Just wanted to let y'all know that my green beans and tomatoes (some of them) are beginning to produce again! Hope that this will give me more of the tasty tomatoes I had for a while, I miss them so.....
Round 2 :)
One of these days I'm going to have a greenhouse with tomatoes year round!
Kent
Russ, this spring I tried hydroponic tomatoes and they were next best to picking from my garden. For the wrong time of year they had a wonderful flavor.
Jeanette
Kent wrote; "One of these days I'm going to have a greenhouse with tomatoes year round!"
Ya know, I've been considering that, and (I think) I've decided that I'd miss the anticipation of the preparation, worry and wait for the first "real" tomato. I think I'll let Mother Nature have Her way, and hope She'll let me stretch the season a bit, both ways *G*.
Besides, if I had to tend to things outside in the winter how would I ever have time to wallow in all the catalogs.....:)
Margo
Kent, I meant that last comment about hydroponics for you. LOL
Margo!! Boy do you have a point there. Those catalogs are what get me thru the long boring winter.
Jeanette
Jeanette: that's the first I've heard (or at least remember) about you and hydroponics!
Kent
I remember when I attempted to extend the season by taking tomato plants (cuttings? - I can't remember) into my high school classroom for the fall/winter. Do you know what the 7 year locust or cicada cycle is like - in terms of numbers of "hatchlings"??? Well, welcome to the white fly infestation of biblical proportions!!!!!!! Needless to say - no wintering over of tomatoes.
Kent,
In one of the posts I said that we wanted bacon and tomato sandwiches so bad before the season and the produce manager in one of the groceries told us that they had hydroponically grown tomatoes that were the next best thing to picking your own.
So, we tried them, even at $3 per pound. They were delicious. Great flavor. If it weren't for the money involved, I would try those instead of hot house tomatoes. And, I have to admit, that I have never checked into the cost of hydroponics.
Wanna, that is too bad about the White Fly Infestation. Why don't you try pole beans. They grow fast and grow everywhere. The kids would love them.
Jeanette
Not sure how cold it gets in Wake Forest, NC but my DH made this little contraption as a 'camper shell' that we would carry along on camping trips and assemble when it looked like rain was coming in. It was way too much trouble for that idea but I'm a'thinkin' it will make a nice little greenhouse this winter. Last winter we had three mornings in a row at 26 degrees here in Phoenix.
It's small, easily portable and can also be used as a shade structure. In addition to all that good stuff, it's cheap to make and we could have another one or two. Much easier to manage than one large one.
Thanks, Jnette! Actually - I turned in my red pencils and grade book 8 years ago after 3 decades of teaching biology to hormonally challenged teenagers. What fun that was!!!!! Now - though - there is a lot MORE fun to be had and I am working just as diligently on that.
MaryMcP: good idea with the pipes to make a frame for a greenhouse. It can get into the single digits during the winter.
Kent
Ouch - single digits. Much as I dislike our triple digits in summer, single digits are gnarly. Good luck with it. I planted my 4 bales today!! Peppers and tomatos.
Mary, sounds like your growing weather finally kicked in. Lucky you. It will be 8 months before we are where you are now. Have fun!
Jeanette
It's been unseasonably warm here, for October, but, miserable as _I_ am, I'm NOT complaining. It seems to be perfect for my tomatoes :). We had this very odd thing happen Thursday, there was water falling from the sky. At least I think that's what was happening, but I don't remember seeing it happen before. The garden loved it, and the tomatoes are busy growing larger, and I need to pick pole beans again :).