Mid-term report

12 years ago

I would like to give a mid season report on the tomato varieties in my garden. I planted two gardens, one in my back yard, the other in a community garden plot. I planted Italian heirloom from two seed sources, Neaves Azorean Red (thanks to Carolyn for introducing this variety), Cherokee purple, Brandywine OTV (another Carolyn var.), a particularly productive strain of Brandywine pink, Moscow (popular locally in Utah), Marianna's peace, Julia Child, and Amana Orange.

The tomatoes in my community garden failed due to 2,4 D exposure. Those plants are still alive but the leaves are curled and they have not grown since. They probably will not produce this season. I lost a lot more varieties from that. Don't use 2,4 D anywhere near your veggie garden! And contrary to other threads on gardenweb, they will not grow out of the herbicide easily.

In my home garden, to date Italian heirloom is the only one to set fruit so far in these hot temps and has no sign of disease. There does seem to be some differences in the Italian heirlooms from the two seed sources. One source has produced smaller plants, but both are setting fruit. These naturally wispy foilage toms are doing well.

Neaves has lush robust foilage but few blossums and no sign of disease. Its probably one of the healthiest plants in the garden. I expect great things from this variety this year. I suspect that it may just be a later season variety than the others.

Brandywine pink is loaded with blossums but no fruit set yet and is showing signs of yellowing on the lower branches. Last year I had huge production from this strain. Other times I have grown brandywine pink the plants bearly produced.

Brandywine OTV has a medium amount of blossums and has no signs of disease. This one has done well in my soils/climate the past 3 years. I find it sets fruit later in the year than other vars.

Cherokee purple is smaller than the other plants but is healthy and has lots of blossums. This represents a change from years past when it was one of the earlier varieties and was one of the largest plants. I expect it to do well this season as it has in the past. No yellowing is seen yet.

Marianna's peace and Julia Child have no precievable difference between them so far and have less blossums than the Brandywine pink. Otherwise they look the same as the other potatoe leaved varieties. At the moment, I can't remember whether they are showing signs of disease. I will have to look when I get home.

Moscow has produced shorter bushier plants, but they are healthy so far but not as many blossums yet. Last year this plant crushed the tomato cages because they were so heavy with fruit. This year the harvest may be more modest.

Amana orange was started later this year so it is a couple weeks back from the others. So far so good, healthy and growing. This one is a somewhat later variety as well.

I will keep you posted as the season progresses.

Kevin

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

capoman
12 years ago
I wish this site had areas dedicated to grow journals allowing direct uploads of photos. It would be great to watch progress of plantings such as yours.
0
claydirt
12 years ago
Want a status report from Indiana? A bucket of aged horse manure grows a great looking plant! Yehaa! Now for the bad news.

4 Brandywine plants (2 pink, 2 either red or pink) that I started from seed are over the top of their 4 foot cage. Perhaps 4 or 5 green tomatoes on each. Good number of flowers but no fruit set in the past month (weather). At least I end up with a few of these great tomatoes to eat.

1 Carbon plant purchased from local organic couple. 2 green tomatoes. Good number of flowers but no fruit set in the past month (weather). This local couple (business) started 2500 tomato plants - most if not all heirloom. Glad I know them! 2 Burpee Supersteak plants status is about the same as the Carbon. 2 Cherry tomato plants may end up with some fruit (usually they over-produce, so this year it may be manageable)

We really need a break in the weather here or there may not be any more fruit set this year. Feels like August out, the yard is all crunchy brown.
0
Related Discussions
mid-summer report card for my garden
Q
Comments (9)
Answers to questions: 1) I haven't been fertilizing regularly, whatever that means. I top-dressed the soil with the contents of my compost tumbler about a month after planting. Last week I added organic veggie food (granules) hoping to see improvement. 2) Watering tomatoes...I was always told that tomatoes do not like a lot of water. I typically water my garden every 2-3 days in the evening with a shower nozzle at the base of every plant. Not a lot, just enough to soak the ground in the entire raised bed frame. 3) I have cukes at the front of the trellis and yellow squash and zuchinni at the back. In retrospect the squash should not be there due to space issues, lesson learned. However all of my zuchinni flowers have died and I don't know why. 4) I noticed that powdery mildew as well. What is it? Causes? Can I get rid of it? This is the my first stab at gardening in our new house so I don't have anything else to compare to except our previous home where every crop pretty much flourished. My tomato plants are very wimpy looking in terms of the number of branches and fruit compared to my previous garden. I picked a few ripening cherry tomatoes yesterday. They are about half the size of a normal cherry tomato. I joked to my kids and told them that they are blueberry tomatoes.
...See More
Mid-September Garden Report
Q
Comments (7)
I thought we were sure to have frost on Wednesday evening so I picked off the rest of the tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini. Frost never came so the last planting of corn that is just a few days away from being ready may still have a chance (plus I covered it with Remay cloth and clothespins). The first two plantings of corn was soooooo good this year. Suddenly there are lots of zucchini, earlier they weren't pollinating but now every one is growing into a monster even though I've stopped watering and it hasn't rained here for weeks, either. SunGold tomato plants are still loaded with many green tomatoes - I hope more have a chance to ripen. Out of 4 plants, I've picked at least 8 gallons of ripe ones so far. That is one heavy producing tomato. I tried a late August sowing of spinach and lettuce - like NAF said, probably too hot and in my case, too dry, because I got very little germinating and those that did have stalled in growth. Last year I started lettuce seedlings under lights in early August to plant out in late August and I had a very good fall crop of lettuce. On the flower side of things, it seemed perennials bloomed out very quickly this year. There are still some Indian Summer Rudbeckia hanging on in the back yard, and Ring of Fire sunflowers in the side yard that are providing colour.The Autumn Joy are now colouring up but I desperately need to get out there this weekend and do some cutting back and tidying up. The big pots of petunias are still doing well but the smaller hanging baskets are all rootbound and starting to look a little spent. It would be nice to have fresh pansy transplants to take their place now. Tree leaves are beginning to talke on the autumn colouring so the shrubs won't be far behind.
...See More
Monarch Report mid April
Q
Comments (19)
Well, I've had a hard three days of Monarch tending. I was trying to keep up with the cats I was watching and getting to creating an new enclosure but had other projects plus rain, so my progress has been more limited than my plans. Anyway, I discovered that in one emergency enclosure where I had put eggs I couldn't keep inside on a plant and a few hatchlings, something happened to the eggs. Ants, maybe? Anyway, where I thought I might have 20 tinies, I had no more than 5 and in another 10 was about 3. That was the day after I was writing about the overwhelming numbers. Then yesterday, I had to freeze 10 cats. It would have been 12, but a wasp was crawling all over the numbs of the plants I had set to the side when I spotted 2 young and healthy cats. I rescued them before they were found, but that meant letting the wasp get one of the sicks ones. Maybe it will make him sick too. Today, I had 8 more. That's 20 sick ones in the last 2 days. And of course, they were all instar 5 and the milkweed is disappearing -- even as new butterflies appear and lay more eggs. Yesterday, while I draped some net over pots with cats until I could move them, a butterfly appeared and was desperately trying to get under the net to lay eggs. She laid three on the net. Why can't they be obviously sick when they are little and not after they have eaten a boatload of milkweed? And why don't my tiny milkweed seedlings start growing? I hope the rest will be healthy, and if they are, I hope I can keep them fed.
...See More
Granite counters; long term use reports ?
Q
Comments (18)
Great info and thanks @frieda. There's SO many stones and names and styles, good God. You can do a lifetime study on granite or any countertop for that matter and still never buy anything. Having said that, is there a list of granite with lower absorption rates or ? Color wise, our cabinets are all white with the exception our prep island and dining island will be sage green. Based on y'alls experience can you recommend a good color palette for these colors and a stone with the lower absorption rates? I can sift through information on boats, computers, motorcycles and the like pretty quick. When it comes to counter tops, I am lost and can sure use all the help I can get. It's going to either be a good granite or quartz. I've got a line on a good fabricator from a friend who is a builder within a 2 hour drive. But I'd like to zero in on a few general ideas first or we'll end up camping out there. TIA and CP, we sure hope your home weathers the storm. I've got friends down that way and it's pretty nasty and friends in the keys and they got slammed very hard.
...See More
Related Professionals
Carlisle Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Eagle Landscape Contractors · Gloucester Landscape Contractors · Hayden Landscape Contractors · Four Corners General Contractors · Augusta General Contractors · Buena Park General Contractors · Dothan General Contractors · Renton General Contractors · Tabernacle General Contractors · Valle Vista General Contractors · Woodmere General Contractors · Lancaster Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Northglenn Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · St. Louis Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures
Tomatobaby
12 years ago
Most of my sungold are at least 3-4 feet by now, one that is probably about 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide - it is a monster. There is a lot of green fruit, but have only picked a handful of sungolds off of 7 plants. Have an orange banana that has a good amount (12+) fruits but all green and they have been green for weeks.

Have 3 or 4 cherries and they are big w/ fruit but still green. The bigger tomatoes - Uncle Mark Bagby and Patano Romanesca are just starting to set fruit now.

Have had some fungus problems on the leaves and it is starting and usually gets all the tomatoes by end of summer.

Capoman - I have been thinking the same thing! I've asked my hubby to write a phone app or something that I can use to just take pictures so I can visually track how my plants do ... I want to stagger my plantings more and see if that makes a difference in how the plants do.
0
suncitylinda
12 years ago
Last year I planted everything out mid March. This year I spread it out much more which seems to be working well. I have a long growing season and dont usually get killing frost until late Nov. or later.

Lots of Early Blight this year.

Brandywine Red, Landis is a real star and trooper. Heavy fruit set and seems to be the least impacted by EB. Moravsky Div has been a great early with lots of golf ball size and larger fruit but it will succumb to LB in the next week.

Have also harvested Rosella Purple, SunGolds, Early Girls, Moskvich (a fave) Druzba, Fourth of July and a few Orange Bananas as well as a few others paste types.
0
samsthumb
12 years ago
Planted Brandywine, Brandy Boy, Black from Tula, Prue, Better Boy, Cherokee Green, Cherokee Purple, Pink Girl, Opalka, Aunt Ginny, Eva, and Black Krimm (my favorite) on May 1. Lots of fruit set, some the size of softballs on Better Boy, Brandy Boy and Black Krimm. Ate a Black Krimm a week ago. I have never had tomatoes prior to 4th before, except for cherries. Another Black Krimm and Prue will be picked in next couple of days. Better Boys and Cherokee Green are turning. Brandywine is my only poor producer so far, the rest are doing great. This should be a bumper crop year even though we've only had 2 inches of rain total in two rainfalls since May 2. Mid-Missouri is experiencing a drought so I have quite a water bill. I have noticed little disease on plants this year, but I spray every 10 days with fungicide.
0

Mid-term report

Comments (5)

capoman

claydirt

Related Discussions

Related Professionals

Tomatobaby

suncitylinda

samsthumb

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US