Out with the Old, In with the New

The tomato vines supported by the Florida Weave trellis system look sort of eerie in late summer.  Their long outstretched vines are mostly free of foliage and there are a few stink bug damaged tomatoes left, clinging desperately to what used to be prolifically producing plants.  We had a great crop of tomatoes and put many of them up to enjoy later, but it is time to remove the vines to make room for the Fall crop.

I cut the baling twine from the T-posts and threw it all away and then pulled up the T-posts and stacked them neatly out of the way.  Ordinarily I would have just pulled up the tomato plants by the roots and composted the whole plant, root and all, but I read that the better thing to do is to cut the plant off at ground level.  This allows aeration of the soil as the plant rots, leaving tunnels where the roots once were.  So using a knife I cut them all off at ground level and pile up the vines.

Tired, haggard vines after a season's production

Instead of piling them directly on the compost pile in the back corner of the garden, I threw the vines over the garden fence.  The chickens promptly gobbled up the tomatoes and foliage.  Then the cows came along and finished off anything that was left.  I'll scoop up what's left and pile that up in the compost pile to decompose.

Chickens cleaning up the crop

Here is what is left of the garden where the tomatoes used to be - just a few peppers, some basil and some okra.  It looks mighty barren without the tomatoes.  The tomatoes have been growing since January 1 of this year when I planted them and now on August 1, they are gone.

Not much left to the Spring Garden

But gardening is a seasonal adventure and just as soon as one crop is gone, it is time for another one to take its place.  In fact, just as we planted okra last week, I also planted cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels Sprouts seeds this weekend. Those plants, in addition to many others, will take the place of the tomatoes we just removed.

Seeds for the Fall Crop

In the past I planted the seeds directly in the ground, and that worked okay, but planting them in seed pots and caring for them until they are larger to transplanted helped me to be able to better deal with the pest pressure and the dry weather that the month of August usually brings.  I'll nurture these seedlings along as they sprout and then transplant them into the garden where they'll provide some fresh food for the Fall.