Ahhhh… the August tomato. This time of year brings us the most wonderful fruit of the season, the slightly sweet, slightly acidic, juicy tomato that tastes equally incredible with an ear of corn or on a tomato/mayo sandwich. All summer mister gardener has nurtured and cared for his tomatoes and it was time for The Great Harvest.
With tomatoes at their peak of ripeness, mister gardener turned to me over breakfast on Friday and announced, “I’m going to can today.” Each year I am excited to hear this announcement. It’s a process that takes two days from start to finish with aromas of onions, celery, and tomatoes permeating the house. It lifts your spirits and adds a bit of buoyancy to your step, much like the joy at Thanksgiving with bouquets of turkey and stuffing wafting throughout the home.
It is a labor of love for mister gardener but it is labor. He must blanch and peel the tomatoes, clean, core and cut dozens and dozens up along with copious amounts of celery and onion and garlic and whatever else he uses in his family recipe. Chop, chop, chop goes on for hours each day. It is a labor-intensive task that he has shared in with his family since childhood. At the end of the process, he is able to put up about 12 quarts and 10 pints of stewed tomatoes that will go through the winter with us and last until the first ripe garden tomato of 2010.
Left on the vine are green tomatoes. I’m going to push for a few fried green tomatoes that mister gardener can barely tolerate but I adore. With what ripens in September, I will make half pints of tomato preserves. My mouth is watering. It’s no wonder the tomato is the most popular and best loved garden vegetable in the USA.
Ann Hohenberger, The Garden Club of Gloucester
It was three weeks ago that I first noticed the bare tips on a branch of a tomato plant in my small kitchen garden. I looked beneath the plant and saw some telltale caterpillar poo and I knew what was hiding on the under the leaves of my plant. I carefully lifted branch after branch until I found it… a 
horn is a good identifying feature. I’ve read that tobacco hornworm is more prevalent in the southern United States and the tomato hornworm is found more in the northern states.
as graceful and agile as a hummingbird as they hover over blooms and flit quickly from flower to flower. It’s a shame that something so full of wonder can begin life as a such a destructive insect in our gardens.
I just removed dozens and dozens of late summer crocosmia plants as I do each year. I’m not sure where I found my original Crocosmia ‘Lucifer,’ but I remember being charmed by the 20 or so blooms per stem and the attraction by hummingbirds. With its tall iris-like spikes and mid to late season blooms, I decided it would be perfect around the pond attracting butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. Little did I realize that three years later, clumps of these showy orange-red blooms would be as thick as thieves crowding out ornamental grasses and other desirable plantings.
gardener fundraiser. They are divided into bunches of 5 or 6 corms and they completely sell out every year at the annual plant sale. Folks are delighted to start their own beds of crocosmia. I sometimes wonder if I should label the bag with a warning: Named Crocosmia ‘Lucifer,’ because they are the ‘devil’ to remove from a garden.
A number of years ago my brother gave us a gift for the garden, a tiny loquat he dug from his daughter’s yard in Charleston SC. In checking what Michael Dirr had to say, I discovered the plant is prized for its lustrous foliage, its 12” heavily textured leaves, its drought tolerance, its fragrant and profuse blooms in the fall and unusual fruit in the spring. I was thrilled.
In our increasingly busy lives, our gardens should provide an oasis for us, a place of tranquility and joy. The city gardens of Calder Loth, Senior Architectural Historian with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and honorary member of the 
Garden Club of Virginia, do just that. Located in Richmond’s Fan District, Calder’s resplendent home gardens reflect his taste in gardening and reveal his ample knowledge of plants.
t is said that every garden is a reflection of the owner and has a unique story to tell. From his gardens, we know that Calder Loth is a talented horticulturist with a love for beautiful gardens and a desire to share his passion.
I love my small home away from home just a short walk from the house. I can throw up the window sashes to catch breezes off the river and putter inside to my hearts content. The shed is now nestled into the border with trellises on two walls for climbing plants… clematis, honeysuckle, and even tomatoes sometimes grow up the wall. A Williamsburg bird bottle on the side attracts a fussy wren every year and crushed oyster paths around both sides of the shed lead to the compost. On the shingled roof, a copper weather vane sings an eerie melody as it turns with the wind atop the cupola.
Crabgrass is my main challenge and I will attempt to pull it by hand without leaving any roots which is truly impossible. Root fragments left in the ground will re-sprout. Crabgrass germinates each spring and one plant can spread thousands of seeds. Master gardeners say corn gluten applied in early spring will kill seedlings.
above ground runners and by seed. If I don’t get these runners early, I’m in real trouble. Deep edging around your border can be helpful.
Nutsedge is a sneaky little weed that seems to appear overnight disguised as grass or hidden beneath the daylilies until the seed head identifies it. It spreads by rhizomes, tubers and seeds and my gardens will never be rid of it.
Spotted spurge likes my borders. It pulls out easily but the milky secretions can be irritating. Wear gloves.
Wood Sorrel or sour grass (did you ever taste the sour leaves as a youngster?) can survive just about anywhere. Get it early or it can develop a thick root system and it can shoot seeds up to 6 feet away. Impossible to eradicate but I’ll give it a good try.
