Time for an update of Dad’s garden! Â I promised this year that I would let you see more of his garden in progress and hopefully learn a few things about starting a garden yourself.
He always gets in a hurry and tries to get started when there is still danger of frost. Â This year he put out these tomato plants and broccoli and rutabagas and was afraid he had lost the tomatoes, but most of them survived the last frost, thank goodness. Â They are growing well now with our heat and rain.
Next to the tomatoes he planted Blue Lake beans. Â I’m trying to remember which of these are the right plants, so I might get some of these wrong, so bear with me. Â I’m pretty sure these on the right are Blue Lakes. Â Some things he plants the actual plants and some are seeds.
Seeds: Â Irish potatoes from the potato, Corn, Squash, Blue Lake green beans
Plants: Â Tomatoes, Broccoli, Sweet Potato, Peppers
Dad planting his sweet potatoes.
He buys plants for these and plants them one at a time. Â His garden stool helps with this part.
He also planted corn and squash and I think this one is squash.
And I’m not sure which ones these are.
Broccoli on the right. Â He also planted some peanuts and that row on the left might be those.
More of the broccoli plants.
He was very happy not to lose all these tomatoes. Â He has since planted more tomatoes in the middle of the garden, along with some Romas. Â Most of the tomatoes he plants are Better Boys, which he has been planting for years.
He also heard somewhere that adding Epsom salt around tomatoes is good to help them grow, so he’s been doing that too. Â Not sure what it’s supposed to do, but he heard it from someone.
On the backside of the garden, he planted his Irish potatoes. These are what he planted by cutting up potatoes and planting the eyes up. Â This is how much they have grown since the last time I did an update.
These are additional tomato plants, which will come in later in the summer. Â He spaces them out to have tomatoes coming in longer.
More broccoli.
All in all, he has planted Broccoli and rutabaga, tomatoes, squash, Blue Lake beans, corn and sweet potatoes. Â He’s got a few more things going in this garden too. Â He’ll plant even more in the NC garden, so if I get up there I’ll take pics of that garden too.
He fertilizes twice in the growing season with 10-10-10 fertilizer. Â That keeps his plants going and growing.
We get spoiled with all these good veggies in the garden. Â Of course, my fave thing to look forward to is the first ripe home grown tomato of the season. That always happens around 4th of July!
My daughter just planted our garden here in NY. She ended up planting 7 tomato plants with a circle of Epsom salt around each one. Epsom salt really helps the plants grow and increase the quantity of tomatoes that you get. She also planted pole beans, cucumbers, zucchini, onions and herbs. This year we are going to have a good harvest!
I love the pictures you post of your Dad in the garden, he looks very at home in his garden!
I am going to try the Epsom salts on my tomatoes. Your parents are precious!
Hi Rhoda,
Not sure what Epson salts does for plants, but I remember my mother telling me that Epson salts in a tub of hot water makes a good soak for sore muscles. Your dad might need a good soak after all that planting!!
Yes, I’m using Epsom salts these days for some back issues I have, so it’s long been remedy for soreness. It must do something to plants too!
Nice garden! Your Dad has put a lot of hard work into it. The payoff is when you bite into that first tomato, and delicious tomato sandwiches.
Irish potatoes are regular white potatoes, as opposed to sweet potatoes. This is a Southern thing, like sweet milk is regular white milk as opposed to buttermilk. I grew up in NC in the 1950s and this was normal terminology. Many of the folks in the South have Irish and Scottish ancestors, so perhaps the origin of such terms came down from previous generations.
These photos of your sweet dad are priceless! They remind me of my childhood when I would follow behind my grandfather and “help” him plant his garden. I imagine I wasn’t much help, but they are precious memories none the same. Lovely post, thank you for sharing! Rié
What a wonderful garden your dad has growing, Rhoda! It’s amazing that he can keep up with that big garden at his age. I love that little stool that he can sit on when he is doing some of the planting. What a good idea! Everything looks great. I can’t wait to see the vegetables as they grow and ripen! I wish he was selling some of his vegies! I’d sign up for some! Love your garden updates!!! Thank you!
Your sweet daddy in his garden reminds me of wonderful memories of my daddy who loved to work his garden after finishing his job at the lumber mill. How blessed to have a loving daddy.
I adore seeing photos of your dad gardening! I grew up with red clay soil, and it sure does produce some good vegetables. It may be hard to work with, but the clay helps to hold the moisture and the minerals in the soil. Can’t wait to have that first tomato sandwich!
It is truly a blessing from God to see him outside doing what he loves to do. He plants a large garden, not to mention the second garden in NC.
Love the update on your dad’s garden! He is such an inspiration.
So enjoy seeing your family and your Daddy’s garden! you are blessed. Thanks for sharing.