Minaiture Tomatoes

The miniature tomatoes that I'm growing this year were raised from seed that I got from Totally Tomatoes, 334 W. Stroud Street, Randolph, WI 53956. You can also find them on the internet.

So far I'm really pleased with the results. It's considered to be one of the wolds smallest tomato plants and it certainly has lived up to that.

The only disappointment was that I started with 20 seeds and only got 1/2 as many plants. I'm pretty sure that it was simply because I wasn't very well equipped to get them started in the house. 

This variety was developed at the University of Florida

The catalog said that it's an ideal houseplant for windowsills, and patios for vine ripened fruits year round.

What a great idea when you don't have much room to grow anything.

I plan to make it a regular part of my plant collection from now on.  

Strawberries

Raspberries

They're still green but it won't be long before these black raspberries are ripe and ready for jam and jelly making as well as eating fresh.

As usual I'll put some out on a table near the curb and attempt to sell or just give a lot of them away to the neighbors.

Somehow people seldom stop by and when they do they hardly ever buy anything so I haven't quite figured out what I'm doing wrong.

I'll try a few different things and report the results back to you. 

Exciting Tomato News

I've tried several different ways to show you the best thing about the miniature tomatoes I'm growing this year.  

The most exciting thing about them is that the blossoms are exactly the same size on both the traditional and the miniature tomato plants. 

And of course the most stunning and exciting difference is in the size of the plants for those of us who either don't have gardens or are working with limited space.

These tiny miracles can even be grown in a flower pot on a windowsill. How amazing is that?

Tomatoes in the palm of your hand, it doesn't get better than that.

Garden Tea Menu

This egg salad stuffed tomato is a big hit here. We grow the lettuce, tomatoes and radishes right here in the garden and I'm sure if I looked into it I'm sure I can find someone raising chickens and selling things within a mile or two of our place. I also raise chives here to garnish it with.

An alternative to that is this raised cake plate edged with celery and carrots with a bed of curly lettuce and a bowl of egg salad at the center. you could either dip the veggie sticks in or you could scoop the egg salad on to cracker, bread or croissants.

As always we serve some sweets, fruit and several varieties of teas.

I also like to choose some sort of silly theme. can you guess what I'm celebrating here ?

Bird Feeder with Painted Roses

I had a LOT of fun with this project. The theme was roses but I painted each side and section differently and tried all sorts of brush strokes to capture the look of rose petals.

The way I did the dots along the edge of the roof was the only thing about this that I hated but I figured the birds wouldn't care so I just left it that way.
 

The parts that will actually come into contact with the birds have been left unpainted for their heath and safety.

Here are a couple of combination views so you can see how different some of these designs are.

Here are a few views of it in use in the garden.

Roses

The roses have gone totally crazy in the years since I've been in the wheelchair. I was surprised to discover that the rose bed at the back of my front yard and the one at the front of the yard have finally met up.

I guess you could say that "I've finally got roses by the yard".

As abundant as these look, they've just started blooming and they'll only get better and fuller in no time.

All of the roses here are from only 2 sources. A rosebush from my Husbands Grandparents farm and several wild roses from his parents farm.

They really need thinning and pruning to get them all blooming fully again.

My hope is to transplant a lot of them over to the other side of the yard where I host my little garden teas with friends, Wish me luck!

A Yellow Birdhouse Design

This one is especially easy and fun. It starts by painting the base green, the roof blue and the edges back with white dots.

Next paint the body in a nice, light yellow.

After the yellow dries, use the green to add some leaves and stems then wait for them to dry.

Paint red flowers with dark centers. I was hoping they'd look a bit like poppies.

From this point you can add as many flowers in as many different colors as you want to.

Remember, it's your project. Do it in your own way. Remember, it's for the birds, not the art critics.

Latest News from the Garden

We've just painted and added 2 new birdhouses

We're continuing to try to sell a lot of plants but after trying for a week only one person has stopped and he didn't even buy anything. I'm getting discouraged, I was kind of looking forward to meeting some new people. 

Here's another of the Iris blooming now and I ended up cutting and using the daisies from the yard before we managed to get pictures of them.

I was excited as I was potting up plants for the sale table. I found that 1/2 dozen of those micro tomato plants had actually survived and are looking great.
The amazing thing about these is the plant only gets 10 inches tall but it grows regular cherry tomatoes.

My recent goal with my garden is to find and grow micro and miniature  varieties  so that people in apartments, condo's and other places can grow a tiny garden on a windowsill.

I'm also looking for plants that will be nice to grow in the house over the winter. The more I learn about it the more interesting it becomes.





I can do indoors for the winter.