Notes on Tomatoes, Squash and Bees

[hsifeng]

I have been gathering some information for both this years garden, and next years planting. Here it tis':

Pruning and Staking your tomatoes

Another source for this information with various trellis ideas based on tomatoe variety

RULE 1
Get plants off the ground.

RULE 2
Give plants room.

RULE 3
Never prune or tie plants when the leaves are wet.

Of interest: When staking, "To avoid damaging roots, drive your stakes in within a week of planting. Space staked plants at 18 inches for a single stem, 24 inches for two stems, and 36 inches for three or four stems."

It seems that there is little 'hard and fast' rule as to how many stems to include on your tomatoes. However, there are some notes based on tomatoe type:

Indeterminate vs. determinate

Indeterminate tomato plants continue to grow, limited only by the length of the season. These plants produce stems, leaves, and fruit as long as they are alive.

Determinate tomato plants have a predetermined number of stems, leaves, and flowers hardwired into their genetic structure. The development of these plants follows a well-defined pattern. First, there is an initial vegetative stage during which all the stems, most of the leaves, and a few fruit are formed. This is followed by a flush of flowering and final leaf expansion. Finally, during the fruit-fill stage, there is no further vegetative growth. As the tomato fruits ripen, the leaves senesce and die. Commercial growers favor this type of tomato because all the fruit can be mechanically harvested at once. The major advantage of planting determinate plants in a home garden is early harvest.

Semi-determinate plants, as the name implies, are somewhere between these two other types. Although there aren't many semi-determinate tomatoes, one of the most popular hybrids, 'Celebrity', falls into this category. I think semi-determinates are best grown to three or four stems.

Squash pollination and bees

Which lead in turn to figuring out what flowers we need to plant in order to encourage bees in the garden. Thank you

stacymckenna!

The list of potential flowers:

 

Borage

Lilac, Blue Blossom

California Poppy

Lavender

Catnip

Scented Geranium

Large-flower phacelia

Tansy Phacelia

West. Verbena

Comments

[stacymckenna.livejournal.com]

My pleasure! I've really enjoyed what little time I've spent on the page I linked you today. I'd not gotten around to finding a list like that before, and one of the silverbacks at the beekeepers meeting last night said he'd bring lists NEXT month, so I was ecstatic to find such a good *local* page on the first try.

I was teaching the hubby about squash pollination just this morning based on what I learned from Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth - we'd not realized the dying ovaries on the hubbard were merely unfertilized not having realized there were gendered flowers. We're much less concerned than we were before - phew! He suggested a paintbrush, but I've seen enough bee activity (big black carpenter kind yesterday morning - it's so easy to see the pollen transfer when they're big and glossy black!) that I think we'll be fine. Besides, if I were to hand pollinate, I'd just grab a handful of stamens and use them directly what with our squash blossoms being so big.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

The part that freaks me out about hand pollination is this, "Flowers open early in the day and are receptive for only one day. When hand pollinating, it's important to use only the freshly opened flowers."

Receptive for only one day? What, you ladies have headaches? ;P

Seriously, I need to just make sure we have more bees back there. I don't want my squash, cantalope and cucumbers to go south. The squash blossoms I can use for other purposes (hubby makes a mean stuffed blossom!), the others not-so-much...