Determinate: These varieties of plants will grow large like a bush with their height capping off around four feet, making them suitable for tomato cages and container gardening. They should not be pruned or suckered, as it will reduce rather than increase the crop. Their fruit will all be ready around or near the same time. They are great for canning because you get a large crop all at once. Look at the maturity days for an idea of when they’ll be ready to harvest.

Indeterminate: These tomato varieties grow like a vine. They can reach well over 5 feet tall. Our tomatoes last year were around 7 feet each. They’ll need to be staked, caged or trellised to support their weight, and the fruit will continue to bloom and produce as the plant grows until it is killed by frost. New growth can be pruned or suckered off to encourage fruit production. (Most heirloom varieties are indeterminate.)

A String Trellis for Indeterminate Tomatoes

To be clear: This is not the only way to string tomatoes, and it is not the only way to grow them on a trellis. However, this is what’s been working for us. We gave it a season’s trial, and we were rewarded with a cleaner garden, healthy plants, and plenty of tomatoes that have lasted us all year.

All we did was build a frame to hang over the tomato plants. Our frame leans back slightly, but you could also use a regular A-frame and have the strings straight up and down. A few eye bolts hold a length of garden twine taught along the bottom. Then we run strings of twine up to eye bolts at the top. Each string will have one tomato plant at the base, and we’ll use tomato clips to secure the plant to the string.

Once the trellis is in place, plant the tomatoes at the base of the string. Small hands are good for this.

This is the style of tomato clip we use. As the tomatoes grow, we snap the clip to the garden twine string where we want to secure the plant. The string is held in place, and the tomato fits into the opening. There’s no danger of damage to the plant, and I don’t have to bend and twist the plant around the string, which is a benefit to me.

What to Plant Near Your Tomatoes

Did you know that what you plant in front of your tomatoes can help or hinder the tomatoes and the other plant? Practicing a bit of companion planting can increase yields and help deter bad pests and attract good bugs (good bugs eat bad bugs). Organic farmers have been doing it forever, and you should, too. Here are a few things that you might consider planting in the shadow of your tomatoes:

• Asparagus
• Basil
• Borage
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Onions and Chives
• Spinach, Lettuce, Arugula
• Nasturtium and Marigolds

Avoid planting these near your tomatoes:

• Black Walnut
• Brassicas (cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi)
• Corn
• Fennel
• Potatoes

So, for the foreseeable future, our tomatoes will be shifted between the raised beds this way. It works for us. If I had to change, I’d probably move to a system of bamboo stakes. Have you had success with tomatoes in the past? What kind of support system did you use for indeterminate plants?

Fresh Herbs

Fresh herbs can transform the most simple ingredients into a gorgeous dish. Ingredients that have become dull in the mid-winter months like winter squash and potatoes can be rethought into a dish that whispers sweet nothings of spring days to come.

Growing Herbs Indoors

• Place herbs in front of a south-facing window that gets six to eight hours of light. You could also buy special lights to help if you don’t have such a window.
• Place small potted herbs in a tray of rocks with water poured in them. This will evaporate and ceate some humidity in the dry winter air.
• Choose herbs you’d use often, as trimming them frequently will help the plant to fill out and flourish, much like a good trim of your hair will help it grow.

[Photo by Katie]

Salt

Properly seasoning with salt I think is a skill that requires a bit of trial and error. First, get rid of the table salt, and try using a pinch or two of these instead. Taste often and look for the salt to bring the flavors out, not cover them up.

• Kosher Salt: This type comes from underground or saltwater, but it contains no preservatives, and it has a coarser grain than table salt. This is the salt that I keep next to the stove at all times for salting dishes as they’re finishing. It’s great for pinching, too.
• Sea Salt: Evaporated from seawater, sea salt comes in several different varieties. It retains the minerals from the water it was harvested from, and so it also carries a certain taste with it. These distinct taste differences are lost during cooking, however, so it is best used at the end of cooking.

[Photo by Aimee]

Citrus

While berries, zucchini, and tomatoes may not be in season, winter citrus is, and it makes a great seasoning agent. A bit of lemon zest in a pasta dish, orange to a baked good can brighten up the winter dishes with nothing more than a microplane.


These are just a few ways to make simple dishes turn into multi-course feasts at the dinner table, and, of course, never forget the power of love wrapped into a dish. A meal served with love is better than none at all, fresh herbs, bountiful produce or not.

As always, you can check out what others are writing in the Eat Well, Spend Less series on easy ways to make food more fun and enjoyable on a budget:

• Aimee from Simple Bites
• Alyssa from Kingdom First Mom
• Carrie from Denver Bargains
• Jessica from LifeasMOM
• Katie from Kitchen Stewardship
• Mandi from Life Your Way
• Tammy from Tammy’s Recipes

I’m in love with our compost pile, and I’ll love it even more when it has a removable door on the front. Ahem. It’s been great having natural fertilizer at the ready when we garden in the spring.


**UPDATE: So, I realize my yard is on the larger side. It’s one of the reasons we bought our house. However, you don’t need much space for a compost pile. To demonstrate, I asked if our friends, Jeremy and Amy, would let us show you a few photos from their teeny, tiny yard. Observe what one can do with 650 square feet of space.

You’ve put the seeds in small dirt cups, watered and given them a home to grow. Now that there are tiny plants, how do you care for those seedlings until it’s time to place them in the ground?

Here in Chez Olmanson, our first batch of seedlings is coming along nicely. Nearly all the seeds have sprouted into tiny plants or are beginning to sprout. We have, therefore, removed the “greenhouse” lids and are letting them out into the air, removing the “pots” that failed to sprout. Now we need to care for our seedlings for the next month or so until they’re ready to be planted in the ground after our last frost date.

Daily Seedling Care:

1. Spend mornings in sunny window in dining room.
2. Water every few days or when soil appears dry.
3. Move to extra table in dining room for evenings.
4. Wait and watch for 2nd set of leaves to move to larger containers and/or thin down double-planted seedlings.
5. Plant second round of seedlings.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much water do you give the seedlings?

We pour around a cup of water into this tray every third day, about half on either side of the tray. I tilt the tray to make sure the water gets to all the different plants immediately after. The cup of water seems sufficient for our tray of 31 seedlings because all the water is soaked into the plants and none is pooling at the bottom of the tray.

Allowing the soil to dry out partially will promote root growth, and too much water can cause root rot or damping-off. You do not, however, want to keep the soil dry for extended periods of time. Watering after it starts to get dry on top seems to work best for us. That way we know the plant is using all the water we are giving it, but it’s not wilting.

What temperature do I need to keep the seedlings at?

Seedlings do best in controlled temperatures of 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Because our house is generally about this and the dining room, even with the heat on in the winter, is definitely in that range, if not lower, it makes for the perfect seedling room with all the natural light it gets.

How much sunlight do my seedlings need?

Seedlings need light, but direct sun can raise the temperature, and root growth stops at temperatures higher than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. They do, however, need plenty of light. During the day, our seedlings sit in the natural light in our dining room.

If it a particularly gray day, I turn on one overhead fluorescent light so they have plenty of light for the daylight hours. At night, we are generally occupying the kitchen and dining room and have the lights on for us as well as the seedlings. This means they’re getting direct light more than just during the spring daylight hours, which they need.

When can I transplant my seedlings?

When more than one seedling comes up in a container, you can either transplant or pull the extra plant. Choose the larger of the two and pull the weaker one. If you would like to save the second plant, you will need to transplant it to its own container. You may also transplant seedlings if they are planted in small containers that they’ve outgrown before the last frost date for your area.

Try to wait to transplant seedlings until they have two sets of leaves. The second set of leaves is called their “true leaves.” If it’s necessary for you to transplant before then, do so with great care. Get a second container ready for the transplant and fill with moistened soil. Carefully remove the plant from it’s current container, trying not to pull or break the roots, and place it in the new container. Cover roots and bottom portion of stem with soil, press firmly to secure. Keep soil moist as roots start to take hold in their new home.

My plants are getting thin and very tall. What should I do?

Because seedlings are usually grown primarily indoors, they are at risk for becoming too fragile (tall and thin). Exposing your plants to some of the natural elements of nature will help prevent this. I recently placed my seedlings outside for a few hours on a warm, 70-degree day. They were exposed to the wind and other natural elements.

If it’s too warm or not warm enough where you are, you can simulate some natural elements by fanning your plants a few times a day. You could blow on them, I suppose, but a small desk fan on low for a few minutes here and there should suffice and save your breath.

I am by no means an expert when it comes to seedlings and gardening, but I have learned by doing and gardening on my own and as a child with my parents growing up. Plus, my mom is always a phone call away when I have a pressing question I need her advice on.

• How to Make a Seedling Tray Out of Recycled Products
• When to Start Your Seedlings Indoors

Check out goodLife {eats} and GrowCookEat for more gardening information!

Gardening can be difficult if you aren’t familiar with it. I mean, when do you start seedlings from seeds, and when do those seedlings get put in the ground, and what is the frost date for my hardiness zone, but first, what is a hardiness zone?

This year we are starting most of our plants as seedlings. Then there are still a few plants we decided we’d just purchase at the farmer’s market in May. This might have to do with the fact that I am a farmer’s market addict, and it will give me another reason to wander up and down the rows, spending inordinate amounts of time people watching and taking it all in. Either way, we’re starting several seedlings to go in a raised bed, and we’re using our recycled seedling trays for the job.

1. First, decide what to plant.

I mentioned in the seedling post that we’d be letting the kids pick a plant that they would be in charge of. For the rest of our plants, we decided to grow things that we eat a lot of. For us this means lots of fresh herbs, broccoli, green beans, shallots, lettuces, spinach, 4 different kinds of tomatoes and several different peppers in addition to the zucchini, pumpkins and carrots that the kids picked and the watermelon that Ole picked. We’ll also continue to grow our strawberry and raspberry plants this year.

You may have a completely different mix of things to grow. Your mix of plants may be completely different. Try to pick things you know you eat a lot of or wouldn’t mind eating a lot of, or choose items you’ll be able to can or freeze for consumption during the cold winter months. Once you’ve decided what you’ll be planting and have chosen the seeds, you can prepare to plant. There are a few things to consider here before we actually plant anything in the ground, though.

2. Figure out your last frost date.

This day will be determined by where you live. There are several charts out there that can help you pinpoint the date to determine when your seedlings can grow in the ground. Your last frost date is important when considering when to start your seedlings because if you start them too early, you’ll end up with plants that have outgrown their containers and no ground to plant them in. Planting before your frost date could mean disaster if you get a cold spell that freezes all your new plants. However, there are some plant varieties that can tolerate a light frost, like spinach and broccoli.

3. Look at the germination period on seeds.

Generally you want to start seedlings 4-6 weeks before your last frost date; however, some seeds have a shorter germination period so the time from seed to seedling is not as long. We’re about 6 weeks from our last frost date here, so we started the seeds with the lower germination period, and we’ll plant a few more in another week or two for the plants that require less time to germinate. This will also help them from outgrowing their pot before we can get them in the ground. If your seed packet doesn’t list the germination period, Google is always your friend.

4. Plant your seeds.

Once you’ve determined when to plant your seeds, you can plant a few in each container. We generally start with more than one seed just in case any don’t take. When more than one plant pops up, we simply thin down to the largest one, or we can always carefully replant those other sprouts in extra pots. Plant your seeds according to the planting depth listed on the package or slightly less. Be careful not to plant too deep.

5. Care for your seedlings.

Keep the seedling tray watered and moist, but don’t drown the plants. We water ours from the bottom by adding water directly into the tray. This way the soil soaks up the water from the bottom and it is easier not to drown the tiny seedlings. Keep your seedlings in a warm environment to stimulate the growth and wait. Once the seedlings emerge, you can remove the lids. Place your plant near the sunlight, and on warm days, place it outside so that the seeds are exposed to wind and the elements. This will help prevent plants that grow tall and thin and can’t support themselves.

What are you growing in your garden this year?


Check out goodLife {eats} and CookGrowEat for more gardening information!

Here in the Midwest, there is still snow on the ground, but temperatures are on the rise, and it’s time to start thinking about gardens and, more importantly, getting seedlings started. We’ll be starting our seedlings indoors because the temperatures still drop below freezing at night, and to do this, we’ll need to build a box to grow them in. Rather than paying $10 to $20 for a premade tray, we decided to make our own out of garbage and recyclables around the house. Besides, paying for one would defeat the purpose of planting my own seedlings rather than just purchasing them at the farmer’s market for $1 a plant.

First, you’ll need a watertight tray. This one came with Ikea cinnamon rolls in it, picked up one day while we were picking up some necessities. The bonus here is the clear plastic top. While you don’t have to have a lid, the clear plastic one will act as a mini greenhouse for our tiny plants. (Pretend the lid is in the picture. You can see it below.) You’ll also need a few empty toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls. These will become our pots.

We need to cut the rolls so that they’ll fit under the lid of our little greenhouse. Cutting them in half gave us plenty of clearance to get the lid on.

This is a perfect teaching opportunity. Not only does this teach kids the importance of recycling and reusing what would otherwise be garbage, but it starts to emphasize the importance of eating locally and eating healthy as we plant foods that they will later see on our dinner table.

Next we need bottoms for our seedling pots. Using one of the free community papers that gets delivered here, we trace circles 5-6 inches wide and cut them out. Finding out whether your paper prints with soy-based or petroleum-based inks is as easy as making a phone call.


Slide the newspaper circles into the toilet paper tubes so that it covers the bottom and comes up the inside side of the tube.

And there you have it: a seedling pot.

With our mini pots ready to go, we can get started with the filling. All you need now are your mini seedling pots, dirt and a spoon.

Be sure to fill them up 2/3 of the way and no more. We want to leave plenty of room for our seedling to sprout and start to grow.

In the bottom of the tray you can place an old rag, cloth or a few paper towels to help wick the water up into the plant. Then you just need to water directly into the tray and not each individual pot. We ended up with 33 seedling pots in one cinnamon roll tray. That’s all there is to it. A small time commitment and you have a completely recycled seedling tray ready to start plants for your garden.

Last year we had a lovely garden success, but some of our plants could have used more space, the zucchini was out of control and I just wanted more. So we’re making a raised bed garden this year in addition to the one we built last year, you know, once the snow melts. Watch for all of our garden updates this spring!

Have you started your garden yet?

Now is as good a time as any to start planting your green garden for next year. Here are a few things to get you motivated and started with your plans.

::Plan your space. If you don’t have the time to do it yourself, look at a few examples online and just put a bit more thought into where you’re going to put each plant. I have already started planning my garden for next year so that my plants will be better spaced and the execution will be a little bit neater than it is this year. Knowing what kinds of of plants to plant and where I want to plant them will save time when it comes to buying them, and it will also give me the opportunity to start more seedlings myself in the very early spring when the ground is still thawing.

::Start a compost pile with grass clippings and leaves. My garden has been running all summer off nothing but dirt from the backyard, water and compost, and it is thriving to the point that people have asked what we’re feeding the plants to get them so big. Compost. We redid our compost bin this year, but we used a good deal of our previous compost to fill the raised bed garden that we made. The compost is nutrient-packed and the perfect way to help your plants take off and thrive. Try making one out of a $5.00 garbage can and throw lawn clippings, raked leaves and plant scraps in them all fall. By spring, you’ll have a broken down mix of compost ready for your new garden.


::Dry and save pepper seeds from chilies for next year. Buying red pepper flakes in bulk is my way of keeping pests and critters out of the garden during the summer months rather than using pesticides and herbicides. Whether I sprinkle the flakes themselves after a rain or a water so they stick to the plants or I soak them in water and make a pepper spray to spray the plants with, it’s an effective way to keep bugs and bunnies from eating my crops as they grow. Rather than buy bags and bottles full of red pepper flakes all summer, I keep the cost minimal by collecting pepper seeds while making guacamole or any other number of dishes, dry them out for a day in a bowl and then collect them in a jar in the cupboard. I will also use the leftover dried chilies from the garden to add to the pepper mix. Come spring, I am ready to go at the first sign of crawling bugs or hungry rabbits.

::Get started on your raised bed.If you have an area to clean, clear or otherwise prepare before you would be able to plant in the spring, consider starting that process this fall. A lot of times, spring sneaks up on us, as does the yard work that comes with it, and before you know it, it’s May or even June and nothing is in the ground. Starting the process now will make it easier and less stressful to be ready for planting when the weather warms.