil.

(An alternative is the "no dig" garden, described in this article, "How do his veggies grow? The no-dig way" from the Los Angeles Times.)

We had to put the box in our front yard, because our backyard is heavily shaded.

Mel Scott recommends 4x4 box units, but we accidentally bought 10 foot long boards and cut them in half, so we are going to continue to garden in 5x5 units. Our intent is to have as much as 125 square feet in cultivation, taking up a goodly portion of the west side of our yard. (We are looking to add our second box soon, for the fall gardening season, and we are thinking of having one 5x10 foot "bed" for asparagus and vine like plants such as squash.)

When we planted, we didn't plant strategically and we ended up having four tomato plants take over the box, because they grew to about 6 feet in height. Because of how we planted, we didn't have enough support (even though we kept adding fencing) and a couple weeks ago with a bad storm, the plants "fell" over.

With help from a friend we got them back up semi-staked, but even the 50 or so green tomatoes that "fell off" have gradually ripened. So we ended up not really losing anything.

We have loads of tomatoes. (Which makes up for getting relatively few zucchinis.) While we have made recipes such as Linguini with arugula and tomatoes, I haven't yet taken up this recipe for Moroccan Tomato Soup from the New York Times. Today or tomorrow I will finally get to it. And following that I will make a bunch of gazpacho...