We had home grown fresh pick tomatoes last night, I think they are cherry tomatoes. I put up one of the little HF greenhouses in October last year and rigged it up with light, water and a little heater. I was mostly interested in some other stuff, but threw a few seeds in a couple of pots at some point, maybe November or December.
I wasn't really prepared for their growth and things ended up a bit cramped with all the other stuff, but I propped them up as best as I could. About a week or two ago they started to turn red and by yesterday there was a handful to throw in salads.
My wife was quite pleased that we were having home grown tomoates in early March.
It might not be quite the streach as some of you as we do live in Southern California, but it has been a chilly winter with much more frost than typical and a light freeze or two.
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ElizabethB
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valley
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Wack, Go ahead, rub our noses in it. You living down in the banana belt. You could be a bit more modest like, " I had to eat fresh, wonderful tomatoes and some or you guys haven't yet!
Good for you, what type were they? Had they over wintered or had you planted them this year?
Looking forward here to planting some seeds we brought back from Ararat area.They've been nice.
Have a great growing season.
Richard
Good for you, what type were they? Had they over wintered or had you planted them this year?
Looking forward here to planting some seeds we brought back from Ararat area.They've been nice.
Have a great growing season.
Richard
Hi Richard,valley wrote:Wack, Go ahead, rub our noses in it. You living down in the banana belt. You could be a bit more modest like, " I had to eat fresh, wonderful tomatoes and some or you guys haven't yet!
Good for you, what type were they? Had they over wintered or had you planted them this year?
Looking forward here to planting some seeds we brought back from Ararat area.They've been nice.
Have a great growing season.
Richard
They are cherry tomatoes I believe. Planted them in the greenhouse on a whim, probably in December? We did have one of the coldest winters in a while here, more morings with frost and a few days where the over night low was below 32. December was an expensive month to heat the greenhouse.
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valley
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Greeting Wack, We have a greenhouse here, but being in a valley that runs: north to south and with the tall trees,there is no direct sunlight in the winter. That and heating and getting through the snow make it not worth doing.
Do you heat yours with electric?
Richard
I see your in southern California, folks had a ranch in Gardena, Calif. when it was a farming comuinity.
Do you heat yours with electric?
Richard
I see your in southern California, folks had a ranch in Gardena, Calif. when it was a farming comuinity.
I used one of these Portable Electric Heaters.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-500-Watt-R ... /202368271
We had a pretty cold winter by typical standards, more frost that usual and a few sub 32 days (as the low for the day). I would say in general the avg high was 55-60 and avg low was 35-40.
It a 6x8 HF greenhouse.
Misting system on a timer and manual watering.
400w High Intensity Light on a timer
Heater noted above
Furniture moving blanket
The process was as follows during December and Jan (Sunset about 5pm)-
Lights set to on at 2pm till 8pm (area shades about 2:30pm)
Heater turned on at about 7pm (until that time light generated fair warmth) and off about 7am. Highest we turned the heater on was medium - medium. With the heater you didn't set it to a tempature, you just set it to a range and range within that range,
Low - Medium - High and within Low - Medium - High you set a dial low to high. It was a few days of trial and error at first.
Not sure how effective it was but when we would turn on the heater we would also cover the greenhouse roof with the furnature moving blanket to try and provide a little extra insulation.
The cost at the peak was about $4 a day for light and heat.
I don't have any pictures of the tomatoes, but here are some herbs that I started in the HF greenhouse and then moved to a tent type greenhouse once they were somewhat established. Started in a 72 capacity 1020 and then transplanted them into 4" pots. When they go into 4" pots is when they moved to the tent type greenhouse.
The tent types was setup mostly like the HF although it did not retain heat as well overnight and tends to run hotter in the day.
https://psps.shutterfly.com/pictures/211
https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-500-Watt-R ... /202368271
We had a pretty cold winter by typical standards, more frost that usual and a few sub 32 days (as the low for the day). I would say in general the avg high was 55-60 and avg low was 35-40.
It a 6x8 HF greenhouse.
Misting system on a timer and manual watering.
400w High Intensity Light on a timer
Heater noted above
Furniture moving blanket
The process was as follows during December and Jan (Sunset about 5pm)-
Lights set to on at 2pm till 8pm (area shades about 2:30pm)
Heater turned on at about 7pm (until that time light generated fair warmth) and off about 7am. Highest we turned the heater on was medium - medium. With the heater you didn't set it to a tempature, you just set it to a range and range within that range,
Low - Medium - High and within Low - Medium - High you set a dial low to high. It was a few days of trial and error at first.
Not sure how effective it was but when we would turn on the heater we would also cover the greenhouse roof with the furnature moving blanket to try and provide a little extra insulation.
The cost at the peak was about $4 a day for light and heat.
I don't have any pictures of the tomatoes, but here are some herbs that I started in the HF greenhouse and then moved to a tent type greenhouse once they were somewhat established. Started in a 72 capacity 1020 and then transplanted them into 4" pots. When they go into 4" pots is when they moved to the tent type greenhouse.
The tent types was setup mostly like the HF although it did not retain heat as well overnight and tends to run hotter in the day.
https://psps.shutterfly.com/pictures/211
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gixxerific
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valley
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Well, we're actually happy to hear of people getting a good and early crop. It gets us excited to get our seed and plants in the ground. The family here is looking to this seasons harvest, wanting it to be as good as last years, with new additions and more of certain veggies and fruit. I've added a few things to my grow palette based on what our form fellows are saying.
Richard
Richard
Richard, yes I am late. I actually only just pulled out last years tomatoes. They were still producing but the fruit was getting smaller and there were hardly any leaves left. The new tomatoes I planted a month ago were growing slowly because of the cold weather or because they might be a dwarf. One of them does have green tomatoes and the other is just flowering. So, I am only temporarily out of tomatoes for now. I planted a new one, New Big Dwarf, and some that I have planted before, super beefsteak and gardener's delight. I'm just in withdrawal, I usually have some ripe tomatoes all of the time. I actually bought tomatoes to eat, I haven't done that in a long time.
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valley
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We actually grow our best tomatoes at the Nevada ranch but we winter in the mountains, wifey is a pro skier. We have had a couple tomato plants over winter in the upstairs windows. Wifey made a wonderful meal that incorporated store bought tomatoes. I saved some seeds, I know they are said to produce somewhat different fruit than the parent plant but I've had very good results doing this.
Richard
Richard