Re: Tomato Tuesday Thread (N&C Midwest)..

[Aub]

This poor little guy was eaten by a rabbit. But now he's putting up new leaves I didn't know they would do that. I'm going to let him grow and see what happens!


Here's a few blossoms just starting.

Here is 6 of my plants.

[BackyardBirdGardner]

Dunno what to tell you about the buds. I am pinching my steak and better boy varieties until they get bigger. But, I am letting the cherries blossom since they were so prolific for me last year. We'll see how that works out...

[laurainwinona]

Oops, I missed Tuesday, but better late than never. I had one (yes, only one... my family doesn't eat tomatoes very much and I'd never tried growing them before) Cherokee Purple that I started from seed, and it was about 6 inches high when I transplanted it into the garden two weeks ago. I didn't harden off....and all the leaves turned pale and then shrivelled up. The stem is still strong-looking and there is one tiny green leaf, so I haven't yanked it out, but I probably will have to, and then buy one from a nursery to plant. Sigh.

[ErinL]

What a fun thread! I realize this isn't Tuesday - I'm late jumping in! Our family has three varieties of tomatoes this year: About 10 Monica (paste) tomatoes for canning, 12 Beefsteak which my 10 y.o. son will be selling roadside like he did last year (and inevitably I'll buy a few from him for family use), and a Fourth of July early tomato for, hopefully, early slicing! But we live in northern Michigan, zone 4, so we'll see just how "early" we get any. We have trouble here with warm season crops ripening at all. It's a real challenge, but last year we had nice success using brown plastic to warm the soil, so we're repeating that experiment this year - it's been a longer, colder spring, so we'll see! Seems like the plastic worked better for us than trying early ripening, frost tolerant varieties did. The Monica, though, is an early ripener. Might be a good combination.

[Furbalsmom]

ErinL

Nice to have you join us. As you can see, this is a great group of people and we try to have fun.
How long have you been SFGing?

Sounds like your son is an enterprising young man with his roadside tomatoes.

Be sure to keep us updated on the results of using brown plastic mulch.

[WolfHeart]

So I am having Tomato Thursday! I am sometimes calendar challenged.

So my pics are from Tuesday so I guess I am keeping in the spirit of things.

Here is my new addition to my shady garden:

I have never grown or heard of this variety before joining the boards. I bought this start from a local greenhouse near by when they had a tomato day with 60 varieties. I planted it about two weeks ago and not much is happening yet and it always seems 'droopy'. are they supposed to look like that

Here is my Better Boy in the sunny garden:

I have started pruning off the 'extra' leaves in the style of Acara, probably wil not go to his extremes but going to give it a go. I have to admit, it was tough cutting off that first healthy branch but it got easier when the plant didn't immediately fall dead

and finally my San Marzano:

This guy is going to town, there are flowers all over it and while taking this shot i notice...

...my first tomatoes of the season .

Hope everyone is doing well in their gardens as well. here's to a great start

[ErinL]

ErinL

Nice to have you join us. As you can see, this is a great group of people and we try to have fun.
How long have you been SFGing?

Sounds like your son is an enterprising young man with his roadside tomatoes.

Be sure to keep us updated on the results of using brown plastic mulch.

Well, thank you for the welcome, Furbalsmom! I appreciate it! And I enjoy talking gardening with anyone, so to have people whose eyes won't glaze over will be a nice change of pace!

I've used raised beds for several years since we moved to N Michigan (autumn of '07), but the huge climate difference took me several years of experimenting to be able to work with it. Last year was the first year I got any warm weather crops to ripen - tomatoes, melons, & peppers. I also just redesigned the garden last autumn to a more comfortable size and this is the first year I am experimenting with the SFG vertical growing. I'm pretty excited about that to maximize my space! I'm pretty short(!) so when I redesigned, I made the beds only 3' wide so I can reach into the middle comfortably. The kids will probably like that better, too! LOL!

I'll let you know how it goes with the plastic mulch again this season! Fingers crossed!

[BackyardBirdGardner]

My wife's eyes glazed over this evening....so I logged on to the forum....lol. Welcome, Erin!

[Suzy]

What a fun thread! I WILL get photos of my garden on here soon... I currently have 24 tomatoes in one 4 x 6 box and a pair of Beefmasters that I don't know where to put! My wonderful husband will help me get the pair of trellis nets up tomorrow - do you think all 24 plants could use the same trellis if I put it in the middle of them? I know the nylon netting is strong enough, I was just concerned about the air circulation so I intended to use two nets...

I am trying a couple of heirlooms this year - Mr. Stripey and Pink Girl. But I also have Big Boys and some yellow cherries. I make a lot of salsa and can as many tomatoes as I have after eating as many fresh as we can and giving to friends that don't have gardens... did you follow that? I didn't really research the heirlooms, hopefully they have enough acidity to safely can. They can all go into the salsa. I didn't make it here until Friday, so maybe I'll see you all next Tuesday with photos!

[Smartchick]

Ok, finally some tomato pictures. They aren't in a box this year as I ran out of compost. Next year there will be a 4 x 4 in this one's place and a 1 x 9. I just started to pinch off some of the suckers so hopefully I can keep my tomatoes from taking over the world this year. Considering I only planted two plants the past two years I'm really upsizing this year. I have 8 plants of 6 varieties. And considering that tomatoes usually grow REALLY well here in Nebraska, I'll probably be getting to know ALL of my neighbors this year (oh, and learning to can tomatoes hopefully). And all but one of these was grown from seed by yours truly!

[BackyardBirdGardner]

You mean you're not panicked about yellow leaves on your tomatoes? Holy cow! You may be like me. I don't worry about these things, either. Looks good!

[Smartchick]

Nope. As long as they are still growing I'm good and they are. I might have kept them under their milk jug shelters a day or two too long so that proably accounts for the yellow leaves. I pulled those off this weekend so now they look better.

I did pick some of my collard greens yesterday (and didn't really like them as it turns out so they will get left out of the plan next year) and as I was picking off the cabbage worms (forgot that collards are cabbage family too until I saw the tell-tale holes from my favorite garden nemesis) and discovered about a 3/4 inch worm that I'm pretty sure was going to grow up to be a hornworm. Good thing I found him before he found my tomatoes!

[CindiLou]

Ok, finally some tomato pictures. They aren't in a box this year as I ran out of compost. Next year there will be a 4 x 4 in this one's place and a 1 x 9. I just started to pinch off some of the suckers so hopefully I can keep my tomatoes from taking over the world this year. Considering I only planted two plants the past two years I'm really upsizing this year. I have 8 plants of 6 varieties. And considering that tomatoes usually grow REALLY well here in Nebraska, I'll probably be getting to know ALL of my neighbors this year (oh, and learning to can tomatoes hopefully). And all but one of these was grown from seed by yours truly!

Canning tomatoes is the easiest thing to start with in my opinion. My little ones love to help rofl...They wash their hands (they REALLY wash their hands for this rofl..I have to make them stop!) then I put the kettle on a chair for them to reach, and they get to squish and squish! My daughter that is now 21 still talks about HELPING mom can tomatoes! This year Alex (5yrs) gets to HELP NaNa!

[busygirl]

I am trying to get a head start on tomorrow, so here goes.

Future tomatoes on my Brandywines




Wide shot of my Brandywines and Thessolonikis




Black Krims and Koralick Cherries.


Caspian Pinks and Martinos romas

[Goosegirl]

It hit 104* yesterday and my seedlings survived being outside in only their peat plugs (and extra water). They have been exclusively outside for 3 full days now, so when I woke up early this morning I decided to get some of them into the ground before my 6 am walk. I got 10 tomato seedlings, 1 watermelon, 1 basil, and 3 dahlias into the ground before my walk. The tomatoes are:

2 Banana Legs
1 Manitoba
2 Porters Dark Cherry
5 Purple Russian

This evening I will try to get more of them into the ground and will update if it really happens!

GG

[BackyardBirdGardner]

Thanks, GG. Nobody wait for an update this week. I'll be behind the curve. Lots of cutting grass in this 98° stuff.

[jymarino]

Bummer for you BBG. I was able to delegate that task to a friend's son. Some things are just worth paying the money for!

[HieronRemade]

Hey All - Well I've seen this thread in the latest topics list a million times and my curiosity finally won over, and what do I find but a place to post pictures! Yay!

Anyway my tomatoes are doing pretty well so far. Here are my Romas:
A close-up of the most filled-out Roma so far:
Amazingly (at least to me, since the plants are only 12-14 inches tall), all 8 Romas are working on their first set of blooms!
All of my indeterminates...I have a hybrid called Nonna's Prize Tomato that's supposed to be great for sauce, an heirloom called Chocolate Cherry, and a random heirloom mix that consists of black, pink, red or yellow Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra, White Wonder and orange Nebraska Wedding:

[westie42]

Nice pics, that is certainly one long bed. Is that partly because your property is horizontally challenged.

[HieronRemade]

Is that partly because your property is horizontally challenged.

Haha yah my bed is right at the top of a ditch...There's room for at least two more beds that size so over the next few years I plan to terrace it out with retaining walls, etc.

[WolfHeart]

I can't believe I am actually posting my Tuesday photos on Tuesday this week.

Here it goes:

The San Marzano is going great I still need another week or so before I can train it through the next square in the trellis:


I also have another mater showing on the vine:


I don't have anything on my Big Boy (formerly known as Better Boy, pays to read the tag ) A few of the flowers have fluoresced and started dying back so i expect maters to be showing by next week:


The Opalka is well...errr.....not doing anything :?: here is this weeks pic followed by last weeks pic. does anyone know if this is just a slow grower or do i need to give it some extra love?


31 may 2011


That is the update this week for tomatoes. I will be updating my thread My First gardens EVER! sometime tomorrow and show you all the other growth that has been going on. plus I shall be asking for help with a few things that are (no pun intended) cropping up. Till next Tuesday happy gardening!

[Goosegirl]

Ah, if only my tomatoes were that 'slow' WolfHeart! Here is a pic of one of my Banana Legs that I just got in the ground this morning. After 2 full days outside (yesterday was 104*) I put them in the ground.



It was only 92* today so that was a little easier on all the seedlings, but we did have 25-35 mph winds, so I did lose 2 of my Purple Russians but I really need the space anyway! More pics to come in the following weeks as things survive and progress.

GG

[boog1]

heres my update and pics in the first one this is one of the yellow pears i started from seed and trellis i made. when i put the trellis up the plant was level with the bottom board so this one has grown about 5 inchs so far.





heres a pic of the other 4 all growing about the same rate

[nancy]

Here is Kid's tomato bed:



Front Row: Ananas Noire, marigolds, Gold Medal
Middle Row: Basil & marigolds, Gold Medal, marigolds and a big red pinwheel
3rd Row: Big Boy, marigolds, Ananas Noire

The Gold Medals that were nipped off seem to be doing well. I'm tickled. The Big Boy's leaves are gowing inside out! It's very bizarre. All of the marigolds are from seed that the kid planted on Earth Day in an art class. I didn't expect much from them, but she got very good germination and they all transplanted well. Hopefully they will keep the tomatoes happy.

Here are the Baswrayas and a Riesentraube from the Summer Bed:



The Baswraya in the back row was either affected by a cut worm or some other calamity. I hilled the mix up higher around its stem to see if it might survive. I forgot the toothpicks to put up around the others; hopefully they don't succumb. That's is cilantro and some extra lettuce on the left.

This is the other Big Boy that is in the back of the summer bed. It has buds!!



I forgot to take a picture of the Ananas Noire that is at home. Its leaves were curling last night so I gave it a very long cold drink. I think that considering we haven't had rain in nearly 2 weeks and the temperatures have been in the 90s with high humidity, everything is going really well. I love this weekly update - it's great to go back and compare and see that there really has been growth! Wolfheart - the Opalka looks taller to me!

[WolfHeart]

Thanks Nancy....I thought it was just my wishful thinking that made it seem taller.

I can't get over you lettuce...mine never made taller then and inch or two.....the maters look great! I am sure you will have a great harvest

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