Looking good, real good. Nice hoop house too, I'm green with envy. Best of luck.

Jay,
Nicely done, my friend! I'm jealous. Here in Michigan we still have spots of snow on the ground. Be June before my tomatoes are where yours are (if mine ever look THAT good).

they are gorgeous. im in texas too and mine dont look anything like that. im working on getting there though!

Jay, wait til you see that polish dwarf pump out the fruit!

Thanks so much for the compliments. I really appreciate them.

About a month ago, I thought I was headed for disaster. Planted very large and healthy transplants in the garden only to watch the leaves on many of them shrivel up and turn brown....a case of very severe transplant shock. I would lose about 24 varieties from that incident. What really compounded the problem was this almost constant strong wind we've been having. I've got to get more leaf mulch applied this afternoon as we have some fairly significant rain in the forecaste early tomorrow morning. And of course the wind is back.

I can't wait for the first Polish Dwarf to ripen JT. I've got a ways to go though.

Be back later!

Jay

Jay,

Your tomato plot is really wonderful. I don't have a nice big plot just for tomatoes like that. I live on a south-facing-hill, so don't get any flooding, but it is high and dry all summer long. Bummer!

I like to grow my tomatoes like you do. I've had the best luck. Much better fruit production than when I have tried to cage each plant, for some reason. It gets so hot here in the summer that they need some afternoon shade and growing them in rows seems to really help that. Easier to cover too if need be.
I don't have those "floating covers" but use cheesecloth and it works very well. I just wash it at summer's end and roll it up and use it again until it finally rots. Then it goes into the compost bin and nothing is wasted.
Your hoop-greenhouse is exactly what I've been dreaming of getting. How much does a set-up like that cost, if I may ask? Where did you get yours or did you build it from scratch?
Your property looks very beautiful! Love that high cliff and the trees in the background. Just lovely. Looks like my ideal.

~ sweetannie4u

Looking good Jay. I agree, I've had about enough wind for a while. Mine are looking good also. They are probably about 30 inches tall. The JD C-Tex seeds that yu sent me worked out very well. Almost 100% germination and are now bearing fruit. Thanks. Did you get any of that rain last night. I got an inch of much needed rain. Now if it would just do that about once a week we would be in good shape.

Looks great! I'm also in Texas and behind you. My plants are not as big or healthy. Hopefully they will take off soon with warmer weather.
I'm trying you trellising method this year. Keep us updated here and on your website

Pete

What a difference a couple weeks make, your plants are looking good Jay. Mine are a little further along but it looks like you are having fantastic fruit set.

sweetannie, I spent around $350 to $400 and built it from scratch. I hope to have some step-by-step details on how to construct it posted soon.

snappybob, I sure did....got a very nice rain shower last night and it was just in time too. Glad to hear on the germination rate. Hopefully we will be picking ripe tomatoes soon.

Thanks Pete. Looks like the temps are going to stabilize next week with highs in the eighties so maybe the growth rate will start getting into high gear for us.

I took a count on developing fruit this morning and the total was 186...no cherry varieties in that number either so it's looking pretty good so far.

So far the following are developing fruit:

Big Zac
Porterhouse
Red Brandywine
WES
Amish Potato Leaf
JD's Special Pink
Marianna's Peace
Tennessee Britches
White Beauty
Lillian's Yellow Heirloom
Schellenberg's Favorite
Pink Berkeley Tie Dye
Orange Russian 117
Cherokee Green
Grub's Mystery Green
Cherokee Purple
JD's Special C-Tex
GRX x CP
Indian Stripe
Huge Black
Orange Heirloom
Golden Queen
Lemon Boy
Little Lucky
Lucky Cross
Lucky Cross Pink
Hillbilly
Black Giant
Rodger's Best Black
Bruno
Wisconsin 55
1884
Main Crop Pink
Pouce de Picardie
Watermelon Beefsteak
Tabletalk
Druzba
Nyagous
Wood's Famous Brimmer
Yellow Brandywine
Livingston's Globe
Livingston's Favorite
Russian Black
Orange Strawberry
Champion
Kosovo
Dr. Wyche's Yellow
Polish Dwarf
Dwarf Champion
Husky Red Dwarf
Husky Gold Dwarf

I'll be back with more photos.

Jay

Jay -

Have you ever tried Trellis or Cages?

It seems that your method requires a lot of work? What is it called and how did you come to select it?

Hellow Jay, where did you get the JD'S SPECIAL C-TEX SEEDS.You are way ahead of me,mine are just setting fruit.. bill

Love that hoop house Braz..and ya plants...WOW...
so far so good down here...
Second harvest of squash...
{{gwi:61544}}

Here is the famed 444's...can't wait..
{{gwi:1314227}}

happy gardening

Thanks Brazos for offering to post the instructions!
Please tell us where you got your supplies, too.
That will be awesome!

We turned our little tractor shed into a 'garden room" by installing two big windows on the southern wall. I am using it as a greenhouse. I keep my tender perennials, tropicals, cacti and succulents in there all winter and it is crowded as heck. It does not have nearly enough light or space that I need (or want).

Please do post more pictures. Your tomatoes are just Bea-u-ti-ful!

Annie in Okie

I really admire your support system (trellis). That looks sturdy yet low budget. I will give that a try this year. Do you find that the twine rots as the season progresses? Do you every use masons string (nylon)?

Nice work.

PC

Your plants are huge compared to mine! Nice job. Did you start from seed and if so, when did you sow and plant outside?

tods, I have tried cages on some of my plants in the past but the method I prefer to use is called the Florida Weave Method. It's pretty economical and one thing I like about it is being able to discard the string and then not having to worry about carrying over diseases into the next season.

Bill, I got seeds of JD's from seed I saved from fruit of a plant I purchased locally several years ago.

atascosa, nice squash. Thats great to be harvesting them already.

PC, the twine very well and holds up it's strength throughout the season. I have used masons string before but I think you can get a lot more twine for the same cost of the masons string....I'll have to check. Not positive on that though. It really is a simple and cost effective support system.

kristy, I grow from seed and started seed in January. I put plants in the ground on March 19 with a couple more plantings within the next couple of days of that date.

More photos coming tomorrow.

Jay

How do you avoid the monster hail and wind storms? I live in the Dallas area and it has been real dicey with multiple freeze warnings 10 days ago, 70mph winds and large hail. Last year, the easter snow almost did my plants in. They survived only to face one of the wettest summers on record. Awful year for tomatoes.

I waited an extra full 2 weeks to start seeds this year. Usually I start seeds around the Super Bowl weekend. This year I started seeds on Valentines Day.

I have also grown tomatoes in the Nacogdoches area at out family's weekend home and they do much better down there than in Dallas. I think the key are those extra growing days in April when the soil is warmer. Those extra days of warmer soil produces fruit faster.

Does that leaf mulch really stay in place very well?

Leaf mulch stays put better if you chop it up.
Here is an easy way to do it:

Put fall leaves into a large plastic trash can.
Insert your weedeater and give it a few spins until all the leaves are chopped up.
Voila!
Leaf mulch that will stay put.
You can bag up any extra and save it for later or compost it.

~ sweetannie4u

atascosa, what is your secret for getting squash so early? Did you plant seed or put in transplants? If transplats, did you start them from seed? I would love to be bringing in squash already this year. All I have coming in right now is onions.

We have only had hail where we live once in 11 years and even then it was only marble size or smaller. But large hail has been in the area. The Dallas / Ft. Worth area has always been a place of more frequent weather extremes.

The leaf mulch holds in place very well right under the plants but it will blow away on the outer edges quite easily. sweetannie, that's a great idea using the trash can. I agree, chopped up leaves stay put better than the ones left whole.

Jay

Hey Jay:

Thanks for the nice pictures, especially of your Florida Weave system. It's my first time trying the weave. I saw another picture similar to yours, except this person used clothes line and also a bamboo stick for each plant so some of the weight hopefully gets distributed into the bamboo. I find that a lot more ugly than your set up plus clothes line is $15 for 100 ft. Since seeing your set up works, I with give it a go with twine. I found some green twine for $2.99 a roll. Neighbors here have the rights to complain to association :-( and they do. I used 7' T-Posts instead of the combination of T-Post and U-Posts that you are using. Hopefully, they can hold up my Big Zacs.

Keep them coming and let us know the progress. Thanks.

Hi snappybob..ya I started them from seed in early FEB and put out the transplants mid March..they already had 3 sets of leaves and I was worried about transplant shock, but they took off!

Happy Gardening.

Snappy..maybe ya can give me some tips on growing onions,,I've tried in the past but end up with 2 inch sized bulbs..after months of growing..
I have dark clay down here so I suspect the compaction of the soil is keeping the bulb from expanding..

I learned all I know about onions from the site below. I would suggest building a raised bed and filling it with a bedding mix. You might call Dixondale and talk to Bruce. He will be glad to give you some suggestions. He is familiar with our area and the whole Dixondale staff have always been very helpful to me. My onion bed is 4' X 15' and this year I grew 110 onions.(In retrospect that may have been pushing it a little, but Oh Well) Whites, yelllows and reds. I put out transplants (not sets)on Thanksgiving weekend and harvest late April through early May. My planting times are way different than listed on any planting sheets. I tried adjusting my timing according to Bruces suggestion for my area and my yield increased greatly. As I said, if you want to grow onions next year give Bruce a call this year and see what he suggests that you do. Good luck on your onions. I have a new raised bed I am preparing now and I was wondering what to put in there. Now I know.....squash. I am going to put a reminder on my computer right now to plant seeds in February. Thanks

Here is a link that might be useful: Dixondale Farms

thanks for the info snap...I'll do that..