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Gary350
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Re: TomatoNut's 2020 Garden

TomatoNut95 wrote:
Wed May 27, 2020 9:55 am
@Gary, I would LOVE to grow plants that gave 200lbs in 3 weeks too, but it is the Beefsteak types I have trouble growing, 'cause the fruits never get as big and fat as I would like them. Huge types like Beefsteak and my Mr Stripey tend to stay at a medium size. I have better luck with cherries.
You need lots of fertilizer to get large tomatoes. Not much nitrogen or you get very large plants with few tomatoes. You want high potassium fertilizer. Burn wood, tree limbs, brush, boards, pallets, lumber, logs, wood ash is excellent organic tomato fertilizer. Mix 1/2 gallon of wood ash in 5 gallons of water then water your tomato plants about every 3 days. I only grow Beefsteak type tomatoes, there are 6 types I know of, Big Beef is the best.

I always mix wood ash in my soil before planting tomato plants.

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applestar
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Are those saved Pepper seeds or purchased seeds from reliable sources?

My understanding is you HAVE to bag peppers to ensure pure seeds because they are notoriously promiscuous through no fault of their own — insects, wind, etc. in particular, plant/keep sweet peppers WELL AWAY from hot peppers.

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TomatoNut95
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All my pepper seed came mostly from Baker, Ferry Morse or Burpee.

These are my Splash of Cream, Bonny Best, Purple Russian and Velvet Red. I just LOVE that soft, silvery blue foliage of the Velvet Red. The little cherry fruits on it are slightly fuzzy themselves.
The Purple Russian is supposed to be Roma shaped, but one of the fruits appears to be rounder. Hope it didn't get crossed. I've got some blossom bags somewhere, I better use them.
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Nyan
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Well, I've got enough tadpoles to populate my corner of the state...

Over the last couple of days I dipped up well over a thousand of them while getting the pool ready. They have taken over 4 rain barrels and 3 twenty gallon tubs that I would have used for watering the plants...

Perhaps one of the culprits was on the kitchen window screen after I moved them...
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As a matter of fact they are working up a symphony outside right now...

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TomatoNut95
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Aww, what a sweet froggy!

Some sick, evil idiot abandoned a little black puppy out here, it's no taller than a ruler. It was wandering around whining and crying but it's dark outside now, and I don't know where it went. I can't see it surviving the night a raccoon, coyote or possum will kill it. Dump-offs have occurred here before, and I'm sick of it.

Nyan
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Yeah, all our dogs have been abandoned or were puppies from abandoned dogs that came to us pregnant. Hope it makes it through the night. Some people just shouldn't have dogs...

Tomatoes...
We grow mostly Roma tomatoes for drying (some we plant, some volunteers I move) and I have had better luck planting them in the taller (2 block tall) raised beds, pulling off the lower branches, and only watering the ground around them. Some calcium nitrate helps with blossom end rot, and frequent picking keeps the other rot down.

I did plant one on some flat ground covered with three layers of cardboard and straw over the top, to see how that works this year.

Usually the raised bed Romas are the only tomatoes producing in the hottest part of the year, and it seems if I keep them picked and watered, they keep producing (at a lower rate) until they freeze in the fall.

The San Marzanos were larger and more meaty, but they didn't seem to yield quite as much total weight compared to the Roma plants.

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TomatoNut95
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If I find the puppy in the morning I don't plan to keep it, I'm not much of a dog person. But the closest shelter around here won't accept animals from my county so that leaves me with having to dispose of dump-offs somehow.

How do you dry your Roma's? I plan to attempt doing powder, by means of slicing, removing the seeds, drying in my solar dryer and crushing with my morter and pestal.

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I usually dry the Roma's by coring, cutting in quarters lengthwise, sprinkling with a little kosher salt and garlic powder on the cut side.

I used to use the dehydrator, but now I usually lay them out on sheet pans or pizza pans lined with foil, and then put them on the dash board of whichever car I'm not using that day!

It takes one good full sunny day to dry them out when the car is parked in the sun with the windows rolled up. I've "temped" the interior at over 150 degrees during the summer which makes quick work of drying them out.

I'm not sure if they will get dry enough to powder without a little supplemental drying above and beyond the sun. Mine are usually dry, but leathery...

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TomatoNut95
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The car was my dehydrater to before my solar dryer was built. Once I used the oven and I think I burned some of my pieces.

My pepper pieces didn't finish drying 'cause it got cloudy sometimes. I put the pieces on a paper plate in the refridgerator to dry further. If the pieces are still not dry, I wonder if it would hurt to put the pieces back in the dryer tomorrow (if it's not raining), or I should I leave them in the fridge and they'll continue drying in the cold?

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TomatoNut95
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How does one politely tell a bee not to bore his hole into their house? :roll: :lol:
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TomatoNut95
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Nyan wrote:
Wed May 27, 2020 11:02 pm
Yeah, all our dogs have been abandoned or were puppies from abandoned dogs that came to us pregnant. Hope it makes it through the night. Some people just shouldn't have dogs...
Unfortunately the puppy is gone. No sign of it, I have been looking and listening around but I have a sad feeling it was hauled off by a predator.

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TomatoNut95
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I harvested my first Mr. Stripey this morning,,however the plant must have caught the bacterial spotting from my Roma. Should I not save seed from any of the spotted fruits?
Momma Cardinal was sitting in her nest this morning, I had hoped to get a pic of her, but she was obviously camera shy.

My carpenter bees are seemingly more interested in boring holes into places they shouldn't rather than pollinating my squash for me.
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TomatoNut95
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I can't get over the gorgeousness of this Splash of Cream. The white streaks in the stems and this truss is just breathtaking to me. Even the fruits are variegated; I cannot wait until they mature, I will be saving seeds from these. :-()

The Red Velvet cherry is also lovely with it's fuzzy, silvery-blue foliage.
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Nyan
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Nice 'maters! Grown in pots?

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TomatoNut95
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Yep! Filled with old potting soil, new potting soil, leaf mulch, Scotts Humas and Manure and a bit of Espoma Tomato Tone.

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TomatoNut95
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I cut my first Mr. Stripey! So meaty inside it was practically seedless! And the flavor was excellent! I was afraid it was gonna be really sweet, but it surprisingly wasn't! This was totally a keeper! :()
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TomatoNut95
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Aren't they the cutest little things? I'm hoping that third egg isn't a dud, though.
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:-()

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TomatoNut95
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Really long time no update. I've been having some family problems.
Most of my harvest has been just squash, peppers and tomatoes. I blanched some tomatoes, but now I've got more to do, along with a couple of zucchini that I don't know yet if I should slice and blanch or just grate. One of the squashes is round, it looks like a small yellow pumpkin. Baker Creek must have stuck a wrong seed in the Scallop packet, or one of their scallops crossed with another squash. My zucchini has done better for me than the Scallop has, it's done so good and given me a lot, I don't know if I'll try growing more for the fall. I may just stick okra or butter beans in the squash spot this fall.
I've been getting a few Red Velvet cherry fruits and they were great! Fruits are slightly fuzzy like the foliage, and not very sweet tasting. Great keeper!
It's been too cloudy to dry my peppers but too hot to dry them in the oven. I guess I'll just have to freeze them. Why is it that I had so many days of scalding sun and then when I get enough peppers to dry it decides to get cloudy??? That's usually the way it goes for me.
Wind is picking up outside, I hope I'll get some rain.

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TomatoNut95
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I can't get over the size of this Mr. Stripey! Sadly it didn't weigh as much as I had hoped. It was only 1lb and 1oz. But nice interior and fine flavor. I still don't understand why none of the fruits are striped. Just a solid golden color. I saved as many seed as possible so I'll have enough to share. :wink:

I harvested my first San Marzano. I'm waiting for it to turn some more before I open it. Looks like two fruits fused together.

Tried my first Splash of Cream fruit! :-() Juicy interior, with the taste being to the sweet side.

Red Velvet plant is highly productive!! Looking forward to more nice fuzzy fruits!
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Nyan
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Nice sized San Marzano!

Looks like you have a lot of good eating coming on.

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TomatoNut95
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I pulled most of the Scallop plants. I'm waiting for the last of the zucchini so I can start the okra. I think I have enough zucchini for the year, so I don't think I'll plant more in the fall.

Today I blanched a bunch of tomatoes. Made three quart bags out of them. The San Marzanos weren't really the best for freezing, but it's too cloudy to dry them in my solar dryer.

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Here's the tomatoes I put up yesterday. Rainbow colored mush, but will go good in soup and pasta! :wink:
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Today I tried my first Habanero. As soon as I cut it open, I could almost feel a blast of heat. I barely touched my tongue to the cut flesh and my tongue felt like I touched it to a lit match. That was terrible.

Getting another big batch of tomatoes for blanching. I just have to wait until all are ripe enough at the same time.

My latest Mr Stripey weighed 1lb and 5oz. Since there was a stupid worm hole in it, I'll just save seed from the fruit instead of blanching it.

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Are you going to try drying some of your peppers in your solar dryer? I have long wanted to dry some of my hit peppers and get a coffee grinder to make chili powders. Haven't made it that far yet.

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It's been much too cloudy to be able to dry my peppers in my solar dryer.

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Yesterday I blanched and put away three more quart bags of tomatoes, froze a bunch of Poblanos and then built a pizza.

It's been to cloudy to be able to use my solar dryer. And is going to be cloudy for another week. I hate to make my kitchen hot, but I had hoped to make tomato powder this year and I may just use the oven. it isn't my fault the sun's never there when you need it. The San Marzanos are proving to not be a great choice for freezing, so I may just cut the ones I have left and attempt drying them in the oven. I'm sure they'll bomb out, anyway.

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TomatoNut95
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Harvested my first Aunt Ruby's German Green! Such meaty interior and a taste that was a mixture of sweet and tangy. Too bad it had one of those mysterious rotted places inside it.
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TomatoNut95
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Hot. Outrageously hot. Yesterday evening I went out and pulled up some tomato plants. I picked one last zucchini, so now I can pull out that last plant. But as for planting the okra yet, I don't know. The heat index has been so high, I don't think I should plant just yet.

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TomatoNut95 wrote:
Sun Jul 12, 2020 6:22 pm
Hot. Outrageously hot. Yesterday evening I went out and pulled up some tomato plants. I picked one last zucchini, so now I can pull out that last plant. But as for planting the okra yet, I don't know. The heat index has been so high, I don't think I should plant just yet.
Okra loves HOT blistering 100 degree full sun 15 hours every day with very little rain. It starts growing slow but will be 6 ft tall in 3 months. Pods are slow to grow at first then you soon get 50 pods about every 3 days from 25 plants. Let 2 pods make seeds for next year. Okra should be known as a desert plant.

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TomatoNut95
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In that case, I better get mine going. I for sure don't need 25 plants, just maybe 6. My Aunt said she would love some okra as well so I will grow a couple of extra plants for her. We each only want just enough okra for small messes to preferably fry.

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TomatoNut95 wrote:
Tue Jul 14, 2020 11:13 am
In that case, I better get mine going. I for sure don't need 25 plants, just maybe 6. My Aunt said she would love some okra as well so I will grow a couple of extra plants for her. We each only want just enough okra for small messes to preferably fry.
Okra is slow to grow. It will take 3 months to start getting okra pods. 25 plants might get you 5 pods every week. It will take another month to get 30 pods every week. Now that your starting to get some pods to eat start pulling up a few plants if you no longer need all 25 plants. 20 plants might be good for a few more weeks then when those 20 plants are producing more okra than you can eat pull up 5 more plants. When your finished with the crop leave 1 plant for seeds each pod makes about 75 seeds.

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I have been picking 5 or 6 okra pods a day from 18 plants, 6 of which are slow starting Emerald, the others much faster Little Lucy, and these were started in early May. The good thing about these two is that the pods don't get fibrous until after they get 6" long - most are lucky to get to 4", without getting fibrous. And if you don't pick most twice a day, they get oversized and tough!

I had only 12 plants last season, and ended up with a dozen pints in the freezer - that's in addition to all I had in the summer! Not sure what was in my head when I increased it this year.

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This morning hoed some more and pulled up extremely long grass roots in preparation for the okra. I have my seed soaking in water today, by this evening I'll plant them in flats. In the meantime I will finish amending the soil with some fertilize.

I pulled up a lot of my tomato plants and some peppers. My Poblanos just weren't doing good, the plants have been puny and spindly from the beginning. My habanero is about to go to.

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Okra seeds are already starting to germinate. This morning I took a bowl and picked what good basil leaves I wanted and pulled the plants. Stupid mice or grasshoppers or whatever keeps pooping on my basil. But it's not there anymore. 😆 I washed and froze my picked leaves, with the exception of the few I kept out for my pasta for lunch. I may start a couple of more plants, I still have some basil seed somewhere.

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Okras coming up!! I wonder if it's too late to start a new tomato plant? I'm curious to try my new Marglobe variety.
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TomatoNut95
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Who wants to see something gorgeous? 😀

Had a call from a neighbor and let me know it was up there. I dashed outside and took picture after picture. The ones I took with my camera came out more vibrant than my phone, however.

Isn't it beautiful? I could've stared at it all evening. 😊
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TomatoNut95 wrote:
Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:32 pm
Who wants to see something gorgeous? 😀

Had a call from a neighbor and let me know it was up there. I dashed outside and took picture after picture. The ones I took with my camera came out more vibrant than my phone, however.

Isn't it beautiful? I could've stared at it all evening. 😊
Rainbows are nice. There are 2 rainbows in your picture, do you see there very faint double rainbow? People that wear polarized glasses can not see rainbows.

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TomatoNut95
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Yeah, I saw the 'secondary bow' or whatever it's called. 🙂 I will be sure to never wear polarized glasses. 😉

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TomatoNut95
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This morning I got 2 out of 3 packs of okra planted. It got so hot I just had to stop for now. I don't know if I'll get any rain from Hanna yet, I'll have to keep watching my radar. If I get any, I hope it won't come a flood and pound my poor little okra into the ground.

Also found the culprits eating on my basil and leaving all the poop. Stupid green grasshoppers. I just step on them. I recall having trouble with them last year.



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