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Old April 23, 2016   #1
oakley
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Default you know you are a tomato lover when...



...you take your starts on holiday. I spent a few hours potting up and planting some early peas and kales and chard the morning we left the farm. A small square 6x6 cell tray was left to die. Potted up half and last minute put the tray in our travel book crate...books we have wanted to read and ordered, a stack of NewYorkers. Same every year.

Crossed the Canadian border that night. BayofFundy night one. Had a nice calm sailing across the StLawrenceSeaway. Easy drive then hit a wicked storm just outside of Gander, Newfoundland. (Well known for their hospitality). Found a room for the day and starts had a nice warm spot on a high shelf under a florescent in the sink area. But they got hit by cold wind just from the truck to the door, 10 seconds. Most survived. Cold wind and blasting white-out snow tomatoes not likey. Even looks like herbiside damage.

A dozen survived and some late bloomers sprouted during the trip. GirlGirl'sWT.
No potting soil though. I do have compost made with kitchen scraps, cod fish carcases and sea weed...some mown grass. It has been composting a year now. Should be good.

I'll be giving these plants away to neighbors and friends that have greenhouses and hoop houses. The tray is Artisan seed and GGWT. Nice to have a grow-out in such a chilly climate.
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Old April 23, 2016   #2
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They should be fine if i can make some potting up soil. Not the frost damaged ones...not sure if they will pull through. Doubtful but they certainly would not had i left them behind.
Crazy that ten seconds earlier they were beauties before hitting the frosty air....
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Old April 23, 2016   #3
Al@NC
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What? You went on vacation during tomato growing season? just teasing...

Al
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Old April 23, 2016   #4
oakley
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We were running out of salt, so i drove 4 days.

I have a wood fired cook stove and have a second batch already going. Takes about 12 hours to make 1/4 lb from 2 gallons. THE best tomato salt. Briney and mineral rich. Fantastic on steaks.

I'll offer it up next week.
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Old April 23, 2016   #5
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Found a spike tiller on the beach this morning. If i could just teach my new rescue pup to pull it. (so much energy). His name is Charlie, nick-named 'jerky boy'. Jerk for short.
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Old April 23, 2016   #6
dmforcier
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Wow! All that damage from a 10 sec. exposure? How the heck cold was it?


(Otherwise sounds like an enviable vacation.)
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Old April 23, 2016   #7
oakley
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Fog rolling in the harbor out my back door...
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Old April 23, 2016   #8
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@dmforcier...it was a total white-out 80-90 cl per hour. So strong you could not walk in it. Once we checked into a hotel we drove one short block to the liquor store for a bottle of scotch, (with the rest of town folk, lol) and could barely get back with the white-out. The next morning driving we saw many cars off the road being rescued. One sad driver hauling a travel trailer was blown way off the road and rolled in a heap of cheap plastic and metal.

We should have covered the tom starts for that short 10 second trip inside.
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Old April 23, 2016   #9
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Oh my, Oakley... you missed one storm and got caught in that whallop. We broke a record here, 49.4 cm and the biggest snowfall ever in April. Whew. And was it cold.
Kinda makes a sunny day precious.
We get the Pisces compost from Carew's here - made in Cape Broyle - but maybe they don't have distribution out your way. There was a second outfit making compost on the west coast a while back, it was a nice product too but more expensive. I think both of them had difficulty making a dollar because of the bigger competitors from upalong. Bet your own stuff is good, compost with kelp is the best.
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Old April 23, 2016   #10
oakley
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I just grabbed a handful of my compost...kelp, fish. grasses and food waste. Sweet and dark rich. No odor but dark nice soil sweet. Not a bit surprised. I'll dig out 3-4 gallons to use now and start another load.

Yes, b'y. That storm was worse than predicted. I've been playing roulette with the weather and made the ferry crossing on good time ahead of it.
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Old April 23, 2016   #11
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It so happens I had just potted up my seedlings and put them in the window upstairs to get a little ahem natural light the day before.
Plain to see how your seedlings perished. The survivors... are tough!
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Old April 23, 2016   #12
oakley
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We don'y have much grocery here. A mini store that has beer and wine and booze and nails, paint, wire wool, tea, some freezer fries. Butter eggs milk. A good hour drive for others like building supplies and decent iffy produce...two large icebergs off the Boavista coast in Elliston so we may take that quick trip and visit friends out that way tomorrow.

Friends and neighbors have already filled our tiny freezer with moose steaks and sausage and flippers and cod so food is a-plenty. (just need some tongues and cheeks) : )
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Old April 23, 2016   #13
oakley
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Wow, that is a cold looking window frost. !
We have an issue with year aged birch we started splitting and the home is registering 85, lol.
Way too hot and opening windows.
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Old April 27, 2016   #14
oakley
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Total white out blizzard all day then lovely sunset....
4 inches melting.
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Old April 27, 2016   #15
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Nice - we had about the same. A real whiteout like the other one. But then a self-clearing driveway by afternoon. Now that is sweet.
Not happy to see snow in the forecast again for May 2. Last year it was like that... you think it's the last blast but then there's one more... and one more, and another, and then it's Julyuary.
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