Just in case you didn't know Bree since you are new to the forum, you can email Silvia directly. Her email is on her personal page here - just click on her user name in any of her posts.

And I agree - she does post some great looking dishes!!! ;)

Dave

Oops I am absolutely retarded its official my apologies everyone forgive the retarded newb. :) thank you dave!

Hi Bree

It is such an honor that you thought of me in such a positive way, thank you.

Like Dave said feel free to send me an email, I always try to answer the best that I can.

Being you in zone 8 ( I am in zone 9b) it will require different dates to start seeds. I will start the fall tomatoes early in July to be transplanted in August.

I am growing 45 different varieties of tomatoes, some of them are from Trudi ( from wintersown, thank you Trudi)
I can make you a sample packet of the varieties that did best for me this season. Send me your address.

And I am very sorry about your little girl, but your positive attitude will help you through, my best wishes for her speedy recovery, you have a wonderful family!

The best way for anybody to keep healthy is to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, even when I spray I try I to use products that do not harm my family or my pets.

About the recipes they are very easy, use fresh herbs that your family likes, garlic, red onion or scallions mix with 6 eggs. I have a cast iron skillet that I use and cook the eggs till they are set, add a thin sliced feta on top and broil it in the oven for a minute or 2. Add roasted tomatoes, when you get your tomatoes going I will give you some recipes for that. :)

The tart is another easy recipe. Make your favorite pizza dough, cook it in the oven. Make pesto sauce and add to the cooled tart, add fresh sliced tomatoes.

And I really hope that you can get 2 seasons in Texas, another poster (Dragonfly is also trying that). When I moved here about 2 years ago I was told by the experienced gardeners in the area that you can not grow tomatoes here, lol. This morning I gave her a basket of fresh tomatoes.

I will save seeds this season having you in mind, don't forget to send me your address.

Happy gardening!

Silvia

You and wintersown are both admirable women! I cant beleive your crop I figured that maybe if I fudge my summer season I can do a fall season.

I got a late start seeing that we had 12 inches of snow in Dallas in late march and I didnt get my other babys (tomatoes) in the ground until mid april I hope they survive if not I will take some of the wannabe heirlooms up at whole foods and sprinkle them around the bottom of my plants and hope jilly doesn't notice!:)

I appreciate the recipes and will gladly send you my address via email *wink*wink* :) sorry about that. Definitely keep me in mind, also any other advice to get my babies to thrive let me know. I'm also up for tips about my zone, which is 8 by the way!

You can do your fall season using rooted cuttings from your existing plants. That is what many of us do as it saves the weeks growing from seed. Just search 'rooting cutting' here or 'clones'.

Dave

Hi Silvia, I am over in Melbourne so I would say our planting times are going to be the same. This is my first year gardening and I have three heirloom tomatoe plants. Would it be possible to save the seeds from some of the first fruit and then plant it in July as you mentioned for the fall? From what I have been told it will get to hot here for the plants to make it through August, have you ever had any plants make it all through the summer?

Thanks,
Brian

Bree

Dave is always right and his advice is gold. That will be the best way for you to start in the fall.

In the fall season I usually do less varieties, you can never go wrong with cherries and I am sure your little girl will like that, especially having different colors and shapes.

I would advice you if you are not already doing it, to think about other veggies, you can pretty much grow something year round and greens and lettuces are very healthy too. You can use a cover for when it is cold, we had freezes last winter and all my cool season crops made it.

Since your family is vegetarian I would highly recommend the book Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison, it is truly the bible of veggies, look for one that is used maybe Amazon.

Hi Brian

Yes, you can save seeds from any open pollinated varieties, I do that all the time. I start my seeds in the open porch, if it is too hot I run a fan. It gets morning sun, when strong enough about 6-8 weeks I put them in pots till August that go in the open tomato garden.

June, only small currant type varieties make it through the summer

August, plants are already in the tomato garden

September, small varieties are ripening first

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Halloween harvest

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Silvia

Yup, it's true.

I have watched the SAME plants pop out a spring crop, then go to sleep for the summer only to crank up another batch come September-October. I've even covered plants that were still full of green baseballs with a tent of clear contractors plastic and brought them to ripe-- at CHRISTMASTIME. One year we harvested our last tomatoes of a growing season on New Year's Day. Those plants ('Celebrity') just kept on going! Granted, it was a mild winter and the plants were in a quasi-greenhouse environment, but still to have fresh-picked tomatoes in the "dead of winter" was a treat.

I did the same this winter with peppers. I remember hastily collecting peppers off my plants on Christmas Eve, while it was snowing-- the plants were covered by the plastic and heated with a 40W bulb, and the peppers were enormous. But the incongruity of harvesting hot Caribbean Reds, jalapenos and poblanos in the middle of a rare Christmas Eve snowfall in Dallas, Texas is still difficult to resolve in my mind...

This is my 1st yr 2010, and i'm still reaping tomatoes in January 2011. I started these babies from seed about this time LAST YEAR in the greenhouse, then transplanted seedlings in the spring!! They're struggling, but, never the less, i'm still giving tomatoes away and have more to pick as I post. Our lowest temps have been 16 degrees and we've had more freezing night temps this season, than I can remember. I've been covering the babies, and yes, they are officially my babies, w/heavy sheets and plastic, Christmas tree lights strung rather lightly thru them, and, attempt to seal the bottoms/corners, etc...i use a metal fencing to weight down the plastic when the nights are windy. I've failed on a couple of occasions to seal up, or weight it down and lost some crop and have had some damage. But, again, this has been an awesome experience. My husband's on board now and wants to built little tents for my next season. It's been fun. Now, i just want to know if I can cut these back after the last frost and start over with the same root system?? Anyone have any ideas to that. Romas, but the ones i like are called beefsteak, i think~~ Heirlooms...These pics look tacky, but, it gets the job done~~

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