In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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June 22, 2007

A call from Maryland about tomatoes

One of the fun parts about being garden writer for The Sacramento Bee is that many of my stories go out through the wire services and then are picked up by newspapers, radio stations and web sites all over the nation. Al Shuster from Silver Springs, Maryland, read an article I’d written about tomatoes in his local newspaper, and called to talk about his tomato cages.

Shuster has been gardening 40 or 50 years, he said, and uses remesh (concrete reinforcing wire) for tomato cages. He makes them 3 feet in diameter, and 16 to 20 feet tall. He planted his tomatoes about three weeks ago. To prepare the spot, he digs a hole, mixes in eggshells and composted cow manure, then plants the tomatoes clear up to their top leaves. He waters them with MiracleGro, pouring just a few cups of the mixture a day into the shallow trench he digs around the plants. In three weeks his plants have reached two feet tall.

Shuster learned a lot about vegetable gardening from his grandfather. He’s grown just about every vegetable imaginable, he said. This year his garden includes raspberries, blueberries, soybeans, tomatoes and spearmint.
It’s amazing to me to see who reads The Bee’s stories, and in return to hear their stories.

Thanks for the call, Al.

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