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No Big Box tomatos this year
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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. 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. 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. 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 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? 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 -- "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html |
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