By Pam Knudstad(Note: This post validates Pam's previous Brandy Wine entry which is now in the lead, and makes her a fully legal participant in this contest. -zc)Here are two pics of the garden and some of my remaining tomatoes. In fact, I think I may even have a tomato that will beat out my first entry!
Here is a little story of the garden:
When we moved into our home in the Spring of 2000, there was no landscaping and the yard was filled with dirt and thousands of grassy weeds standing 4 to 6 feet high. Three years later, my husband, Nils (a Ship Captain in a tanker fleet) was sent back out to sea for regular long stints. Our son was 3 yrs old at the time. I quit my job in the legal field, rolled up my sleeves, grabbed a shovel and went outside to attack my field of weeds! I was so proud of myself, and decided to go further and build a garden. I roughly designed the boxes for our raised garden and handed the plans, wood and tools to my father-in-law, Alfie. It took Alfie about six months in our garage to build seven beautiful boxes for our raised garden. I dug a trench and buried the PVC pipe under the boxes, and installed a drip system for watering each raised bed. The garden sits in our front yard where it has full sun exposure most of the day, perfect for growing vegetables. The first crop was harvested at the end of the summer of 2003.
Inside the boxes is a mixture of aged redwood humus, and homemade compost that I add each season. In my garden, I have 4 tomato plants: Italian Roma, Brandy Wine Heirloom, Sungold Cherries and Chocolate Cherries. There are also a few volunteers: Sweet Million Cherries and Cabernet Grape Cherries.
I am currently also growing Beets and Walla Walla Onions, Pumpkins and Peppers. So now we are nearing the end of the season, and it is time to plant for the Winter! I am hoping to produce a nice crop of Broccoli, Cabbage, lettuces, Brussel Sprouts and others that will last until next spring.
After 7 years of growing tomatoes, I am very honored and proud to be able to enter one of our tomatoes in a contest, and thrilled to be in the lead!
As my husband says, "There is nothing better than true love and home grown tomatoes!"
I will be eternally grateful to my father-in-law for all the work he put in to build our raised beds & to sit with my son while I worked in the garden
These tomato plants in my Success Kits are doing just fine. The Early Girl has little fruits already.
The cabbage has lots of big leaves but no heads yet!
Tekka loves our garden too!
