I want to imagine myself as someone who would go out everyday into her vegetables and herbs to weed and harvest; someone who tracks her plantings year after year to note what did and didn't work. The truth is, my wants outweigh the doing. Every year I plant, and every year I underharvest. It doesn't bother me too much, but I do wonder if I should even bother. In almost all cases I would rather quilt than be in the garden.
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I may not be an expert, let alone someone who should be giving out garden advice, but here is my one garden tip. I have a lot of things in containers, in my case a big collection of terracotta pots. This includes some perennials. To overwinter them I bury the container, with the plant, in the ground. I did this last year with great success and I am doing it again this year. There is, of course, the risk that your pot could crack, particularly with frost heaves. When I dug out one of these pots this spring a bit of one had sheared
off. I didn't mind so much as the plant was in great shape and the pot got some extra patina.
Because we have dogs and have never been able to figure out a way to keep them out of the raised beds we put almost everything in containers. This works great for herbs, beans, tomatoes, and some annual flowers. I am starting to accept that it isn't great for beets, carrots, and peas. Oh how I want a plot where I can have row upon row of staggered plantings for continual harvest. It just isn't going to happen here, and I must accept that. I must celebrate the success I do have, despite my lazy efforts.
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Tomatoes. Last year my hubby built an incredible planter for the tomatoes. It faces south and is right against the house so it is extra warm. We've had a great crop this year. Of course I let the plants get a little wild, and we didn't have that much heat in August to really allow the fruit to ripen. And we've had so much frost lately that I harvested all the unripe fruit a week ago. That's okay, though. All you have to do is put the unripe tomatoes in a cool, covered spot (a box in the basement with a newspaper lid. The tomatoes will ripen and you can just eat along the way.
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That's it, that's all I can offer you on garden tips: how to store unripe tomatoes and overwintering perennials. Yup, I'm a lazy gardener.