Author Archives: Ashland Garden Club

Growing Tomatoes

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From the Jackson County (Oregon) Master Gardeners:

Some vocabulary to know:

Determinate: Spreads laterally with little or no staking required. Fruits ripen all at once, therefore good for canning.

Indeterminate: Grows vertically, produces until frost, best if staked or caged, fruit ripens until frost therefore good for fresh eating.

Semi-determinate: Semi-determinate tomatoes, especially beefsteak types, have a growth habit between that of indeterminate and determinate types. They produce vigorous lateral shoots that often terminate in a flowering truss (cluster). As a result, lateral shoots are not usually removed.

Parthenocarpic: Means “virgin fruit” flowers will form fruit without fertilization/pollination, tomato examples include: Oregon Spring, Siletz, Legend (able to set fruit earlier giving ripe seedless tomatoes 10-14 days earlier than other types)

Hardening off: Putting a plant outside for increasing amounts of time and sun exposure each day to get it accustomed to being out of the sheltered greenhouse. Start with a half hour in the shade, gradually working up to all day in full sun.

  1. Location: Tomatoes do best planted in full sun (at least 6-8 hrs./day of direct sunlight) and not in the same location as plants from the same family such as where  tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, potatoes, tobacco; have been planted during the last three years!
  2. Soil preparation: ESSENTIAL for good production. Adding a generous amount of compost and mixing well into the soil is crucial. DO NOT add additional nitrogen because it encourages leaf growth over root and Flower development; the results will be fewer tomatoes. Add water and let it soak in.  Some people like to put a mixture of ¼ cup bone meal, ¼ cup organic tomato-vegetable fertilizer, and 1 tsp. magnesium covered with 2-3″ of soil in the bottom of the hole.
  3. Transplanting and staking:
  4. Dig a deep hole, big enough to bury the whole plant except for the top two sets of leaves. Pinch off all but those top two sets of leaves.
  5. Roots will grow from all the little hairs along the stem, making the plant stronger more stable and the plant can absorb more nutrients. Put the stake in before filling the hole while you can still see the roots. Fill the hole and firm the soil around the roots.   In the garden, a     tomato cage can be used instead of, or with the stake. These supports are more important for both indeterminate and determinate tomatoes.
  6. Use a tomato tie to loosely tie the tomato to staking in a figure-8 formation.
  7. Water well. A good rule-of-thumb is to water when the top 1-inch of soil has dried.

This often averages to about l” of water a week in the heat of summer. Watering early in the day is considered a best practice, as the water won’t evaporate too quickly, and any splashs on the plants will dry off as the day warms. It’s better to soak the roots thoroughly once every several days than it is to water lightly every day, as soaking will encourage deeper root growth.

Note: If your plants are looking slightly wilted late in the heat of the day, that’s not necessarily a sign more water is needed. Check the soil first. However, if they are wilted in the morning, if they don’t have signs of a disease, they are in need of water.

  • Mulch to prevent drying and weeds, but keep mulch way from the stem.
  • Planting horizontally:
    • Soil is warmer at the surface and tomatoes need warm soil, so to take advantage of this, follow the directions above for transplanting except instead of digging a hole, dig a trench about 3″ deep and long enough to hold the tomato plant when laid on its ·side except for the  top two sets of leaves.  Bury the stem and roots in the trench, within 2-3 days, the top part of the plant that is not buried will become vertical.
  • Blossom-end Rot (BER) Is caused by a lack of calcium, but rarely due to a lack of calcium in the soil.  
    • Usually it’s not that the soil is deficient, but that the plant can’t take up enough calcium. If in · doubt, do a soil test.
    • Most common causes-
  • Drown and drought watering
  • Damaged roots
  • Planting tomatoes too early. The optimum soil temperature for planting tomatoes is 70° with nighttime air temperature over 50°.  Early varieties of tomatoes are less susceptible.
  • Not enough magnesium causing an inability of the plan to take up calcium.
  • BER can’t be cured, only prevented.

Garden of the Month: May 2023

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784 Park Street

A riot of color greets passersby at 784 Park Street in April and May as many bulbs burst into bloom.  The garden was developed by Lois Breedlove, owner of the condo at that address.  It is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for May.

The landscape was previously entirely water-thirsty grass until Breedlove arrived eight years ago.  A financial windfall allowed her to redesign the space and hire Gustavo Rodriguez and his crew from Alpine Landscaping to install and maintain plantings of Lois’ choice. Daffodils, tulips, and grape hyacinths dominate now, but peonies are on their way.  Daphne, euphorbia, barberry, and spirea provide contrast of size and color.  Lois especially loves older varieties of hellebore.  She has a beautiful “cameo” flowering quince near the sidewalk.

The bulbs thrive because their bloom time coincides with leaves off the maple tree in the side yard that, once leafed-out, provides needed shade in the summer.  She spaces allium plants among other bulbs to discourage deer.

Bulbs are a drought-tolerant way to add color to a garden, Breedlove says. They’re punctuated with other drought tolerant perennials and shrubs. As the garden matures the shrubs will eventually play a larger role. “But there will always be the bulbs for color.”

Breedlove says the garden isn’t a garden retreat, but a ‘garden advance’  — something to be enjoyed by others in the complex, and by passersby as well.

Lois relies on Alpine Landscaping for much of the work, but she tries to walk through the garden daily. “The best garden advice I ever heard is that a garden profits most from the daily touch of the gardener’s hand,” she says.

Article by: Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Chair

Photos by: Lois Breedlove, Larry Rosengren, and Ruth Sloan.

April 2023- AGC Garden of the Month

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344 Helman Street

While all the rain and snow we’ve enjoyed this winter bring hope of a fabulous spring and along with it fabulous gardens, it does mean that the season of renewal is running a little late this year.  Last year at this time, the garden at 344 Helman Street—home to Suzan and Marshall Malden—was blooming gloriously and lush with plants ready to burst forth.  It’s obviously poised to do that again, but perhaps a little later than usual.  This is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for April 2023

When the Maldens purchased the property in 2001 the cottage was smaller, and both front and back yards were little more than lawns with a few trees, including the wonderful mulberry.  After completing a beautiful sunny addition to the house in 2006, Suzan set about establishing lovely gardens with help and advice from family friend Dave Mizerak.  The bones of that design remain much the same, but Suzan has fun adding and subtracting plants as conditions change over the years or as enthusiasm strikes her.

Lilacs and grapevines at the perimeter contribute to a feeling of privacy in back.  A delightful water fountain is visible from most spots around the yard as well as from rooms at the back of the house.  Among Suzan’s favorite plants are peonies, rhododendrons, daphne, and azaleas.  Fig trees in back not only produce delicious fruit but are gorgeous sculptural plants.  The Japanese maple in front is stunning all year.

A tall flag pole in back features an ever-changing display of flags, some to honor countries where the Maldens have lived (such as Sweden and Norway), some to honor countries of origin for visitors, and some to honor events

Suzan does almost all of the gardening herself, averaging a half-hour to an hour a day in the busiest seasons, with occasional help from Nathanael Brees on the biggest projects.  She sees the garden as her sanctuary and gardening brings her great joy.  As she says, “life is beautiful in the garden.”