Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
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June 17, 2018 | #76 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Near Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 1,940
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Everything in your garden looks great!
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June 17, 2018 | #77 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: San Diego-Tijuana
Posts: 2,598
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Crane shots were cool, that crisp clean lettuce must look like heaven to the critters, It sure does to me.
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June 17, 2018 | #78 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posts: 6,794
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My goodness, neglect does wonders in your garden. Nice to have a year with few pests, the brassicas look amazing and lettuce as well, for no treatment nor protection. Eat hearty!
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June 18, 2018 | #79 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MA
Posts: 903
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Thank you all for your kind words.
Have a nice week. |
June 22, 2018 | #80 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MA
Posts: 903
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More fruit set
We've had ideal weather lately, dry warm days, and cool nights. Tonight expected to be 53 degF, much cooler than at my previous property/previous town. Started to see progress on the other veggies.
Sugar snap peas, although started late, 2 varieties -these over 5 ft tall. I had to keep pushing and training them to the chain-link fence, as they flopped over. Then I put these bamboo sticks to push them. Problem solved. At their base bunches of celery, ready to harvest. DSC_0639.jpg These are shorter but loaded with pods, DW and I already tasted a few (although still little..) Suggary. DSC_0644.jpg |
June 22, 2018 | #81 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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They look great and they never make it inside the house.
I eat them raw in the garden. Worth |
June 22, 2018 | #82 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MA
Posts: 903
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a few more
The first 2 cukes. Had company over for dinner, we couldn't resist tasting them with a Black Label on the rocks.
DSC_0635.jpg You can begin to see some bug damage, still resisting any serious sparying. Maybe this weekend, will bite the bullet. (I earlier lost half a dozen of baby plants due to bugs.) Ichiban eggplant. The earliest ever for me, by at least a full month. DSC_0637.jpg Here's some Greek zukinis. DSC_0638.jpg |
June 22, 2018 | #83 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MA
Posts: 903
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Then more toms
And of course, the main things we're here for (and my favorites): SOTW, BW pink and GGWT.
DSC_0641.jpg DSC_0642.jpg DSC_0643.jpg |
June 24, 2018 | #84 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MA
Posts: 903
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The older garden
Good Sunday to you,
I visited the old property yesterday, it had been a while. It's fully planted now, so spent much of the day tending it: weeding, propping up the plants that didn't have cages yet, and trimming all bottom leaves. Here's what it looked like before I left. 61-23jun18.jpg Simple 16x30ft bed, with a gentle slope. Walkways of lumber and various stepping pavers remove or minimize soil compaction from walking around the plants. No till. With a couple of small exceptions, this is all for tomatoes, ~60 or so. Here's SOO (Sweet Ozark Orange) ~3 weeks after going in the ground -blossom was already on it. |
June 24, 2018 | #85 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MA
Posts: 903
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Back in February DW and I went shopping for bulbs for her flower garden. I found and bought some nice seed potatoes, before I had any idea what veggie garden we'd have this year. Finally decided they'd go in this very sunny corner.
taters-23jun18.jpg They're planted in bottomless, shallow plastic barrels, total of 6. I read about this idea a while back, and had some extra garbage barrels. I removed the bottom from 2x, then sliced them in 3x each, about a foot high. Prepped the small plot loosening up the soil, added some granular Espoma, planted the seed, then covered with the rings and filled with loose soil and more food. You can barely see the rings in the pic. Once the plants are done, it will be a simple matter of removing the rings, gently break up the soil and pick the potatoes -no digging. Chives, a mother plant, having created new plants for many other gardens, for friends and family. chives.jpg And lastly, a volunteer Sylvia lettuce. I grew many last year, then shortly after transplating them, a pair of bunnies moved in and kept eating them. So I quickly assembled these cages of various sizes as emergency and protected as many as I could. Some plants bolted and threw seed. I only kept this one, pretty plant and tasty leaves. I hope your gardens are doing well. sylvia-23jun18.jpg |
June 24, 2018 | #86 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Wichita Falls, Texas
Posts: 4,832
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I love chives! Both your gardens look so good, too. I like chive flowers in my salads sometimes.
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July 10, 2018 | #87 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MA
Posts: 903
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Another milestone
Greetings All,
We've had extremely hot weather here, hi 80's and 90s. That plus the usual life things that get in the way, I lost any desire or energy to spend much time in the garden. I did go out this past weekend and trim LOTS of bottom leaves on the tomatoes, as they kept growing bigger and thicker. Filled out ~3 wheel barrows of stems and greens, and barely put a dent in them -never mind the top growth. Also haven't had a chance to spray much of anything yet -and keep losing cukes o bugs (i need to show you a picture of the little suckers for ID). Then finally took a break today after work, went out with a cold brewski, a cigar and sat in a beach chair to contemplate. vantage-2.jpg vantage-1.jpg In the foreground are some Portuguese bush beans (short). It is one big jungle, many tomato plants are well over 6ft, this one close to 7ft (deduct the 9" of the raised bed.) |
July 10, 2018 | #88 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MA
Posts: 903
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Surprise
So I had to take a closer look at where it all matters, and finally saw the first color.
finally.jpg first-jul4th.jpg That was a 4th of July, as expected, my only hybrid -specifically for that purpose. Not ready to eat yet, but a nice check off the list. This one is even better, a SOTW. SOTW-blushing.jpg Not red yet, but a nice Brandywine, about 1 lb already and very immature. (I bruised it last week trying to wiggle it out of its surroundings.) BWP-pounder.jpg cont... |
July 10, 2018 | #89 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Detroit
Posts: 688
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That's a great looking garden... I envy you!
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July 10, 2018 | #90 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MA
Posts: 903
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I discovered a few things: in my attempt to limit more foliage growth, and diseases, I cut back on watering, and never saw any wilting. At closer inspection, I noticed some of the bigger fruit started to develop BER. I did also have to cut/pull various leaves and stems that definitely showed sickness, but still no spraying. I'll share another time a badly damaged plant for your help with ID.
For now, we'll keep it rosy and positive. More greens than we can consume. The lettuce is spent but now we have this: a jungle of kale, co-habitating with the bush beans. kale-jungle.jpg Greek chicoree. The seeds were about 7 years old, i didn't think they'd germinate, so I over-seeded. No worries, we'll start picking/thinning the young one for saladettes. chicoree-jungle.jpg We picked, ate and vacuum-packed/froze a bunch of sugar snap peas over the weekend. This "mammoth" variety grew over 7ft tall, past the fence, before I had a chance to prop it up, then folded over. At the base are celery. peas-collapsing.jpg cont... |
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