Tomato Tuesday 2012

All heirloom, just for fun:

Yellow pear

Black krim

Green zebra

Brandy wine

Varieties

• costuluto firoentino
  
• thessalonki
  
• superboy
  
• costuluto genovese
  
• san marzano paste
  
• eva purple ball
  
• homestead 24
  
• arkansas traveler
  
• yellow pear
  
• celebrity
  
• patio
  
• large red cherry
  
• sungold F1
  
• brandywine
  
• great white beefsteak
  
• roma
  
• purple calabash
  
• mortgage lifter
  

Plucking black cherry tomatoes and reisentraub currently. Red cherrys and belarusian also have a bunch almost ripe. Temps expected to hit 102 this weekend so my tomato days may be limited to one more month =(

RoOsTeR wrote:
Logan tells me to slow down and take care of the tomatoes!

Is this Logan?

@Rooster.....I'm trying both Red Zebra and Green Zebra this year.

Is Logan a corgi? Looks like my Penny....



I just love the foxey faces.

Oh oh corgi time! Here's mine, Sydney:

I never realized how many there are out there until I got mine 6 years ago. Mine loves to herd anything. Herds Daisy (my son's golden retriever) indoors whenever I call them and always herded the cats indoors before their demise. All I have to do is say "Go get Daisy.... or KoKo..... or whoever" and she herds them home. When any kids visit she herds them into the house or in the yard or when company enters my apt she herds them closer to me. Yet she's untrained, so obviously they just never lose that instinct.

What a little cutie is Sydney.

Hey, I thought this was TOMATO Tuesday!!! You all have adorable dogs. We're wanting to get a dog, also, but haven't had the time to look for the right match for our family.

RoOsTeR wrote:All heirloom, just for fun:

Yellow pear

Black krim

Green zebra

Brandy wine

All of my tomatoes are grown just for fun.

It's Tomato Tuesday and I'm actually doing my update on Tuesday
I up potted my plants on Sunday and they seem so much happier in their new roomier cups. The bad part is, I was spacing out, day dreaming and just started labeling all the cups as black krim... lol. I don't know how many I actually labeled wrong before I caught it. Oh well

April 24, 2012




This last one was actually taken on Sunday.

I think they've actually grown out quite a bit in the last several days

Love seeing the Corgis. Carolinagirl, Sydney looks happy as could be! And yes qb, Logan is a Corgi. Your Penny sure is cute, or should I say pretty!

My son just couldn't give up any of the tomato seedlings I took to his house. Now has 30 in buckets and 2 in a bed . He needs to get some trellises going for the latest in the bucket brigade.



I have 9 in buckets and 8 in bed. Hope to finish my trellises tomorrow.

Kay

We are both starting to get flowers.

I up-potted some of these to air-pruning pots but failed to take new pics. Will do so at a later date.

Wow everybody's tomatoes look great! Mine had a late start and a rough begining. I read this "tip" about starting your tomatoes in egg shells so I tried it, and I filled up an egg carton, then they finally sprouted about a weekish later, but the egg shells started to smell bad (good to the dog, grrr) so she tried to eat them and knocked them all over the deck. I saved a few but they are still tiny, so I had to start more after that and a bird got into one of the starters so I am not sure how many seeds are left to sprout.

What were you doing in my neck of the woods Rooster? Hopefully something fun

O, cheyannarach, you tryed the eggs? Good, now I don't have too

I have been drooling over the pictures in this thread dreaming of tomato starts wishing I had started some. What I had done instead is talk the lady at the local nursery into growing my favorite varieties (or at least those I want to try this year). I meant to wait till May day to go get some but I have been worrying others will get the best ones first. To day my resolve crumbled and I declared it a Tuesday and went to the nursery and got my plants.
Only 5 plants, that is all I can fit in my small green house and still practice any crop rotation. 1 Super Marzano, 1 Big Beef, 2 Cherokee Purples (cuz I begged her to try them for me) and 1 Sweet Million.

That 6X8 greenhouse is going to be stuffed what with all those indeterminate tomatoes, 4 okras, 8 basil, and a row of asparagus beans.

Haha yes Turan, I tried the eggshells and do not recommend it, peeeyooo. I love that you went and begged the nursey to the ones you wanted. That's brilliant! Mine are still so small I am thinking I might have to go to the nursery as well! Next year I am starting a lot earlier! This is my first year starting my own, I usually just buy transplants to I am still learning about timing!

I'm curious, cheyannarach, did you peel the membrane out of the eggs before planting? I've never heard of nor done this sort of thing, so wanted to know how it was supposed to be done.

I just used egg shells that were left in the carton after making omelettes Michelle. It smells and is gross.

On an exciting note, I am pretty sure we are getting chickens!

Turan, I keep watching my little guys wondering if I got them started early enough Earlier this month, I stopped at my local nursery just to get a sneak peak at their tomato plantings list just in case.
I was in there yesterday picking up a couple things, and they are starting to bring out the tomato plants now! The good varieties will go quick so I may have to act fast

One great thing about this thread is I can go back and look at my maters from week to week and really see the difference and progress my tomatoes are making.

The good thing about tomatoes is that they don't have to be large at transplanting time. You can start them later and raise them the last couple of weeks in Solo cups and they will still be productive.

At our community garden I start many later so they will not need bigger pots. They go from 3/4" blocks to 2" blocks and then into 16-oz soda cups with air-pruning slits in their sides. They are transplanted when only about 8-10" tall after growing a couple of weeks in the comm greenhouse. Once in the ground, they get their growth spurt and grow thick and strong. So start a few later and see what happens.



From this



to these (tomatoes along green posts on left) in 6 weeks.

Your words and pictures are encouraging quiltbea. Thank you!

RoOsTeR wrote:Your words and pictures are encouraging quiltbea. Thank you!

+1

Your too, RoOsTeR, as my window sill can attest too.

cheyannarach wrote:I just used egg shells that were left in the carton after making omelettes Michelle. It smells and is gross.

On an exciting note, I am pretty sure we are getting chickens!

That's great; manure and eggs, all from one source. Will you butcher the older hens and the roosters?

What a shame the egg shell tomatoes. I wonder if they always do that? :scratch:

My tomatoes have done great in the last week!







One from last week for comparison:

32 tomatoes, 2 full 4X4 beds? What varietys? Looks like they are ready to be planted.

I have grown tomatoes for a while, but this year I switched over to a SFG and wanted to venture out a bit. What started as a modest attempt (four new types) has more than doubled. LOL-I blame the plant sales. I ordered seeds from Baker creek this year for the first time (San Marazano Lungo, Romenesco, and Reinstraub). They sent me Borghesse as a free gift (yeah). Four new types to plant-great.
Then, the small community college down the street from us had thier annual plant sale when the students sell their plants to make the money to do the Ag fair circuit. Well i'm a teacher and plant lover so I walk on down. SERIOUSLY? Lovely looking plants in 4 " pots for $1.50! Yikes-Honey we need more wood!
So, now my Tomato box went from a 1x4 to a 1x8-no big. I'm building it myself with the power tools I got for Valentines day (don't judge-think of how much he loves me giving me things that he knows I could use to dispose of a body with-Trust ) The nice folks even let me borrow a wagon since I literally live about 8 blocks away and I filled it with Purple Cherokee, Pineapple, Heidi, Mortgage Lifter (all Heirloom), and some herbs & annuals.
OK-so now we are up to 8 plants no problem. But then a nearby store announced it's closing and they seasonally carry plants. Oops! I did it again! 10 cent plants!?!? Really! Needless to say I now have 11 tomato plants (not many by some standards, but more than double the original plan) I picked up a Sweet 100, 4th of July, and Black Cherry. (two of these will have to go in an empty square) even if they don't make it for 10 cents it's worth a go.
Admittedly, the ones I started myself from seed look the worst, but this was the first time I tried to start tomatoes from seeds. And considering what I put them through i'm surprised they survived at all. I think I made every mistake in the book-
Let's see I left the lights on 24-7 for a few days, forgot to water a few times, had whole tray knocked off the table by my 5yo son who playing fort under the table (still not 100% sure those are gonna be San Marazanos ), and then tried to kill (cough)-I mean harden them off, and then left the poor little babies out in 90 degree heat and sun burnt the heck out of them (good thing there is not a plant CPS).
All things aside they look pretty good now and once I got them into the Mel's mix (plus some crushed egg shells) they all seem pretty happy. Even my special little guys I started myself. Here are some pics.
Started seeds under the lights on 2/28/2012:

What I was able to save after falling off the table-LOL:

After a week of TLC of filtered sun and mild green tea(thanks for that tip Quilt Bee):

Finally everyone (little ones are mine from seed) is in the ground on 5/1/2012

Happy campers after a week in their final resting place:

David and Goliath (mine vs the college Ag students) of tomatoes:

Now that I found this post (thanks Rooster) I'll keep posting on my progress.