2024 Garden Tour Week 10: Volunteers ABOUND & Tomatillo Troubles!

Hello! My name is Heather and we grow a lot of our own food here in southwestern KY, zone 7! Our greenhouse conversion is well underway and the tomatoes and peppers are getting bigger by the day!! I cannot wait to show you! I'll post all the 2024 garden tours in one place so you'll be able to catch up or look back on the season here: • 2024 Spring-Summer Gar...
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[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Wrinkly shirt looks ironed by the end of the video. Thanks, humidity!! ♥

[@Root_and_Fleurish_Farm]

Buster is just the happiest cutest Pyrenees. Love his daily bone cameo ❤. I have a Pyr too and they are just the most wonderful dogs to their people and livestock 😊

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

I agree!!

[@cdavid2486]

I would hate to use bed space for the cherries. However you have so much garden area!

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Yes this space I'd love to convert to perennial so I'm trying to fill it up with perennial things! :)

[@toniatalley1977]

I love your dog so much. He just makes me happy when I see his smiling face and wagging tail. He's absolutely adorable

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Thank you! Buster loves the camera, he knows you're giving him a treat!

[@ChristysCrazy]

I would definitely line up those cherry trees with the arch I think it would be very eye catching there and you can put more flowers in the end plot 😉

[@TheFeralFarmgirl]

Celery are heavy feeders and do better in a bigger container. But it is fun to have a variety of things in the green stalks.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Okay that makes sense! I assume they heavily feed on Nitrogen if anything. My fertilizer I have for the greenstalks is more bloom focused.

[@RaysMiniMenagerie]

Straddle the entrance with the cherries! The second suggestion you gave! It'll be so pretty being able to see it when you walk in that area. Garden still looks fabulous!!

[@thenodiggardener]

Buster's wiggle amuses me so much! I hope the spray works on the worms with your tomatillos, because it's such a shame to have all that damage caused by them when the plants have done such a great job. If you do get a big enough harvest to make it in the house: they are seriously good roasted on a tray with poblano type peppers, onions, and garlic. Then blitz this in to a sauce, and add fresh cilantro, and salt to taste. I use chicken with it, but since you do your own rabbits, I imagine it would go very well with them, or fish too. The flowers on your malabar spinach are adorable. Even if not of much edible use, how pretty. I love food plants that are like 'here, have something pretty to look at whilst I'm busy' lol

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Thank you!! The tomatillos are so sweet it's hard to imagine them in a savory application !

[@brendacox8699]

Hello Pretty Lady I think you should put them at the end of your row. I am OCD, so it would look good to my eye however you do what you think will be more nutritious.

[@beckyb4068]

Tomatillos are a favorite to grow here. We get volunteers every year. Last year we had our chicken fence near the garden so I threw a lot of tomatillos that had rotted to them. Now there are about 50 plants growing there 😂

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

That is incredible!! I love a good volunteer!

[@jamieflint2550]

I'd put the cherries in the middle two as you enter. Garden is gorgeous and lush as always!😍

[@sounditout34]

I love how you just let your volunteers grow. I had tomato and nasturtium volunteers this year.

[@sydneypoff]

I got half a raised bed of volunteer/possibly forgotten potatoes!! 😂

[@sparkleflair]

Thanks for the garden tour. How do the Tiny Tim Tomatoes taste compared to the Yellow Currant Tomatoes? Which one has the thinner skin? The blush zinnia is really pretty. My zinnias still haven't bloomed but I have a couple of them are almost ready!

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

The yellow currant have a thinner skin and a bigger punch of flavor. I will say it keeps raining on the tiny tim so it's been hard to really taste them at a good concentration of flavor! The tiny tim are good, nice acid. Not super sour or sweet. A Middle-of-the road flavor but not in a bad way.

[@lindsynelson589]

Straddle! And too funny, I thought your rabbit cage was a hay bail 😅

[@heavenly-dreamsdairygoats]

Hello Heather, your garden looks wonderful, I also had some volunteers come up. But with all that's going on here I kinda let my garden go, weeds everywhere. Thank you for sharing. Till next time God Bless.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Hugs!!

[@denisehaynes1885]

Another really lush garden tour! Thank you for sharing. I love volunteers in my garden, particularly tomatoes….Cherokee purple and black crim….enjoy the weekend Heather.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Tomatoes are one of my favorite volunteers too!!

[@elementalacreshomestead3963]

A word of wisdom if you don't mind...I have 2 Nanking cherry bushes in their 3rd year, and they are so much bigger than expected. They are 10+ feet tall and about 3 feet wide. You might want to rethink the placement of yours. This autumn we will be moving the one I placed right in the middle of a garden bed and putting it along a fence where it's more out of the way and won't cast a loooong shadow. Hopefully, it will survive the move. Just a heads up in case you didn't realize, like myself, just how big they get.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Wisdom ALWAYS appreciated. I was reading online planting closer will keep them smaller? Do you think that is true? I based my placement off of how it seems Jess at Roots and Refuge has hers spaced but she might not have it right either! We have a lot of space to make a better placement decision, I'll definitely do more research and think on it! Thank you !! ♥

[@roxanneheusdens8051]

Good morning, from what I've found, it looks like the Nanking cherry bush can get up to 4 meters high and wide at the biggest(13'). Check on your specific varieties. Anyway, to give them a little breathing room and for you to be able to pick the fruit easier, I think you should space them with a bed between (and not plan on planting that middle bed once the bushes are bigger).

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

I was seeing online they could be planted as close as 6' apart as a denser planting for a wind-break. I'm definitely still mulling it over! ♥

[@theunsteadysteader]

Straddle of course! Lol. Lovely video Heather! 💜👍💜 Aunt Beth. Well I have to admit that your blackberries excite me as much as your cheese does. 😊

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

They are a great combo!!! I've been eating cheese and blackberries with lunch often!

[@dianagallagher3891]

This garden tour was beautiful. I love those flowers you planted the queen lime blush the colors are breath taken would they produce any seeds if so would you sell me a few ? I can't get over how much your garden has grown !! I love the berries... I would be eating them by the handfulls..lol but can you make a jelly or jam out of the black berries ? I bet if you can make a jelly/ jam it would taste soo good. I live in a hotel I was homeless living in my car with my dog for months due to losing our home to a fire and we didn't have insurance. We had such a big back yard and I loved planting my garden every spring. I been looking for a house to rent or if we get a apartment I must have a deck so I can do a small container garden. You just can't get a great tasting tomato from the market only home grown. You teach me so much and I am so greatful and I make sure I watch your videos as soon as you post but today I been so busy and couldn't watch you until now and it's 2:30 am on Saturday morning. I watched blue cactus dairy goats and they won't be posting that much for now I almost cryed I love watching you and Crystal from blue cactus you guys always respond to my messages and I learn alot from both of you. I am so glad you keep are still posting.👩‍🌾🍅🥒🌼

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Baker creek still has queen lime blush seeds in sock I believe! And yes I do plan to make jam from the blackberries. So good!!

[@taracreatestoo6388]

I have a few garden injuries, spider bite, chiggers and a blackberry thorn in my thumb. Nothing like what you are going thru. Have you thought about getting a pair of tube sock, cutting off toe and wearing those while you are harvesting? Are you in pain? Your garden is growing well.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

No pain at all, it's been a very good healing time. My arms look crazy but they've looked way worse than they feel! When I go out in the sun I've been wearing gardening sleeves :)

[@mistycherie]

Lovely garden tour, Heather! I think I would put the nanking cherries in the two middle beds and then just mimic the two end beds so when you come out of the arch it's a bit symmetrical? How much space in each bed does each nanking plant need? Will you plant some smaller things on the outer perimeter of the middle beds? So glad you're getting at least some good tomatillos. I have never had a fresh one, so definitely something I'd like to try. Gorgeous flowers, really loved seeing the row of cut flower vases! Volunteers are awesome, I'd let them grow too. 💚💚

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Where the bed of zinna is in the front will eventually be something perennial too, I just don't know what yet. The advice on the Nanking online is 6 feet apart for a "wind break", and I get that spacing better by putting them in the middle with them straddling that tiny center bed that has the lillies in it currently. When they are to the side they will still grow but maybe not get as big. These guys can get pretty big so I'm not super sad about slightly stunting them by planting closely. I'm leaning towards the straddle!

[@karenfrankland7763]

I harvest the malabar spinach seeds for my neighbor. She uses them to dye sheep wool that she spins. They have a gorgeous light purple color. Our Heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers are coming in quick. Nothing better than a tomato sandwich!

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

AH I was hoping that was an option!! We have purchased white wool from Sheepishly Me/Sandi Brock and that would be so neat to dye!

[@TheInquisitiveFarmwife]

I don't always comment on your videos, but really have been looking forward to watching them. I follow you really well! Love all you are doing in the gardens!

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Awe hey there!! I appreciate you so much!! Thanks for being here ♥♥

[@elainehinton2860]

Be careful with those tomatillos! Our first year growing them, my hubby fell in love. And then found out his gut doesn’t handle them so well 🤣 he was so dissapointed.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Oh NO that would make me so sad. So far so good but...

[@deltorres2100]

Everyone one garden is Great ..

[@caitlinmayi]

This is my 1st year successfully growing tomatillos. It's gone crazy this year.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

congrats!! ♥

[@09echols]

I have fairly healthy volunteer pumpkin and I had what was either a cucumber or zucchini that I transplanted from the compost that didn't make it.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

My tromboncino looks bad today... I don't know if mine will make it either and I didn't move it!

[@tater357]

@ 1:43, Is that a spagetti Squash I see growing at the base of the fence? And as far as the cherry trees go, I'd plant them right where they are. And your poor arms...I really hate seeing them look that way. Please be careful.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

That spaghetti squash is one that started to mold from storage, it was grown last year! I stuck it in the compost and hope to see it again someday in a different form!

[@kimberlyearly8918]

I had about 10 cherry tomatoes all trying to grow in the same space haha! Of course some of them have to go. I have borage coming up everywhere and it's huge!

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Haha I've seen clusters like that before! Must have come from the same tomato that fell.

[@deborahbaughman1366]

I ate a lot of the blackberries on the malabo spinach and I’m still here so I don’t think they are toxic. Maybe the Lord just protected me in my ignorance ❤

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Google says they are edible, just not an amazing flavor :)

[@cdavid2486]

Love your gardens... ty

[@kskorner74]

I say straddle the cherries

[@GreenThumbGardener65]

You have just an amazing garden! Cudos! I know it’s a lot of work!❤

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Thank you so much!

[@PrairieReinsHarvest]

Oh it looks like tromboncino squash can maybe grow in zone 3 (ca zoning chart) 🎉

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

They are very fast growers!

[@farmstrong5434]

Great job! I always love watching your videos! Love from our homestead in Morocco 🇲🇦

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Thanks so much! 😊

[@christienagema7855]

What about planting one tree in place 1 and the other in place 3. No 2 with new veggies?

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Over time I worry about the middle bed getting shaded out, trying to think long-term but having said that we may move the placement entirely!

[@Growingbookbybook]

I have two volunteer tomatoes but I'm not sure which variety yet. Lots of volunteer dill everywhere too which is delightful.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Love it!! I have dreams of fields of dill haha ♥

[@860178432]

I thought your rabbit cage was a bale of hay 😂😂😂

[@midwestribeye7820]

I did, too!

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

It looks like it! It got overgrown with grass last year and over winter the grass died back.

[@tavonyadunmore7172]

I have a lovely sunflower volunteer. It's almost 6 feet tall😊

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

I love that!!

[@blackrock5749]

Heather did you start your zinnias indoors or direct sow them?

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

They were started in the greenhouse!

[@iwanttobelieve5970]

I planted several trombincino squashes and I got zip from them. I still have one left but I pulled the rest. You are a little further down than me but I think we get more rain than you and a lot of things just don’t grow well in my area. I think next year I’ll grow more eggplants because I have several different varieties of squash and besides the bugs attacking them they just don’t do well here. Fifth year trying and I still have several more varieties I’m keeping but I’ll just have to buy it.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

I wonder what's up with that! The tromboncino have done so great for us!!

[@iwanttobelieve5970]

@@SageandStoneHomestead It's not just that variety, it's been every variety that Ive tried and I think because of all the rain we get, it's hard to spray anything and the squash bugs and other bugs are just proflic. I've gardened for probably 15 years but in the last five I've lived in this area and I've learned through trial and error that not everything can handle the intense amount of rain we get. And I love squash. I used to grow a lot of it before moving to this region but the rain and not being able to spray...it's just not working. I can't grow the majority of tomato varieties that most people can here either. The best variety for me is one that I saved the seeds from that was a volunteer. So it's okay. It's better to figure out what works than to dedicate space to something that doesn't work in my garden.

[@GardenandGrub]

my volunteer this year is a black cherry tomato

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

How awesome!!

[@doriskuhberger8559]

Great garden tour. Thoughts and Prayers.Thank you for sharing. Love and Blessings. Doris, Penrith 🇦🇺🦘

[@JackiesOasis]

I just started my garden with some basic veggie's and I'm loving it. Next year I will be more ready to add more things. Loving your garden is really a huge motivation to see what I can turn my garden into.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

I'm so glad you're loving gardening!!

[@katrinalynn6]

my big tomatos are taking forever to ripen

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Same! It's pretty normal and it's hard to wait!

[@jenmag0313]

Thanks for taking us on your garden tour. Your garden is looking amazing! I love seeing all the volunteers growing everywhere and your pumpkin patch is really taking off. The zinnias are beautiful, as the rest of your flowers are too. Glad to see your arm is healing. You and your family have a blessed and wonderful weekend!!

[@tdleitch]

You eating raw tomatillos is blowing my mind. I don’t know why. I’ve never thought of eating them raw, I grow them every year for salsa verde but because of the tacky feeling on the outside I never thought of eating them without cooking them. I might have to try one.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

They are GOOD. I am having a hard time visualizing how they fit in a savory application because mine are sweet!!

[@tdleitch]

If you roast them it deepens their flavor and makes them more savory. I do a roasted tomatillo salsa.

[@cindyboard7816]

As far as the volunteer plants at my house, let's just say my Sweet 100s have turned into "Sweet Millions".😆😂 Thanks for a great tour of your beautiful garden. Glad you were able to get some good rain. Unfortunately the closer the rain moved from Western Kentucky to the east the more the front dissipated, at least in our neck of the woods. Stay safe!!🙏❤

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Awe we are supposed to get more rain this weekend, I hope some makes it to you! It's been awesome not to worry about watering the garden for the most part!

[@cindyboard7816]

@@SageandStoneHomestead I agree on the garden!! I will say the grass slowing down and less mowing has not hurt my feelings!!😂🤣

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

I agree!!

[@79PoisonBreaker]

Did you know you only need to take off the tiny growth point bud to "TOP" your peppers? If you just bend the growth tip it normaly pops off like a tomato sucker. My growing season is so short I have tried a lot of things on peppers and tomatoes to see what speeds them or slows them lol. growing in large pots has doubled the food output and 1/3 longer growing season, I start peppers almost a month before tomatoes as topping sets them back every time lol. tomatoes in pots in my experience are 10x more prone to blossom end rot and cracking but give up ripe tomatoes 1 full month earlier. There is so much to always keep learning in the garden , I love it and thanks for sharing.

[@79PoisonBreaker]

sunflowers and borage are the the ones I let self multiply, but the extra/shriveled leftover potatoes I tossed in compost have taken over the whole pile lol, not sure how long I will humor them as I planted more then I need in the actual garden lol.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

That makes a lot of sense about the growth bud! I'll look for that on the smaller peppers! Thanks!

[@kimberlyearly8918]

I have borage coming up all over the place! And I planted it in a pot because I had heard that it spreads a lot. This One of the volunteers is on the other side of the garden. I have them popping up between beds too. They are beautiful though so I hate to pull them. I didn't realize how big they would get!

[@midwestribeye7820]

I try and let the volunteers grow, too. I usually have to dig them up and move them to an empty area. I haven't had to plant a Supersweet 100 for years!

[@carolynmoody9460]

❤❤❤ 🕊️

[@zinnialoveci6634]

❤❤❤

[@OrganicMommaGA]

Volunteers are awesome for free fruits! Thanks for the awesome tour!

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Yes and sometimes they are neat little hybrids too!!

[@leahnichol6665]

I believe the trees are too close where they are. Looking them up they can get to 15 feet tall and wide. I would want to keep them over 15 feet apart. I suspect that you do not want to be doing a great deal of pruning, so I suggest planting them farther apart than they are placed now.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

I saw where they could be planted 6 feet apart, because of that they'd stay smaller and act like a wind break. We are considering planting them elsewhere though!

[@leahnichol6665]

@@SageandStoneHomestead yes, I saw that also. My prejudice is for beautiful stand alone trees. It depends what you would like. The other thing I saw is they have a long tap root. I am wondering if planting them in a raised bed is what would be best? I know some of your raised beds are starting to fail, so . . . They sound like an interesting cherry. I am interested in what you do and what happens for you.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

@@leahnichol6665 the shorter beds on the ground are holding up a lot better than the tall ones we built. I think they are treated wood, but also they can be replaced with plants in them and they are open to the ground below which is awesome. It elevates the vegetable plants above the clay ground so roots don't stay soggy but moisture and minerals are still available. For now I may pot them up in grow bags until I can decide:)

[@leahnichol6665]

@@SageandStoneHomestead Some decisions take time. 😊

[@nolliesteers3083]

Good morning. I love early morning videos. ❤❤❤

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Morning, Nollie!! You are up early! ♥

[@letssummondinner]

I have volunteer borage, catnip and watermelons lol.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Love it! Volunteer borage is one I'm surprised I haven't seen

[@letssummondinner]

@@SageandStoneHomestead It is EVERYWHERE. Its so big its choking out other things. As much as both I and the bees love it, some of it is going to have to go soon lol. Stalks almost as thick as my wrist.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

woah!!

[@kimberlyearly8918]

Same!

[@GreenthumbFL]

Love it ❤

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Thank you!!