Raised tomato beds

I was raised on a farm in Kentucky. Along with vegetable gardens, berry vines, and fruit, and nut trees to feed ourselves, we always had hay fields and cornfields for the livestock. Some of the livestock was for feeding ourselves also, cows for milk and butter, chickens for eggs, (and Sunday dinner) a couple hogs for ham, shoulder, bacon, lard, and homemade sausage, a young cow for beef. I do not care much for beef. I think baby cows are as cute as kittens. I suppose little pigs are cute too. I had a pet chicken named Lucy; she never ended up on the dinner table.

Mommy always had strawberries for pies, dipping in sugar and eating from the vine. There were blackberry vines in the woods, for jams and cakes. We had black walnut trees, which I loved to hull the walnuts with my bare feet; they would be stained for months. We used these for candy and snacking. Daddy would sit for an hour cracking walnuts with a hammer and picking out the good with his knife for me to eat. Apple trees for all seasons, some in early spring others later in the year. We stored the ‘winter apples’ wrapped in newspaper in the cellar and they would last well past Christmas. Apple pies, dried apples for Mommy’s famous layer cake, apple butter, applesauce, half moon pies and fried apples with hot homemade biscuits and butter.

Mommy would make hominy in a churn; can quart jars of green beans, tomato juice, sauerkraut, pickled beets, and corn. We would dig the potatoes from the garden and then bury them together in one big hole. I didn’t understand this as a child, I wondered “why not just leave them in the garden and dig them up as they were needed?’ But, they were kept fresh all winter. We had sweet potatoes, lettuce, onions, and cauliflower. Our shopping list for the grocery store consisted mostly of flour, cornmeal, sugar, coffee, and salt. Of course, we bought other things less necessary, but were self-sufficient otherwise.

Tobacco was the money crop, until the government came in with all its regulations. I can remember all the hard work of getting the crop from the beds to fields and then have government agents come in and chop some of it down because we were over the limit. I was the lucky one, being the youngest; I did not have to work as much or as hard, or as long as the older ones. I could fret a bit and Mommy would send me to the house to cool off. Of course, I had to face the taunting of my sisters and brothers later, but to me it was worth it. And, if it got too bad all I had to do was threaten to tell Mommy and they would stop. Yes, I was a spoiled brat, but it wasn’t my fault!

Unfortunately, because of this, I missed a lot of education, especially when growing vegetables. I loved helping Mommy with her plant beds, but when it comes to growing veggies, I do not have a green thumb. Last year our little vegetable garden produced only a few tomatoes and they did not taste as good as the ones I buy from the roadside market in town, which are not even that expensive. But I would love to have my own, and some to share.

I think lime might be the answer, part of the answer, I will have to do some homework, or ask advise from my friends here before I try again. I was thinking a raised bed would work better, and be more convenient. However, getting one built might be a major task in itself. My husband works six days a week and I hate to ask him for anything extra. He loves tomatoes as much as I do, and would be open to the idea, I’m sure. It is just a matter of finding the time and energy to get r done. I am not a carpenter, so the prospect of trying the project on my own is out of the question. I can drive a nail, and sometimes I can do it without bending it double, but I would never tackle a saw.

I remember as a child trying to help my older brother cut some firewood with a two-handle saw. He drug me back and forth like a rag doll and finally told me I was more trouble then help. It looked easy when he and Daddy did it.

About the raised tomato bed, I think that may work. Now what is the best kind of tomatoes to plant? If anyone has any suggestions, I would be grateful to hear.

Raised tomatoes beds, and some reminiscing