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Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.

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Old May 27, 2018   #61
taboule
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Thanks all, and good to see you again Banadoura. Ahlain.

What Nan said is correct. But even if the underlying base was harder, tomatoes can do just fine with a shallow root structure. Every year at season's end, when pulling them out, i'm always amazed how most roots are only a few inches below the surface. Maybe it's due to my irrigation technique, roots don't have to go deep looking for moisture.

I've seen pictures of people planting tomatoes in as-bought bags of soil -laid flat, with a hole on top for the plant. That can't be more than 5~6 inches deep.

==========

Early yesterday at sunup, my wife spotted this fellow. I hurried with the camera, worrying that he'd leave.
DSC_0594.jpg

He actually never felt bothered, stayed there motionless.

DSC_0595.jpg

Quite large, a foot wide, twice as long, with a skinny tail 7~8 in long. We have a small creek behind the house that he probably frequents. Glad he was outside of the fenced-in area, else he'd probably eat my lettuce,

And at last, some flowers, running late this year.
DSC_0596.jpg
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Old May 27, 2018   #62
bower
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Wow I am loving the pretty! That border bed design is fantastic. Tomatoes may not care, but I know I get a huge satisfaction when my own garden is half way neat.
That is a wonderful turtle. How lucky for you to have such visitors.
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Old May 27, 2018   #63
taboule
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Thanks Bower.

We had a gentle rain overnight and temps dropped about 30 degF! Went out to harvest some lettuce for a salad and everything was so clean and lush.
1.jpg
2.jpg
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Old May 27, 2018   #64
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Little trees. I need to trim to bottom leaves, they grew so fast since planting out.
4.jpg
5.jpg

Not edible, but my wife's specialty.
6.jpg

Last edited by taboule; May 27, 2018 at 03:07 PM.
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Old May 27, 2018   #65
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Love the turtle I use to have a Box Turtle I feed strawberries to out of hand.

Garden looks great too.

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Old May 27, 2018   #66
Koala Doug
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I sure envy the garden... and I'd also love to have a turtle as my garden friend!
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Old June 14, 2018   #67
taboule
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Greetings,

It's been a while as I've been occupied with a bunch of things. Today was a good one: we'd been looking for a while to have a bunch of trees taken out. A tree contractor we thought we had a deal with kept postponing. Then we gave up on him, started the search again, hired a new guy and they finally came and did a big job.
DSC_0602.jpg

DSC_0608.jpg

It was impressive seeing these guys do quick work of it. They parked this huge crane in the driveway, they hoisted a guy up and slid him down the tree(s). He then attached a sling half way down the trunk, the slide down to cut it at the base. Cut ~10 trees, chipped and hauled them away before noon.
DSC_0609.jpg

Last edited by taboule; June 14, 2018 at 09:48 PM.
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Old June 14, 2018   #68
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Except for a nice maple (which had the bad luck of being in the wrong place) they were weed trees that made a mess with their pollen (like cotton flakes, can see them in one of the pics) and falling branches.
loose-maple.jpg

This maple was at least 24" dia at the base. Saved a few nice pieces for my future smoke cooking.

Enough of a diversion, back to the usual program
=====

I neglected the garden a bit lately(sorry garden), but it was fine, and I was happy a few days ago to see the progress.Plants growing huge, some of the tomato plants are ~3 ft tall. Here's a German Queen.
big-german-queen.jpg

I know we don't eat leaves, but check the size on this one from Brandywine pink.
big-leaf-BWP.jpg

The compost we put in must have been so rich in nitrogen. But where it really matters is here, first fruit set. The first two are from 4th of July, two different plants. I doubt they'll be grown and ripe by 7/4, but a nice sign regardless.
4jul-1.jpg

4jul-2.jpg
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Old June 14, 2018   #69
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Brandywine pink, the first one(that I can spot). A solid 1" across.

BWP.jpg

GGWT (Girl Girl's Weird Thing). I have a story about this one, for later.

GGWT.jpg

Next 2 are Stump of the World (SOTW)
SOTW-1.jpg

SOTW-2.jpg

Another Brandywine, loaded
loaded.jpg
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Old June 14, 2018   #70
taboule
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Cuostralee
Cus.jpg

And for variety, a cuke

cuke.jpg

Ichiban eggplant

Ichiban.jpg

Brassicas
caulif.jpg

broc.jpg
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Old June 14, 2018   #71
taboule
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Giant lettuce
row-of-lettuce.jpg

Sugar snap peas and cabbage.

Hope all your gardens are doing great
SSPeas.jpg
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Old June 15, 2018   #72
Nan_PA_6b
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How do you get cabbage & cauliflower without bug holes?


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Old June 15, 2018   #73
taboule
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Nan,

Nothing yet, been lucky so far. We do have some pests, and you can see some holes if you look close -but not too bad. The worst attacks have been on the cucumbers, small yellow and black bugs (like skinny beetles) have attacked the small transplants, completely eating the leaves, and I've lost at least 6-7. You can see in the cuke picture, tiny holes on the leaves -but this one seems to have outgrown it. Used insecticidal soap on the others, and it helps a bit, but short term.

One unexpected drawback of the thick/lush growth is, plants tightly packed together allow the little bugs to go unnoticed, hidden under the foliage, and harder to spray. But that was a nice problem to have.
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Old June 15, 2018   #74
Worth1
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If I planted here in spring which I have, they would be eaten alive.
Cant grow any other time but the winter.
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Old June 16, 2018   #75
taboule
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Worth,

Since I've been reading this forum, I am always amazed at how different our climates are, region to region, and how that greatly affects our growing conditions and the challenges (and benefits) we face. Here in the colder zones, although we have our share of pests and diseases, our biggest enemy is time. The season is too short for most vegetables, including tomatoes.
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