Topic: Pharmerphil and Lauras Patch

[Pharmerphil]

For those of you who haven't visited Our phorum, thought I would give ya a peek at what I been up to!
well pholks, got tired of taken and loading pics, but here is a big hunk of the garden, I left out about 8 4x25 ft. beds, comprised of..14 tomato plants, isolated they are, the herb and flower beds...geesh..we GOTTA cut back

First a look behind the corn crib...Tomatoes, they like the heat and sun here!


A Amish Pie pumpkin, next to Pharmerphils Phunny phootbal phruit, and Lauras zuchinni


now, an "experiment"..these tomatoes were DOOMED, so I thought we would try to get them to "sprawl", but off the ground!
Tomatoes allowed to do their natural "thing" and sprawl generally have more mators, but contact with the soil is BAD, the fence..hmmm, I phound dat somewhere


32 main crop tomatoes, mostly Amish Paste


The west garden


Mo Mators


Center garden, peppers being protected from winds, pic taken about two weeks ago


South of the main garden...Laura's Red greek Squash..and me pole beans...Note, pole beans in Minnesota suck!


East garden...Heirloom beans, potatoes in the distance


Soma da sweetcorn


a lil "peek" under the shade cover at the celery!

[duh]

I have dial up so I won't stick around for all the pictures to load right now.  But I'll pull this back up when I'm going to run off and make dinner so I see them all.

I love your tomatoes.  Mine looked like that for a very short period of time.  Maybe next year or sometime after that.

[duh]

Hey errosion fencing for the tomatoes.  That is a really cool idea.  I love the way you have got it set up.  Keep us posted on how well it does.  I've got mine leaning over the retaining wall. 

[Pharmerphil]

  thats why the pics were so long in coming Duh, We have dial up also..
TOP SPEED...29.2 kbps.
Thanks fer the nice comments

[MassMama]

   You have some GREAT gardens!!  I am Jelous of your space  I only have a little tiny area I can even get enough sun to have veggies  By the Road
What are the difference between Amish and Roma tomatoes??  I know they are both paste tomatoes..

[Dianna]

Phil!  There you go giving Jim ideas again! 

I have to admit that your and Laura's gardens are beautiful! They are so healthy-looking...

Is that a compost tumbler that I see in the 7th and 10th pictures? The round silver thingie? That is a great way to compost and I have heard the tumblers work the fastest out of any...

Do y'all do any posie gardens or is it just belly gardens that y'all are interested in?

[Jim]

Lordy, look at all dem gardens!    And everything looks so organized and narry a weed in sight.  I can't post any pics of mine now cause with all the rain I think the weeds are about to take over.  We have been trying to pick things every other day and last night about had to do it barefoot cause we was sinking in mud.

Your gardens are phantastic Phil.  I'm already thinking about how to lay mine out next year. 

And you best phind you a helmet, cause Dianna is pretty quick with dat stick.

[Pharmerphil]

Gee I hopes the amount of pics didn't keep Duh from viewing them, can't imagine anyone wit a slower conmnection than ours

Rita, the difference is BIG, Romas, although a good tomato, are a bit small for Us.
Now, the Amish Paste has aboout 1 teaspoon of water and seed and the rest is MEAT
Here's da size of em',

Used to raise romas, but they are much smaller.

Now, Dianne, Of course we have posies, Perenial posies, annual posies, wild posies
and a big ol culinary and medicinal garden to boot....
I'll let Laura show ya pics of posies
Yes, that is ona the original Kemp tumblers, A neighbor gave us that!
Whack me again der Dianne, I kinda like it

Jim, garden away Bro...she'll have a hard time phindin me, and she'll blame it all on me...
So you can Garden Away...with me to blame

[MassMama]

  Holy smokes!! Those are some big ole maters!!! 
I am assuming you have plenty to keep you over the winter!!
  Pictures didn't hold me back at all.. cable connection 

[Jim]

Now that is a tomato!  Hmmmm wonder if those will grow here?  I bet a piece of bologna would be hiding under a slice or two of that mator.

Jim, garden away Bro...she'll have a hard time phindin me, and she'll blame it all on me...
So you can Garden Away...with me to blame

Yeah, I bet she's worried about all the good advice that you have given me will mean more canning and freezing.  I'll even help with that ifn I have to. 

[Dianna]

I remember dial-up and having to wait for pictures to load. I used to do what Duh said she was going to do. Run off and do something else while they were loading. Saved me from throwing my computer out the window a few times. Did you ever get them all to load for you, Duh? Their gardens are gorgeous and will make you salivate!

Hmmmmmm. Amish paste tomatos might be in our future. I love roma tomatos!

Phil, I have you know that Jim was telling my brother today of how he was going to start different gardens all over the acreage now. Yes, you are to blame for that! I hold you totally responsible for making him jealous of the "beauty" of your and Laura's gardens...

I surrender. I love how the gardens look, also! Your new job will be to advise Jim on how to can or "put up" all of the produce! Besides, your head is hard on my sticks, rolling pin, and frying pan! 

[Pharmerphil]

Ma always said ya couldn't hurt any of my fathers family members with a blow to da head...
so I reckon it would be hard on yer devices...

Well, Both I and Laura pretty good at stockin a pantry, cupboard, er freezer...so...Ya have a gardeners "hut" on dat property?

[pharmerlaura]

  Phunny..I never did a bit of gardening untill I moved here.
Now I look in everyones yards to see if they have a garden.. & If they have a big lot & no garden I wonder why are they letting all that good space go to waste..
We do several walk throughs a day on the weekends..& during the week nights. Esp if I havent been in the gardens to see how things have done for the day.
I have Cotton from Georgia growing here.. 4 plants..2 in pots..2 in the ground.. I am taking one to the fair this year.I tried last year but we dug one up & we broke the tap root to it so it wilted fast. 

[Dianna]

Hey, Laura! Got pictures? I wanna see! 

[duh]

  hehehe I couldn't resist since it was sitting there.

Yes they did finally load and the gardens are phab-tab-u-lous!!!

I love the errosion control fencing for the tomatoes.  I hope that works for you.  It looks like a great idea.

Now for the questions. 

In regards to your amish tomatoes are they sweet?  I am looking for a sweet meaty tomato.  Yummy for sandwiches don't you know.

What zone are you in?  Reason I'm asking is because I would love to be able to do celery but it goes from too cold to too hot here real quick.

[Dianna]

by Jim:

advice that you have given me will mean more canning and freezing.  I'll even help with that ifn I have to.

You will have to! 

by Pharmerphil:

Ya have a gardeners "hut" on dat property?

Nope. We have a tractor shed, a tool shed, and a ham shack (amateur radio, not pork!)...

Duh, I knew you would love Phil's garden pics, if you waited to see them load. Those tomatoes do look great, don't they. You can almost taste that mater between two slices of bread with mayo, salt, and pepper...

[Pharmerphil]

The amish paste are great tasting tomatoes, you can taste the sweetness (like tomato paste) in them.
They aren't as sweet as some of the black varieties, but they make a great sandwich, laura goes for em all the time
we live in zone 4-5 reason I spread that out is...word has it we moved up a zone here over the winter..or so says the U.S.D.A.
and the covering, possibly not well depicted in these photos, is protection from the heat/full sun, they receive about 85% of the direct sun this way.
Yep, here in Minnesota, it's cold till May, all the tomatoes, and peppers were NOT set out till memorial day.
Then...the switch gets thrown and it's HOT

[Pharmerphil]

Dianne,
Canning and freezing isn't that daunting a task, Like anything, the more you do it, the easier it becomes, and You get more organized.
However...
When it comes to canning, NEVER take shortcuts, or try to remember any details about the process times....even after many years, it's not an embarrassment to keep the Ball^© blue book handy!

But advice, how to's...just ask away...