wyolitmail
Friday, February 24, 2006
 
PRONGHORN PROMOTES RIPE TOMATOES: As March approaches, gardeners’ thoughts turn to seeds and bulbs and compost piles and…. Well, you get the picture. Those of us in WYO and other high-altitude areas of the West should check out books by Cody’s Cheryl Anderson Wright at Pronghorn Press in Greybull. They are “High Country Herbs,” “High Country Veggies,” and “The High Country Tomato Handbook” subtitled: “Including How to Grow Ripe Tomatoes by the Fourth of July.” This claim has caused a stir across the Cheyenne area, as tomatoes ripen slowly at 6,100 feet and rarely by July Fourth. Many of us are plucking unripe Early Girls or drought-resistant Mortgage Lifters late at night in mid-September as freeze warnings are issued. Of course, the tomatoes first have to survive those surprise June hailstorms. Ominous cloud formations over the Laramie Range cause Cheyenne gardeners to rush home to move their container plants to shelter or to make sure the industrial-strength anti-hail screen is securely in place over blooming plants. I’ve seen my neighbor in his yard unrolling an additional layer of wire screen while hail the size of golf balls caromed off his surplus World War II helmet. Homeland Security could learn a few things from high country gardeners. Be prepared! Get Cheryl’s guides at your local bookstore.


- posted by Michael Shay @ 7:47 AM
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