Tomatoes, Tomatoes, And More Tomatoes!

  I am not really a tomato lover, well up until now I wasn't, but with all the pretty colors of tomatoes, I made a decision to love them, even though I had not thought much about them before.
  Did I ever write about the tomatoes I grew unintentionally? The neighbor was impressed and it made me look like a professional gardener. But in reality, what happened was simply that I put out some vegetable peelings in a garden area, and in those scraps were some tomato seeds. They grew tall and I got tomatoes. I probably didn't know what to do with them though. Should have given them to the neighbor.
  I have really enjoyed learning about heirloom vegetables. In the fall, I ordered three different carrot packages. One was for purple carrots (yes, they come in purple), red carrots, and yellow carrots. I thought they would make for an interesting meal or colorful salad. Unfortunately, some wild animal came into my garden and mowed it nicely. Every carrot and beet, except for one, was lost. But some were left in the other gardens and I am pulling them up now.
  Not only are there colorful carrots, but there are also many colors of tomatoes. I had no idea. No one ever told me, and I didn't ever see them in the stores! What I had missed all my life! And I lived in the Garden State where the best tomatoes grow! But, finally, I have found them and now I am growing several different types. I have two black ones growing (black does sound gross, but in the picture, they look more like purple). They are full of nutrients too. I have one red paste tomato, one pink tomato, one yellow tomato, and one white paste tomato. Plus, the garden company sent me a package of tomato seeds of unknown color (I can look it up). They are called Delicious Tomato, I think.
  What a beautiful salad that would make! Greens with red carrots and tomatoes, purple carrots and tomatoes, yellow carrots and tomatoes, and white tomatoes! Add some homemade Fresco Blanco Cheese and that's a meal!
   Now, for the peppers... That's for another time. There's lots of variety in those too. I'll take pics when mine are big.

One of My Stupidest Mistakes In Gardening

   There is a section in a gardening forum where people wrote in their stupidest gardening mistakes, but the forum is closed to any more comments or posts, so I will post my stupidest mistake with the hopes that it will save others from potential disaster.
   Years ago, I would collect wood ashes from the fireplace, when natural, untreated wood had been burned. One day, I took the wood ashes out when I thought they had cooled down enough. I put them into a paper bag, then transferred them to the garden.
   The next morning, I looked at the gardens and saw smoke coming from them. The frames were made out of wood and they were on fire! I didn't realize that the wood ashes were still hot. It seemed like they had enough time to cool down, but I guess not.
  So, if you ever put wood ashes out into your gardens, you might want to double check to make sure the fire is completely gone!
  To cure the problem, I put the sprinkler on and left it on for a long time. We were fine, but some of the wood was destroyed.

What is This Plant?

Planting seeds can be fun, especially when they germinate and grow! But what if you don't remember what you planted, or, what if the plant coming up looks like a weed? I've already had that happen to me! I was growing a plant, or so I thought, and it looked nice and healthy. It didn't have a label, but I thought I planted stevia seeds in the pot, so I was hoping it might be a stevia plant. But lo and behold, it was a beautiful weed! In fact, it was a dandelion!
  I seem to have some mystery plants, mainly because I either depended upon my memory, or, the labels disappeared or got ruined by water. I memorized certain plants that I planted all at once. I planted the seeds of Mangosteen, goji berries, and soursops. I planted 10 of each. The soursops were in white saucers. The Mangosteens were in black saucers, and the goji berries were in black saucers, but the pots were different. The only thing that has come up so far is the Mangosteens. And the pots seems consistent too. But the plant doesn't really look like Mangosteen, or anything worthwhile. And recently, a thin stalk came up and on the tip are some little tiny yellow flower buds. So, to me that is confirmation of the plant being a weed. However, I will ask around and see what others say when they look at the picture.

Maybe Mangosteen

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am trying to grow fruits that have abundant nourishment in them, especially nourishment that would help provide protection from cancer cells growing.

What Kind of Tomato Will it Be? By Their Fruits We Will Know Them.

Several months ago, I planted a lot of seeds in pots. One mistake I made was to label them with paper labels, which ended up being ruined when they got wet. I do know what a tomato plant looks like though. I planted two different kinds; one was German Lunchbox, which is a pink one, and the other was Amish paste, which will make good tomato paste. It will be one or the other.

On the right is my mystery tomato plant. Will the tomatoes
be pink, or will they be red? The tomato plant down
further on the right will grow yellow tomatoes.

Won't that be cool to have tomatoes which are purple, pink, red, white and yellow? They would make a pretty salad and would go nice with a glob of mayonnaise. Now, to learn to make homemade mayonnaise!

  Here are some veggies I picked tonight from the big garden. The animals are still at it and got into the potato plant a couple of days ago. Everything else looked ok though.

Organic Gardening Helpful Ideas

With all the money I have recently spent on gardening items, let's see, what some things I am doing now, that I didn't do before, or that I am continuing to work on.

1. Having a worm composting bin
2. Using small, indoor composting bins (this is new. I have 2 of them going)
3. Using organic fertilizers
4. Using a soaker hose
5. Using fabric pots for container gardening
6. Installing 'Nite Guard' lights in the gardens. These are animal deterrents for the garden. As it gets dark, the little red lights come on and blink. Supposedly and hopefully they will discourage animals from getting into the gardens.
7. When a freeze comes, covering the plants
8. Using a fake owl (which turns its head by solar power)
9. Setting up a hydroponics garden (This can be expensive, but will be interesting to see how it works)
10. Making my own potting/gardening soil. The soil that comes in bags needs more vermiculite or perlite.
Also using black and white newspapers, cut into small pieces, is helpful to add to compost or use as mulch.

Plants are growing on the balcony. I have a sensory light up there in case any cats decide to get up into the balcony (not that having a sensory light will do much, but it might).
Alpine strawberries are doing great in the hydroponic setup. The ones in pots are still alive, although one is still struggling.
Yellow tomatoes have germinated and will be placed in a fabric pot.
It looks like something in the mangosteen pot has germinated, but I know it might just be a weed. Can't tell for sure yet. I will plant it in a big pot soon, since it is in a little Jiffy pot right now. If it is only a weed, I will have lost nothing, except for the Jiffy pot.

Alpine strawberries growing in hydroponic setup