Accessible Gardening: #14: Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners , 1 by Amargia

Amargia wrote:
Carrie, I guess it would depend on what qualifies as “high” heat in the D/FW area this year and what variety of tomato you are trying to grow. Some tomato varieties handle high heat better than others. Once daytime temps are consistently in the upper 90s and it isn’t cooling off much at night many tomatoes sort of go dormant. Grumpy (a.k.a.: Steve Bender, The Grumpy Gardener at Southern Living Magazine.) list a few of the better southern summer varieties here:
http://grumpygardener.southernliving.com/grumpy_gardener/201...
‘Arkansas Traveler’ is my personal favorite.
Of course, if you are starting from seed, those seeds need to be germinated inside at their preferred germination temp. It is good to remember tomatoes can be started from cuttings since it is hard to find plants in the nursery mid-season. Vickie is solidly on target about diseases and late summer tomatoes in my experience. Early and late tomato crops aren’t as troublesome. That is why many Zone 8ers started their tomatoes in January this year. Having Sept., Oct. and Nov. as part of your garden season will probably take some getting accustom to. We tend to treat the high summer lull like the depth of winter except it is the AC and not the fireplace we hug. It might be possible for you to have fresh tomatoes on the Thanksgiving table!
The tomatoes we put in eBuckets and strawbales are doing better than those in the ground. We will harvest the first fruit from the ‘Livingston’ soon. It is beginning to change color. (Thanks, Vickie! It is from seed you sent.)
I traded for the seeds of several kinds of agastache. The hummingbird mint was the first to put in an appearance despite my neglect. I would put hyssops at the top of the list for good container plants.
‘Moses’ Fire’ is the daylily bloom for today.