Endive is a robust and hardy grower. It is a warm plant and it needs to be sow in mid spring through summer and it is harvest in mid summer through fall. It is prone to fewer pests and diseases than other salad crops. It makes an attractive addition to any vegetable garden plot. It has a slightly bitter taste to it that many people will blanch it to moderated the bitterness down.
There are two main types of endive ' curly' or 'frisee' and " Batauian" or "escarole". Curly endive has narrow leaves and a flat appearance, while Batavian is hardier, broad-leaf, and the plants tend to grow more upright. Both types of endives likes rich, well- drained soil in a sunny or a partly- shaded location. I will talk about four different types of endive.
'Kentucky'- their leaves are finely cut and they are good for blanching. It is a reliable curly- leaf variety. ' Natacha'- this one is a Batavian type of endive and it has good resistance to bolting. ' Glory'- this one produce deeply cut, curly leaves that are tender when they are young. ' Frenzy' - this one is a compact, self-blanching type with very fine, curly leaves that borne on dense heads. Seed can be sown in modules or seed trays under cover in the spring. The tray needs to be fill with seed compost, from the seed compost gently, water thoroughly , and stand it somewhere to drain. The seeds need to be made in the center of every cell using a dubber or pencil, and then drop one seed into each one. Firm over with a little compost, and water very lightly. Seedlings will start coming up in about one week. Continue to grow them under cover until the strong roots of the plants have developed.
Endive can be sown directly into the ground, in growing bags, or in a large container, that has multi-purpose compost in it. The soil needs to be turn over to get all of the weeds out of it and then apply a general-purpose fertilizer to light soils. Make drills 1/2 inch deep, then water well, and then row your seeds thinly along it. Cover over the seeds very gently and water it lightly. The area needs to be well -watered for the first few weeks after transplanting or sowing to encourage the root system to develop a strong one. After the endive is established, it is quite drought - tolerant, but it will need to be watered during very dry conditions. The plants need to be weeded regularly until they become large enough to another out any competing growth. Weeding between the plants needs to be done by hand, and weeding between the rows by using a hoe. Cover the plants with fabric if the weather turns cold to keep them from bolting. Endive has a bitter flavor that can be lessened by blanching. Some of the varieties are described as ' self-blanching' but others need help. The best method is to place a plate over the center of the plant to block out the light, and it needs to have the foliage is dry. Blanching takes about two to three weeks. The leaves can be cut when the plants are a suitable size, and leave the stump in the ground to re sprout for a later crop.
It is a perennial relative of the summer sunflower which bears attractive, bright, yellow flowers. The Jerusalem artichokes are grown for their delicious knobbly tubers, which are harvested in the fall. They are very easy to grow and they form a sizable clump in a season. It is best to keep them confined, because of not, they can become invasive. This vegetable are best grown on larger plots and not in containers.
Jerusalem artichokes are planted as bare tubers, which can be brought from seed supplies or maybe a supermarket. Before the tubers are planted in early spring, the ground has to be dug up to remove all weeds. The tubers needs to be planted six inches deep, and space them twelve inches apart each way. Large tubers can be cut into two to three pieces, with each piece having a distinct growing bud. Cover each tuber with soil, and water the tubers in.
The routine care of them arethe shoots will appear after a few weeks. Once the plants are eight to twelve inches high, put the soil around the plants to help support the stems. The plants need to be kept well watered, especially very dry periods, because if this is not done, the tubers will become extremely knobby and small ones. If the soil is light, a thick mulch needs to be appl, so the moisture is retain. The plants need to be weeded while the plants are young, the plants will be able to compete with most neighboring plants after they get big. The Jerusalem artichoke stems are sturdy, but may need some support until they grow to full height. Tall stakes need to be put around the edge of the clump or bed, about six feet high and tie a string around them to form a flexible frame. This helps to keep the plants tidy. If there are any stems that are damaged by the wind, the stems need to be cut using clippers.
In late summer, the tall stems, need to be cut back to five feet high to prevent them from rocking in the wind and loosening the tubers. While this is being done, the yield can be maximize by removing all the flowers, which will divert the energy away from the developing tubers if this is not done at the same time. In the fall, when the leaves begin to turn yellow, the plants will start to take nutrients down the stem to store in the tubers, which means that they are almost ready to harvest. Once the leaves begin to yellow or fall, the stems need to be cut below 12 inches in height. The Jerusalem artichoke tubers should be lifted as required. Because they have relatively thin skins and they do not store very well, which means they are best left in the ground and then dig up as they are needed. Any tubers left in the ground will regrow the following year, but if another crop of them are going to be grown in the same location, thoroughly dig the whole site to make sure that they are all remove by the end of the winter.
Tomatoes comes in many different types of tomatoes. They are so good to eat, especially right out of your garden. Just pick it, bring it inside, wash it real good and enjoy. You can use tomatoes in so many different ways and they are good. I will now tell you about several different varieties of tomatoes. 1. 'Tigerella'- This type of tomato is a early variety that has medium sized red fruits with yellow stripes on the tomato. You can grow this one under cover or outside and this one needs to be trained, as a cordon. 2. 'Totem'- this one needs to grow in a window box or growing bags. It is one of the dwarf size variety and you do not pinch off anything. It produces cherry -sized fruits. 3. ' Tumbling Tom Yellow'- it is a compact bush tomato that it is good to grow in sunny hanging baskets.
4. ' Moneymaker'- it is a cordon variety that you can grow both indoors or outdoors. They produce medium-sized red tomatoes. The sideshooter will need to be kept punch off and train them up to a stake. 5. 'Marmandle'- it is a cordon type tomato that can be grown outdoors, support it with a stake, and always cut off any sideshoots. This one has beefsteak, deep red fruits with few seeds. 6. 'Sungold'- it is one that can be grown indoors or out and it is a cordon type tomato. This tomato is a very- sweet tasting, hybrid that bears cherry tomato sized, deep orange fruits.
7. 'Gardener's Delight' it is a cherry variety and it has red fruits. It can be grown under cover or outside, whichevers, you want to do. 8. 'Sweet Olive'- This is a hybrid tomato and it has oblong-shaped red fruits about 1 1/2 inch long. It can grow indoor or outside, but it needs to be staked to support the plant.
9. Tumbler- This one is a bush tomato that is an excellent choice to grow in containers, window boxes, and hanging baskets. They can go in smaller gardens.
Everybody who has a garden, whether it is in a container or a regular garden, you will find tomatoes planted there. Tomatoes are America's favorite vegetable. A full size tomato plant needs a container with a soil capacity of at least twenty quarts and a water capacity of at least a gallon. It would be better if you have a bigger container like a forty quarts of soil and at least a two gallon water reservoir. If you have a bigger water reservoir you will not have to water so often. Tomatoes like sunlight. They like warmth. You will need to give the tomatoes so they can have the longest time in the sun. Tomatoes takes a lot of water. A mature tomato plant will use a gallon of water every day.
Start planting tomato plants is not difficult to do, it just means you will need to have some equipment and a sunny place. If you have the desire, the space, and the equipment, start growing your own tomatoes can be very rewarding for you.
If you start your own plants, you can get different varieties of tomatoes. A well-stocked garden center or nursery may not have a lot of varieties, where as, a seed catalog may have a whole bunch more, like three dozen or more. You can buy tomato seeds and tomato seedlings. A tomato plant's root system is the key to its success in life, because when a tomato is ready for transplanting, it should be growing in at least a four inch deep pot. Most of the time, you will not find tomatoes in a four inch pot in a nursery, because they will become pot bound and stressed. When you are at a nursery looking for tomato plants, if you see blossoms on a small, skinny tomato plant, this may be a sign of stress, because the plant can not grow more roots, so it goes into the next phase of life long before it has the strength to bear fruit. If you find blossoms on your tomato plants before or soon after transplanting, always clip them off. The tomato plant needs to grow more roots and foliage before taking on the work of growing and producing fruit.
Tomato plants should be short, stocky ones and not tall lanky ones. If you are going to buy tomato plants, always look for signs of insect damage or disease. The leaves should be dark green without holes, brown or black spots, or curled edges. Do not start your tomatoes indoors no more than five to six weeks before you have your last frost where you live at. You can start your tomato seeds in a seed starter kit. You can used a peat/compost mix or a sterile peat based starting mix. Always keep the soil moist but not soggy and the temperature stay between 75 degree and 90 degree F. If you are using a fertilizer- free starting mix, you will need to fertilizer the seedlings with liquid seaweed fertilizer.
Ten days after your tomato plants have germinate, you will see the first true leaves have appeared then you need to transplant into the four-inch pots. You will need to set the plants so that only the top leaves show above the soil. The soil needs to be just moist all the time. Before you plant your seedlings outside, you need to harden them for two weeks. You can do this by moving them to a shady spot for a hour or two, it can be longer on cloudy days. After a hour or two you will need to put them inside. By the time they are ready for planting in your garden they should be used to being out all day and able to stand the full sun for most of the day. When the soil temperatures are at least 55 degree F and the night air temperatures do not go below 40 degree F, it is time to transplant. The best time to transplant your plants is in the cool of the day, and shade your plants from the sun for a few days. Plant your tomato plants in containers deeper then you had them in the pots, trimming off all of the leaves that will be buried. If you are going to put your tomato plants in containers, some of them will need some kind of outside support. They do not like to climb trellises or be tied to stakes, but they love to crawl on the ground like the vines that they are.
Growing tomatoes on a stake, or on a single trellis will required a more drastic style of pruning.All the suckers that appear on the main stem has to be pruned off. Because if you do not do this, each sucker becomes a new stem and the tomato plant becomes impossible to put on a trellis or stake. When the plant grows up to the top of your trellis, stop the growth by pruning the terminal shoot. This is done to keep the plant to top heavy. A lot of the diseases that affects tomatoes are soil borne and if your tomatoes are in containers, that will not bother them. If you find a tomato horn worm, pick it off and drop it in a can of soapy water. When the tomatoes get ripe, it is best to take them off of the vines with scissors to avoid damaging the plant. If it is getting close to your first frost, you need to pick all of your tomatoes that have begun to ripen inside and they will finish ripening all the way. Put your tomatoes up in your windowsill to finish ripening inside. If you have a container that you can bring indoors, you can let the tomatoes ripen on the vine. Summary Tomatoes are very easy to grow and they are a very popular vegetable that are planted every year. They are many different types of tomatoes to choose from red, yellow, big and little ones.
