Tomatoes are setting

Looks like tomatoes are on the way

HOORAY! Lucky you!
I wont see this in my garden for another 3 months, at least.

Congrats, Bill, they are looking good.

Beautiful picture.....I notice the plant was from Bonnie Nursery a big supplier here also....curious how much they charge for one plant there? Its $3.38 here....at Home Depot and Walmart.....I prefer my growing from Ruth's seeds....cheap....Ruth

How wonderful! Just goes to show how very late I am in getting started; Ocala isn't too far south of us. Oh well, I'll be happy with any crops this summer.

You can play tomato sauce Michelle ..you know .... " play ketchup "

I'ts surprising how fast things grow when the temp and other things are correct , you'll have your tomatoes by the bucketful if you sow the seeds using the damp tissue method to get them quickly germinated and then pot them on .

It's really hot here this year...summer temperatures of 90 degrees Farenheit two days in a row already! (That's about 32 Celcius.) We usually don't hit that high for another 3-4 weeks, but winter was mild so I guess we're in for a hot summer. A lot of things just wilt in the heat here, so summer isn't the best time to grow.

I truly am late getting started; should've started seeds on quite a few things a couple months ago, and put them in the ground a few weeks ago, but I'm just getting started now because this is spring break and my professor husband has to do the heavy work. However, as I've said elsewhere, this is partly to teach my boys important lessons, and they're almost as eager to start as I am. So, I bought three plants (a tomato & two types of peppers) that will allow them to get the instant gratification, and then they can learn patience by watching the seeds sprout & grow.

tabletopper wrote:Beautiful picture.....I notice the plant was from Bonnie Nursery a big supplier here also....curious how much they charge for one plant there? Its $3.38 here....at Home Depot and Walmart.....I prefer my growing from Ruth's seeds....cheap....Ruth

They are from Lowes, but on a special - they had 4-packs of these particular ones for a couple of bucks - I couldn't pass them up! So I have 8 of those and one other experimental plant called a Mortgage Lifter (already in its second story on the tomato tower). I wasn't going to do large tomatoes at all this year and I have sweet 100 seeds that I still never started that I was supposed to do! I am goign to start them soon but I am going to use containers for them as I am out of room now after starting 8 Mel Units.

also I had in the back of my mind since these are all heirloom, perhaps I can harvest seeds?

This was my very first Mel Unit - so its pretty shabby. It was built to fit against a southern facing wall and still be under the eve's - but I miscalculated a hair and had to put a rain reflecting board to save my dirt from washing out!



This is the second attempt at Mel Units. I had to improvise fencing due toi a neighbors darn dog! (No tomatoes in this section at all and not much to loook at yet.)

"Mel Units!" LOVE IT!

You got bit badly if you went from the one first one to the second picture all at once! WOW!

BillOcala wrote:also I had in the back of my mind since these are all heirloom, perhaps I can harvest seeds?

Yes, you should be able to save those heirloom seeds. I have been doing this for several varieties that I bought as transplants. Hybrids are different...

Save the seeds/juice in a cup for a couple days until it is moldy and nasty. Strain and wash the seeds and dry them.

Squat_Johnson wrote:

BillOcala wrote:also I had in the back of my mind since these are all heirloom, perhaps I can harvest seeds?

Yes, you should be able to save those heirloom seeds. I have been doing this for several varieties that I bought as transplants. Hybrids are different...

Save the seeds/juice in a cup for a couple days until it is moldy and nasty. Strain and wash the seeds and dry them.

Didn't you ever have any trouble with those tomatoes cross-pollinating?

Went to our Famers Market this mornign and talked with a fat old farmer guy. He grows on 5 acres and here is one of his Rutgers tomatoes. He said he uses "raised beds" lots of peat and "compost from the mushroom plants in Apopka"



Well, I have never gotten one of these to grow without cracking....but I have 4 of these plants (picture of one of the lil green ones above). My fingures are crossed that Mel's moisture control properties will save me...

No, in fact I didn't know about cross-pollinating until I had been saving seeds for about 5 years.

I (now) know you are supposed to cover with nets, and keep them separate, but I didn't do that. At first I was uninformed, now just lazy...

Squat_Johnson wrote:No, in fact I didn't know about cross-pollinating until I had been saving seeds for about 5 years.

I (now) know you are supposed to cover with nets, and keep them separate, but I didn't do that. At first I was uninformed, now just lazy...

I don't want to get into the headaches of separation, netting, etc. 'd rather pay the local farm woman to grow tomato seeds that I purchase from catalogs.

Tomatoes are doing great, the dry conditions and the mels mix have actually been good for me as I have not had any cracking problems! I have picked two what a Spanish lady at the office calls "green" tomatoes, (which I now know to actually be a tomato which is just turning from green to red).

These early fruits are suffering from an early nitrogen deficiency due to to much wood in my compost. They are not real big at all for a Rutgers, but a nice standard tomato size and very tasty:



The plants are getting quite large and are loaded with fruit. Some plants have well over a dozen fruit on them already and that is quite good I think (rutgers and marglobe). The tallest is a Mortgage Lifter - it has been slow to set fruit but looks to be catching up now. These pictures are a week or so old:

The tomatoes are my pride and joy, but the main garden is doing really well too (again once I dealt with my first year/newbie nitrogen problem from too much wood in my compost with supplemental fertilizer). Thes I just went out to make - so these are current pictures:

one more tomato shot (see how fast the "tomato tone" works?) I had an additonal 4-6 tomatoes that are ready to pick too! :



now the "other garden" it too has responded well to the supplemental feeding.



strangely a few of the corn are on a faster clock than the other seeds planted at the same time. Again I blame my nutrition in the beginning, all had the same compost in it to some degree of another. The corn dirt in the front was 2 plants per square "old school" dirt, the corn in the middle square was 3 per square in hybrid "old school" and Mel's dirt, the corn in the rear is 4 corm per square in 100% Mel's mix.

In the back are squash and Zucchini plants that are getting Jurassic park huge and loaded.
I love the morning flowers of the squash (last week photo)

Those photos... ...WOW!!! Your garden looks wonderfully healthy!

Thanks it is been good therapy. The nitrogen problem put me behind a bit but it's all good now or at least I hope!

Your pictures are awesome, I am a little jealous to say the least! Good work!

Lovely pics! Summer has made it to Ocala with fruits and veggys. Gives me hope it will reach here too. Just got to give it time to crawl across the map.

WowZers....

im a bit more than a little :drunken: jealous!!

your garden looks soooo good!!

hugs

rose

ooo ..likes tomatos .... likes Blackmore ..... my kinda chap

acara wrote:ooo ..likes tomatos .... likes Blackmore ..... my kinda chap

That's me