Tomatoes

Add a Comment

Comment by Thomas Roy Lantis Sr on May 25, 2009 at 12:05pm

I started seed on February 15th. On April 15th I put them in a cheap little frame green house we found. Two weeks later the wind blew the greenhouse all to smitherines. It even blew the water filled milk jugs I was using for balast and solar heat. Being the die hard I am, I planted the seedlings anyway. They all appeared to die. The first of May I planted 12 plants from the nursery and set up my soaker hoses. May 18th, when I weeded the tomato rows, I noticed I have little tomato plants where I planted the disaster. I also have extra tomatoes where the green house was destroyed. Is it possible the roots started new plants wherever a piece of broken root was in soil? Maybe you can get several plants from one seed. I did plant the tomatoes in a long ditch on their sides to get more roots.

Comment by Joy Williams on May 25, 2009 at 11:45am

I sing praises for alpaca tea. In fact, my alpaca manure turned into worm castings. So I got the best of all worlds there.

Comment by Maxine Walker on May 25, 2009 at 11:39am

Not weird Chelle, only gardeners wax ecstatic over excrement. It is hardly worth the trouble to start tomatoes from seed when you can buy such nice plants and they transplant so well. I only do it because couldn't find my favorites. Hey, I made up some little burlap bags with Alpaca poo in a plastic bag inside for Tilth to sell at the market. Not enough savvy people, not one sold. So how about, just for fun, I'll mail you a few and we can compare notes on our crops this year. Comes with instructions for making 5 gallons of "tea". Optimum ferlization (not chemical) protects against cooler weather too which we can have even in June. Pisces moon here.....

Comment by PiscesGirl on May 25, 2009 at 10:33am

I think I'm going to follow your model next year Maxine! I too live in Western Wa (Olympia) and felt like this endless winter we've been having really set me back. I'll have to do the hoop tunnel for sure and check into the Alpaca poo as well.

I hadn't heard of Alpaca Tea, but there's a fellow at our farmers market who sells Worm Tea and that stuff works wonders! I'll also have some chicken manure ready by this time next year and as weird as it sound - I'm pretty excited about it. ;)

Best of luck and Big Tasty Tomatoes for all! :)
Chelle

Comment by Maxine Walker on May 25, 2009 at 7:04am

Thanks for the invite Joy - yes, I don't eat tomatoes all winter long and the summer crop I grow is mightily looked forward to. Here in my area just East of Seattle the last frost date this year was May 7th so obviously I have to start my seeds indoors under a halide light in March. They are potted up to 4 inch pots before planting out in my raised bed with 18 inch wooden sides and even then under a 3/4 inch pvc hoop tunnel with plastic over it because temps still below 40 degrees at night. So this takes care of warmth and protection from excessive cold rain we often have in the Spring. Not a problem for alot of you but important in some climes. Excessive rain also depletes the soil especially the important calcium need for tomatoes. Taxi and Principe Bourghese are my yearly choices with some Yellow Pear and Gold Nugget, depending on what catches my fancy. Experimenting with Alpaca poo "tea" this year, made from Alpaca "beans" I got from a friend who raises them. You can even apply it fresh as it isn't hot like cow manure and won't burn.....we'll see. No trouble too great to get my tomato crop!

Comment by Kay Robbins on May 25, 2009 at 7:04am

Michelle, I am glad to say that my beds have good drainage but with the amount of water we have had they are still over saturated but at least they are not standing in water. I am going to try to cover at least some of them because more rain is predicted.

Comment by Joy Williams on May 24, 2009 at 11:26pm

maybe they were? Are you susceptible to bunnies?

Comment by PiscesGirl on May 24, 2009 at 11:14pm

I honestly don't know what I did wrong.

I figured that maybe I just didn't harden them off well enough. All I can say is that they looked as if they had been attacked by "Bunnicula" by the next morning. :-(

Comment by Joy Williams on May 24, 2009 at 10:42pm

wow Pisces Girl... any idea why??? That sounds very bad!

Comment by PiscesGirl on May 24, 2009 at 10:27pm

Great idea for a group Joy! I have to agree with Gillian that I worry over and work more for my 'maters than anything else I grow!

My experiment with starting my own from seed indoors this year went quite well right up until I put them in the ground. They shrivelled up and died - overnight. It was pretty heartbeaking. Round two fared the same, even with a little more time for hardening off, so I had to pick some up from a very nice guy at the farmer's market, and so far, so good. Fingers crossed!

• First
• Previous
• Next
• Last