Wow! Wanda, you're a bit ahead of us. I just put out my pea plants a few weeks ago.

Well, I bought a pony pack of mixed cherry tomatoes last weekend- but did not get a chance to put them in yet.

Is there any reason, besides access, that you buy plants vs. starting tomatoes from seed?

I don't have the patience for seeds. I'd rather buy them already started. I'm good with cuttings, but I really suck at nurturing those tiny little sproutlings.
Maybe one day when I'm retired...........

I also do not have the patience to start tomatoes from seed.

I also live where I can easily find just about any type of tomato plant in a 4" container that I could possibly want. Next weekend many nurseries by me will start having "Tomaotomania " sales events.

I'm with you Wanda and Jillberto, i.e., have no patience growing tomatoes from seed. Yesterday I bought about six different heirloom tomato plants and a Japanese cucumber. Earlier during the day, I was at a different nursery talking to the owner and the issue of patents, control, and such came up. Long story short, I will try to save seeds from my heirloom tomatoes this year to grow new year before they disappear.

I just planted some cherry tomatoes in my "Red Bed" This is a new bed and I will plant anything red into it. I thought they would look nice in it. I usually don't plant tomatoes this early, I like to wait till the soil is warmer.
Donna in Orland, N. CA

It does still seem too early to plant out tomatoes, unless your nights are staying above 50F already? Or do you cover them at night or use "walls of water" or similar to keep them warmer at night? I could never quite understand why people rush to plant tomatoes so early, when they often just sit there and do nothing initially. It seems especially ridiculous to see them at Home Depot and the like as early as February...

I planted vegetables yesterday too. I'm in the Bay Area (Berkeley). Usually I plant out seedlings in mid- to late April. But I'm so tired of waiting for ripe tomatoes and peppers every year until August. So this year I'm planting a month earlier. At least they will have ample time to grow roots and foliage. We don't have frost at night so there's no danger there. Yesterday it was sunny and 72 degrees--you can never tell what spring will be like here as far as the high temps.

Another change I'm doing this year is planting more types of vegetables for cooler climates, like "Siletz" tomato which does not need specific pollen temps for setting fruit. Also bell peppers instead of the more heat-loving Italian sweet horn peppers. I'd sure be happy to have some vegetables by 4th of July for a change.

I'm picky about the varieties I plant, so I've only planted two so far, Caspian Pink and Koralik, about ten days ago. I resisted buying any seedlings during the warm spell in February, and waited until we had a week of sun in March. Both are in walls-o-water. I'll probably plant a dozen more (including the ones I'm growing from seed).

Bahia wondered why do it...To push the limits of what can be grown when, of course. And also because, having grown my own tomatoes and raspberries and cucumbers and strawberries, I can't eat store-bought versions any more (and rarely eat the farmers' market versions). The difference in quality is so astounding that I don't eat these unless I've grown them.

Last year, I planted 2 plants in mid-February and a bunch more in March, despite the rain and cold. The year before, I planted a bunch in late March, even though it was an especially cold and rainy year. Both years, I used walls-o-water or bubble wrap, plus sheets of plastic to protect from rainstorms and morning frost, and I was out there in the wind and rain securing and replacing the protective covers. But I can eat homegrown tomatoes in June! IIRC, last year I got a couple by the end of May.

This year I've also planted some tomato seeds outdoors using the "wintersowing" technique pioneered (or publicized) by some east-coast gardeners: Poke air and drainage holes in some some small plastic containers, fill with soil, plant seeds, and transplant (with protection) even before the plants develop true leaves. I just had to try this to see if it really works. A few of my seedlings are reaching the top of the containers so should be ready to plant out, though they're only a couple inches high.

Last year I waited until the soil was warm to plant beans, and I could have planted a lot earlier. I saw some beans producing very well at the beginning of July at the community garden. So this year, I'm going to plant beans by April 1. Or maybe earlier -- I saw another garden plot that just put in some transplants last week.

David, In my area of South San Jose, our last date of frost is March 1. The earlier we get them in after that, the better. The cool season varieties such a San Francisco Fog, Sun Gold, will produce earlier as mid-late summer is more hotter and the "hot season" varieties like Champion, Beefsteak, etc. will produce later (during the heat of summer/fall). I guess this is why microclimates are so important. Even getting the "hot season" varieties in now will help to get the roots established so they are ready to produce by July.

Our nights, where I live are between 40-50F, so at any rate, whatever I plant is NOT going to freeze at this point.

Wanda

I understand the desire to get vegetables to start producing as soon as possible, but I guess I have been led to believe that early plantings when the soil is too cool will just result in the plants sitting there, and later plantings would catch up or surpass the earlier ones, because they grow better with the warmer temps. It has been my experience with early planted tomatoes with no supplemental protection in my part of the Bay Area that they just "sit there" until it warms up, and has nothing to do with freezing temps. I guess I am also responding to visual clues on some of my subtropicals that seem to have been hit by some cold just in the past 3 weeks, and has spoiled foliage and blooms on things like Justicia aurea that had fully formed flower buds since last November that refuse to bloom until it actually gets warm. I noticed just this past week that it has gotten cold enough to cause some damage recently, even though it has been no where near freezing for 2 months now in my garden. I tend to wait to plant the warm season stuff until it is warm enough to want to leave windows open at night, more like mid April in my neck of the woods. I've no doubt that down near San Jose it does warm up sooner and faster than here opposite the Golden Gate, but I still would have thought the night time temps were a bit too cool for ideal growth... Just goes to show that I shouldn't presume about locations where I don't actually garden! In any case, it seems that most all varieties of tomatoes are not to be had here in my neighborhood before the end of August or mid September in any case. I also almost never need a fan going in the evening, nor find the house too hot in summer if it was all closed up tight during the day. Not ideal conditions for growing tomatoes, and forget about melons!

IÂm retired now and do have the patience and time to start tomatoes from seeds, inside under lights with bottom heat. It seems like a good idea to get them as large as you can in pots before putting them out in the ground. Yes, if the ground temps are cool, theyÂll just sit there, wonÂt grow. Pots absorb the sunÂs warmth; accelerate growth for those few weeks while waiting for the soil to warm up. My tomato plants move from starting pots to 4" pots- inside, to gallon size- outside. When the ground warms up, theyÂre ready for planting. The production really slows down once the summer heat gets blasting here in July, so the idea is to get them big and producing as soon as possible. Driving around to all the tomato plant sales, although a lot of fun, seemed like a waste of time and gas.

I start from seed and have yet to plant. I'm thinking of planting a Lemon Boy and a couple cherries (incl. Chocolate Cherry) in the next couple days, but the rest will wait a bit.

OK, Wanda, I followed your lead.... bought and planted tomatoes and peppers. I may need to cover them at night for a few more weeks tho'. I hope I have the same luck as last year.

Well, if you're using tropicals as a clue, my Stephanotis has new growth.
I've found that putting them early, means I'm eating tomatoes earlier, especially with the "cooler" growing hybrids designed for the cooler coastal areas.
I'm putting in some peppers this weekend

What kinds of peppers are you planting? Sweet, bell, chili, banana? Anything truly outstanding that we should all know about?

Here in Windsor just north of Santa Rosa we planted tomatoes 2 weeks ago. TheyÂre in Wall-O-Water or snuggled up in row cover.


We had a disappointing tomato crop last season so I put chicken manure on my bins and beds in the fall.


As usual I buried some of Harmony Farm SupplyÂs bulk fertilizer in the planting hole. Now the plants are poking their heads just out the tops of the Wall-O-Water. IÂm hoping that the nitrogen wonÂt be too strong so that we get all plant and few tomatoes this year. The bins have wonderful organic soil but the ground is cold with hard pan about a foot down. Of course the bins produce the first tomatoes but the ground gang usually comes around mid season, never having as large a crop as the bins.


I got my robust, healthy, organic plants at Harmony Farm Supply, my all time favorite dependable tomato Stupice, a Sweet Million cherry, a Striped German red and yellow beauty and IÂm trying Mortgage Lifter for the first time.


I can give away all extra that I grow so itÂs fun to experiment. Does anyone have an opinion on Pink Girl or Lemon Boy? Also in this weekÂs Press Democrat they mentioned an heirloom named AndyÂs Polish Pink. These varieties sound intriguing.


We usually grow our tomatoes upright, due to lack of space, in 6 ft cement reinforcement wire stabilized with a tree stake or two. This works great and there is enough room to get your hand in there for picking.


When I take the Wall-O-Water off IÂll wrap the plants in row cover for a week or so depending on the weather and how peeked theyÂre looking from being in the plastic W-O-W.


For the last few years weÂve picked the first Stupice by FatherÂs Day. None of my neighbors plant their tomatoes until much later in the season, through habit I suppose, then wait and wait for their first fruit. I like to do it my way; havenÂt seen any reason not to, yet.