Broken Knee Tomatoes!

[Vespertino]

My Zephyr summer squash, Sugar Ann snap peas and thai basil are sprouting! It seems like I just planted the seeds a few days ago and POP they have leaves! I'm hunting around for info on what size grow bags to use for the squash and peas. My shipment of bags came in and I have 1, 3 a 7 gallon sizes. I'm leaning towards using a 3 gallon bag per plant.




My late batch of Rose Quartz Multiflora is starting to sprout roots so I moved them into peat pots, since it's a cherry I'm hoping it will still thrive in the heat despite the late start.

I'm still waiting on my delikatesse cukes and edirne eggplants, but I literally just got them started so it's unrealistic to expect anything yet.

In the meantime I set up some crummy, makeshift wind protection with short bamboo and plastic wrap for my planted tomatoes- it's working! 6 ft bamboo poles are on my shopping list so I can make protective teepee trellises eventually.


Even if I have bad luck with my tomatoes I'm hoping for some veggies to make it through.

[BucksCountyGirl]

Looking good! Hope that knee is holding up for you. I was looking at Zephyr squash this year as well. The coloring is intriguing. I look forward to your take on it. Maybe a candidate for next year's garden?

[Vespertino]

Originally Posted by BucksCountyGirl

Looking good! Hope that knee is holding up for you. I was looking at Zephyr squash this year as well. The coloring is intriguing. I look forward to your take on it. Maybe a candidate for next year's garden?

Yes, the color is very striking, it's very hard to resist based on looks:


When I read the reviews customers giving zephyr high marks on taste, texture and yield I decided to take the leap I'll keep reporting back on how well they do, I'll be using grow bags so I hope they perform well as container plants.

As for the knee, it's getting better and I'm getting around with a cane now. Digging holes in the ground is still tricky and I can't lift/carry bags of soil, but I've recruited the hubs to help with that. Luckily I can weed the tomato beds and pot plants. That better than before where I couldn't do anything

[Vespertino]

Today we've got some very windy rain storms. I'm still not used to the storms we get in DFW. The wind is so strong it smacks and shakes my house! I know the house can hold (it's built for this kind of weather) but the sounds at night wake me up.

So as you can probably guess it's raining right now, but I took some pictures of my garden yesterday when it was sunny out (very windy) and I was able to do a little work outside.

First, I finally converted the sprinklers in the tomato bed to drip irrigation. It was actually very easy with the Rain Bird brand sprinklers. You just unscrew the old 1/2 inch sprinkler top, keep the filter inside and screw on the new drip manifold! Then I placed hoses all over the place, one for each tomato plant. I'm relieved because now I know the task of watering the tomatoes during the summer is as easy as programing my sprinkler system. No more random water spray and less waste from the old sprinkler heads, and the tomato leaves should stay dry and happy. I've also been working on making bamboo tomato trellises and cages. I'm still not done with that, but little by little the structures are taking shape.



I'm still having a lot of trouble bending my knee, but the bulk of the discomfort comes from the atrophied muscles around the knee and in the thigh. I wear my brace outside because on occasion the muscles give out when I walk. However, I'm able to do much more than I could a month ago.

Luckily most of my wind-damaged tomatoes have recovered since I made the make-shift wind protection with plastic wrap and bamboo poles. Once I finish the tomato trellises and cages I'll be buying some kind of landscaping plastic or a translucent heavy-duty tarp and clip protective plastic around the trellises with binder clips.

Here's a KBX that was stripped of most leaves, now it's bouncing back!


I'm very impressed with the sturdy summertime green dwarf! This is one of the only two tomatoes that I left exposed to the elements without any protection and it's holding up strong! No lost leaves or broken stems. What a stocky little guy!


In memory serves this is a SCP (Sweet Carneros Pink), also bouncing back from leaf loss. The stems are a bit purple so I wonder if I might have a potash or phosphorous deficiency here, I watered this little guy with some superthrive so we'll see if that helps.


And here is my recovering Caspian Pink. I can't wait for this one to grow and thrive, I'm looking forward to some tasty tomatoes from this one.


I'm starting Rose Quartz Multiflora a bit late, I lost all the seedlings between some watering mishaps and the wind storms. I figured that starting a second batch late wouldn't hurt- being a cherry tomato they should be very heat-hardy and produce little tasty tomatoes throughout the summer.


Here's an update on my seed tray with all sorts of green goodies peeking out of the soil. The largest plants are my Zephyr squash, they're off to an excellent start and I need to plant then in grow bags next week. The tray contains Zephyr Squash, Sugar Ann Snap Peas, Striata D'Italia squash, Deikatesse Cucumber, Edrine Eggplant, Citrus Basil, Thai Basil, Genovese Basil and Parley.

The striata dítaliana squash are starting to germinate


Here's a close up of a Zephyr next to one of my Sugar Ann snap pea sprouts.


I started out with so many tomato seedlings taking over my living room that I didn't have the space to start mints and other herbs, so I bought a lot of them from the nursery this year. Below are mojito mint, lemon mint and a banana pepper plant.


The mints are in SIPs that I built for my basil plants last year. At the moment my basil plants have barely sprouted, so once they're large enough I'll be making more SIPs for them.

So that's the update! Unfortunately they're forcasting a frost warning north of me for later on in the week, that has me breaking a sweat!

[Axixic]

I was born in Dallas and grew up in that area. I miss the thunderstorms or thunderboomers as one weatherman called them.

Down here we won't get any rain until the middle of June and we have polite showers and sometimes a real gully washer but never thunderstorms like in Dallas. One time it did rain hard enough to bring down part of a mountain but it was without lightening.

Today it is clear out, about 75, sunny and I envy your thunderstorm.

[Vespertino]

Where is the "Land of Eternal Spring"? The storms are certainly exciting, I'm just not used to it yet. My in-laws who moved down here this year are actually scared of the storms because of all the force behind them.

The "thunderboomers" are hard for me to get used to because I'm a light sleeper, but they're really interesting to watch during the daytime. There aren't any tall buildings and the land is relatively flat. For me it's still novelty being able to view the thunderclouds from miles away, you actually get to see the scale of the storms- it's majestic.

[Axixic]

In Mexico there are a few places called "Eternal Spring" and all are at higher altitudes. We are near Guadalajara at 5000' where it never gets very hot or cold. In May and part of June it can get hot but nothing like Texas. We can live without air-conditioning. There are other areas that are a little cooler in the Summer and don't have a dry season.

I do not miss the Texas heat at all and I like being able to live without air-conditioning.

There are a few thousand ex-pat Canadian and Americans where I live and close to a million in Mexico.

Our weather:

http://chapalaweather.net/

[Tracydr]

Are you going to physical therapy? I did a ton of swimming this winter because weight bearing was still too painful to do much walking until the stem cell grafts started to work. Now I'm able to walk two miles with only mild discomfort, although I'd like to be able to do that twice a day. Still having too much pain on the right knee to do this. I'm also on Coumadin to try to help with blood supply to the bones. Seems to be working. If the Coumadin level gets too low I get swollen joints and if its good I'm good. I'm apparently forming small clots in my bones ( and lower leg veins). This therapy hadn't been used many times so I'm working with a specialist in Ohio. I had to travel to Denver for my stem cell surgeries.
If you need a great orthopedic surgeon for difficult issues ( I know patella injuries can be awful!), let me know. My surgeon does a lot of crazy cases. She works for the "Extremities at Risk" and treats cancers, bone diseases and other bad cases.

[BucksCountyGirl]

Hey Vespertino! Glad to hear you are getting around a little better. Wish you continued improvement on the knee.

Everything is looking pretty good for you garden wise. I bet those tomato plants bounce back before you know it.

I just cleaned up and re-potted my mint plants (all chocolate mint, I'm addicted!) and planted out some parsley seedlings this weekend.

It was so nice to be outside and I have the sunburn to prove it!

[Vespertino]

Tracydr- So sorry to hear that you're suffering with a knee injury, too If you don't mind me asking, what happened with your knee? I'm curious because you mentioned the stem cell grafts, is that to re-grow lost cartilage in the joint? I'd heard of cartilage grafts but didn't know they may be using stem cells as well. I'm glad that you're now able to walk about for two miles, that's great! I hope things continue to get better for you so that you can spend more time on your feet. I was pretty taken back when I started to realize just how long the recovery time is for injuries in general for the knee area. It sounds like you have a wonderful doc, feel free to PM the doctors info, I live in Texas, but if I have knee complications later on and can't find a good specialist it's nice to have options I'm in therapy right now, I'm improving but it's so gradual that often I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I had another eval today and I'm at 100 deg rom (110 forced), I'm about 8 weeks post-op.

BucksCountyGirl- Thank you The tomatoes are bouncing back and the new leaves look great! Some are shedding/dropping the older leaves (what few that were left) that were wind-damaged now that the new growth is in. I've been snipping the old leaf stems off once they look like they're on the outs. that chocolate mint sounds great, mints can be very addictive- it's almost like there's a mint flavor for everything and next thing you know there's 20 varieties that you suddenly want I got a bit of sunburn too, so I started wearing a big old straw hat. It saved the tips of my ears from being burnt a second time, but unfortunately I had a case of "plumber's crack" with my pants waist falling down a bit when I bent over and I now have a sunburnt "tramp stamp".

There was a frost warning for DFW last night and it got down to 30 degrees in my neck of the woods. I covered my poor babies with clear plastic bags and plastic jugs. Luckily they seem to have made it through. As I took a plastic jug off of my Moravsky Div I noticed a little surprise: my first tomato flower! I know the M. Divs are early, but since this is a recovering plant I'm wondering if I should snip off the flower buds and wait for the plant to get bigger before I let it start setting fruit.

[BucksCountyGirl]

Originally Posted by Vespertino

unfortunately I had a case of "plumber's crack" with my pants waist falling down a bit when I bent over and I now have a sunburnt "tramp stamp".

LOL...totally made my afternoon with that comment!

[Delerium]

Your garden looks great! Your tomatoes have recovered nicely after the wind damage. I had a few like that.. Oh boy.. Breaks your heart every time doesn't it? I usually put water bottles around my tomato plants just in case we have those unexpected cold weather or near freezing weather.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Vespertino

Tracydr- So sorry to hear that you're suffering with a knee injury, too If you don't mind me asking, what happened with your knee? I'm curious because you mentioned the stem cell grafts, is that to re-grow lost cartilage in the joint? I'd heard of cartilage grafts but didn't know they may be using stem cells as well. I'm glad that you're now able to walk about for two miles, that's great! I hope things continue to get better for you so that you can spend more time on your feet. I was pretty taken back when I started to realize just how long the recovery time is for injuries in general for the knee area. It sounds like you have a wonderful doc, feel free to PM the doctors info, I live in Texas, but if I have knee complications later on and can't find a good specialist it's nice to have options I'm in therapy right now, I'm improving but it's so gradual that often I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I had another eval today and I'm at 100 deg rom (110 forced), I'm about 8 weeks post-op.

BucksCountyGirl- Thank you The tomatoes are bouncing back and the new leaves look great! Some are shedding/dropping the older leaves (what few that were left) that were wind-damaged now that the new growth is in. I've been snipping the old leaf stems off once they look like they're on the outs. that chocolate mint sounds great, mints can be very addictive- it's almost like there's a mint flavor for everything and next thing you know there's 20 varieties that you suddenly want I got a bit of sunburn too, so I started wearing a big old straw hat. It saved the tips of my ears from being burnt a second time, but unfortunately I had a case of "plumber's crack" with my pants waist falling down a bit when I bent over and I now have a sunburnt "tramp stamp".

There was a frost warning for DFW last night and it got down to 30 degrees in my neck of the woods. I covered my poor babies with clear plastic bags and plastic jugs. Luckily they seem to have made it through. As I took a plastic jug off of my Moravsky Div I noticed a little surprise: my first tomato flower! I know the M. Divs are early, but since this is a recovering plant I'm wondering if I should snip off the flower buds and wait for the plant to get bigger before I let it start setting fruit.

Mine is not really injury. I have avascular necrosis or osteonecrosis. I have it in four joints which is extremely unusual. It probably started as a result of a high dose of prednisone 7 years ago but it was really exasperated by getting mild decompression illness scuba diving last spring. I have an antibody that causes blood clots which researchers believe is a piece of the puzzle, too. I now take a blood thinner by mouth. I was on four months of injectable blood thinner last fall.
The stem cells came from my own bone marrow. They take it from the pelvis like a bone marrow sample. It is supposed to allow new, healthy bone to replace the dead bone in my joints and it probably also allows new cartilage to replace damaged cartilage where the necrosis goes into the joint surface so that I don't lose those joints. I was at the point of not being able to stand for even a minute or two prior to the treatments and now I can walk a couple of miles and stand for quite a long while before suffering from pain. The blood thinner prevents new spots forming and has actually seemed to cause some shrinking of the untreated ankle lesions. I was looking at the possibility of stem cells for each ankle but the lesions are getting smaller so they will just be watched for now.
I know patellar fractures are very hard to treat and I wonder if they can use stem cells to improve the outcome, since patellar often don't heal well.
They are doing a lot of stem cell treatments in horses to repair ligament,tendon and bone injuries with exciting results!

[Vespertino]

BucksCountyGirl: Glad it made ya laugh, I thought it was hilarious. I can't look at my backside with a straight face anymore.

Delerium: thanks! I'm so thankful that they bounced back, sorry to hear you also had some that suffered the same fate out in the elements. Yes the wind damage is a scary and heart breaking thing. They look half-dead after the wind is through with them, and all you can do is cross your fingers and try to nurse them back to health. I'm starting a collection of plastic jugs and bottles in my garage, since they come in handy for last minute weather rescues.

Tracydr: Oh my goodness I'm so sorry about what happened to you. I remembered reading about someone on T-ville getting the bends last year but I didn't realize it was you. It sounds like your doctors have really helped you lots with the stem cell treatment, coumadin medication and your quality of life steadily getting better. Loss of mobility is so frustrating and it always feels like a long uphill battle just to see a little improvement and I'm so happy that the stem cells are working wonders and you've got a lot og good things happening in your garden (artichokes! yum!).

I'm not quite at the point where I know that the outcome for my knee is going to be. It broke into two large, clean pieces. The wires and pins holding my kneecap together while it heals will be removed in a year- assuming the bone has fused to the point where it would be safe to do so. The doc says that I will have cartilage loss along the break site, eventually arthritis will set in and I should expect to need a total knee replacement at some point. While I have no doubt what he says is likely, I started to look up info on cartilage grafts out of a desire to be pro-active about my knee. I'll now be looking into stem cell therapy thanks to your experiences and advice

It's comforting being out in the backyard and slowly being able to spend more time tending to the plants. And each time I'm able to do a little more work so it's a pleasant way to measure the physical recovery.

[Vespertino]

I had today off, so I tried getting more work done on my bamboo trellises but ran out of wire. Other tasks for this weekend are to mulch the tomatoes, prep & fill SIPs for the squash, peas, lemongrass so I can finally plant them out and get some of the extra tomato plants in grow bags. Two things holding me back: someone kept borrowing my drill when I needed it and hubs was tardy with bringing out bags of soil I saved from my earthtainers last year- they were too heavy for me to move them myself because of the knee. But this weekend i have my drill and hubs FINALLY brought the soil out so I can fill the containers.

So far it looks like only 2 of the 4 delikatesse cucumbers are germinating:



My Edirne eggplants are sprouting!


My peas are busting out, I needed to get them in the ground 3 weeks ago:



And my citrus basil and Thai basil are continuing to germinate- i see new ones pop up in the peat cups often! Sadly still no germination on the Genovese basil, probably a bad batch of seeds, think I'm going to end up buying some live plants.


Almost all my tomatoes have purple stems and veins, we had a few cold snaps that could be the cause but if not it's probably a phosphorous problem. I'm hesitant to use my high-phosphorous fertilizer because it's not an organic one (I'm on the lookout for a different product). I gave them a foliar feed with a kelp/fish organic fertilizer and some molasses, hopefully I'll see some improvement this week, if not I'll just use the other fertilizer.



Since I moved into my house this winter I'm just discovering what kinds of plants are on my property. I knew there were Irises around but it wasn't until now that I got to see what color they were. Under them are some sage plants, the largest one is the only survivor from my teeny terrace/patio garden last year.



In the front yard I have some pretty salvia flowering. I love these, I'll see about buying more because I don't feel I have enough