Late Start This Year

Normally I seed first week in January, and then follow up with succession in two week increments so I have 3 total plantings. I live in TX just north of DFW and we can usually get away with planting first week of March. If frost comes allows me plan B and C. Got a two week late start this year. Work and family issues got in the way.

Summers here are a bear and usually by first by 4th of July, plants are done. So a late start usually means on one picking before heat sets in.

On a different note I have found one variety that survives summer here and this year we mators until the first week after Thanksgiving and has become my favorite Cheery Tomato called Sun Gold. I like them better than Tomato Man's Sweet 100 OP I get from Tulsa. Unfortunately they do not go on sale until first weekend of April and do not care much for the dry heat down here. The SG's are just as if not more prolific, sweeter, and the same intense tomato flavor. Even my grown up kids who do not care a lot for mators eat them like fruit or candy off the vine.

They do slow down a bit when it gets hot. I have learned to prune them heavily in mid July, and nurse them along to end of August when the heat breaks and rains return. Just give them a shot of fertilizer and they go like crazy until first frost again like they do in spring. So many we have to give most of them away from 2 plants. I should have about 20 soldiers to pick from ready to go in mid March with more back ups if needed.

[decherdt]

What's a couple weeks between friendlies. April tomatoes may be overrated. July 4 is the end for my patch, we will overseed with Summer cover crops about that time. I am one of the few that did not enjoy Sun Gold either time we grew it Big on Black Cherry and Carbon Copy though. Good luck

[gssgarden]

Overseed with Summer cover crops? Can you explain?

By July the plants are spent from the heat?

Thanks

Originally Posted by gssgarden

Overseed with Summer cover crops? Can you explain?

By July the plants are spent from the heat?

Thanks

Well I know you did not ask me, but I do plant cover crop when veggies are done in summer. I assume everyone does it for the same reason farmers and gardeners do it. Plant legumes or some comparable green compost crop. I plant Clover which is a legume. Like all Legumes they take nitrogen from the air and deposit it in the soil. Then in late winter a month or two before planting you till the crop into the soil like you would compost. Really good for the soil, adds nutrients and feeds earthworms. Keeps the organic material and nutrient levels up.

The benefits are:

Suppressing weeds
Protecting soil from rain or runoff
Improving soil aggregate stability
Reducing surface crusting
Adding active organic matter to soil
Breaking hardpan
Fixing nitrogen
Scavenging soil nitrogen
Suppressing soil diseases and pests

[decherdt]

Yep, night time lows range from 80-85 (seems worse) July through September, with 1/2 inch of rain every 4 weeks. Its hard on anything. And two spot spider mites love tomato vines in July! Also RKN get fired up this time of year as my mowed cereal rye live winter mulch expires in the heat, so I overseed with Sudex and SunnHemp (these are hostile to RKN) They hold what moisture there is, feed and house the microbes, add organic matter with slow release nitrogen. I have been July and Oct tilling & sowing, but I want to try an overseeder, think I can rent one. If I like it I might hafta trade in my tiller.

http://www.tomatoville.com/album.php?albumid=364

[Ricky Shaw]

Sungold was a first time grow last season. Nobody ate the red cherries they had loved for years, once they ate the Sungold. I stopped picking the Sungold and only would bring in the SweetMillions, and they'd go pick the Sungold themselves. That does not happen often.

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Sungold was a first time grow last season. Nobody ate the red cherries they had loved for years, once they ate the Sungold. I stopped picking the Sungold and only would bring in the SweetMillions, and they'd go pick the Sungold themselves. That does not happen often.

Yeo Sun Gold is the CRACK of the tomato world. I swore by Sweet 100 OP for 3 decades. One year I tried Sun Gold, and that was it. Extremely prolific, sweet as candy, and can take heat/abuse. Once they start to decline in summer heat, just give them a hard pruning, or cut and sprout suckers to start plants for Fall. They are the first to produce very early, and last to leave the party f come first frost in late November or early December around here. Mators from April to Holidays.