I was driving by Buchanan's yesterday, and saw "TOMATOES & PEPPERS" on their marquee, so I decided to check it out... Thought it was a little early for these veggies, but they've got em! I picked up a couple of seedlings... is it too early to plant them in the EB?
New heirloom tomatoes @ Buchanan's in Houston
Hey KC, you might get better information from someone closer to Houston.. But this is what I think.....If I were you, I would wait about a week and a half to two weeks, but who knows...you might get away with planting them now. I will be planting out at the end of Feb. but I expect we are a bit colder than you are in Houston.
So spill it....
What varieties did you find at your local nursery? How cool! I only find the hybrids at my local nurseries.
Well... I picked up Marvel Stripe & Green Zebra for myself. I saw Creole, Limmony, Lebanese, Black Krum, Isis Candy, Banana Legs, Brandywine, Juane Flamme... those are all I can remember right now, but I was pretty excited to see them out!
Where is Buchanan's located? Thx
Inside the loop, in the Heights... it's on 11th St, somewhere between Studewood & Heights Blvd.
Ahhhhh! Well thanks a bunch....gotta make a trip down there to check it out! I was born in the old Heights Hospital.....so I guess I could say that I'm goin' back to my ol' neighborhood! :~)
petit_potager
Feb 18, 2007
kcadams: You saved me a phone call. Thanks much!!! They have great herbs, too.
This message was edited Feb 18, 2007 10:59 AM
Here's the link. I drove down Heights yesterday and was tempted to stop by Buchanan's and didn't! Know I will get there soon now!
http://www.buchanansplants.com/
http://www.buchanansplants.com/directions.htm
This message was edited Feb 21, 2007 5:19 PM
KC - I was there on their "tomato day" about two weeks ago when the heirloom growers were there. We could ask them questions, which was very helpful. There were quite a few customers early - the Black from Tula was gone by 10:00 am. I bought some heirlooms and some hybrids. Yesterday I planted two EB's - one with the strawberries I bought, and another with an Early Girl (hybrid) from HD, and a Black Cherry (heirloom). I have two more EB's coming and as soon as they come I'll plant a Cherokee Purple, a Little Leprachaun and two more hybrids, Health Kick and Sweet Million. I also bought Ghost Cherry (heirloom) which will go in the ground, I guess. This is my first year for EB's as well as heirlooms. I used the casters so I can wheel them into a protected area if we get a late cold snap. Today's "cold front" is bringing us 70's and 50's - so it's hard not to get going with these temps! Oh, but Houston can be fickle! I had tomatoes with great 3" fruits that froze into oblivion with our very early October '06 freeze... I think it's like washing your car - it will "cause rain!" so maybe my green tomatoes caused the early freeze LOL. Buchanan's has remodeled since the fall and it is very user friendly and attractive.
The reason I don't go to Buchanan's is distance. I would have to get out of Richmond early, early, early for even a chance on getting there for the good deals or choice selections. The nearby community is EXTREMELY loyal and stuff is usually gone within hours. I have been in the mood to grow a couple of heirloom tomato plants since reading this thread. Wonder who in SW houston carries heirloom varieties.
Bookworm, my tomatoes were also full of fruit and froze in Oct.
http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetablepatch/f/TomatoCracks.htm About Cherokee Purple, it was a bad splitter for me. According to this link, they're still edible but the cracks grossed me out so I never got to taste them. In my case, I'm sure it was due to inconsistent watering.
vossner - there were quite a few people at that Saturday sale - but they still had a lot of heirlooms two weeks later - a few popular ones were gone. That's funny - you lost tomatoes in October as well. I guess we both have responsiblilty for the early freeze lol - usually no freeze here until January if at all... I've seen heirlooms at Southwest Fertilizer in SW Houston last summer for fall plantings - on Bissonnet. You could call and see what they have.
Willis - I happened to be in Conroe and went to Hummingbird Gardens (funny - no HB plants that I saw...) but they did have some heirloom tomato varieties. They were in the process of wheeling things into the greenhouse for our last weekend freeze. Gee - when do we get a break from freezes? This year - October, November, December and February/march??? What's going on? We've had many years with no below 32's at all!
Here's a list of some tomato and pepper varieties that might still be available in the Houston area that was compiled by a friend of mine that lives there.
The reason I say *might* is this list is about a week old.
Houston Garden Center TOMATOES
-----------------------------------------------------
Cherokee Purple
Old German (bicolor)
Brandywine
Rutgers Select
Marglobe
Sweet 100
Wabash Antiques TOMATOES
---------------------------------------------
(Arkansas) Traveler
Black
Black Cherry
Black Krim
Black Prince
Brandywine pink
Brandywine Red pl
Cherokee Purple
Costaluto Genovese
Eva Purple Ball
Fox Cherry
German Johnson
Ghost Cherry
Green Grape
Green Zebra
Jaune Flamme
Jubilee
Lemon Boy
Limmony
Lollipop
Marmande
Matina
Matts Wild Cherry
Mortgage Lifter
Mule Team
Principe Borghese
Rose de Berne
Super Italian Paste
Sweet Chelsea
Yellow Pear
Wabash Antiques PEPPERS
-------------------------------------------
Ancho San Martin
Brazilian Red Olive
Carmen
Chiltepin
El Jefe
Explosive Blast (ornamental)
Golden Marconi
Habanero
Hungarian Paprika
Serrano
Spanish Spice
Wow - great list Suze! I've never been to Wabash - so that'll be a fun outing. I've been reading about as a good source for many organic garden items in Bob Randall's book - Year Round Vegetables, Fruits and Flowers for Metro Houston.
Hi, bookworm -- funny you should mention Bob Randall's book. My friend in Houston that provided the above list has the book and says it is very good. I've already "bugged" him several times to look up stuff for me.
Maybe I should get it too. ☺
Suae - The book is awesome! I've spent hours reading it and making notes. I wish I'd had that kind of information years ago. I might not have given up gardening while my children were growing up! Now that they have flown the nest, DG , this book and more time have revived my desire to garden. South Texas is an unusual place to garden! I highly recommend it.
If anyone is still needing tomato transplants in Houston, here is some current information (as of today) on where to obtain some that I'm reposting from another forum:
Quoting:
For anyone in the southwest Houston area that may need replacement starts or who is just getting around to planting, I was just at Southwest Fertilizer 5828 Bissonnet at Renwick. They had an amazing assortment of tomato varieties in stock. My guess is they had about 15 heirloom varieties and about 20 more standard OP and hybrid varieties. They were in 3" pots, with the standards going for $.99 and the heirlooms going for $1.49. All looked healthy and well cared for. I just wanted to pass the info along.
Also, from another poster--
Quoting:
I was at Houston Garden Center on 610 near I-10 last night and they still had a ton of tomato starts, both 6 packs (even Homestead 24) and 4" pots of heirlooms and hybrids alike (almost all the ones at ChefJeff.com) plus a ton of spices. They had about 1,000 Sweet Basil starts, as well as some other varieties of Basil. They also had cantaloupe, watermelon, and squash starts too. In Houston it's really time to just start seed of those, so for $1 you're shaving off 2 weeks of growth.
Great info Suze - thanks for sharing!