Anne's Fall Tomato Garden 9-10-13

[Delerium]

Hey Anne beautiful plants for your fall garden! I have a few plants growing right now - hopefully some tomatoes before it gets to cold.

[aclum]

Hi,

Thanks, everyone, for all the nice comments!

Bill,

I'll be sure to keep everyone posted (on one thread or another) about the progress of my 105-T grafts. I originally did 8 grafts and all but one apparently took. They were still in the healing chamber about day 6 or 7, getting used to light, more air, and less humidity, when I happened to have an early Dr's apt and left the house on what turned out to be a warm day. I forgot to turn on the air conditioner and by the time I got home, they were all pretty overheated and wilted in the humidity chamber. 4 recovered, but 3 of them bit the dust, including - unfortunately - the NAR graft.

I think several of us will be trying 105-T this coming season, so it'll be interesting to compare notes.

Jon,

I'll try and get some new photos of my remaining eggplant/tomato graft posted soon. I can't really say that I have any major disease or pest problems (knock on wood!), so I'm probably not a good test case. Off hand, I couldn't tell too much difference between the controls and ones on eggplant rootstock, although I think might give a slight edge to the eggplant rootstock ones.

Charley,

I plan to just leave the aluminet up year round - although I have slightly adjusted its coverage to account for the changing path of the sun over the year. According to this:

http://www.ecologictechnologiesinc.c..._aluminet.html

and other websites (search on aluminet), the aluminet is a year-round shadecloth and offers some protection against frost as well as the sun. We have relatively mild winters here (no snow) and I guess I might remove it if we had harsh winters with snow, hail, ice storms, etc. that might damage the fabric or its supporting structure. Of course the aluminet wouldn't provide as much frost protection in an open field situation as in a greenhouse situation, but it should help moderate some of the cooler night temps to lengthen the season at both ends at least a bit.

As far as sunlight goes, as I understand it, the alumized knit fabric breaks up and diffuses and "bounces around" the sunlight so more actual light gets to the plants than it would with a normal shade cloth (probably didn't explain this very well - but it's on the web - FWIW). I think the silver mulch might then help reflect some of this light back up onto the plants (if there's not too much foliage cover blocking it). So while you have direct sunlight diffused and cooler summer temps under the cloth, you still get the uv the plants need. (I'm using 40% BTW, but I've got it stretched really tight so it's probably more like 30%).

Even if it didn't offer some degree of frost protection/heat retention, I'll probably leave it up anyway. I'm disabled and it was quite a chore getting it all installed by myself, so I really don't want to have to repeat the whole thing if I take it down in the winter!

Silver mulch is actually pretty common now and recognized as an insect deterent. I bought mine from Johnny's Seeds but lots of places carry it (and lots of info about it on the web). I haven't found any permeable sources (to let water soak in and let the soil "breathe," so I put little holes in the material using a fine pointed soldering iron. (Fold the material into several layers to poke holes through several layers at once). The silver much is also great for weed suppression and moderating soil temps (heating the soil in the spring and cooling it in the summer).

Cross bars were put up just to help stabilize the 1/2" conduit trellising structure. They're sort of a slap/dash affair, just fastened using cable ties and random lengths of tubing I had around. The crossbars also come in handy for tying twine to for stringing sticky traps, shade cloth tie-downs, trellising, etc. I guess I should get some more pvc elbows or end caps to make the exposed conduit ends a bit less of a hazard in the garden.

Hope this helps!
Anne

[Salsacharley]

Thank you, Anne for your helpful info.

Charley

Anne,

You have created the perfect setup for growing anything. I appreciate your attention to the smallest details. I'm not that good with small details and I appreciate people who are. I also admire people who accomplish things like you have with any kind of a disability. I tend to let things slide if I have a back ache or any other malady. Congratulations on your accomplishment.

I will be very interested in any comments you may make on your Dester tomatoes. I grew them this year and thought the taste was unmatched.

Our son and his family lived many years in Tracy and I always enjoyed visiting the central valley. The fertility and climate for growing anything from citrus to almonds or artichokes fascinated me. For me it seems like the perfect area for a gardener to live.

Ted

[aclum]

Hi Ted,

Thank you for your very kind comments! I do think that most of what I might lack in physical abilities at the moment is made up for by almost unlimited free time and, as you say, great weather!

I can't imagine how some of you cope and have such great gardens with so many obstacles thrown at you by mother nature!

Hi Delerium,

Nice looking plants! Those aren't your leaf or branch graft plants are they? I seem to recall that not too long ago ago you had some plants with blossoms in those beds that you posted. Yep, I've got my fingers crossed that the good weather will continue in our area so we can at least get some blushing before the really cold weather sets in.


I Just came back in from the garden now with a few new photos to send off.

I've got an overall view of the fall beds, more of a detailed view of the west end of the primary bed (to compare with the 10-4-13 photo posted above), and a couple of more-or-less close up of my 2 red barns - grafted to the left and ungrafted to the right. (will probably repost this last photo of the photo of grafted plants thread a bit later with more comments. As you might be able to tell, I've done quite a bit of pruning on some of the plants. It's amazing to me how much they've grown in just the 8 days since my last set of photos.

More later.....

Anne

[aclum]

Hi Everyone,

Well, it's been just about 2 months now since I put my plants in the ground, so time for another update!

I tried to get some similar viewpoints to the other photos, but it's starting to get difficult to make out all the individual plants since they've grown so much.

I also have some close-ups of some of the fruit on the vine - nothing blushing yet. Everything seems to be doing really well except for 2 plants (a stunted Paul Robeson and a problem Fish Lake Oxheart - will post to the disease forum re: these plants). I've had some yellow areas on the leaves but just cutting those off as I see them an it doesn't really seem to be a problem. Don't have tons of green tomatoes but quickly (without hunting) counted over 60 this morning from about grape size to 3."

Here are the photos (they should all be labeled)......

Anne

[RobinB]

Anne,

Is the length of you daylight hours going to be a problem soon? I've been told that around here, between mid-November to mid-January we're not supposed to have enough light to grow most things. I haven't tried it because it is so darned cold. I envy you, it all looks so wonderfully green and lush! Are you using drippers on each plant, or soaker hoses?

Robin

[aclum]

Hi Robin,

I looked it up on weather underground and the shortest day of the year (Dec 21) only has about 50 minutes less daylight than we have now. By Dec 21, the plants may actually get about as much light as they do now because as the sun gets lower in the sky more of the sunlight comes in from the side and the shade cloth that's been partially shading them in the summer is no longer a factor in filtering out light. (Hope that makes sense!). By Dec 21 there's supposed to be "visible light" for 10 hrs 34 min and length of day of 9 hrs 35 min.

So sunlight's not a problem here (don't have to contend with much shading from trees and buildings) but the cold definitely is. We should start getting freezing nights before too long. Just have my fingers crossed that it hold off long enough for me to collect at least a few blushing tomatoes. I don't plan to cover them, so it might end up being a good test of which varieties in the garden are the most cold tolerant.

I've gotta say that we do have about perfect tomato weather here - that makes things way easier. This is the first year I've even thought of doing a fall garden and I've been very pleasantly surprised that it can be done here. (Need to start a few weeks earlier next time, though).

The irrigation is 1/4" soaker hose (like the big ones only for drip). I had them already configured for corn, going horizontally across the beds, so I kept it like that for the tomatoes. I'll attach a photo.

Anyway, thanks for the compliment! Seed starting time will be here before you know it!

(Sorry for the long post - I seem to have diarrhea of the fingers today )!

Anne

My fall tomato garden is beautiful. Unfortunately the late summer heat delayed planting about one month. My tomato plants are growing fine. They are blooming, but most of the blooms seem to hang on for a long time and then drop to the ground without setting fruit. The tomatoes that did set don't seem to be getting any larger. My day light is very short and the nights are chilly with the high thirties arriving tonight. Most years, I would be harvesting ripe tomatoes about now with many large green tomatoes on the vines. It has been a strange year.

Ted

[aclum]

Hi

Well, 90 days after transplanting, here's the final result of my fall garden.

The weather's been cool and, as Ted mentioned, the growth really slowed down. Then a frost (barely) last night with much cooler nights predicted so I went ahead and picked almost all of them still green. I left a few on the vine just out of curiosity to see if any of the plants had much more cold tolerance than the others.

I can't say that the fall garden was worth it production wise (esp. as I started late) but it was lots of fun watching the plants grow and develop. There were a couple of plants I didn't get any fruit off of - including, unfortunately, Dester - but I have samples of most. Although I know they won't be as good as vine ripened, I might at least get a hint of their potential.

Anne

[luigiwu]

Hi Anne,
Can I ask you a bit about your build for your garden? This will be my 2nd year gardening. One of the major issues last year was the rain I think. It really caused almost all my tomatoes to split majorly at the top. This year I'm determined to build a structure that:
a. will allow me to truss my tomatoes vertically. I grow in a very small space so I need to use as much of the vertical dimension when possible. What kind of pipes did you use and what diameter are they? I see your baler twine so I assume you also truss your tomatoes up as a single stem? How are the pipes set in the ground and linked together?
b. allow me to control the light and the rain. Does the aluminet stuff control rain?

[aclum]

Hi Luigiwu,

I used 1/2" EMT conduit pipe slipped into 3/4" EMT collars pounded into the soil. The 10' 3/4" EMT was cut to 3 40" lengths, pounded into the ground about 20". This secured the 3/4" EMT very well in my particular soil. Depth would depend on soil type. Just pound until it's really secure and you can't wiggle it around.

As you might see in some of the photos, the 1/2" conduit can bend under heavy loads with long spans (though it stays in place). If you want 3/4" crossbars and uprights that would be more rigid, you can just pound 1/2" EMT stakes into the ground and then slip the 3/4" pipe over the stakes.

I like these methods (collars or stakes) because it doesn't require getting on a ladder to pound in the uprights themselves.

I've got things connected at the top just using taped on pvc elbows and tees that I had on hand. I sort of built things as my garden grew and as I did it single handedly, I basically measured and cut and taped and assembled things as I went along and as the garden grew - so it's pretty haphazard looking with pretty much nothing square!

If I had help (and "did ladders" - which I don't), I would probably assemble the verticals and top cross pieces on the ground, screwing them in place and then raise the whole unit at once to fit it over (or into) the stakes (sort of like raising a wall).

Aluminet provides shade, but rain comes through.

I love the set-up with the trellising. So much easier for me than cages, regular staking or Florida weave. However, I discovered last fall when the weather cooled off that you can't easily cover the plants during a frost because the trellis lines get in the way. I try to keep my plants to 2 stems, but if I end up with more, I'll just add some more twine .

The baling twine is tied to carpenter's staples. looped over the top crossbar, brought down and threaded through another staple on the edge of the bed. Then it comes up and is tied onto itself in a regular knot. I keep the knot from slipping using a tomato trellis clip. I saw someone somehow looping the tail of the twine around a nail on youtube, but couldn't relocate the video when I needed it - so went with the trellis clips.

BTW, I'm generally wheelchair bound, but can stand for periods and get some extra height using a adapted step stool and "scaffold" thingy, but that can do a number on my back after a while. So I figured out an easy way to put up the twine from my wheelchair. I taped a little U-hook from a pegboard onto the end of a fishing pole. I take my cut length of twine and attach a small weight to the end of the twine (I like those smallish squeeze clamps) Using the fishing rod, I drape the end of the twine with the weigh over the U hook and sort of swing it over the top bar. Then I jiggle the twine off the U hook and let the end of the twine with the weight drop to the ground. Then I remove the weight and tie the ends on the staples. Works well, too, if you're just standing and don't want to go up and down the ladder a bunch of times too.

I also have various tie downs and turnbuckles plus horizontal cross bars to help keep things stable as required.

Hope this helps!
Anne

"BTW, I'm generally wheelchair bound, but can stand for periods and get some extra height using a adapted step stool and "scaffold" thingy, but that can do a number on my back after a while. So I figured out an easy way to put up the twine from my wheelchair. I taped a little U-hook from a pegboard onto the end of a fishing pole. I take my cut length of twine and attach a small weight to the end of the twine (I like those smallish squeeze clamps) Using the fishing rod, I drape the end of the twine with the weigh over the U hook and sort of swing it over the top bar. Then I jiggle the twine off the U hook and let the end of the twine with the weight drop to the ground. Then I remove the weight and tie the ends on the staples. Works well, too, if you're just standing and don't want to go up and down the ladder a bunch of times too."

Whats the old saying? "Where there is a will, there is a way". I love your ingenuity Anne.

Ted

[luigiwu]

Anne, I can't believe you built all of that being wheelchair bound. WOW!
How about getting the canopy stuff in the air? How is it secured at the edges? I'm surprised you were able to use pvc couplers for the connections and it hasn't given you any problems? I assume the emt pipes just slip/friction fit into the pvc couplers?

Thank you so much for sharing all these tips!

[aclum]

Ted,

Thanks, once again , for your kind words. I really appreciate them!

Luigiwu,

For the shade cloth, I tied a bunch of lengths of twine along one edge of the fabric and tied the ends of the twine to the fence (leaving a lot of slack). Then I worked the fabric over the top crossbars using pole contraptions and the stepstool quite a bit. Once the fabric was over, I put twine on the other edge, attaching the loose ends to the fence. Then I worked things back and forth until things were in place. I attached the fabric next to the chain link fence by just tying the twine onto the fence. The other edge (away from the sun, I tied onto the top crossbar.

I can get a pretty snug fit using the PVC fittings if I pre-wrap the ends of the EMT with electrical tape. Once things are in place, I tape over the joint. Since there's a tendency for the uprights to spread out (due to bending under weight on the cross bars), I've got 12 or 14 guage wire secured to the uprights and held in place using a wire tightener or turnbuckle, about 1' below the top bar. This counteracts the outward push at the the top.

If I were do it again, I'd either use EMT elbows with set screws, or drill some holes in the PVC fittings for set screws or bolts to hold things in place more securely.

At any rate, this is how I did things given my materials on hand, abilities, etc. I wouldn't recommend you following my plans exactly !

But this should give you a general idea. There are lots of variations used by a number of people on the site. And lots of demonstrations on youtube.

Good Luck!

Anne