Ramsey County

July 31, 2006

Howdy!!!!
Well here we are with plenty of heat over the weekend and with only part of the county receiving rain on Sunday night.  You did not have to travel but 5 miles to the west of town, with rain amounts in the .8-1 inch amounts and carrying through to the Edmore area.  I was sure hoping for rain in my own yard as I have been watering nearly everyday in the front yard to, not only save my newly planted grass but keep the flowers looking good.  When it is this dry, large amounts of water (depending on amount of watering done) but about ¾-1 inch of water at a watering is needed to try to keep up with the moisture and the heat.  The heat on Sunday was something else, thank goodness for the cloud base or we would have been really hot.  The heat and big people usually don’t mix and so is the case with me, although I do drink lots of water I still suffer with the heat.

Tomato Growing!!!
As promised last week I am going to analyze how tomato growing did in my own garden.  I planted 8 different varieties this past spring with some being my favorite and others I have never grown.  Remember, this analysis is only in my garden.  My tomatoes were never watered over the top unless a rain happened by and I did apply a fungicide twice during the growing season.  I had one row that I watered with a soaker hose while the other only received water from sending the roots to the nearby watered soil.  The soil was fertilized with cow manure compost at a rate of 50# per 100 square feet (exceeding recommended rate by 4 times).  So here we go with a start of the different varieties in my garden.

Sunsugar:  Cherry tomato that is very sweet and one of the thinnest skinned tomatoes in my garden.  It grew very tall and spread out about 5 feet in diameter.  The tomato set was very good with plenty of abundance of fruit.  There is little disease on this plant and if there is one drawback that being the plant got really lanky, which caused it to take a lot of room.  Staking is a requirement with this tomato.  I received my first tomatoes in about 55 days.

Bush Celebrity:  Tomato’s that are very much like its mate but much more compact plant than straight celebrity.  This tomato could get by without staking but staking makes for easier picking.  This plant sets the tomatoes that it is going to produce and that will be it unlike others that will flower until the end.  This tomato would do very well in a pot on the deck but does have a problem with tomato blight and also a bigger problem with Tomato blossom end rot.  The tomatoes are about ¾ the size of straight celebrity.

I do need to end here for this week but will continue with the tomato description next week.  Stay tuned.

524 4th Ave NE #5, 2nd Floor Ramsey County Courthouse
Devils Lake  ND  58301
701-662-7027
email - ramsey@ndsuext.nodak.edu

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