Garden Report

Yesterday I read in the newspaper that gardening is conducive to a long life. I can attest to that seeing that now I am now over 90 years. Actually when I took an aptitude test earlier when I started college, my highest score was medicine and next highest was farming. So every chance I get, I am out there planting.

This year planting in a new garden, I had my problems and almost disaster. When the plants started to grow, I could tell that the soil had too much nitrogen, because the plants were growing very large leaves and thick stems. So I started to do a lot of watering trying to dilute the nitrogen and wash it out. I don't think it did much, because the plants grew rapidly, and then they started to wilt. Previously I had experience with acid soil, so to the store we went to get a pH tester. The tests did show an acid reaction, now back to the store for some lime product to neutralize the soil. It is a guessing game to determine how much to use, because it is possible to use too much. It did not test very high, therefore a small amount of lime should be adequate. Every time you make changes in the soil, you have to wait about a week to see any changes in the plants. Now the big leaves on the tomato plants are turning yellow and drying up. What else to do? Years ago at this point, I would be hilling my tomato plants, but this soil is not doing very well. So by getting 5 bags of top soil, I was able to do quite a job of hilling the plants. By covering the main stem of the plant with soil, that stem will send out new roots into the new soil. I also found some tomato spikes that contained phosphate which the plants need to produce fruit. That finally did it. The plants started to grow new leaves, and the new blossoms were producing tomatoes. These tomatoes are a little smaller in size, but they get ripe,and they have good flavor.

Next year, if the Lord is willing, and I'm around, there are things that need to be done to the soil before planting, but I'll be ready.

God Bless You
Dr. Ray