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Saturday, June 6, 2015 An Advertising Feature of The Topeka Capital-Journal

Jamie Hancock Garden Column – 2 Kitchen of the future in the present – 5 Grow your best tomato yet – 7 Color trends roadshow – Steve Shorthouse – 8 TCJ Pin of the Week – 10 Shelter Living house gets laundry room update – 13

2 | Saturday, June 6, 2015 | The Topeka Capital-Journal | At Home

What ails your tomato plants?

Jamie Hancock

jamiehan@ksu.edu This article is for tomato growers everywhere! Well, at least those in Kansas.

Tomatoes are one of the easiest and most popular plants to grow and can also, at times, be very frustrating. If you have ever had a tomato that rotted on the vine, a tomato leaf with spots, or a tomato plant that wilted and died the articles this week and next are for you. (That should be just about every tomato grower in Kansas.)

Here is some information about physiological disorders, fungi, and bacteria infections of tomatoes, how to avoid them, and how to control them.

Physiological disorders These are not caused by fungus or bacteria but rather by cultural or environmental issues.

Blossom End Rot is due to lack of calcium

and happens during hot, dry weather. It appears as a sunken water-soaked lesion near the blossom end of the fruit. The lesion turns black and creates a flat end on the tomato. This rot occurs when there is rapid plant growth and quick fluctuations in soil moisture. Calcium, even though it may be ample in the soil, is not able to be absorbed by the plant. Provide even and adequate soil moisture, especially during fruit set. Mulching can help maintain moisture. Throw away the first tomatoes that have this problem. The next tomatoes should be fine.

Blossom Drop can occur below 60 degrees or above 90 degrees.

Cracking on fruit happens with sudden summer rains or watering after a drought.

The fruit is expanding more rapidly than its skin. Pick fruits in the pink stage and allow them to ripen indoors. (Tomatoes do not ripen better on the vine.)

Weed spray damage occurs when phenoxy herbicides like 2,4-D are sprayed too close to the tomato plant. Leaves can twist and become distorted. The plant can survive a light exposure and produce new, normal leaves in a few weeks. Heavier doses of 2,4-D may not kill the plant but, can stunt its growth and cause it not to

produce much fruit.

Fungal diseases Septoria Leaf Spot and Early Blight are the most common fungal diseases. Both occur anytime in the growing season and make leaf spots typically on older leaves first nearest to the ground. Leaves fall off and fruit can become sunscalded.

Septoria Leaf Spots are SMALL watersoaked spots with centers of spots turning tan or gray with the margins remaining dark. Heavily infected plants may scorch and wilt giving the appearance of a wilt disease.

Early Blight leaf spots are up to ½ inch in diameter. They are brown, irregular in shape, and have dark concentric rings inside the brown area.

Anthracnose is a frequent problem in the latter part of the growing season on ripening tomatoes. Small circular, slightly sunken lesions appear on the surface of the ripening fruit. The spots quickly enlarge, become bruise-like depressions, and develop a water-soaked appearance.

Fungal control Here are several fungicides that have been shown to help control these fungal

HANCOCK continues on 4A

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Hancock: Keeping your tomatoes producing Continued from 2A diseases. Fertilome Broad Spectrum Fungicide, Ortho Garden Disease Control, Garden Tech Daconil Fungicide Concentrate and Hi-Yield Maneb Garden Fungicide. These are usually applied when symptoms appear. Read the label and follow directions.

Bacterial diseases Bacterial Speck and Spot are not common, but they can cause serious damage during wet growing seasons. Both diseases form spots on fruits and leaves. A heavy infection can cause leaf drop, but the main effect is reduction of fruit quality. Both diseases cause 1/8 to Âź inch black

spots usually with yellow halos to form on the leaves. Bacterial Spot on the fruit appears in spots up to Âź inch in diameter and become very rough and cracked. Bacterial Speck lesions are much smaller (1/16 inch) and do not crack or become scaly.

Bacterial Speck happens in cool (65-75 degrees), in wet conditions while Bacterial Spot likes warmer temperatures (75-85 degrees), heavy rainfall, and high relative humidity.

Bacterial disease control Chemical control of bacterial disease is inconsistent. Bacteria reproduce extremely fast making it difficult to manage an epidemic. Therefore, there is not a lot of help with bacterial diseases.

Control measures Sanitation, sanitation, sanitation! Tomato diseases can overwinter in all kinds of plant debris including weeds. Clean out the garden and do not compost any diseased plants.

Avoid planting tomatoes in the same area of the garden year after year.

Buy healthy, clean seed and transplants in the spring.

Avoid overhead watering. This will help reduce humidity and leaf wetness.

Stake or cage plants to improve airflow which will reduce fungal activity.

Avoid rain splash transfer of diseases by mulching.

Use fungicides when symptoms appear.

Next week I will talk about soil borne tomato wilt diseases, the resistant varieties you should be buying, and insects that attack tomatoes.

Note: Shade Gardening is the topic at the Topeka/ Shawnee County Public Library Master Gardener seminar, June 11 at 7:00 PM. Note: Drip Irrigation will be presented at the Topeka/Shawnee County Public Library on June 25th at 7:00 PM. Jamie Hancock is a horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension in Shawnee County.

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Kitchens of the future in the present

By Todd Epp Special to The Topeka Capital-Journal

Remember in the old Star Trek episodes where Scotty would order from the food processor and the grub would magically show up?

Science fiction, meet reality.

The Urban Cultivator may not go quite that far and make you scrambled eggs and bacon. Still, it can give you a in-home source of fresh greens and herbs.

Brand new to the Topeka market, the easiest way to describe an Urban Cultivator is that it looks like a dish washing machine or a wine cooler.

Owners can also use the Canadian invention to start seeds for replanting.

Introduced in 2012, the unit provides a controlled growing environment. The cultivators are plumbed for watering and draining and can go under a counter.

There are also stand-alone units.

Lynda Fisher, co-owner of the Countertop Shoppe in Topeka, just got a display unit in the last month after seeing one at a trade show in Las Vegas. She says her “farming” results have been better than expected. The cultivators are new to the

Topeka market.

“We are on our second “round” of crops and are amazed at how fast we are able to harvest,” Fisher said. “In less than five

GREENS continues on 6A

Photo provided by the Countertop Shoppe

The Urban Cultivator in a modern kitchen - growing herbs and greens without pesticides and chemicals.

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Greens: Have fresh herbs and greens always on hand Continued from 5A days, we have fresh microgreens to share in healthy smoothies or herbs for our showroom visitors to experience.”

“Microgreens” isn’t a botanical term but a marketing term, according to the SteamyKitchen.com. Think of microgreens as “baby plants” that have just emerged from the ground and aren’t yet an “adult” plant. In other words, they have just developed their first set of “true” leaves but they are not a mature plant.

And, you can usually eat the whole plant.

For gourmands, the unit provides the flexibility to grow fresh, hard to find herbs.

For those who fancy Japanese cooking, that means fresh komatsuna, which isn’t easy to find in the area.

Fisher’s “crop” included broccoli sprouts, which she says tasted just like full-sized broccoli heads. She’s also grown peas, wheatgrass and cilantro. She says you can also grow mushrooms or edible

flowers used for decorative purposes.

The foods and herbs she’s growing in her Urban Cultivator are part of what Fisher says is the “zero mile” food movement. In other words, these are foods that are grown in or close to home and don’t need shipping and storage.

“Some greens lose up to half their nutritional value within days of harvesting,” Fisher said. “The cultivator allows harvesting moments before eating.” She also adds that the units do not need pesticides or chemicals.

That’s the good news—fresh foods, more nutrition and convenience.

The bad news is the price.

A four-tray residential unit costs $2,499 and a 16-tray commercial unit costs $8,799, according to Fisher. Still, Fisher hopes the Urban Cultivators will come down in price much like other technologies have.

Already, Urban Cultivators are popular in Canada, especially in Vancouver. There, Fisher says top chefs are using the devices

in their commercial kitchens.

As to décor, according to the Urban Cultivator website, the units come in various butcher block and door options. The company says custom door logos are available for businesses that use the residential model.

To learn more about the Urban Cultivator, browse UrbanCultivator.net. To learn more about the “zero mile diet,” go to “An Overview of the Zero Mile Diet” at ecolife. com. To learn more about microgreens, go to “Grow: Difference Between Microgreens, Sprouts and Baby Greens.” To learn more about the Countertop Shoppe, browse mycountertopshoppe.com or visit their showroom at 5501 SW 29th Street in Topeka.

Ivan Wupi/URBAN CULATIVATOR

Modern bright kitchen interior 3d render

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Grow your best tomato yet

By Melinda Myers Author and columnist

Nothing beats the flavor of fresh-fromthe-garden tomatoes. Make this your biggest and tastiest tomato harvest yet with proper planting and care.

Reduce pest problems and increase the harvest by growing your tomatoes in a sunny location with well-drained soil or in a quality potting mix for container gardens. Improve your garden soil by adding several inches of organic matter to the top eight to twelve inches of soil prior to planting. Compost, aged manure, and other organic materials help improve drainage in heavy clay soil and increase the water holding ability of sandy soil.

Add a slow release organic nitrogen fer-

tilizer like Milorganite (milorganite.com) according to label directions at planting.

Slow release fertilizers provide a constant diet that is better for your plants and less work for you. Save yourself more time by mixing the fertilizer into the soil when incorporating the organic matter. Then give your plants a midseason boost as needed.

Once the soil is prepared, wait for the air and soil to warm to plant your tomatoes. Planting too early when the soil is still cool and the nights are chilly can stress the plant and delay your harvest.

Plant your tomatoes slightly deeper or in a trench for better rooting. Trench tomatoes by digging a shallow trench about 3 to 4 inches deep. Remove the lower leaves and lay the plant on its side in the hole. Roots will eventually form along the

stem. Carefully bend the stem, so the upper leaves will be above the soil. Fill the trench with soil and water.

Stake or tower your tomatoes to reduce insect and disease problems and make harvesting easier. The type of tomato and your schedule will help determine the training system that works best for you.

Determinate tomatoes (look for the D on the tag) grow a certain height and stop.

They work well in towers, containers or even hanging baskets. Indeterminate tomatoes, labeled with an I, keep growing taller, producing more flowers and fruit until the end of the growing season. These do best when grown on tall sturdy stakes or extra tall strong towers.

Towering tomatoes is easy. Simply place the tower over the tomatoes at planting.

Tomatoes grown in towers produce a larger, but later harvest than staked tomato plants.

Allow a bit more time if you decide to stake your plants. Place the stake in the ground at planting. Be careful not to injure the roots. As the plants begin to grow prune off all side branches, suckers, that develop between the main stem and leaves. Loosely tie the remaining one or two stems to the stake. Cloth strips, twine or other soft ties work well. Keep tying up the plants as they continue to grow.

Staked tomatoes produce the earliest and smallest harvest.

Check new plantings every few days and water often enough to keep the developing root system moist. Reduce frequency

TOMATO continues on 9A

8 | Saturday, June 6, 2015 | The Topeka Capital-Journal | At Home

Color trends roadshow – Steve Shorthouse

By Linda A. Ditch Special to The Capital-Journal

Thinking of adding a touch of color to your home? Maybe you want to spruce-up a room with a new color scheme? Perhaps you found a throw pillow with colors you adore and now you want to add those colors to the walls?

Interior Designer Steve Shorthouse can help. He is returning to ColorWorks Paint and Supply on Wednesday, June 10 for this year’s Color Trends presentation by PPG Pittsburgh Paints. He said, “I will pres-

ent the four color trends for 2015 and give tips on how to choose a color for your home. After the PHOTO PROVIDED BY PPG PITTSBURGH presentation, people can show Steve Shorthouse will two color presentame a specific item, such as pil- tions at Colorworks Paint and Supply. lows, pictures or other pieces, and I can help them pick a color moved towards cooler, crisper, tones. for their room.”

“Gray is defiantly the new Shorthouse was the color-marketing beige,” he said. “When people do manager at PPG Pittsburgh Paints, which is the primary paint line at ColorWorks. colors, the colors are very pure, He has been in the design business for with white as the trim.” almost nine years, and three years ago started his own company, DesignFive. He spends most of his time traveling around North America giving color trend presentations.

To determine each year’s trends, PPG Pittsburgh Paints compairs information gathered by meeting with more than 20 color experts from around the globe.

These trends typically last in the marketplace between five and seven years, and in the home about that same length of time.

Shorthouse noted color trends have

Why do people have trouble picking colors for their home? Shorthouse said, “They are afraid to make a mistake. Then they are too tentative and just choose something as a default. White is a cop-out, unless it’s chosen on purpose. Then it’s genius!”

Shorthouse also pointed out some additional mistakes people make when picking home colors: n Choosing a color based entirely on the tiny color sample chip. ColorWorks has eight-inch color squares for customers

to use instead. n Getting a paint sample and then painting it right on top of the old color. Shorthouse explained, “Your eye has trouble seeing the new color and not being influenced by the old color. Paint on a piece of wood instead and compare it to the items that will be in the room.” n Matching the color in an item that is too intense for the wall. This is especially true of yellow. “It needs to be softened.

Lighter. It is not a good wall color. Find something in the right color family instead,” he said.

To explore color even more, Short-

color combinations. Also, ColorWorks has an in-store digital display that allows customers to see what their color choice will look like on the wall in a room similar to the one at home.

Guests at the Color Trends event will enjoy refreshments and receive a gift bag of items not typically available to consumers. For those not able to attend, Shorthouse pointed out, “The people at

ColorWorks are really good at helping customers pick colors.

They have a lot of experience in it and they know what the trends house recommended going to are in Topeka.”

PPG The Voice of Color website (www.ppgvoiceofcolor.com).

There visitors will find the latest color trends and tips, plus they can upload a room photo to experiment with different

2015 Color Trends

Colorworks Paint and Supply 4410 SW 21st Street • 272-8818

Wednesday, June 10 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Must RSVP for seat

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photo provided by Melinda Myers, LLC.”

Plant tomatoes slightly deeper or in a trench for better rooting.

Tomato: Mulch will keep weeds at bay Continued from 7A as plants become established. Water established plants thoroughly whenever the top few inches of soil are slightly moist.

Mulch the soil with evergreen needles, shredded leaves or other organic mulch to keep the soil consistently moist and suppress weeds. Consistent soil moisture encourages more flowering and fruiting, while reducing the risk of blossom end rot, cracking and misshapen fruit.

Harvest your tomatoes when fully colored. Leave them on the plant an extra 5 or 6 days for even better flavor. Unfortunately, the animals often move in and feast on the ripening fruit. In this case, you may

need to finish ripening tomatoes indoors.

And once you taste that first red ripe tomato, you’ll be looking for more sunny spots for containers or to expand your garden.

Gardening expert, TV/radio host, author & columnist Melinda Myers has more than 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over 20 gardening books, including Can’t Miss Small Space Gardening and the Midwest Gardener’s Handbook. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything: Food Gardening For Everyone” DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment segments. Myers is also a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Myers’ web site, www.melindamyers.com, offers gardening videos and tips.

10 | Saturday, June 6, 2015 | The Topeka Capital-Journal | At Home

The Topeka Capital-Journal Pin of the Week How to make a Circle Skirt Lamp Shade From this...

To this...

Yard sale lamps, meet Funky Fabric Step 1. Find Instructions for a basic circle skirt over at MADE (www.danamadeit.com/2010/09/ the-circle-skirt-tutorial.html). Use the circumference of your lamp as if it were the “waist” Step 2. Make your pattern.

Step 3. Lay out super funky fabric.

Step 4. Cut out super funky cool fabric.

Step 5. Slice out some strips on the bias, sew them together to make on long facing strip and zig-zag one long end and then sew it, right sides together to the skirt. (Then, if you’re a meticulous mathematician, your skirt will fit the circumference of your lamp shade perfectly.)

But Bias Cut fabric is notorious and will stretch on even the most brilliant seamstresses Step 6. Just fold it over and tack it down.

And that’s it! Fun and easy, easy and fun.

Follow all of The Capital-Journal Pinterest boards – www.pinterest.com/tcjmedia To get more information on this project and others, visit The Topeka CapitalJournal’s At Home Living – DIY: At Home Pinterest board

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Service Directory

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Shelter Living home gets laundry room update

By Shanna Sloyer Special to The Capital-Journal

For more than 40 years, Sheltered Living has been serving residents of Topeka and the surrounding areas. Their mission is to support the efforts of individuals with intellectual disabilities to achieve independence and actively participate in the community. Some of the skills that residents of Sheltered Living learn include lawn care, cleaning, and vehicle detailing, among other work tasks that can be put to practical use.

“When Topeka Hospital and KNI closed, Sheltered Living stepped up to provide those services,” said JoAnn Long, current Vice President of Development.

“We work with individuals who have no place to go.”

According to Long, Sheltered Living currently owns 19 homes throughout Topeka. Maintaining that many properties is time-consuming and expensive. The organization depends on partnerships with businesses and groups in the community to keep their programs running.

Sheltered Living recently partnered with Topeka Home Builders Association (THBA) to undertake a remodel project in one of its homes. Ivan Weichert, president of THBA, met Long at the home show in March. They struck up a conversation about a need that Sheltered Living had for additional storage space in a laundry area in the house used for its Community

Integration Program, which provides day services for adult clients.

“The laundry room had a washer and dryer, but no storage,” said Weichert.

Long was requesting shelves and cabinets to store supplies and laundry. Being able to organize the laundry room would benefit the clients in the Supported Employment Program, as they learned to locate and return supplies to their proper locations, as well as the clients who used the house for day services.

COMMUNITY continues on 14A IVAN WEICHERT/TOPEKA HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION

JoAnn Long, Sheltered Living Vice President of Development and Jake Brown, owner Winston Brown Construction in the finished laundry room.

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Community: Taking time to help Continued from 13A After presenting the idea to the Topeka Professional Remodelers Council, which is a group of association members that includes plumbers, electricians, and builders, they decided as a group to provide and install the cabinets needed. This isn’t the first time that THBA has reacted to a need in the community. The group has partnered with other organizations and individuals over the years.

“It’s a great bunch of guys in the council,” said Weichert. “I think it’s great that

they take time out of their busy schedules to help.”

Long points out that projects like this not only benefit the clients of Sheltered Living, but the community as a whole.

Sheltered Living clients also give back to the community by volunteering more than 800 hours per month.

“They (THBA) indicated that we should keep in contact with them,” said Long.

“Topeka Home Builders Association has the expertise and is willing to volunteer their advice. The partnership will build.”

IVAN WEICHERT/TOPEKA HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION

The cabinets being installed in the laundry room in the Sheltered Living home.

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