Wayne and I both really loved our homegrown tomato sandwiches, salads, sauces and slices last year so we decided that he would build another raised bed this spring.
Last year’s garden belonged to our guinea pig, Timmy, RIP, who was kind enough to share his bounty with us. It’s in his memory that we will keep Timothy Acres going and growing!
I also received a lot spiritually from our garden. From the windows I watched Wayne water the tomatoes early in the morning before he left for work and saw how much he enjoyed tending to them. Watching them grow from little seedlings into healthy green plants with edible gems free for our taking was more rewarding than I imagined it would be. Really, I wouldn’t have flinched if Wayne had presented me one of our home grown tomatoes in a Tiffany Box.
A few weeks ago when we had a break from the incessant rain Wayne built our second bed.
The photo above was a couple of days ago after we bought our seedlings which we will start planting this week.
This year we are using steel stakes for the netting instead of wood.
Is it all going to be tomatoes? Or, are you branching out into new crops?
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Thank you for asking, carolee! Last year we planted some cucumbers, peppers and peas in addition to tomatoes but they didn’t do well. Our tomatoes were truly spectacular, and sauces can be canned and frozen, so we decided to do all tomatoes this year since we can stretch them into the winter. If we do a third bed next year we may branch out.
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What varieties of tomatoes do you plant? What are your favorites? I, too, freeze what I cannot use right away. I assume that the netting is to deter creatures from coming into the garden. What kind of creatures do you have? We have the proverbial woodchuck, and a couple of years ago deer! They liked my pole beans and quite sadly, the buds on my gorgeous Casablanca lilies. The lilies did not recover from their ravenous appetite.☹️
You might want to try cucumber seedlings on the netting. I grow mine vertically on a frame with netting. Very successful.
Saturday morning, the Master Gardeners are having their annual plant sale at the Barron Center which is right off the Maine Turnpike. I will be there helping out, usually at the perennials table. Perhaps you and Wayne could stop by?
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We’re planting Cherokee Purple, Beefsteak, Lemon Boy, Brandywine, Black Cherry, Patio, Sun Sugar and Red Cherry. I LOVED last year’s Beefsteak which made stellar sauces and the Cherokee Purples which were gorgeous eye/edible candy. We did do cucumbers last year but most of them turned yellow. 😦
As for the netting, last year there was a black bear sighting at a house down the street but it was eating from their bird feeder! We also have deer, cats looking for a litter box and various cute woodland miscreants.
I wish we could stop by Saturday, but he works Saturday mornings and I’ll be at yard sales! Have fun!
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Great idea with the steel stakes! Might have to upgrade our garden to those next year. Thanks for sharing.
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Hi growtastecreate! It’ll cost more up front but you’ll be able to reuse them year after year. 🙂 Wayne said that they are much easier to attach, too.
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How did you attach them? We had to use giant 12″ screws to get our timbers in place. Knocking on the bed that wood doesn’t get too warped 🙂
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I’ll take a close-up pic of the metal rods when I do my follow-up “planting” post so you can see how they fasten. Or do you mean when we used wood last year? If so, let me know and I’ll have Wayne comment when he’s not working. 😀
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I meant the wood, but would definitely like to see how you attached the rods!
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Wayne just drives them into the ground–they aren’t attached.
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What a giving little soul Timmy was! 😉 I LOVE that you call it Timothy Acres!! Very apt. :))))
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Aileen, love that you appreciate the name! You always knew how important he was to me!
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