TomatoNuts 2021 garden

[TomatoNut95]

Long time no post about my garden, mainly because nothing much has happened. Stuff's not growing much.

Today I got my lazy rear outside set up 3 egg cartons ready for seeding. But since the soil I used is old and the water wouldn't absorb immediately, I'm waiting for the soil to soak before I sprinkle the seed.

After the snow outside melted I discovered a thick mass of aphids hibernating on my red romaine lettuce. I'm going to blast the filthy things with the water hose. Oh how I hate those things!!

The bug you are seeing in the two pictures is a Kirby's backswimmer that showed up in one of my rain buckets several days ago. Backswimmers are called so because they swim upside down. I've always been fascinated with aquatic insects. When I was little I would go hunting in rain puddles to catch the diving beetles to keep as pets. Diving beetles are a very important insect because they feed on mosquito larvae.

Back to gardening, the frame for my greenhouse is up, but I'm going to wait until the seedlings in my egg cartons germinate before I put the cover on the frame.

[TomatoNut95]

I'm pleased to announce that my salvia is already coming up!
I'm so excited to see my first newborns of 2021!

[TomatoNut95]

Greenhouse is up! But unfortunately, after hunting, hunting and hunting, I couldn't find my big piece of plastic that I use for the extra layer of protection against the harsh weather. Knowing the next day there was going to be bad storms, I contacted my Aunt who she and my uncle are retired chicken growers to ask if they had any unwanted clear plastic on hand. They actually did, so I spent the majority of my day spraying off dirty chicken house curtains. After doing some measuring and cutting, I managed to get a perfect fit for the greenhouse. The remainder of the plastic I can use as row covers.

Today I boiled my first cabbage. The core of it just seemed to refuse to get tender; perhaps it was the variety. Along with that, I fried some of my frozen okra. Fried okra is like candy to me...

[TomatoNut95]

My electricity came back on yesterday. Today I went out and pulled up a fortune of dead garden plants. The only thing that may pull through are the Brussel sprouts and a couple of cabbages. Mustard greens, green lettuce
It was really sad, I spent a fortune on all those stinking Bonnie plants and mustard greens.
But, with all those deaths, comes renewal. My drawf tomatoes (Tiny Tim, Inkspot and Sweet Splash Electra) are germinating. I had to replace a few seed that went missing and didn't germinate though. I had to replace the pepper cress because the ones that germinated in the house got too leggy. Had to replant the saliva.... (salvia that is ) as well.

Wwhhhhhyyyyy is it that your garden plants die in harsh weather but weeds come through havoc like it never happened??? The stupid chickweed and henbits are trying their hardest to take over my garden. I did some chopping, but I know it'll come right back. I probably should lay out some more paper like I did last year to try and choke them out. Chickweed is practically indestructible!!!

[TomatoNut95]

Today I pulled a bunch of grass out of one of the beds. I'm tired of battling the chickweed and henbits, they are absolutely indestructible!

I found this massive slug underneath a brick I moved. I hardly ever see these big ones, so I didnt have the heart to step on it. Slugs aren't normally a problem for me anyway.

See my Greenhouse Guardian? Haven't given him a name yet.

My wild onion patch and onion chives are shooting up new growth. Can't wait to start using them.

[TomatoNut95]

New life emerges as my Triple L Crop peeks up from the soil. So far I have ten varieties planted. If I weren't so short on space I'd plant more. And who knows, I might plant more anyway.

My BK order, minus the Orange Accordion Tomato I wanted but was out of stock, arrived and I already planted it. Am anxious to try Spoon, Terra Cotta, Sweetheart and Lettuce Leaf Basil! But guess what I got for a freebie? White Tomesol tomato! I didn't really want it, but planted it anyway. I'll compare with White Beauty and see if I prefer one over the other. Which, if either one tastes like White Cherry.... Uh-uh.

[TomatoNut95]

Spoon, Sweetheart Cherry and White Tomesol tomato are up. Terra Cotta seed was a dud and will need to be replaced.

I can tell the Spoon variety will probably be a wiry and wispy plant because the new little plants are so thin. Can't wait to see how it handles.

Both my Mystety F1 and F2 plants are up, I'm really hoping F2 will be a copycat of F1. I contacted Ellie and for some reason she didn't have as good as germination on the Mystety seed I sent her as I did. I'm really pleased to be working with another tomato grower on this variety and I hope together we can unleash the virtues and faults of it.

Large Leaf Basil and lemon basil is up, also volunteer sweet basil is growing up in round fabric garden where their mother was planted last year. I'll be up to my ears in basil.

Both my wild onions and bunching onions are about to bloom. I have 2 Rosemary bushes now, my old one I thought had died in the ice storm seems to be growing back. I almost chunked it, but when I saw it was trying to come back I didn't have the heart to throw it out so I replanted it. I need to get my other herbs planted as well, but I haven't decided if I should put my oregano in-ground or in a hanging pot.

Chickweed and henbits are still trying to control my garden despite all the hoeing I did.

My Brussel sprouts are bolting, but the little sprouts on the stems are still too small. However, after all the worrying and work I've done over them I'm not going to waste those little sprouts. Bonnie plants are too expensive to waste.

[applestar]

Spoon is that tiny “currant” type isn’t it? You end up with a spoonful of the fruits? I’ve always wondered what kind of skin and seeds you’re left from each mouthful?

[imafan26]

Spoon tomatoes are tiny. Three will fit on a spoon and they are very sweet. The tomatoes are tiny, but the plants are vigorous and indeterminate.

[TomatoNut95]

I've wanted a current or wild type tomato. Spoon is indeed tiny, but I didn't think they were supposed to be sweet. Packet said full, regular flavor. Packet says fruit will pop if you bite it. I was like, why bite into something so tiny when you can just throw several in your mouth.

[imafan26]

Mine were sweet but not as sweet as sweat pea currant tomato.

[Vanisle_BC]

Sungold F1 is the sweetest tomato - and the only hybrid tomato - that I grow. Its amazing sweetness deflected me from my general wish to grow only open pollinated varieties.

[TomatoNut95]

Sungold F1 is the sweetest tomato - and the only hybrid tomato - that I grow. Its amazing sweetness deflected me from my general wish to grow only open pollinated varieties.

I've heard of Sungold. Is it true it's sweetness can depend on its stage of ripeness? Sungold is a favorite of Craig LeHoullier, the writer of Epic Tomatoes. White tomatoes are the sweetest I've ever had and they're yucky. I do not like super sweet tomatoes. Even some yellows are not to my preference. Mildly sweet is ok. I've had Aunt Ruby's German Green and it has fair flavor. Cherokee Purple is good. Pink tomatoes are good like Bradley and German Pink. But I will always hold the strong, acidic 'red' flavor the dearest to my tastebuds.

[imafan26]

I have had sungold and it is very sweet. It was rated the sweetest tomato for some time. It is sweetest when fully ripe. Not so sweet if picked earlier. However, it is very prone to cracking. I switched to suncherry which is also very sweet and thin skinned but less prone to cracking.

[TomatoNut95]

I wonder how it is less prone to cracking if skin is thin?

[imafan26]

I don't know. Most tomatoes crack because of the stretch and contraction of the skin in response to changes in water levels. There are some tomatoes with crack resistance built into their genes.

[TomatoNut95]

Last night it was supposed to frost but it didn't. Just got really cold, and today is stinking windy again.

Not only do I have a Mystery tomato, I now own a Mystery Pepper. Here's the story: weeks ago I purchased an aloe Vera plant from my local hardware store. When I got it home I noticed a very small, dried red pepper down in the plant. I was intrigued to be experimental so I tore the pepper open and sprinkled the seeds in dirt. So far, 11 babies are up/coming up! I don't have room for all of them, so sadly some will have to go. The pepper I found reminded me of the nasty Chiltipen pepper I grew several years ago, I hope that's not what this is. I'll keep everyone updated on my mystery pepper's progress.

My tomato seedlings are doing fine. Mysteries F1 and F2 foliage seems to compare, but I can't wait to see if F2 comes truly to type.
Ellie from Bunny Hop is collaborating with me on this one, and if it comes true to type, I'll have it for sale on her website maybe by next year.

[applestar]

Looking good! Are those 4 inch pots? I need a greenhouse and/or more room so I could spread out like that while growing my seedlings. I’m constantly just trying to stay ahead of seriously standing stunting their growth....

[TomatoNut95]

Looking good! Are those 4 inch pots? I need a greenhouse and/or more room so I could spread out like that while growing my seedlings. I’m constantly just trying to stay ahead of seriously standing their growth....

Yep, those are 4 inch. However, I do have some 3 inch. Most of my little square pots came from folks who were kind enough to save them from their purchase plants and give the pots to me.

Foam cups are excellent pots for tomatoes. More growing room, and you can write directly on the cup the name of the variety. Saves a ton of plant labels. But, then again, when you plant the tomato in the ground you'll still want it labeled...

My White Beauty tomato seed must be old, this was the second time the seed didn't germinate. I'll try again but it's getting rather late. Oh how I wish I had more planting space! Curse my clay! I get angry because I own so many tomato varieties and not enough room to plant each variety each year, and some of my seed is getting old and needs to be saved out; but I keep buying new varieties each year and end up wanting to try those instead of growing out the old stuff that needs freshening.

[TomatoNut95]

White Beauty tomato never came up, but too late to replant it now. Wouldn't have room for it, anyway. One of my biggest gardening stresses is my horribly limited space.

The other day I planted some speckled lima beans. I won't get much for freezing I bet, but some is better than none. I had to cover the rows with some heavy fabric thanks to the stupid rain to keep them from washing away.

I planted a few flowers, dusty Miller, marigolds and a Mexican Feather Grass plant all in one of my round fabric beds. I still have an empty spot left in there, I'll just stick a pepper in there.

So far I've planted Mystery F1, F2, Grape, and Triple L Climbing tomatoes in the ground. I'm still not through planting, the weather has been against me the past couple of days.

Edit: I forgot to mention the pests I encountered. Saw a nasty skunk one morning and that afternoon that same day I met a five foot coachwhip. I need to find some of those Snake Away Granuals. Snakes are not my friends(unless we're talking baby snakes only a few inches long or cute little grass snakes) and the next time I see that massive serpent in my backyard I'll blow it's head off.

[TomatoNut95]

Ah, the beauty of variegated tomato foliage! This is my Sweet Splash Electra, still hasn't budded yet.

[TomatoNut95]

Long time no post! One reason I don't post much is because my internet connection is usually slow and I have to crop pics before I upload them. The smaller they are, the much faster they go on.

Anyway, two of my yellow snapdragon plants have produced a different color on the same plant: a beautiful sunset orange color. I've never experienced a snapdragon producing two different colors on the same plant before, it's very interesting.

My onions are doing surprisingly well so far! I don't normally have this size of bulbs at this time, perhaps it is because I planted transplants instead of sets, and I planted them earlier than usual this year.

The other pic is of my 'misc stuff': marigolds, dusty Miller, my beautiful Mexican feather grass, last year's lavender bush, and a pepper plant.

I still have stuff that needs planting but I am out of room. My speckled lima beans are coming up with still some skips in the rows, even after I replanted.

[applestar]

Looking good! I haven’t had the pleasure of trying Sweet Splash Electra, so I’m looking forward to your report

...I used to be able to say I was lucky enough to live in one of the earliest marketing trial neighborhoods to get the FiOS lines and we jumped on it, trading up from Comcast cable ... then eventually, our FiOS box became obsolete (the early models had an emergency battery that turned out to cause problems and was unreasonably expensive to replace once it went bad....) ...so we kind of ended up “paying” for our earlybird special. Anyway, hopefully your neighborhood will be “wired” for faster access with the “latest and the greatest“ convenience soon.

[TomatoNut95]

Looking good! I haven’t had the pleasure of trying Sweet Splash Electra, so I’m looking forward to your report

...I used to be able to say I was lucky enough to live in one of the earliest marketing trial neighborhoods to get the FiOS lines and we jumped on it, trading up from Comcast cable ... then eventually, our FiOS box became obsolete (the early models had an emergency battery that turned out to cause problems and was unreasonably expensive to replace once it went bad....) ...so we kind of ended up “paying” for our earlybird special. Anyway, hopefully your neighborhood will be “wired” for faster access with the “latest and the greatest“ convenience soon.

As absolutely gorgeous as SSE is, I'm not pleased with its growth habit. It seems to be rather slow and not very bushy like I prefer my tomato plants. No sign of fruiting yet. Inkspot, however, is on its way to sucess. If SSE will finally put fruit on, I will save seed for anyone who would like some.

I live in the sticks, not a neighborhod. I have a couple of neighbors but I'm still on a dirt road surrounded by plenty of pines and oak trees. Big tech companies don't seem to be the type to care about the people's internet out in the middle of nowhere. I get by with my internet as mad as it makes me.

[applestar]

If broadband is available but expensive, this might be helpful? It’s allocated from the covid relief that passed in December:
Emergency Broadband Benefit | Federal Communications Commission
https://www.fcc.gov/broadbandbenefit

The Emergency Broadband Benefit is an FCC program to help families and households struggling to afford internet service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

If they haven’t built it in your area, rural broadband access is one of the proposed infrastructure in The American Jobs Plan. Of course this is still only ideas on paper so far….

[TomatoNut95]

Couldn't find the backyard birds thread, so I'll just post this here. The cardinals have nested in the cedar tree in the backyard. They made a much better nesting site choice than last year. This tree is bushy, and protected from severe winds and rain. Nest is of good, strong quality and contains two eggs. I wish them well, I just worry about snakes. I'll keep my eyes open for them.

[TomatoNut95]

Rain, rain, and more rain. Rain all these week. There's been a big leopard frog living in the ditch. I hope I won't have to rescue tadpoles.

It grows closer and closer to tomato time! These are pics from my Inkspot, SSE, Black Beauty, Spoon and grape. Oops, forgot to get pictures of my sweetheart raspberry...or is it raspberry sweetheart? Anyway, already encountering an issue of catfacing on one of my blue beauties. Crummy weather.

[TomatoNut95]

I'm so proud! This is the biggest onion I have grown! I have learned my lesson: NO MORE SETS! Transplants only!

[TomatoNut95]

Unfortunately the stupid cardinals abandoned their nest. Birds really are stupid. The nest must have gotten messed up in that last bad storm, it's still in the tree with the eggs in it but the nest is leaning over. If I had an incubator I'd watch them myself but getting bugs for them and teaching them to fly would be the problem, lol!

What is this stupid grass? I am so sick of it taking over my gardens. I spent a lot of time pulling it out of my onion patch. Now it needs hoeing out of my tomato patch. Purslane still trying to take over my puny beans.

Some of my onions the tips on them turned brown and dropped. But I know it's because of too much rain. I harvested the onions to keep them from rotting. I have more that the tops are still green and the bulbs are bigger.

My poor Spoon tomato is turning yellow, it's not handling this excessive rain.

[Taiji]

Nice onion! I finally realized too a few yrs ago that onion transplants were the way to go. Did you mention what is that variety? My best luck in
AZ was with Candy onions.

[TomatoNut95]

Nice onion! I finally realized too a few yrs ago that onion transplants were the way to go. Did you mention what is that variety? My best luck in
AZ was with Candy onions.

Thank you! It went on a pizza and in pasta. I actually don't remember what's the name of the variety, it's just a white onion as far as I remember.

[TomatoNut95]

Yesterday I chopped up my lima bean plants. They simply were not doing good in this stupid excess rain. I made three rows, fertilized them with Espoma, then planter one row with okra and two in cukes. Weather app said more stupid rain the next morning, so I covered the rows. Storm came in way sooner than expected, around 3:30 AM.

With all this stupid rain I should've planted rice patties. The yard hasn't been bone dry in weeks, and it needs mowing. This has one of the wettest years! I'm hoping by June it will dry up some, but then depending on how hurricane season goes, IDK.

[imafan26]

I could use some of your rain. It has been drier than normal this year. But, yes Hurricane season is right around the corner and I need to get my Hurricane kit checked and stocked for the year.

[TomatoNut95]

I could use some of your rain. It has been drier than normal this year. But, yes Hurricane season is right around the corner and I need to get my Hurricane kit checked and stocked for the year.

I'd happily send you most of the rain I've been getting if it were possible. I need a flood kit! Actually, I wish I had room to store a tornado emergency kit with as many severe storms as I get. But my house is so small and I only have one itty bitty closet I can crawl in when storms get bad. I don't have much storage space for emergency stuff like bottled water, canned rations with a can opener, change of clothes, toiletries, extra phone charger and such.

[TomatoNut95]

This morning for lunch I made fried onion rings with my excess onions! (why I didn't think of it sooner, IDK) They came out nicely if I do say so myself.

Tomato report: another grape tomato and a raspberry sweetheart is turning. I'm so disappointed in that SSE, it's younger than the other plants yet the older plants are slowly starting to mature their fruits.

[applestar]

How I wish I could grow onions! Looks yum

I’m not sure what you mean about the tomatoes — there is a HUGE variation in the time each variety takes for first tomato to mature — we’re talking less than 50 days from planting out to permanent location or large container …all the way to over 80 days. Location and climate as well as growing regimen plays a part too.

[TomatoNut95]

How I wish I could grow onions! Looks yum

I’m not sure what you mean about the tomatoes — there is a HUGE variation in the time each variety takes for first tomato to mature — we’re talking less than 50 days from planting out to permanent location or large container …all the way to over 80 days. Location and climate as well as growing regimen plays a part too.

Aww, maybe you can grow onions someday!

Really what I meant was my typical complaint about the fruits stating green on the vines for forever. But I'm learning to get used to it.

Here are a few pictures: Raspberry sweetheart, the beautiful but slowpoke fruits of Sweet Splash Electra, and a worm. Here's the worms story: I was looking at my snapdragon patch and I noticed a bunch of poop and gnawed places on the blossoms. Looking closer I spotted a red worm. I'm assuming he ate so many red blossoms that he absorbed the pigment and turned red. Doesn't matter now he's mashed goop on the ground.

I picked a miniature handful of Spoon. The taste was very good, quite average of a red tomato. I'll see about saving some seed from these (I may need a magnifying glass!! ) Spoon is definitely a keeper! I just need to record it into my 'book'.

[TomatoNut95]

Hey everyone! Unfortunately I'm experiencing internet problems with my phone, so I won't be logging on the forum for awhile. In the meantime, happy gardening!

[TomatoNut95]

While I'm connected to temporary Wi-Fi, I have more bad news. Tracphone shut the data off to my current phone because they're basically forcing me to buy a new phone. In the meantime I'll be searching for a new phone that suits me. So that may take a while. In the meantime I will not be active on the forum until I get a new phone and hopefully I won't have to set up all new accounts in it.

[Gary350]

While I'm connected to temporary Wi-Fi, I have more bad news. Tracphone shut the data off to my current phone because they're basically forcing me to buy a new phone. In the meantime I'll be searching for a new phone that suits me. So that may take a while. In the meantime I will not be active on the forum until I get a new phone and hopefully I won't have to set up all new accounts in it.

I had the same problem last summer my phone was slowly shut down little bit each time until I was forced to buy a new phone. DON'T buy an Apple phone I get 50 advertisements every day and text message too. So many advertisements I have to search through 250 ADs to see if I have a text from someone. I complained an was told apple makes money selling ADs they can't be turned off. I hope car companies don't turn my car off when they decide I should buy another car. I hope home appliances don't get turned off when companies decide it is time to buy another, refrigerator, stove, TV, coffee maker, lawn mower, dish washer, microwave, washing machine, clothes dryer, etc.