On Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:49:11 -0700, Billy
wrote:

In article ,
The Cook wrote:

On 4 Apr 2010 22:39:50 GMT, General Schvantzkoph
wrote:

After last year's late blight fiasco I've sworn off buying plants from
the Big Box stores, I'm doing everything from seed.

I started the germination process on Friday for the first four varieties,
they have all started to sprout, my plan is to give them a few more days
on wet plates and then move them to containers at the end of the week and
then start the next batch. I'll put them in the ground in the middle of
May.

I've doing the following varieties,

Cosmonaut Volkov (Ukranian)
Black Prince (Siberia)
Black Sea Man (Russian)
Legend (Univ of Oregon, supposedly late blight resistant, we'll see)
Italian Grape
Yellow Pear
Sun Gold Cherry

Has anyone tried any of these varieties, how did they work out for you?


I haven't tried any of there but I got Black Sea Man seeds as a bonus
when I ordered some others. Let me know how it does and how it
tastes.

I am hoping to compare some OP to the hybrids I have been using.
Tomatofest has Carmello, Grape and Golden Grape which I want to
compare the hybrid Carmello, Jelly Bean and Yellow Jelly Bean. I am
also trying several paste tomatoes to see if any of them are as good
as Viva Italia hybrid.

You've tried the various San Marzanos? I tried them last year. They were
plagued with blossom-end rot, perhaps it was our drought and less than
normal watering. I made a few batches of spaghetti sauce from them, but
have nothing to compare it to. They were good as a salad tomato, or
fresh picked with a leaf of basil wrapped around it.

The San Marzanos were so-so for me. I have started some Super San
Marzanos and will compare. Last year was not a good year around here.


Tomatofest has a wonderful selection of organic tomato seeds. I
always go wild when I find a site with lots of different tomato seeds.
They have an excellent selection, but they are pricey and require a $15
minimum order. If you can't find it anywhere else,
http://www.tomatofest.com/tomato-varieties-by-color.html probably has
it. I mainly use them as a reference, but if you are going to order 5 or
6 different exotic tomatoes they may suit your needs.

I have had a problem this year. I started putting the tomato plants
outside and I believe that the wind has been breaking (nearly through)
the stem at the soil line. I believe that they were just too "leggy."
I am moving them into deeper pots and putting the soil almost up to
the first leaves.

I was in such a hurry this year to get started that I germinated my
tomatoes, peppers, and squash first. I did this partly because I've had
problems getting them up to size before planting the last few years.
With my new grow light, everything went very smoothly this year. By
early March, the tomatoes were a foot tall, at which point I put them
outside. I've had to bring them in a couple of times because of concern
about frost, but they, and the squash, seem to be doing just fine so
far. The last 2 weeks have been pretty wet and decidedly cool, which has
me nervous. Squash and tomatoes, and dampness don't associate well in my
memories. Tuesday we are supposed to break out into some good weather
with temps back in the 70s.


The first part of March we had snow. I did not start tomatoes until
March 15. I have about 3 weeks before a safe planting date.
Other items:

My rhubarb, Victoria, which I started from seed is doing well this
year. Never knew that they flowered and I needed to cut the flower
off as soon as I see it.

Why cut the flower? Mine flower, and keep on producing. This is a
serious question, but I suppose I could look it up.

I have no idea except that those were the instructions on the seed
pack. Maybe I will leave the flower stalks on a couple of mine just
to see what the flowers look like and what happens to the plant.


Beets, chard, broccoli, cabbage, lettuces and onions are in the ground
and are doing well.

Next year, this is where I'll start. I should have started a lot more
lettuce, and spinach. Thank god, I remembered to start the snow peas.
The tallest is 18". They would be larger, if I had more sun, which is
almost to the top of the tree line, up the hill.

I had to buy some green romaine since neither of my plantings
germinated. Time for new seed next year. The red romaine did fine.
The spinach and onions were not successful. Less than 20%
germination. I was talking to the owner of the nursery I prefer and
he said that the provider of his potting soil said not to germinate
with soil that had bark in it. I am not too sure about that since
onions were in the soil with bark but the spinach was in the softer
germinating soil. Both were fresh seeds. Who knows.

I am waiting for the pepper seeds to germinate. I just planted them a
few days ago and am putting them outside in the daytime.
A few of my peppers took as long as 4 weeks before they stuck their
heads out. (2 Scotch Bonnet, 16 Quadrato di Asti, 7 Corno di Toro, 5
Szgedi, 4 Sw. Yellow Banana, 1 Aconcagua, and 60+ jalapenos) I'm only
keeping 10 of the jalapenos, so I'll have a lot of jalapeno plants to
give away. What kind are you growing?
Not much in the way of hot, just a few jalapeno's, mostly green & gold
bell, a long tapered red that was given to me. They called it Berkly.
I also plant poblanos and a couple of other not too hot ones.

The
greenhouse got up to 113 a few days ago when the outside temps were in
the 70s.

I've done this the last couple of years with germination trays with
their lids on. I'd put the plants out to harden-off, and they came back
well-done. Then, it is back to the end of the line, and start over. Grrr

Time to open the greenhouse. The sun is up and it will be hot in
there soon.

Between the heat given off by computers, and the grow lights, my study
has been very comfortable this winter.

"'There's nowhere left to plant' is not an uncommon cry and, ironically,
the larger the garden, the worse that problem can be."
--Joy Larkcom

You would think that as we get older we would admit that we are not
going to be able to take care of ever increasing gardens. But then
we get loose on the net with millions of choices.
--
USA
North Carolina Foothills
USDA Zone 7a