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Old April 26, 2006   #1
nascarmike
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Default HOME DEPOT TOMATOES

I stopped by a Home Depot today outside Chicago and the tomato plants were out.

Brandywine-- $5.99

Better Boy-- $1.99

Celebrity-- $1.99

think I'll start a business
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Old April 27, 2006   #2
Adenn1
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$6 for a Brandywine--everywhere one turns today...one gets gouged!

I checked out my local HD...only heirloom they carried was Mr. Strippey.
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Old April 27, 2006   #3
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Ciao all and greetings from sunny California where I'm visiting my mother for a few weeks,

We went to several garden centres over the last few days and I'm seeing so much more choice in the way of heirlooms than I've ever seen before, both in the States and in Canada. One called Orchard Supply Hardware had several: Amish Paste, Black Krim, Big Rainbow, Green Zebra, Brandywine (no strain listed), Cherokee Purple, it was amazing. Then yesterday we went to a local nursery and I saw these: Brandywine Yellow, Brandywine Sudduth, Isis Candy, Caspian Pink, Green Grape, Mr. Stripey (the bicolour), Purple Calabash, Moskvich, Cherokee Purple, Stupice, etc. It was amazing. They were all in 4" pots and selling for $1US apiece. I thought that was decent as I've often wondered what my extras could go for if I ever bothered trying to sell them.

AND: I found Franchi seeds on a rack. I thought I was going to have to order the Italian Pear seeds (Fusion put that bug in my brain) all by themselves from their website, so I snatched them up while I had the chance. I also picked up an Organic Gardening magazine that had a decent article on heirlooms by a guy named Tim Stark who grows tomatoes in Pennsylvania (I hope I spelled that right) but delivers them to a big farmer's market in New York. Sounds kinda like Craig with a longer commute, lol.

It's surreal being here in zone 12 with everyone dressed as if it was summer. It was 75F yesterday so I sat outside for a few hours with SPF 2000 on my Canadian skin and caught up on my reading.
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Old April 27, 2006   #4
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Julianna,

Where are you, that it reached 75 yesterday!

Barb in Corona, So Cal, wishing it would hit 70 degrees
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Old April 27, 2006   #5
Sorellina
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Ciao Keith,

That's a great idea. I've been looking for farmer's markets in the Toronto area, but so far, haven't found any. I think we may have to travel further afield to find them.

Barb, I'm in Mountain View, the heart of the Silicon Valley. Today it's supposed to be 74F, but yesterday it was breezy so it might feel warmer today without the breeze. I know I felt plenty warm and I'm drinking lakes of water, it seems like, much more than I have been in Toronto. Everyone was buying tomato plants yesterday and I'm sooo trying not to feel jealous that they're able to plant outside already. I know our time will come, just in a little less than a month.
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Old April 27, 2006   #6
lumierefrere
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Frog Pond Farm, a small family run operation, has 15 different heirloom varieties this year at $1 each started in their own little greenhouse. There was a Brandywine but all it said was Brandywine so no clue what it is beyond that. Mr. Stripey, Arkansas Traveler, Cherokee Purple, Green Sausage--it was a very good selection.

I then went back and gave her all my Marianna's Peace and a bunch of Black Krim seeds--plenty of time to start them.
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Old April 27, 2006   #7
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One local vendor here (Ronnie's Fruit Stand) sells Chef Jeff plants in individual 4" pots (1.59) and four-pack 2" cells (1.29).

Last year he had Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Golden Oxheart, Rutgers, several other OPs, and all the regularly favorite hybrids.

This year he has had so far Brandywine, Orange Oxheart, something called Yellow that looked a lot like Taxi, Wisconsin 55, Beefsteak (Crimson Cushion/Red Ponderosa), and all the regular hybrids plus Husky Red and some other good stuff all very verdant and from Chef Jeff in Wisconsin.

I bought a Husky Red for 1.59, and a four pack of Brandywine from him for 1.29, repotted them into 4" plastics, and have them available for anyone who is willing to pay me 5 bucks each!

Another local vendor (the Sage Shop) grows and sells only organic seedlings all in 4" pots. She has Amish Paste, Yellow Brandywine, Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, and a dozen other heirlooms (I left her list in the car and can't remember all of the other ones) for 1.99 each.

Home Depot here never has much worth buying. Wal*Mart right next door to HD usually has a little better selection of mostly hybrids (I did see German Queen and Crimson Cushion), but they all looked sick this year (Bonnie Farms). Lowes was pathetic this year. Mostly some scraggly hybrids (also Bonnie Farms). Have you ever seen a scraggly, pale green Jet Star before? How pathetic is that? Jet Stars made stocky, dark green, erect little seedlings for me this year. Lowes' Jet Stars looked like pea vines.

I don't know what the deal is this year but the seedlings coming up from down south (mostly Bonnie) are all leggy, pale green, and scraggly looking (is it that shredded tree bark from New Orleans?). The ones from up in Wisconsin (Chef Jeff) were great looking, but now I hear they have had a shortage of sunlight, and since that little cold front, no shipping. So now Ronnie's Fruit Stand's supply is nearly totally depleted.

All the Bonnie plants at HD, Wal*Mart, Lowes, and other outlets are running 2.29 per 12-ounce cup to 5.99 for bigger plants like in 6 inch tubs with flowers on them, etc. The best deal I saw was at Wal*Mart neighborhood market ... some 9-packs of Early Girl for 2.29 ... they sold out in one day!

I guess it's partly fuel costs and partly whatever the market will bear, but I haven't seen any 5-dollar heirlooms except in one nursery (Comb's Landscape) who had Druzba, Black From Tula, and some other interesting things that were in oversized cells (like maybe 6-inch square and 6-inch tall) with 14-inch tall seedlings some of which had fruit on them for cryin' out loud ... yeah they were askin' 5 bucks for them.

PV (Evansville, Indiana)
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Old April 27, 2006   #8
creister
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Boy, if that is 6 dollars for one plant, maybe they have been chewing on some of the leaves. All the more reason to be self sufficient and grow your own.
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Old April 27, 2006   #9
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Ciao Keith,

Oh bless you and thank you for that. I'll keep my eye out for Scarborough markets. That's not all that far from us.
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Old April 27, 2006   #10
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Julianna,

I've know Tim Stark from way back.

He's a good friend of my Mennonite friend Jim Weaver in Kutztown, PA, and when Jim wrote an article for Craig's and my now defunct OTV, it was Tim who helped Jim with the article.

Lately I've seen several articles where Tim has been featured and it looks as though he's doing some self promoting as well.

He delivers to the Green Market in Union Square in NYC and also sells fruits elsewhere.
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Old April 27, 2006   #11
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There was a Brandywine but all it said was Brandywine so no clue what it is beyond that.

But Barb, Brandywine IS its name and it is pink. One doesn't use the words Pink Brandywine for it since that's redundant.

And since Brandywine was the first known and talked about, the others have colors associated with their names to ID them, as in Yellow Brandywine, Red Brandywine, etc., and none of them are related one to the other.

So Brandywine is Brandywine.
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Old April 30, 2006   #12
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Carolyn, obviously. Too much on my mind again. (Rear end fell off my car as I was making emergency trip to vet with Pippi who was almost killed in the car accident last year, etc.) Brandywine is Brandywine. I'm just too used to seeing something else tacked on-- Sudduth, Joyce's etc.--so expected more info. I suppose I have the feeling that Brandywine has become not only a specific type but for people less involved, it's become a blanket term. I don't know if this is an apt analogy but there is beefsteak and Beefsteak. My neighbor tells me she wants a beefsteak but she doesn't really make a distinction beyond that.

Sorry.
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Old May 2, 2006   #13
Andrew_GA
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Default hmm...

It seems stores are carrying less and less varieties theese days. I know alot of stores such as Home Depot and Lowe's carry only the better know variets and at high prices!
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Old May 3, 2006   #14
coronabarb
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I don't recall who does the growing for HD, but I got a bit of interesting info a few weeks ago. I attended an open house for the UC Riverside Citrus Station (they have a collection of 900 citrus varieties-the most in the world) and house the US gene bank (is that what's it's called?) for citrus.

Anyway, there was a booth for the University Dept doing research on nematodes. I don't have nematodes but thought I'd learn something new, so I read info and asked questions. I asked, if I don't currently have nematodes, how could my garden get them? I was told that they could possibly be transported in purchased plants and to avoid the *big box* stores.

I don't know if this is true, but it sure gives me something to think about. I'd be interested in any comments on this possibility.
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