Southwest Virginia Blogs

I am not certain what it is that drives us to have green yards.  It must be something very powerful.   I mentioned in the spring 2006 post, "True leadership," that I mowed the yard for the first time on March 29 this year. 

The last mowing of the year, pictured to the right, was November 30, 2006.   That is eight months of mowing the yard.  I managed to get out of a few this year, but that is still a lot of trips around the yard.  When you figure the bluegrass in my yard starts growing in early March and will still grow some in December, there is not much down time even for grass.

There is absolutely nothing that feels as good on your bare feet as a lush bluegrass yard.  Yet  I have to admit there is something nice about Centipede  grass which is often seen in coastal Carolina. It stops growing and turns brown in October.   It might not feel as good on your feet, but you don't have to fertilize it in the fall, and it probably needs to be mowed about half as much as bluegrass.  Unfortunately it probably will not survive the Roanoke area winters.

Maybe we should get some of our land grant colleges working on a cool area grass that does not need to be mowed very often.  Just think how much time and fuel we would save. 

We could just give up on yards and let them go natural or turn them into vegetable gardens.  With the number of deer that wander through our yard (see Bitter tomato harvest), vegetables would never work here unless maybe we plant collards, brussels sprouts or something else inedible to man and beast.  The deer even cleaned out our pansies by the front step.

Fortunately the human memory tends to dull the things that are a pain so I am sure that by next March, I will be ready to mow once again.

Fall brings a series of chores.  If you're a farmer, that list of things to do is pretty long.  In the suburbs, things are a lot easier.  In our case, we have to cut down a few plants and clean up our tomato garden.

This has been far from our best tomato year.  I wrote about our challenges in "The bitter tomato harvest" and "The world's ugliest tomatoes."  It was far different than last year when I wrote, "A late season tomato surge."  The one thing that is the same as last year is that our Mountaintop tomatoes have been supplemented by ones from our youngest daughter's garden in Cornelius, NC.   Just like last year when I penned "The best tomato sandwich of the season," the best tomatoes we've seen have come late in the season and from North Carolina.

For several years I have not bothered to turn over the ground our my tomato patch. In effect I was practicing modified n0-till farming. Each year I would dig a small hole for each tomato plant (The Spring Tomato Ritual) and leave most of the soil untouched.  There are lots of reasons to do no-till farming, but on a commercial scale it often involves large amounts of chemicals to kill the vegetation.  In my little tomato patch I'm not too worried about erosion since we'll likely cover it with mulch in a month or so.

What I am worried about besides deer is the disease that attacked our tomato plants, and turning the soil is a good way to expose the soil and air to sunlight and air.  We'll likely add some manure, and probably turn it again.  I've already decided to let the ground rest for a year or two.   A couple of years ago we planted pansies for a cover crop.  They were even more popular with the deer than the tomatoes.  I know that the next time we plant tomatoes on the mountain, there will be a deer fence.

I turned the soil of our tomato patch with a four tine manure fork.  It only took a few minutes which was far less time than it would have taken to get our little Mantis tiller running.  I haven't used it for five or six years so the manure fork was definitely the way to go.

It's nice to see beautiful fall weather and some color in the leaves.  It brings back a lot of memories being on the farm especially hauling hay and plowing fields.

In those days I plowed fields with a five bottom plow that turned over seven feet of sod with every trip.  I have one picture from our days on the farm where the tractor and plow that I used is in the background.  The picture was taken thirty years ago.

Next year my not so secret weapon to win the great tomato race will be switching my plantings to a different climate zone. The best I can tell my tomatoes will go from Zone 6 to Zone 8. That should help.  I'm sure that I'll find some other challenges, but so far I haven't seen any deer, and I know that I'll be facing soil that hasn't been tilled.  Time will tell if that ends up letting me get another elusive pre-Fourth of July tomato, but for this year the tomato patch has been put to bed.

Fall brings a series of chores.  If you're a farmer, that list of things to do is pretty long.  In the suburbs, things are a lot easier.  In our case, we have to cut down a few plants and clean up our tomato garden.

This has been far from our best tomato year.  I wrote about our challenges in "The bitter tomato harvest" and "The world's ugliest tomatoes."  It was far different than last year when I wrote, "A late season tomato surge."  The one thing that is the same as last year is that our Mountaintop tomatoes have been supplemented by ones from our youngest daughter's garden in Cornelius, NC.   Just like last year when I penned "The best tomato sandwich of the season," the best tomatoes we've seen have come late in the season and from North Carolina.

For several years I have not bothered to turn over the ground our my tomato patch. In effect I was practicing modified n0-till farming. Each year I would dig a small hole for each tomato plant (The Spring Tomato Ritual) and leave most of the soil untouched.  There are lots of reasons to do no-till farming, but on a commercial scale it often involves large amounts of chemicals to kill the vegetation.  In my little tomato patch I'm not too worried about erosion since we'll likely cover it with mulch in a month or so.

What I am worried about besides deer is the disease that attacked our tomato plants, and turning the soil is a good way to expose the soil and air to sunlight and air.  We'll likely add some manure, and probably turn it again.  I've already decided to let the ground rest for a year or two.   A couple of years ago we planted pansies for a cover crop.  They were even more popular with the deer than the tomatoes.  I know that the next time we plant tomatoes on the mountain, there will be a deer fence.

I turned the soil of our tomato patch with a four tine manure fork.  It only took a few minutes which was far less time than it would have taken to get our little Mantis tiller running.  I haven't used it for five or six years so the manure fork was definitely the way to go.

It's nice to see beautiful fall weather and some color in the leaves.  It brings back a lot of memories being on the farm especially hauling hay and plowing fields.

In those days I plowed fields with a five bottom plow that turned over seven feet of sod with every trip.  I have one picture from our days on the farm where the tractor and plow that I used is in the background.  The picture was taken thirty years ago.

Next year my not so secret weapon to win the great tomato race will be switching my plantings to a different climate zone. The best I can tell my tomatoes will go from Zone 6 to Zone 8. That should help.  I'm sure that I'll find some other challenges, but so far I haven't seen any deer, and I know that I'll be facing soil that hasn't been tilled.  Time will tell if that ends up letting me get another elusive pre-Fourth of July tomato, but for this year the tomato patch has been put to bed.

Fall brings a series of chores.  If you're a farmer, that list of things to do is pretty long.  In the suburbs, things are a lot easier.  In our case, we have to cut down a few plants and clean up our tomato garden.

This has been far from our best tomato year.  I wrote about our challenges in "The bitter tomato harvest" and "The world's ugliest tomatoes."  It was far different than last year when I wrote, "A late season tomato surge."  The one thing that is the same as last year is that our Mountaintop tomatoes have been supplemented by ones from our youngest daughter's garden in Cornelius, NC.   Just like last year when I penned "The best tomato sandwich of the season," the best tomatoes we've seen have come late in the season and from North Carolina.

For several years I have not bothered to turn over the ground our my tomato patch. In effect I was practicing modified n0-till farming. Each year I would dig a small hole for each tomato plant (The Spring Tomato Ritual) and leave most of the soil untouched.  There are lots of reasons to do no-till farming, but on a commercial scale it often involves large amounts of chemicals to kill the vegetation.  In my little tomato patch I'm not too worried about erosion since we'll likely cover it with mulch in a month or so.

What I am worried about besides deer is the disease that attacked our tomato plants, and turning the soil is a good way to expose the soil and air to sunlight and air.  We'll likely add some manure, and probably turn it again.  I've already decided to let the ground rest for a year or two.   A couple of years ago we planted pansies for a cover crop.  They were even more popular with the deer than the tomatoes.  I know that the next time we plant tomatoes on the mountain, there will be a deer fence.

I turned the soil of our tomato patch with a four tine manure fork.  It only took a few minutes which was far less time than it would have taken to get our little Mantis tiller running.  I haven't used it for five or six years so the manure fork was definitely the way to go.

It's nice to see beautiful fall weather and some color in the leaves.  It brings back a lot of memories being on the farm especially hauling hay and plowing fields.

In those days I plowed fields with a five bottom plow that turned over seven feet of sod with every trip.  I have one picture from our days on the farm where the tractor and plow that I used is in the background.  The picture was taken thirty years ago.

Next year my not so secret weapon to win the great tomato race will be switching my plantings to a different climate zone. The best I can tell my tomatoes will go from Zone 6 to Zone 8. That should help.  I'm sure that I'll find some other challenges, but so far I haven't seen any deer, and I know that I'll be facing soil that hasn't been tilled.  Time will tell if that ends up letting me get another elusive pre-Fourth of July tomato, but for this year the tomato patch has been put to bed.

Fall brings a series of chores.  If you're a farmer, that list of things to do is pretty long.  In the suburbs, things are a lot easier.  In our case, we have to cut down a few plants and clean up our tomato garden.

This has been far from our best tomato year.  I wrote about our challenges in "The bitter tomato harvest" and "The world's ugliest tomatoes."  It was far different than last year when I wrote, "A late season tomato surge."  The one thing that is the same as last year is that our Mountaintop tomatoes have been supplemented by ones from our youngest daughter's garden in Cornelius, NC.   Just like last year when I penned "The best tomato sandwich of the season," the best tomatoes we've seen have come late in the season and from North Carolina.

For several years I have not bothered to turn over the ground our my tomato patch. In effect I was practicing modified n0-till farming. Each year I would dig a small hole for each tomato plant (The Spring Tomato Ritual) and leave most of the soil untouched.  There are lots of reasons to do no-till farming, but on a commercial scale it often involves large amounts of chemicals to kill the vegetation.  In my little tomato patch I'm not too worried about erosion since we'll likely cover it with mulch in a month or so.

What I am worried about besides deer is the disease that attacked our tomato plants, and turning the soil is a good way to expose the soil and air to sunlight and air.  We'll likely add some manure, and probably turn it again.  I've already decided to let the ground rest for a year or two.   A couple of years ago we planted pansies for a cover crop.  They were even more popular with the deer than the tomatoes.  I know that the next time we plant tomatoes on the mountain, there will be a deer fence.

I turned the soil of our tomato patch with a four tine manure fork.  It only took a few minutes which was far less time than it would have taken to get our little Mantis tiller running.  I haven't used it for five or six years so the manure fork was definitely the way to go.

It's nice to see beautiful fall weather and some color in the leaves.  It brings back a lot of memories being on the farm especially hauling hay and plowing fields.

In those days I plowed fields with a five bottom plow that turned over seven feet of sod with every trip.  I have one picture from our days on the farm where the tractor and plow that I used is in the background.  The picture was taken thirty years ago.

Next year my not so secret weapon to win the great tomato race will be switching my plantings to a different climate zone. The best I can tell my tomatoes will go from Zone 6 to Zone 8. That should help.  I'm sure that I'll find some other challenges, but so far I haven't seen any deer, and I know that I'll be facing soil that hasn't been tilled.  Time will tell if that ends up letting me get another elusive pre-Fourth of July tomato, but for this year the tomato patch has been put to bed.

We grown tomatoes for nearly thirty years.  The ones that our garden is producing this year are unlike any that I've ever seen.  The picture to the right is actually one of the more photogenic of the tomatoes that I have picked. 

Many of them look much worse.  Of course beauty is only skin deep.  The tomatoes are absolutely delicious. There is more waste than usual, but considering we're swamped in them right now, I'm not worrying about a little extra waste.

It was only a few weeks ago that I wrote a post, "The bitter tomato harvest," and complained about marauding deer and  some sort of disease that was attacking the plants.

I was close to pulling the plants up, but I decided to fertilize them and nurse them through the drought.  I thought we were going to have a super fall harvest, but the deer were back last week and came close to destroying the plants once again.

We're going to have more ugly tomatoes than we can eat for the next few weeks, but I've decided that we're going to give our tomato patch a well deserved rest.  I'll work some new soil and manure into it, and perhaps just keep it stirred up for the next couple of years.  Whe we plant tomatoes the next time, there will be a fence.

Next year I'll find a spot to plant a few tomatoes at the NC coast.  Maybe the deer aren't so plentiful down there. 

Still I am glad that I didn't give up on the plants this year.  It would have been our first crop failure.  Once you peel and slice the tomatoes, you have a plate of the most beautiful deep red tomatoes that you have ever seen.  I can live with that.  They're pretty close despite their ugliness to the ones I wrote about last year in "The best tomato sandwich of the season."

We grown tomatoes for nearly thirty years.  The ones that our garden is producing this year are unlike any that I've ever seen.  The picture to the right is actually one of the more photogenic of the tomatoes that I have picked. 

Many of them look much worse.  Of course beauty is only skin deep.  The tomatoes are absolutely delicious. There is more waste than usual, but considering we're swamped in them right now, I'm not worrying about a little extra waste.

It was only a few weeks ago that I wrote a post, "The bitter tomato harvest," and complained about marauding deer and  some sort of disease that was attacking the plants.

I was close to pulling the plants up, but I decided to fertilize them and nurse them through the drought.  I thought we were going to have a super fall harvest, but the deer were back last week and came close to destroying the plants once again.

We're going to have more ugly tomatoes than we can eat for the next few weeks, but I've decided that we're going to give our tomato patch a well deserved rest.  I'll work some new soil and manure into it, and perhaps just keep it stirred up for the next couple of years.  Whe we plant tomatoes the next time, there will be a fence.

Next year I'll find a spot to plant a few tomatoes at the NC coast.  Maybe the deer aren't so plentiful down there. 

Still I am glad that I didn't give up on the plants this year.  It would have been our first crop failure.  Once you peel and slice the tomatoes, you have a plate of the most beautiful deep red tomatoes that you have ever seen.  I can live with that.  They're pretty close despite their ugliness to the ones I wrote about last year in "The best tomato sandwich of the season."

We grown tomatoes for nearly thirty years.  The ones that our garden is producing this year are unlike any that I've ever seen.  The picture to the right is actually one of the more photogenic of the tomatoes that I have picked. 

Many of them look much worse.  Of course beauty is only skin deep.  The tomatoes are absolutely delicious. There is more waste than usual, but considering we're swamped in them right now, I'm not worrying about a little extra waste.

It was only a few weeks ago that I wrote a post, "The bitter tomato harvest," and complained about marauding deer and  some sort of disease that was attacking the plants.

I was close to pulling the plants up, but I decided to fertilize them and nurse them through the drought.  I thought we were going to have a super fall harvest, but the deer were back last week and came close to destroying the plants once again.

We're going to have more ugly tomatoes than we can eat for the next few weeks, but I've decided that we're going to give our tomato patch a well deserved rest.  I'll work some new soil and manure into it, and perhaps just keep it stirred up for the next couple of years.  Whe we plant tomatoes the next time, there will be a fence.

Next year I'll find a spot to plant a few tomatoes at the NC coast.  Maybe the deer aren't so plentiful down there. 

Still I am glad that I didn't give up on the plants this year.  It would have been our first crop failure.  Once you peel and slice the tomatoes, you have a plate of the most beautiful deep red tomatoes that you have ever seen.  I can live with that.  They're pretty close despite their ugliness to the ones I wrote about last year in "The best tomato sandwich of the season."

There were a number of falls that I would have been really excited to have grass growing like it is this autumn  in Roanoke.  Those years when we had a lot of cattle, some extra grass in the months before we started feeding hay was a welcome extension to the grazing season.

Now that the only thing which eats the grass around me  is my Toro, fast going fall grass is not exactly welcome.  Most of us on the hill are ready for the mowing to slow down.

Today was the third time I've mowed my yard in the last ten days.  When I compare how the grass is growing here in the valley to how it is growing on the coast, I can understand why farming has remained a staple of the Virginia economy.    Since I have farm roots, I'm broadminded enough to be glad that the farmers who had a tough summer have got some moisture.

As is always the case, one farmer's good news is always the next farmer's disaster.  Still there is nothing more pitiful that horses or cattle trying to get a mouthful of grass from a pasture that just won't grow.  At least right now the farmers who needed the grass to grow are in better shape than they were early in the summer.                            

There were a number of falls that I would have been really excited to have grass growing like it is this autumn  in Roanoke.  Those years when we had a lot of cattle, some extra grass in the months before we started feeding hay was a welcome extension to the grazing season.

Now that the only thing which eats the grass around me  is my Toro, fast going fall grass is not exactly welcome.  Most of us on the hill are ready for the mowing to slow down.

Today was the third time I've mowed my yard in the last ten days.  When I compare how the grass is growing here in the valley to how it is growing on the coast, I can understand why farming has remained a staple of the Virginia economy.    Since I have farm roots, I'm broadminded enough to be glad that the farmers who had a tough summer have got some moisture.

As is always the case, one farmer's good news is always the next farmer's disaster.  Still there is nothing more pitiful that horses or cattle trying to get a mouthful of grass from a pasture that just won't grow.  At least right now the farmers who needed the grass to grow are in better shape than they were early in the summer.                            

There were a number of falls that I would have been really excited to have grass growing like it is this autumn  in Roanoke.  Those years when we had a lot of cattle, some extra grass in the months before we started feeding hay was a welcome extension to the grazing season.

Now that the only thing which eats the grass around me  is my Toro, fast going fall grass is not exactly welcome.  Most of us on the hill are ready for the mowing to slow down.

Today was the third time I've mowed my yard in the last ten days.  When I compare how the grass is growing here in the valley to how it is growing on the coast, I can understand why farming has remained a staple of the Virginia economy.    Since I have farm roots, I'm broadminded enough to be glad that the farmers who had a tough summer have got some moisture.

As is always the case, one farmer's good news is always the next farmer's disaster.  Still there is nothing more pitiful that horses or cattle trying to get a mouthful of grass from a pasture that just won't grow.  At least right now the farmers who needed the grass to grow are in better shape than they were early in the summer.