G.M.,

Plant! Beware the wind though. (Although, it is possible that your buildings, shrubs, neighbor's house, fences, etc. may give you wind protection that I don't have here on the open prairie.)

Is another frost possible? Of course. But, I don't think it is likely since the 10-day forecast looks good.

I plant a variety of companion plants with my tomatoes, including all kinds of basils (Large Leaf Italian, Lime, Lemon, Purple Rufles, Littleleaf, etc.), borage, marigolds, nasturtiums, garlic, onions, chives, Lemon Balm, chamomile, sage, thyme, yarrow, Profusion Zinnias, etc. The more plants I have that attract beneficial insects, the less trouble I have with aphids and mites.

The only companion plant I have had trouble with is tansy. I love tansy. I love the way it looks. I love the way it smells. I love the way it attracts tiny beneficial insects. I even love the way it reseeds. (Plant it once and you will have it and its' children seemingly forever.) However, no matter where I plant it, it turns into an agressive thug, quickly forming a mound about 2 feet across and 4' feet tall or taller. Even when I tried to move it farther and farther away from the plants, it seems to do its' best to spread towards them and outcompete them. So, last year I took out all the tansy and then the heavy rains took out all the rest as soon as they sprouted. I guess if any seedlings pop up this year (not likely considering how heavily I mulched last year and this year in that spot), I might move them to the chicken pen area, which is quite a distance from the veggie garden.

My peppers don't get as much companion planting because they don't really have pest problems. Once every three or four years they might have leaf miner damage, but not enough to worry about. I just tend to plant the same with the peppers as with the tomatoes, if I have enough plants left to do so after I'm through planting tomatoes.

I don't (gasp!) do crop rotation. I could, but I haven't found it necessary BECAUSE I do perpetual soil amendment. Soil rotation is very important in standard gardens where there is a heavy reliance on chemical fertilizers AND where little soil-building occurs. If you garden organically, though, you aren't going to have either the salt buildup problems you see with commercial fertilizers OR the nutrient depletion, esp. with trace nutrients. This is because your natural amendments (compost, manure, decomposing mulch, etc.) are replenishing what the plants use. When I say that I replenish the soil perpetually, I don't mean that I add a huge amount of new stuff every year. I add a huge amount when I first build a bed. After that, it pretty much replenishes itself perpetually as the mulch ingredients break down. Every few years, though, I might add some greensand and manure, or topdress with compost. Heaping shredded leaves on the beds in the fall goes a long way towards replenishing the soil annually. They break down and decompose in place and that feeds the soil.

One argument in favor of standard crop rotation is that it helps you avoid the build-up of soil-borne diseases. There again, though, if you are gardening organically, mulching consistently and replenishing your soil, the buildup of soil-borne diseases just doesn't happen, at least based on my experience as a lifelong gardener.

And, I am not saying organic gardeners "shouldn't" practice crop rotation, just that I think most organic gardeners can get away with not practicing it. There are always exceptions though. If I gardened in sandy soil where nematodes were a problem, I am sure crop rotation would be absolutely imperative to prevent the buildup of too many nematodes in any given spot.

I'm hoping to start planting the red-fruited, green-when-ripe fruited, and purple-fruited tomatoes today. It probably will take me a couple of days to get them all in the ground. BUT, it is cold, cloudy and windy out there right now, so I am going to wait until 10 or 11 to go out there and get started.

Plant, plant, plant!

Dawn

Dawn I have a probably dumb question about companion planting. In order for all those companion plants to be beneficial do they actually need to be planted along with the tomatoes. In the same bed I mean?

I have some of those plants you mentioned growing in my yard in various places but since I have only smallish raised beds I don't really have a lot of room to plant many plants in with them.
So I would assume it would still help somewhat just to have them growing in the yard wouldn't it?
What do you think?

I have lots of wonderful marigold seeds which I will interplant with my tomatoes. I don't really know if this helps or not but it has never hurt either. lol

I will have to do a little experimenting with bringing in more plants to plant with the tomatoes.

I am glad to know that perhaps rotating my planting beds may not be necessary. I have changed beds a time or two since we built these beds but I shall plant this year in my most successful bed and see what happens.

I do practice pretty much organic gardening anymore. I just don't like the thought of using chemicals around my food. But have also gotten to using it less and less in my flower beds as well. I let my poor roses go last year with blackspot from all that rain...and they seem okay this year so far.

Everyone just got too used to going to buy a chemical fix to everything from bugs to plant diseases and that is partly what is wrong with everything today. I used to be pretty bad about spraying on chemicals for a while but I realized soon enough....this is NOT how it used to be done. So I decided the old ways might be better after all.

I will still use them if all else fails. Ant spray is one of my favs. I hate getting ants all around my outdoor living areas. We even had some trying to enter our house a week or so ago. Coming right under the front door..yikes.

And fire ant killer. Oh I really HATE those things. I will be out patiently working on my beds and don't realize they are there until all of sudden they all start stinging at once. grrrrr.

Well I do wish the sun would come out if only partially. I would feel so much happier if it would. And this Wind!

Do I have protection from wind? hahaha. Dawn I live on Walton's mountain or walmart hill!!! If I have any protection from houses or fences or trees or anything at all I can't tell it. It is ALWAYS windy up here on the hill. I get so TIRED of it! It just wears me out dealing with all this wind. But around here it is either deal with it or stay in the house all the time....no way!

Okay I will go and see if I have energy enough to get about accomplishing anything today. Doc put me on new heart meds yesterday I sure hope it helps!

Happy planting! And thanks for your fast reply!
G.M.

G.M.,

No, companion plants do not have to be in the same bed when it comes to tomatoes. If you are using some plants as a "trap crop" to catch a particular pest, the closer those plants are to the tomatoes, the better. (More about the use of trap crops or catch crops in a second.)

There are really several kinds of companion planting. Some people believe that planting companion plants like basil and borage CLOSE to the tomatoes actually improves the flavor of the tomatoes. Does it? I have no idea, but I try to put a little basil and borage in the same beds as the 'maters, just in case it works.

The kind of companion planting I do is mostly aimed at attracting beneficial insects so they can do the pest control for me. In that case, having the plants anywhere in the yard is generally good enough, because once the "good" insects come to the yard for the plants they like, they'll generally travel around the yard looking for "bad" bugs to eat. Also, if you have lots of plants that provide them with what they need, they tend to stay around and lay eggs which gives you even more beneficial insects.

Now, about trap crops or catch crops. Some years, I can leave the marigolds in the ground right next to the tomatoes all season long and they bloom and they are beautiful until frost. Other years, though, (usually the hotter and dryer ones) the red spider mites arrive in waves, usually beginning the third week of June but sometimes as early as mid-May in a hot spring. When those large numbers of spider mites arrive, they tend to go to the marigolds first, and then move on to the tomatoes. My goal, those years, is to wait a short while and let the spider mites build up on the marigolds, and then I yank out the marigolds, immediately place the plants, spider mites and all, inside a trash bag and tie it securely. By doing that, I probably am getting 90% of the mites out of the garden before they move to the tomato plants. So, some years I have to sacrifice the marigolds, but some years I get to enjoy them all season long.

There are some other plants that are great catch crops for various pests, but the marigolds are the main ones I use.

About crop rotation, I was surprised to learn on the Tomato Growing Forum that many people who are avid tomato growers also do not rotate crops, which blew my mind. Most of them are like me, though, in that they devote so much space to tomatoes that there isn't anywhere else to rotate them to. LOL And, also, most of them practice perpetual soil enrichment in lieu of rotation.

I try not to get on my organic soapbox too much, but I agree with you that chemicals "usually" are not the answer and may, in fact, be harmful. One thing that drives me nuts is that you read the label instructions and are directed to wear long pants, long sleeves, gloves, etc. Sometime it recommends you wear a little respirator mask (like people with asthma wear while mowing) and eyeglasses, safety glasses or goggles to protect your eyes. They tell you to bathe thoroughly after you spray the chemical, and they tell you to wash the clothing you wore separately so you don't cross-contaminate other laundry. So, if these chemical products are as safe as they want us to think, why are such extreme precautions necessary???? It just blows my mind.

I'm not an idiot, though, and readily concede that there are a few very serious pests for which the organic world does not have a good alternative solution. Fire ants are one of those problem pests. I think our property would be unlivable were it not for the use of Over 'N Out once every 3 or 4 years to knock down the fire ant population. Unfortunately, you cannot use Over 'N Out in beds where veggies or fruits are raised, and probably shouldn't use it in the soil directly beneath the drip line of fruit trees, but it is still very effective where it can be used. In the veggie beds or under fruit trees, I rely on Safer Organic Fire Ant killer which has Serenade as its' active ingredient.

Serenade first hit the market as an organic method of fungal prevention/control. I was excited about it for that purpose the first year I tried it, but it must have been just a "lucky" year because it wasn't nearly as effective as a fungicide in the following year. However, it works great on fire ants (or, if not great, then at least better than other organic fire ant products).

I knew you were on Wal-Mart Hill, but was hoping that maybe the surrounding homes, etc. gave y'all some blocking. I guess not. The wind is awful!

I hope the new heart meds help. Sometimes it is so hard to find the right medication and trial-and-error seems to be the only way to figure out what works best for any given person.

Have fun planting. I'm about to go outside myself.

Dawn

Dawn as always thanks for the info. I keep many of your posts to refer to at another time. You always have such good advice and I appreciate it.

I went outside earlier today....oh say around 10:30 or so. I was not out long until I gave up and came back in. It was just horrible out there. Seemed the temperature had dropped from the time I had been out earlier.
I never did get back out between getting a headache...(from the wind?) and a little family crisis. I never did make it back out.

My sis had taken mom to the grocery store and in helping mom out of the car ended up with the car door shut on her hand! That wind!!! She thought for a while one of her fingers was broken and she might have to go to ER so called me because mom had a doc appointment soon after. We got that all taken care of and her finger doesn't seem to be broken after all...thank God.

All I know about the wind here is that if any of it is blocked I would really hate to see what it would be like if it were not....hahaha. I do know it funnels straight down our street like a wind tunnel. When I go out front to talk to neighbors there is big difference just from my front door to the street. It gets so strong you think it might just rip your clothes off.....or your hair! Oh my.

Have a good afternoon. It is rest time now but I see sun coming out so later perhaps I will be brave enough to go out and try it again.

G.M.

G.M.,

On KXII Steve said the our county's highest wind gust today was 37 m.p.h. and your county's was 36 m.p.m. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't transplant tomatoes....and especially peppers, as brittle as they are...in that kind of wind.

The wind blew and blew and blew all day long here. I just kept hearing tree limbs crashing down in the woods all day long. It's been several years since we had the kind of wind that "pruned" some branches (or entire trees) in our overgrown woods like this year's winds are doing.

Since it seemed too windy to transplant, I got out my mini-tiller and worked compost and manure and Tomato Tone plant food into the soil in the 40' at 12' bed where I'm going to plant the red-fruited tomatoes (hopefully tomorrow, wind allowing). I also hand dug out some bermuda grass that is creeping in under the garden fence. The wind blew so much that my spoiled dog, who usually spends the day in the garden with me, went back into the house and slept.

We are due to have pretty heavy wind every day this week. I know we are in Oklahoma, but this is ridiculous. It seems worse this April than usual. Now, March is usually bad, but this March wasn't (and March was warmer in general too). Maybe we had our April weather in March and now we're having March weather in April. LOL

The plants that are in the ground took a pretty good beating from the wind today. I did notice, too, that the hummers weren't around non-stop like they have been every day lately. Maybe they were lying low to stay out of the roaring wind.

I hope your sister's finger is OK. I bet it really hurts!

If I can't plant because of the wind tomorrow, I guess I could till up the remaining 3 raised beds and get them ready for planting.

Dawn

G.M.,

I am glad someone said something about the fire ants!

goodness, I can't stand them, and its just a fight every year here now to keep them out of the yard, or anywhere I need to go.

They esp. seem to love the veggie garden.. we took a beating today from them on the upper right side of the garden.. and I never did see there home until the bites came.

I am at a windfall on what to do with them, I treat the mound's but it seems that two more pop up within 8ft of where the one was.

i did however get my tomatoes in the ground today.. (not even close to how many dawn plants)
We started at 3PM.. and finished up at 5PM.

I need to get some seeds in pots, but the wind kept me from that.

the rains should start in the evening down here for tomorrow..

the last frost date is Apr. 15th and like dawn our 10 day looks good.. so I thought better now then later.. and hope for the best..

many of us know that when gardening esp. veggies it is a gamble every year.

Good luck!

I never did make it out to plant veggies. I went out to put a bigger stake out for my clematis until DH makes me some kind of trellis for it and in the length of time it took to do that I felt so wind beaten I just came in again. I had planned to maybe go back out and try later but the wind never changed and I ended up spending a good deal of time on phone with family members.
They should be okay for a few more days...so I shall wait some more.
That seems to be the theme of planting this season....WAIT! lol.

I am sorry you got stung by the fire ants Kirts! They are just AWFUL. Did you read Dawn's advice on getting rid of them? I agree the stuff DH uses on them just makes them pack up and move a little further over. Little devils!

Dawn you were so right about that wind. It would have flattened all the small plants had I gone ahead and planted. I guess we will just have to deal with wind until it gets hot enough to actually want some and then it will die down....lol. Such is living in Oklahoma I suppose.

G.M.

I think we are going to have to broadcast Over and Out this year because the fire ants seem to be growing in numbers by leaps and bounds. Since you can't use it near food crops, though, the next time I am in the store I'm going to look for the Safer Fire Ant Killer to use in the veggie garden. Last year I found it either at Lowe's or Wal-Mart. Is it 100% effective? No, but it works better than anything else that is labeled for use in the veggie garden.

This year I have two huge problem mounds of fire ants. One has popped up right by the outdoor water faucet and the ants have built their mound right around the faucet. For the last three or four days, I've turned on the hose and held the nozzle down to the mound and washed it away. They rebuild it overnight every night. I thought after several days of that water treatment that maybe they'd move, but they are very stubborn, so I guess I'll treat the mound. The other is right beside the garden fence right at the garden gate. I really don't want to use chemicals that close to the garden, but may have to. That mound is about 2' across and a foot tall! (I need an anteater....I wonder if they eat fire ants?) LOL

I do have some of the native ants that eat the imported fire ants, but there are too many fire ants for them to keep up with them all.

I'm going to plant today, wind or no wind, so I can beat the rain. And, if it rains a lot, I bet more fire ant mounds pop up.

Dawn

Ugh! I hope I never get fire ants! I have enough ants to contend with as it is. And they're not even the vicious ones.

I heard Jed Castles on the weather last night discussing a report from some weather prediction group that we are to have a cooler summer and yet another frost before April is over. I hope that's not true, but you know Oklahoma's weather! I don't mind the cooler summer at all, but another frost????

Milkweed bugs are a huge problem for me. I spent last summer squishing away at them. They eat the flowers, and I wanted to have lots of seed. Spiders and spined soldier bugs were awful last year, too. I found many of my caterpillar babies hanging lifeless on their larval plants. So sad.

I also have praying mantids everywhere - which is good in a mixed emotional way. They eat the bad bugs, but also the caterpillars as well. I love lady bugs and I have lots of them, too.

I don't use chemical sprays or other insecticides in my yard. If there is nothing for the beneficials to eat, they won't come to my garden party! LOL!

Susan

Go ahead!

I'm planting the same stuff you are, and I planted last week. Maybe that was still a bit too early, but I think right now is a good time.

I hope to go ahead and plant perhaps Saturday after all this rainy stuff gets over with and has time to dry out a little.

Susan I hope so much that they are wrong about more frosts this spring! Oh Lord I truly do! Now a cooler summer might be a good thing....as long as it is not too cool....lol.
I mean if cooler means we don't get higher than about low 90's during low humidity that will be good but I hope we get PLENTY of 80s with LOTS of sunshine! Last summer was cooler. I didn't think the hot weather loving plants would EVER get to growing. Or me either. hahaha.

Strange weather we have anymore. Every year is a new suprise. Most are not very good ones either it seems or perhaps I am just too picky.

At least so far we don't have the wind we had yesterday I should probably be outside taking advantage of it but have been busy with other things today.

Stay safe with the storms today and tonight everyone!

I do wish it would go ahead and rain here at my house and do nothing else! If it doesn't I am going to have to get out there and drag that heavy water hose all over the yard.

G.M.

I hope we don't have another frost here in Love County, but it is not out of the realm of possibility. One of my "old farmer" neighbors, who passed away last year at the age of 97, insists that he remembers snow falling in Love County a couple of times in May, although I couldn't find any official record of it. Another, who is a relative whippershaper at the age of almost-88, does remember freezes or frosts in early May. There again, I haven't been able to find any official record to back up his memories.

I don't use pesticides, insecticides or miticides in general either, Susan, but the fire ants get completely out of control if I don't treat the lawn once every 3 to 4 years. For a long time, I tried to go it organically, but there is no organic product that is effective on fire ants, and, believe me, I have tried them all. Over the decades we have tried every chemical fire ant product too. Some of them seem to work for a few years after introduction, but seem to lose their effectiveness over time, which tells me that the fire ants must develop resistance to them. For several years now, we've used Over 'N Out (I think that's the name, it is in a blue bag.) with great results.

The only real pest I had major trouble with last year was stink bugs on the tomatoes beginning in August. They are a huge problem and ruin the fruit so that it is inedible. I am going to watch for them this year and try to stop them in their tracks before they multiply and get out of hand. There's not much (organic) that works on them either, except hand-picking them while they're small.

Being in a remote, rural location, we have every bug known to mankind, but at least that means we have a good population of beneficials and they help with the bad bugs. I always have a billion lady bugs and I love them. Praying mantids are not my favorite since they eat everything, good and bad. You'd think with all the caterpillars we have here that we'd have an abundance of parisitic waps, but we don't seem to.

Dawn

Armadillos eat fire ants.

Guineas eat fire ants

Fire ants do have their purpose in life, believe it or not. Like all ants, they are omnivorous creatures - the world's garbage collectors. Ants keep the world clean.
One thing I know about Fire Ants that makes them very beneficial to all animals is that they are tick predators!

That is not to say that I would want them in my yard, however. I found one mound out by our burn pile last week. Oh, how I miss my guineas!

~ sweetannie4u

Dawn, some years the parasitic wasps are bad, and other years, I don't see any at all. I always know because the cats have those little cocoons all over them - poor things. Nature usually has a way of playing things out in the end, so I try not to mess with it. Fire ants on the other hand, I'm afraid I would have to plan something like WMDs or chemical warfare.

Last year, the stink bugs were awful, weren't they? But I had lots of bugs last year that I'd never seen before. Had to get out my trusty bug books. I had orange fingers all summer from squishing the milkweed bugs AND beetles. But, it goes with the territory when you have a lot of milkweed for the Monarchs.

I have a "no kill" policy until I find out it's eating my caterpillars. That's why I hand raise most of them. But, the Gulf Frits are so numerous on the passion vines, that it's just survival of the fittest.

...and then there are the disease to contend with, too! Last year was a good one for mildew!

There you go talking about those marvelous Guineas! Darn, I wish I could have some in the city! They are the best grasshopper control known to man also.

Guess we'll have to wait and see what kind of weather we have this year. It's always a mystery in Oklahoma.

Susan

We had a light frost yesterday morning. Of all things, I had forgotten to bring in my tomato plants the night before. But I suppose the Lord was watching out for us. We had frost all around, except on the pump house roof, where I had the plants!

George

George,

When I checked the early a.m. temps on the statewide mesonet map yesterday, I felt like several counties might have had patchy frost, based on the temps I saw.

I'm glad your plants were spared from damage.

Dawn