happygirl345'
I love a garden with defined paths, your garden is beautiful. Speaking of over growing tomato cages I have certainly done that this year. I am going to have to get taller, stronger stakes. My vines are turning over my cages! My sunflower is so pretty I think!
Happygirl,
Your garden is so neat! I'm trying to make the decision to take out my grass and put in dirt paths like yours. MAJOR move...
Seedfork,
Your flower is beautiful! Almost doesn't look real, it's so pretty!
I love your back yard, happygirl!
new router tomoro, pix wont load. scootched the bugs over and grabbed green stuff for supper... it was sooo good. glad to be home!
Harvested my first tomato today!! Yeehaw! Supposed to be a beefsteak, but it doesn't look like any beefsteak we've grown previously.
The Homesteads are getting ready. The largest one that I've been (impatiently) waiting on to ripen has finally started turning that greenish-yellowish-kinda orangey color so it should be ripe soon!
The Burgundy bush beans are flowering like crazy. No pods yet, bu I expect them soon.
Congratulation.
Is this tomato from the seeds you started early January?
For those who have purslane in their gardens, good news: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_oleracea
I snacked on some today out in my garden. I didn't know it was considered a good companion plant - I'll have to stop selectively removing it.
I have some of these growing in the grass. I will save them for all the good they do: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achillea_millefolium and plant some yellow to go with the white.
Congratulations Stephanie, I remember when you almost lost those plants to the cold. Then you'd wished you hadn't planted out so early. Can't see what difference it makes when you get tomatoes, as long as you get some. : ). The 3 I planted early just sat there due to the cold. The fruit that has set is larger but not by much.
What are the other possibilities for that beefsteak?
Picking beans like crazy pulled the last of the beets and a few potatoes. Can't believe the potatoes are still growing. I need to remind myself to water them tho.
Is all purslane edible? I have some seeds that I know are an edible form lol. But I also have something that looks like purslane growing as a weed. I won't eat it bc I'm not sure but I have been wondering if they are all edible.
I bought some plants (bc of the pretty flowers) and they are also purslane. Is there a difference and if so what is it? Thanks for posting that Solace, ive been wondering...but when I get in from the garden I start doing something else.
Purslane, wild or otherwise, is edible and *very* nutritious. The caveat is of course to be sure what you have is purslane and not some other succulent. Sedum spp. is edible. Ice plant is toxic as is sea purslane (except the blooms, which you can eat, and apparently some people eat the leaves although they are not truly safe) and spurge is outright poisonous. Spurge is not a succulent but looks similar.
http://www.eattheweeds.com/purslane-omega-3-fatty-weed/
I recently found out why I did not get the volunteer tomatoes I had hoped for this year.
I mentioned to hubby that there were very few volunteer tomatoes, and he calmly explained that he had picked up all the fallen tomatoes last year, eaten the best, and put the rest in the compost. I blinked a few times, and told him that's probably why we don't have many volunteers.
Last year I had some volunteer tomatoes that had a really good flavor. So, to encourage more to grow this year, I scattered fruit along the bed. This morning I was delighted to find two plants growing amongst the weeds. I guess hubby missed the mother of these two.
Another bed has some volunteer tomatoes. The mother of these had volunteer fruit last year, but they didn't taste good to me. I'm hoping this year's fruit will be better tasting.
My harvest today.
On the scale is Chocolate Stripes, the heaviest tomato so far this year.
This message was edited Jun 18, 2013 6:14 AM
Lisa, when we cut into it, it looked like a Beefsteak, just smaller.
HoneybeeNC You reminded me of the Broad Ripple Currant Tomato plant volunteers that returned here this year , first time in some years I have had any volunteers .
Only it makes since ,that was how the plant came to exist in the beginning .(a few miles to he south of me)
You have me wondering if the volunteers will taste any different than the two plants I grew. Kind of gardener's Gotcha , ain't it ?lol
I had some volunteers from a currant-type tomato but they were more cherry sized, which surprised me, and they tasted a little different. I wonder whether they naturally crossed with something else. All of my tomato plants are OP so usually the volunteers come true to something.
Thanks Nichole, I won't eat anything unless planted it, I just don't know enough about it and too many veggies look a like. I'll eat the purslane from the seeds I bought.
Honey- you have me laughing so hard. When you describe just standing there blinking at least you solved that mystery.
Stephanie plants may be a little behind yours bc she almost lost them in a late freeze. I'm sure you remember that she posted a lot of pictures.
Oh well, I see a long productive season a head without having any extra work.
Comparing results doesn't make gardening a "race." One of the benefits of DG is to see what practices others use and whether they apply to our own gardens. Early planting, late planting, fertilizing, pruning - all these are variables that can produce interesting differences.
juhur7 -
You have me wondering if the volunteers will taste any different than the two plants I grew
Honey- you have me laughing so hard. When you describe just standing there blinking at least you solved that mystery.
greenhouse_gal
I am so glad that there are gardeners out there that want to learn the most and enjoy growing vegetables.
I wish there was some DG member really active and curios as I am, in my area to share seeding dates and technique and most of all the varieties that work the best in my climate.
Looking forward to hear all about your season.
Right now we are having some very heavy rain = so happy = larger tomatoes are going to go PUFF ... crack crack ... ooohhhh
We've been having a LOT of rain; it's pretty much ruined my strawberries - they've mostly turned into mush. But at least we don't have to water the rest of the garden.
Honeybee, what a shame about losing your tomatoes! And how funny that your DH didn't tell you what he was doing. At least you have a few volunteers to play with!
I planted two rows of peas this year: one was from seed saved in 2011 and the other was from seed saved in 2008. The older seed actually looked much better than the newer seed, but alas, none of those sprouted. So I have very little in the way of peas this year and have only frozen two packages so far. I asked a friend to send me some more so at least I have a fresh supply for next year.
One other variable to consider when comparing our gardens and microclimates is the different varieties of tomatoes we are growing. Won't 54 dtm cherry tomatoes come in far ahead of say, beefsteak tomatoes with a 90-120 dtm?
The very first tomato I ripened on the vine was picked at exactly 150 days from the day I dropped the seed into the soil. Being such a newbie at the time, I was seeing all the other tomato growers touting the wonderful fruits they were getting, and I was wondering what was wrong with my garden. Not a thing was wrong. I just had not considered that there are different timeframes for just about everything, including when tomatoes mature, LOL!
So, wouldn't it be a more accurate comparison if both Stephanie and drthor were growing the exact same variety of tomatoes, 30 minutes apart?
So which common variety of tomato are you both growing?
^^_^^
This message was edited Jun 17, 2013 9:39 AM
I was messing around, don't know when DG got so hostile. I'm not stopping Stephanie from posting, I believe she can post whenever she wants to. I thought drthor's first tomato was a cherry type so yes that would be ripe before a Beefsteak, I would think. First Stephanie needs to reply, but I'm not stopping her, I was joking around. We used to be able to do that on DG....
Even a 30 minute drive can put you in a totally different micro climate. There are so many different variables it's hard to compare but I do think your suggestions GG are a great place to start. I've been gardening in this same place for 20 yrs and have found that the weather always has a mind of it's own, and that's what ultimately decides when I plant out.
Personally, Im more concerned with my over all harvest then how soon they start producing. I also prefer to have the shortest DTM possible, so I have less work and get the same production. The plants I put in the ground at the beginning of April have large tomatoes on them that are just starting to turn, so the DTM is about 70 days. They wouldn't get going until the soil temps warmed up. That works for me, and I prefer larger tomatoes. I think gardening should be fun and productive but that term means different things to all of us.
Mine aren't the first to ripen but that's fine by me. I like to harvest tomatoes all summer long, that is more important to me.
Drthor-what kind of tomato is the one on the scale? I don't think it can be Choc cherry bc it's not a cherry tomato but it does look good.
I hear yah, Lisa, on that "overall harvest" thing you said!
I don't care when I get my tomatoes, so long as I eventually do get them! I was so glad to see any blooms at all on my tomato plants this season, it wouldn't have mattered if they were chartreuse purple with little green men growing on the insides!
I took a very calculated risk planting out so early here for the first time, and, I kinda was holding my breath on the weather. But, so glad I went for it, cause it has been totally worth the effort and the little bit of struggle (not much at all, really, with everything in place).
I have learned that I have the patience to wait for the long-season beefsteaks I love to grow. I'm never in a hurry for any tomato. I think I appreciate it more when it's taken so long to make it to my plate. It's like waiting to go on vacation and the day finally arrives!
On the other hand, I have lots of friends who want tomatoes 3 weeks after they set the plant out, and that's fine, too. I've had to stop sharing my seedlings with those growers, because they kept asking when they would get their tomatoes, LOL! It never occurred to me in the beginning that other people want their food sooner than later, LOL! "Are we there, yet???"
And next season will probably be a whole different ball of wax!
Add in the 3 lbs. of greenies I harvested when I trimmed all the vines back on Saturday, and I'm at 35.5 lbs. The remaining tomatoes I left to ripen should give me about another 3-4 lbs., so I'm happier than a hornworm in an abandoned field of volunteer tomatoes!
Hugs!
Can ya'll believe it is truly almost time to start the fall/winter seedlings???!!! I figure about 3 more weeks! WOW!
This message was edited Jun 17, 2013 4:17 PM
Whoa, people! I went to take a nap, enjoy the day with my husband, and then work today and come back to people arguing!
Drthor, I saw your questions, both times, but chose not to answer you. I don't keep records, but this year, I've had the most tomatoes set fruit than any year previous. I can't wait for it all to ripen! I am a bit south and west of you, so my climate is a bit different from yours. Also, I use planting calendar and don't plant according to the lunar cycles like you do, so I planted later than you did. If I remember correctly, I also started my seeds later than you did as well, though still in January. I lost the first bunch of seeds to mold, so I had to re-plant a few weeks later.
I don't start my cool weather crops until the first week of August. That's for market sales, the ones that need 8 weeks till plant out. The others I start at the beginning of Oct. I have a chart, around here somewhere, lol that gives the sow date according to your region. It's from A&M
GG-I think it freezes later in your area, why do you start them so early?
Lisa,
I think you're right. I think I determined that I started a bit too early last fall. It didn't cool off around here until almost mid-November!
I start the seeds inside to have good size seedlings for transplanting out when the weather starts cooling off.
Last Fall was strange. It didn't cool down until Christmas, I remember it being a topic on DG it just would not cool down. You put your plants out when they are bigger, most of mine are around 4 weeks old. But fall isn't my favorite season like it is yours. : ). I hope you try the tulle, I really think it's the reason I have squash at all. This is the first time in 20 yrs I've actually grown squash and had beautiful plants. I promise to post the pics tomorrow. The leaves on the zuke plants are like lilypads. Wasn't the tulle your idea?
drthor,
I Googled Chocolate Cherry tomatoes, and none of them look like the large striped tomato you posted as Chocolate Cherry...and, the Chocolate Cherry tomatoes posted on the web are much smaller than in your pic...more like cherry tomatoes...
"Whas' up with dat?"
The only race I'm in is against the bugs. I've never seen some of the critters devouring my garden: tiny yellow fuzzy caterpillars, junebugs, hornworms....add to that some weird fungus and I wonder if I'll harvest anything else out of here this year!
I've learned soooooo much from y'all. Keep it up!
This message was edited Jun 18, 2013 1:01 PM
Boy... forget to log on to Dave's for a few days and I'm behind!
Gymgirl -- TEAR OUT THE LAWN!!! there are so many benefits! First of all, less chemicals. Secondly, more food! Third, it's way more interesting. I've attached a few photos of the front of my house. A few years ago we took out the lawn (the water company gave us a kick-back). We put in mostly drought tolerant natives. Since then, I've outgrown the back yard for my food production, and we decided to take out a huge Sycamore tree (it argued with the power lines and made DH and me sneezy). Once we took out that tree, I went garden-nuts. I now have 9 (yes NINE) fruit trees in front, blueberries, corn, strawberries and (had) garbanzo beans.. I am proud to say my yard has become a great conversation starter with my neighbors, and many people who walk by are now asking me gardening questions... it is SO rewarding. I have five of the fruit trees on an espalier, and will get a picture of that today... Meantime... this is my front yard, and the string of garbanzo beans I just harvested. If I can do it, you can do it!
Food, not lawns!
-Patty
happygirl - how do you keep the deer from eating everything in your front garden?
LOL!
I went back and read every post on this and the Tomato thread where the pic was posted, and drthor never said her tomato on the scale was a Chocolate Cherry.
It is labeled correctly as a Chocolate Stripes. Nice colors, too!
Just keepin' it real, ya'll, LOL!
(But, I still maintain that if we're gonna compare harvest times, we should consider that the tomatoes need to be the same variety, for a more accurate assessment.)
Drthor edited it to read Choc Stripes, which I'm sure is correct. I've grown both and didn't think it looked like a Choc Cherry. It is a beautiful tomato.
Oops! Sorry, guys, I missed the "edited" tag!
HoneyBeeNC -
If there was a deer in my front yard, it would make the evening news. I live in a concrete jungle. (Suburbs 30 miles east of San Francisco).
That said, I have racoons, opposums, squirrels, the occasional turkey, cats-from-he!! who use my garden as a latrine, and bees. I don't have to fight any of them too hard... though the racoons will start to fight me for strawberries if I'm not careful! -Patty
Nola-can you post a pic of the fungus? That stuff always interests me. It rained (a lot) here last night. If I'd known rain was coming I would have sowed seeds instead of spreading out soaker hoses and watering everything. Lol
I'm seeing bugs that I've never seen before, we went for so long with no bugs then bam, they are every where. Weird little worms I'm seeing horn worm poop and by the size of it the worms should be big but I can't see them. Found a couple smaller ones tho.
Happy-thanks for reminding me where Pleasant Hill is I was just about to google it. When my ex and I separated that was the first ting I did was tear out the grass. It was such a waste, at least too me. I still have some but my live stock keeps it mowed.
