I HAVE TOMATOES. I HAVE TOMATOES...
Yay, finally something coming up. One of my tomato plants is producing fruit. I went out there the other day, saw it and actually smiled for the first time in three years.
The small blueberry and blackberry bushes I planted have berries, although only a couple and the plants aren’t even knee high. Also have a few strawberries. If all goes well, I will eat my first bowl of mixed berries within a few weeks.
I did a soil test using my Mosser Lee Soil Master test kit. Did the nitrogen test since the consensus was I either have too much nitrogen in the soil or too little. The verdict? Drum roll...... Too little. Add some Jobes tomato and veggie fertilizer to the soil. See where that goes.
Artichokes died. Think it was too much water from all the rain we had. Everything else looks great from a plant perspective. The jury is still out on whether I get veggies.
Oh, it is raining in San Antonio and has been cool.
Have a great weekend.
Too little Nitrogen reminds me of sources of nitrogen I have on hand and need to get out:
Blood meal, Coffee grounds, alfalfa meal.
I am also reminded that grass clippings are free and in the Spring may contain up to 5% nitrogen. Just half an inch of grass clippings used as mulch can reduce the amount of fertilizer you need possibly by half. Now that overgrown grass in the back yard is looking mighty fine!
For anyone on a bare bones budget or frugal in nature, or just a desire for cheap, cheap, cheap- here’s a link to a good article on building soil. It has a link on the 4th page that takes you to a chart that compares the prices of various fertilizer’s based on Nitrogen content.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/organic-fertilizers-zmaz08amzmcc.aspx?PageId=4
It,s 12:30am, Monday,and I think my tomatoes have probably drowned. This is a gullywasher for sure.