Here are some of my earliest started seedlings. Rosa Bianca eggplants, sweet basil and cayenne hot peppers. They're all looking good, healthy and large! Last year i used the small 6 packs to start them, and then transplanted them into the same (though sterilized) 6 packs. This year, i transplanted them into 8 oz paper cups. It gives the roots more room to grow. It's only April 10th and these guys are already kissing the grow lights! Considering the frost date here in New Haven CT is May 15th, i may have started these a bit early. Oh well! Things in the garden look good. Though we're having a late spring, my peas, spinach, lettuce, bok choy, kale and chard are up! Teeny, but up!

 There are 3 different types of grafting techniques you can use. The first is called cleft grafting. As you can see from the picture, you cut a V shaped cleft in the rootstock, and a point in the scion (the top bit, your heirloom or open pollinated variety), and then put them together using either grafting tape and/or grafting clips. This is not an easy grafting method. Remember the stems of both the root stock and the scion are just a few millimeters thick. It's very easy to mess up and not get a good graft with this method if you're not experienced at it. This method also requires a healing chamber, which while it's not rocket science is more work.

 The picture above shows side grafting. Side grafting has a higher success rate, but takes a little extra effort on the front end. You cut an upwards slice, 3/4 of the way through the rootstock stem, and a downwards slice 3/4 of the way through the scion (top part) stem. You then join the 2 together, using grafting tape or clips (they have to be fairly large clips, 2mm +) You are planting both seedlings together for a few days. You then wait for the graft to heal (about 5 days) and start cutting off the rootstock top, and the scion root, slowly, over 3 days. The benefits to this method is a higher degree of success, and no healing chamber required (though it's recommended) The down side is you have to mark which is the rootstock top, and the scion root, so you know which to cut. The worst result would be a rootstock top on a scion root. The exact opposite of what you're trying to achieve. I used this method this year. I tied thread around the rootstock top, and scion root that i wanted to cut off, so i could recognize the difference between the two. It's important, if you want to use this method to mark the 2 different parts. Once you seal the graft, the plants are wound around each other and it will be almost impossible to tell the top from the root unless you mark them well.

The most common form of grafting is called top grafting, or splice grafting. You cut a 45 degree angle in both stems and join them together. The benefits are, you don't have to worry about which is the rootstock and which is the scion (top part), the down side, not all grafts heal well, you need a healing chamber, and the success rate is lower than with side grafting.

Each grafting method has it's benefits and downsides. But if you take some extra time and a good amount of patience, you can graft your heirloom tomatoes to rootstocks that will give them higher productivity, higher disease resistance, and still get the best tasting tomatoes out there.

Organic Gardening: Not only time to plant seeds in the garden, but to...

Organic Gardening: Not only time to plant seeds in the garden, but to...: Not only time to plant seeds in the garden, but to take care of the garlic I planted last October. Garlic is a heavy feeder. I enriched th...

Organic Gardening: My first finished, side grafted tomato plant. When...

Organic Gardening: My first finished, side grafted tomato plant. When...: My first finished, side grafted tomato plant. When you side graft, you let the graft heal for about 5 days, then you slowly start cutting ...

My first finished, side grafted tomato plant. When you side graft, you let the graft heal for about 5 days, then you slowly start cutting back the rootstock top, and the scion (top part) root. You cut them back over 3 days. Today i cut the last parts off. The seedling looks good, we'll see if the graft holds. I grafted this tomato a few days earlier than I did most of them. While i was thinking of doing them all at the same time, I think it was a good thing I did this one first. It gave me a bit of practice, not only in the grafting, but in the cutting back. Now i feel a bit more confident in doing the rest of my grafted tomato plants, starting later this weekend. I'll post something soon on the 3 different types of grafting you can do for vegetable plants. Each has it's benefits and drawbacks. It's not easy, but it is interesting! And hopefully I'll be able to have higher producing heirloom tomatoes, which means I can plant less tomato plants and maximize my garden space.

Not only time to plant seeds in the garden, but to take care of the garlic I planted last October. Garlic is a heavy feeder. I enriched the soil before I planted the garlic, and now that it's spring and the garlic is growing, it's time to give it some fertilizer. You will always see 3 numbers on a bag or bottle of fertilizer. The three numbers stand for N (nitrogen) P (phosphorus) and K (potassium). Always in that order. Garlic likes a high nitrogen fertilizer. I like to use a fish fertilizer. It's liquid concentrate, so you use 2 tablespoons per gallon of water. Not all fish fertilizers are equal though. So always look on the bottle for a high first number. Tomatoes for example, like a high phosphorus low nitrogen fertilizer. So you'd look for a high middle number and a low first number on the bag, for tomatoes. I feed my garlic about once a month till June. In this bed I have 2 different types of garlic. Music garlic on the left, and german red garlic on the right. Both came through the winter very nicely, with every clove I planted coming up. I planted a total of over 300 cloves of garlic last October, in 3 different gardens.

I finished grafting all the tomatoes yesterday. You have to have patience (not one of my strong suits) and a gentle hand to do this. I couldn't have done it at all without a grafting knife. Grafting knives are very sharp, with a very thin blade. Remember you're slicing through a tomato seedling stem that's only a few millimeters thick. Without this special tool, it would have been impossible.  I'm doing side grafting, which entails cutting 3/4 of the way through both the rootstock stem and the scion (top part) stem and joining them together. Needless to say i said "ooops" a couple of times, which resulted in a rootstock being beheaded. I did get most of them grafted, and i'm hoping the graft holds and heals. After a few days, i'll start cutting back the rootstock top, and the scion root. I've marked both parts with yellow thread so I can tell which part comes off. The reason I'm doing side grafting instead of the typical top grafting (where the scion is attached to the rootstock) is there's a higher degree of success with this method, and I don't have to use a healing chamber, which both other methods require. I've also been planting out in the garden, seeds only at this time of year. Taking the mulch off my garlic and getting ready to feed it. I'll take my camera with me on wednesday and try to get some photos.