HelpfulGardener.com

A small beginning, but soon their numbers will rise. Taking over my basement, maybe even the world!!!!!

Hey Dono,
Don't you just love this time of the year? It's so exciting to see all those beautiful seedlings and all the promise they hold. When I start seeds, it's like I have OCD, I keep checking on the seeds like, every 2 hours after they begin to sprout.
My season is winding down now, so it will be my turn to have "zone envy" soon.

They look really nice.

Watch out... Step back -- he's just lulling us with a picture of one and a half trays. Before you know it there'll be an explosion of seedlings.

Today is the day the seeds hit the soilless mix in the basement. Maybe a little early but I am so tired of winter I am going to pretend it is spring and get started growing something.

Paulf if your basement is anything like mine you can use the cold to your advantage. The will grow slow in the cold.

I have a real hillbilly basement. Our house was built in 1874 and the basement has a dirt floor and only is under about 1/3 of the house. More like a cellar than a basement. Good enough for starting seeds. The foundation is really nice for a house so old; it is solid brick three layers thick. The ceiling is seven feet but I have to duck for the ductwork. When we retired to my wife's old family home nine years ago we put in central heat/air, so the basement does have heat. I can regulate the temp and make it a little cooler, but then the peppers are too cool. I'll just have bigger tomato plants this spring.

Gixxerific........Do you just grow tomatoes? You do an incredible job with them. Can't start anything here,

our basement is too cold, and we still have about 4 feet of snow in the yard. Cabin fever is a very real

problem. Not good.

How cold? Tomato seedlings can manage to grow slowly but stocky and healthy at low 50's. You just need to get them to sprout and grow true leaves upstairs where it's warmer -- this can be done in a crowded community containers in tight space under a small light set up, then uppot to spread them out more and send them downstairs to a full sized light set up. If you can, put them outside in the sun whenever it's warm enough.

Gixx, I've been wondering based on pics you've posted -- with the steep slope in the back of the house, do you have a step out basement? I sometimes don't bother to take them outside because it's too much trouble to navigate them through the house. I've been thinking about a better arrangement, though. It's all about efficient workflow.

Unfortunately by the time they were ready to get their leaves, it's still too early to grow them here.

I need a heated greenhouse. I put Brandwines in last year, when the weather finally smartened up ( the

howling wind storms, driving rain and hail had quit, in mid aug. They grew like crazy and were loaded with tiny green

tomatoes, but then the weather ran out, and it froze. If I would have had a much longer season, they would

have been loaded and huge. But wasn't too be.

Green Mantis, how long is your frost free season? Jal_ut grows tomatoes with less than 120 days frost free, but being so far north, maybe you have even less? Jal does start the tomatoes indoors. Short of a heated greenhouse, growing tomatoes would be all about how far along you can get them indoors. Applestar has been growing tomato plants and producing ripe tomatoes indoors all winter (see her winter tomato thread), so we know it can be done. So if you had the room and the lights, you could start tomato seed when the rest of us do (I.e. now) and just keep them indoors a lot longer.

When I lived and gardened at about a 500 feet higher elevation, I didn't seem to have many variety choices. Ben Quisenberry was still alive and preserving his strains of heirloom tomatoes but I didn't know anything about them. We hadn't gotten to glasnost in the USSR and the introduction of so many Eastern European varieties into the west.

The Shumway catalog was darn near the only seed catalog I'd ever seen. Early Girl tomatoes were offered for the first time and showed up on the cover of Burpee's while I lived out there. I was suspicious of them. Ha! I can still remember how happy I was to move to a lower elevation and be able to grow Earlianna.

While I was out and up there, I grew Sub-arctic tomatoes. They kind of went with my Polar-vee sweet corn .

After I moved, I gave Early Girl a try. Glasnost and perestroika happened. Remarkably, a University of Idaho horticulturalist came out with several determinate varieties that I grew. Sand Hill Preservation and several others still sell seed for Kootenai & Benewah. Dr. Boe went on to North Dakota State and they released Northern Delight.

The Alaskan horticulturalists no longer use Sub-arctics for comparisons for new variety releases. Prairie Fire seems to be the standard. There are short-season varieties in Canadian and US catalogs that are from the Beaverlodge Research Station in Alberta.

Steve

Rainbowgardener........Our frost free time frame is not long. The problem we have been having here the last

two years, is once the snow is gone. Maybe april or may it has turned to really hard rains, high winds,

thunderstorms daily, and often hail mixed in. It rains and the wind blows so hard that it beats the plants

down in the little garden I have. That type of weather stops about aug. Year before it was the end of july.

Lasted 2 weeks longer last year. The only way I could get them to grow, would be under cover. Not sure

if the winds would blow the covers off or not. The covers would really have to staked down extremely well.

Not the best growing conditions out here.

Well been busy here is the latest.

Hah! What'd I tell ya
Looking great, Gixx.

All I can say is WOW. Lucky you.

Well here is the command center as of a few days ago



I took the big dwarfs out for some sun they will stay on the deck for now. That is a good place I can give them sun or shade if needed and easy access to bring inside when needed. Plus I need the room downstairs to pot up the rest. That is tomorrows job.

applestar wrote:Watch out... Step back -- he's just lulling us with a picture of one and a half trays. Before you know it there'll be an explosion of seedlings.

A gold smiley face pendant Flavor Flav style for Applestar. See above pics.

Looking GGGGRRRRREAT! Now I'm going to have to catch up to YOU.

Those were mid to early feb planted. Don't worry the other few hundred are still tiny.

[youtudotbe]https://youtu.be/lDwB-nJ8zhs[/youtudotbe]

...um... Yeah ...good to go? I saw a few empty cells there, Gixx. You sure you haven't forgotten any?

Okay I have been busy this video is from a couple day's ago there has been a major change since than.

[youtudotbe]https://youtu.be/KyhBF9Tfhpw[/youtudotbe]

I missed these sitting right out side my basement door somehow. >:D

Looking great! I'm busy moving all my tomatoes and peppers out in the sunshine.

Yes RBG it is on, I am in massive planting and hardening off stage. Soon it will all be planted.

All those tomato plants is just amazing! I always thought my dad had a lot of plants (average is 60 a season) but you definitely have him beat! Looking forward to updates on this. Will you sell/give away plants or plant them all? If you plant them all what do you do with all the tomatoes?

Juliuskitty wrote:Hey Dono,
Don't you just love this time of the year? It's so exciting to see all those beautiful seedlings and all the promise they hold. When I start seeds, it's like I have OCD, I keep checking on the seeds like, every 2 hours after they begin to sprout.
My season is winding down now, so it will be my turn to have "zone envy" soon.

They look really nice.

I do this too, not just tomatos, any plant. I have to go back and look and look and look at it, like watching water waiting for it to boil!

The latest.

[youtudotbe]https://youtu.be/ZjuNAOyF0L8[/youtudotbe]

gixxerific,
I think I might be jealous. What do you with all the tomatoes? Sell them at a market or something else? We are thinking of doing a "community" produce stand this year, which I would love but I didn't really plant enough to sell my veggies. I have enough watermelon though for the stand. I can't imagine having that many tomato plants, I love tomatoes, but I think you love them more than I do!!! I thought I was going "WAY OVERBOARD" with like 10 plants this year. HAHA.

Voices30 wrote:gixxerific,
I think I might be jealous. What do you with all the tomatoes? Sell them at a market or something else? We are thinking of doing a "community" produce stand this year, which I would love but I didn't really plant enough to sell my veggies. I have enough watermelon though for the stand. I can't imagine having that many tomato plants, I love tomatoes, but I think you love them more than I do!!! I thought I was going "WAY OVERBOARD" with like 10 plants this year. HAHA.

What do I do with them well mainly eat them. But I do sell a few, give most away. I also can a lot this year even more. Lot of these are trial plants never grown before to save seed and get a grip on how they perform. about 300 'ish here and at my other garden and what I have cooking up in the basement.

Hey where are the pictures!
But seriously the last video is nearly a month old. Must be a jungle by now.

Mine right now are not even as lush as the ones in the video, Gixx. Wwwaaaay slower.
Getting ready to plant the containers now. Yeah probably should have done those first....

Never you fear Apple there will be lots of pics with fruit later on. Don't want to load up on plants without fruit. Too many pictures here with about 300 or so to check on.

last week

That looks fantastic!

I picked one of the beds today.

IMG_1579[1]

That's one bed?

Very nice! Time to get the canning jars ready.

Yes one bed but there is a lot I left as it could use more time. The second bed is behind a bit as it was planted later and is not as nice as this bed, my third bed at the Lil Shack was planted mostly for fall planting. Didn't even hit the dwarfs up yet. Flippin nuts here right now.

Apple yes I have started collecting for canning, up until now most have been for seeding and posting up with some fresh eating. Never fear I could give away every tomato you see and tomorrow I could replicate this over and over. I have a problem.