It’s tomato-planting time again! If you’ve grown tomatoes in the past, you most likely have your favorites. If not, just ask! You’ll find some pretty strong opinions regarding tomato choices, and every gardener has their own top choices, must haves and great picks for tomatoes.

Choosing Tomatoes

Along with soil type, climate, moisture and other typical gardening considerations, one of the features you will need to take into account when choosing what type of tomato to grow is plant habit. The two main habit classifications are “determinate” and “indeterminate” and are based on fruit use, available growing space and length of growing season. Both habit classifications include fruit selections in a wide variety of colors, sizes, shapes and tastes.

Determinate Tomatoes

Tomatoes from a determinate plant are produced earlier in the growing season, on terminal ends of a compact bush. This type of tomato generally reaches 3-4 feet in height and is easily supported with a tomato cage or may even be self-supporting. Due to its compact habit, it may even be grown in containers, ideal for gardeners with less available space. Because all the fruit ripens at the same time, determinate tomatoes are an excellent choice if you plan to can your fruit or make sauce, as you won’t need to worry about collecting enough fruit to work with. Determinate classification includes popular tomato varieties such as:

• “Celebrity” – an eating/slicing tomato
• “Roma” – a paste tomato
• “Sugary” – a cherry tomato
• “Carolina Gold” – extra large, yellow fruit

Indeterminate Tomatoes

Indeterminate tomato plants will fruit along the entire length of the stem over a longer period of time, in fact continually, until frost. Smaller amounts of fruit ripening regularly throughout the growing season makes an indeterminate tomato plant an excellent choice if you cannot cook or consume a large quantity of this perishable fruit all at one time. Indeterminate tomato plants are vines, requiring proper pruning and support, to reach their ultimate height of 8 feet or more. Indeterminate classification includes popular varieties like:

• “Amish Paste” – heirloom, paste tomato
• “Beefmaster” – extra large sandwich tomato
• “Better Boy” – juicy but firm, compact vine with shorter internodes
• “Black Krim” – deep color, rich flavor
• “Chocolate Cherry” – cherry, chocolate red in color

By understanding the differences between these basic tomato classifications, it will be easy for you to choose the tastiest tomato to suit your gardening needs and harvest preferences. Many gardeners choose more than one of each type of tomato, ensuring there is always a bountiful supply to use, to share and to enjoy!

What do you do when you fall in love with a plant but you know it spreads and could take over your entire garden? You don’t have to give up your hopes of nurturing this plant, you just have to learn how to contain it securely without destroying its beauty.

Favorite Spreaders

Many different plants may be desirable, but have the nasty hidden personality of spreading out of control. Common spreaders that are still garden favorites include…

• Mint
• Lamb’s ears
• Lily-of-the-Valley
• Beebalm
• Loosestrifes

Any plant that is labeled as “fast growing” or “aggressive” can potentially take over a garden space and should be treated with caution if you want to keep it contained.

Literal Containing

Containing a known spreader could be as easy as planting it in its own container. Ceramic, metal or resin pots certainly put a punch of color in a corner, on a deck or by the front entrance. They’re also great for adding plant height and focal points in the garden, and they will ensure the plant stays put.

Perhaps a touch of whimsy would add pizzazz to your garden while controlling your marauder. Picture your potential runaway planted in a pot, “sitting” in a hole cut in the seat of a painted and weather-sealed wooden chair. This creates a colorful garden focal point, elevates your beauty and keeps it from spreading. Another quirky option is to use an old, rusty wheelbarrow as the container and position it near the garden or inside a flowerbed. It can be fun to get creative with container options, all of which will help you enjoy your favorite spreading plant without letting it get out of control.

Containing Plants in the Garden

If you want the potential invader in the ground, research the plant well before introducing it to your garden. Different plants require different control measures. Mowing to eliminate new growth controls some plants. Herbicide applications can have an effect on others, while some require hardscaping to control their roots and keep them in place. Some plants may not give in easily to any control methods.

For the Most Vigorous Runners

In cases where plants are nearly assured to take over without proper control methods, trench containment may be the best option.

• Determine where you would like to plant, bearing in mind the needs of the plant for proper sunlight, moisture and soil condition.
• Dig a trench 26-30 inches deep along the boundary of the planting area that you wish to contain.
• Line this trench with a high-density polyethylene liner, leaving 2 inches of the liner above the soil line.
• Overlap the end of the liner by at least 6-8 inches to that the plant root cannot escape through the opening.
• Backfill the trench to secure the liner and hold it firmly in place. If desired, you may fill the trench with gravel or other inorganic material to create another level of containment protection.
• Plant inside the growing area, taking care not to disturb the containment trench.
• Periodically, check the edges of the trench liner to be sure the roots don’t try to climb over the barrier. If they are, be ruthless and cut them back.

Left to their own devices, vigorously spreading plants can quickly become a nightmare as they take over a garden or landscape. If you know how to contain these plants, however, your dreams of nurturing them in your yard can come true.

We’ve all heard of the importance of amending the soil properly for gardening and landscaping, but the number of soil amendments sold in garden centers often confuses gardeners. Which is which, and which will work best for your soil conditioning needs?

Types of Soil Amendments

Soil amendments fall into two basic categories, inorganic and organic. Inorganic amendments come from non-living materials such as sand, perlite, vermiculite and crushed stone. With the exception of limestone and gypsum, which are used to increase soil calcium, these are not commonly used in the garden.

However, organic amendments are the opposite. They come from previously living materials such as peat, manures and composts. When leaves, bark, peat, animals and animal wastes are mixed together to decompose, compost or “humus” is the final product. Very commonly used, these materials enrich the soil by increasing the air spaces, adding extra nutrients to the soil, improving the absorption of those nutrients and increasing overall soil fertility.

Why You Need Soil Amendments

Excellent soil is not common around most homes. Even if it was initially, house construction and roadwork often removes the good soil and construction equipment compacts the remaining soil. Furthermore, heavy use of the remaining turf – children and pets playing, for example – continues to compact the soil. Chemical treatments, runoff from gutters and downspouts, removal of existing plants, changes in local wildlife – all of these factors can wreak havoc on soil.

Adding organics loosens compacted soil and results in better gardens. Incorporate organics into the beds throughout the year by working evergreen needles, leaves and lawn clippings into the soil. Amendments such as peat or lime can improve a pH problem, if one exists. Calcium and magnesium deficiencies can be corrected using organic materials such as bone meal or wood ashes, or inorganic materials such as limestone, gypsum or soft rock phosphate.

Mulching is another simple way to add biodegradable materials to the soil. Simply place mulch around the plant, leaving several inches bare closest to the stem to discourage insect invasions and rot. In addition to slowly providing nutrients as it decomposes, mulching is attractive, reduces weeds and erosion, maintains soil temperature and prevents “crusting” that occurs when soil becomes too dry.

Another advantage of adding organics is the attraction of worms. They further assist in the decomposition, increase aeration and leave worm castings, a valuable organic material, behind. A healthy garden is home to many worms, and it all starts with adding organic soil amendments.

Whether you opt for organic or inorganic soil amendments, if you use them properly, you soil will improve and your landscaping, flowerbeds and garden will look better than ever.

You’ve heard it said, “When it rains, it pours.” In gardening terms, this could easily refer to the amount of rain on the roof going through the gutters and downspouts, and then out to the storm drains and pouring away from your garden. With the unpredictability of rain and the cost of water, don’t you wish you could keep some of that rain and put it to better use? You can, by installing a rain barrel, or two, or three or more. Rain barrels don’t have to be expensive or an eyesore.

The Best Rain Barrels

By diverting the gutter downspout to the rain barrel, rainwater is collected during a storm and stored. A fine mesh screen across the top prevents rocks and debris from entering the barrel and mosquitoes from laying their eggs. It’s a good idea to use a small amount of algaecide to prevent algae from building up in the barrel as well. Some barrels even have a solid cover with an opening to fit the downspout into, and the darkness inside the barrel helps inhibit algae growth.

Most rain barrels have two spigots, one at the top and one by the bottom. Attaching a hose to the top spigot redirects excess water when the barrel is full. You may use this to connect to another rain barrel that stores the overflow from the first, or you may position the overflow hose to direct excess rain to a nearby flowerbed, tree, garden or other plantings that can benefit from a good soaking.

A hose attached to the bottom spigot allows the stored water to flow for use. Incidentally, the water pressure increases if the rain barrel is elevated even just a few inches, allowing gravity to assist getting every drop of precious water out of the barrel so it can be put to use.

Value of a Rain Barrel

Is it worth it? According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), a rainstorm measured at 1/10th of an inch, over a 20’x30′ roof, would more than fill a 32-gallon rain barrel if all the water is properly directed. Multiply this amount by your water charge per gallon and you’ll see it won’t take long to pay back the small investment made in a few barrels.

Furthermore, rainwater is often better for watering garden plots, containers, flowerbeds and new plantings, and is even better for many houseplants. Rainwater does not contain the same chemical treatments or compounds found in tap water, so collecting rainwater is a healthier alternative for keeping all your plants well hydrated.

Not sure which rain barrels will suit your style or how to set them up effectively? Stop in to see our collection and consult with our experts to choose exactly the barrel that will help meet all your watering needs.