On 11/23/2015 5:15 PM, Boron Elgar wrote:
On Mon, 23 Nov 2015 21:30:40 -0000 (UTC), Frank Miles
wrote:

On Mon, 23 Nov 2015 09:54:09 -0500, Boron Elgar wrote:

The game is on.

I have a very fancy-pants plant light installed and that I use for
seedlings in the spring. Well, I decided that I will grow tomatoes
this winter. I have planned to do cherries, figuring they'd be
easiest, but I discovered a 16", well developed volunteer in one of
the deck pots as we were tidying up for end-of-season.

Problem is that I have no idea what it is. I can tell from the leaves
that it is an heirloom, but I grew several in the vicinity. I hope it
is one of the yummier ones.

We tend it carefully, using a cheap battery toothbrush to move around
the pollen. It is working. Right now there are about a dozen tomatoes
growing.

I have much to be thankful for.

I've long wondered whether this would be worth doing. Please keep us
informed as to your experiment's outcome, and what you've learned!

I'll be happy too.

{and I hope your volunteers are better than mine}

In season, I have a bed that is mostly volunteers. I have had
excellent luck with them - many varieties, although I cannot say that
any of the volunteers has bred true.



Our best tomato crop this year was from volunteers from last years toms.
Tasted pretty good too and were very prolific. I hope those come up
again next year or something even better.

We planted basil when we moved here in 2012, stuff comes up every year.
Don't need to seed it, fertilize it, or do anything but pick it. Now
that's something good and cheap.