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Sun-dried, oven-dried or dehydrated tomatoes; the concept and the result is basically the same: flavor-packed tomatoes that can be preserved and used in salads, as a snack, reconstituted into sauces for pasta, or baked in breads for added flavor. This season, I have already dried several batches of tomatoes using an oven, and I believe that it is the easiest and simplest technique to dry tomatoes. Dried tomatoes: all you need is an oven and a day.

The first of my tomato plants’ fruits began to mature about a week ago. To my dismay, the first tomato had a sunken, mushy, brown end to it. I tried to shrug off my fears and waited for the next one to mature. Sure enough, these fruits began to rot at the bottom as well – this time while they were still green. “Could it be?” I gasped. “Blossom End Rot!!! Now What??!?!?”
Blossom End Rot is caused by a calcium-deficiency. It can occur in tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and even squashes. As plants grow, they need calcium for normal cell growth – in fact, it’s essential in the development of their sweet, juicy, fruits. BER is not caused by a disease or a pest. It cannot travel from plant-to-plant. It is a physiological problem within the plant.

It has been exactly one month (to the day) since I transplanted all my seedlings into my plot at the community garden. Take a look at the growth! The large plants along the middle row are four broccoli plants. The broccoli rapini have already been sprouting small heads that quickly flower because it has been so hot lately. I have found, however, that the stalks of the rapini – even once their heads have flowered – are still tender and sweet enough to mix into a meal such as a pasta or stir fry.

This week, after I had transplanted all my tomato plants outdoors, I began to notice that the leaves on a few of my plants were looking white and translucent. I began to worry that they were getting eaten – or worse – had developed a disease. Now, after some research, I am happy to report that there is nothing wrong with my tomatoes – they are simply sunburned!

Last weekend I was out at my plot in the Railyard community garden and noticed several small seedlings popping out of the soil. I eat sunflower sprouts nearly everyday, but I had never before spotted a sunflower sprout in its natural element. I usually don’t notice them until they are 5 feet tall and competing with me in height.

Plant A Row for the Hungry is a public service program originally set forth in 1995 by the Garden Writers Association. The Plant A Row program shows that even small-scale gardeners can help to provide food for those that are less fortunate within our community.

One of my childhood friends who recently moved back to our hometown of Tallahassee, Florida has started a blog. In her new post on “Look at this Fun Garden!” she describes how to make a type of raised planter bed called a lasagna bed. Lasagna gardening is also referred to as sheet composting, as you are essentially building up layers of composting material and allowing it to slowly break down to create “rich, fluffy soil”* for your plants and vegetables. Other sites online can walk you through creating a lasagna garden bed, but Claire does it best in her simple explanations of each lasagna layer and her anecdotal comments of her experience building lasagna beds both in her old neighborhood in Chicago (where she started a community garden in the neighborhood of Pilsen) and now, in her new backyard in Tallahassee.