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Post by whollygoats on May 1, 2015 21:22:49 GMT
Every year, I plant a number of tomato sets in hopes of generating a crop of fruit come 'high summer'. I have pretty much got it down to six spots where I can put in a plant set each year, so I'm limited to the types I can get. I always shoot for at least one, if not two, Roma tomato plants. Then, I perpetually looking for a decent producing slicer with a 'snappy' flavor, so I always have a couple of slicers. I've come to appreciate pear tomatoes for snacking, so I usually have one of those. Which leaves me one spot to 'sample' with...heirlooms, new introductions, other claimants to the whole slicer search.
My biggest problem: my hens. The girls don't do any directed damage to the plants, even though I have to protect them from trampling, like I do so many other plants in the back garden, but once the tomato set fruit...they'll go for the red. Every time. I have to cage and net my tomatoes.
I'm currently trialing fertilizing the tomato spots by placing plastic planter pots (holes in the bottom, y'know) filled with the scrapings from the chook chalet floor after cleanouts, on each designated tomato planting spot.
I'm ready to talk 'maters, mates!
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Post by Mari on May 2, 2015 10:20:59 GMT
I don't like to eat tomatoes, so I don't grow them either. I did have carrots last year.
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Post by Moose on May 2, 2015 11:37:12 GMT
I am not sure what kind I am growing .. I bought two plants that had already started off and two packets of seeds. I will fish the packets out and check
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Post by juju on May 3, 2015 9:31:56 GMT
I've never successfully grown tomatoes outdoors here, and I don't have a greenhouse or coldframe.
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Post by tangent on May 3, 2015 9:50:11 GMT
We bought some hardy tomato seeds and managed to grow them outdoors one year but they were pretty bland.
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Post by whollygoats on May 3, 2015 13:58:57 GMT
Well...I got four sets yesterday. Two Romas, a 'Siletz', which looks to be a red slicer and a 'Amana Orange', a non-red slicer.
I still have two spaces to fill. I'm thinking a pear tomato and another red slicer of a different variety.
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Post by whollygoats on May 4, 2015 0:19:58 GMT
Okay...Those are IN.
And, in the process, which was arduous, thanks to the 'hen help', I figured out that I have three more 'mater spots, not just two, as I imagined.
They will have to wait until after iris bloom, though, as the location access is impeded by iris buds.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 20, 2015 0:20:37 GMT
Oops...I forgot to post when I got the two additional sets. One called 'Mortgage Lifter', which is supposed to be a red slicer. I forget what the other is.
My 'Siletz' produced my first two tomatoes of the season, which I harvested this morning...Sunday, July 19. I had a plate of sliced tomato steaks. It was tasty.
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Post by whollygoats on Aug 18, 2015 20:32:45 GMT
I filled a collander this morning with ripe tomatoes. I will be sending tomatoes home with the unson and his family.
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Post by Moose on Sept 5, 2015 0:51:26 GMT
I have one red one, about the size of a large grape The rest are all green and tiny. I am a Tomato Failure.
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Post by tangent on Sept 5, 2015 4:25:33 GMT
Do you water your plants well?
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 5, 2015 17:48:44 GMT
I have found tomatoes to be an unreliable producer, highly dependent upon the seasonal conditions. A cool and cloudy summer leads to smaller and fewer fruit. Bad enough and it gets labeled a 'green tomato summer'; an undesirable outcome, but one usually outside your control. A warm and sunny summer produces more fruit, provided the plants are adequately watered. Tomatoes are not really a northern latitude crop, but can be done with things like cold frames, greenhouses and hydroponics, or an extremely fortuitous climatic event.
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Post by whollygoats on Aug 8, 2016 17:03:29 GMT
I just harvested my first tomato this year. It's a 'Cherokee Purple' and it is misshapen. It looks all 'Fukushima'...Like Dali designed the fruit.
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Post by Mari on Aug 8, 2016 17:55:52 GMT
I have an apple tree with lots of apples, but I'm not sure they will stay on it till it's time for the actual harvest...
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