What have you planted so far?
 

Hello, everyone! So quiet here. I hope you're all having a wonderful spring.

Please share what you planted so far!

Tomato Madness,
Annapet :love:

Got some pea's planted in a container outside along with some carrots. Garlic from last fall is coming up nicely. Also have some arugula in the GH and just spent saturday putting in some early tomatoes and peppers. Tom's Yellow Wonder and Sioux made the cut for earlies. Also some Holy Basil in the GH. Ready for the season! Lots of stuff, mostly main yearly stuff still under lights in the basement. Many tomatoes needed to be potted up, but hopefully this weekend I will get the time and inclination!

Duane

hi, duane. i'll watch out for your photos here in tomatoville.

thanks for the arugula idea!

i have the beginner's curse and planted way too many tomatoes.

annapet

HI all

I've planted out....
[U]Tomatoes[/U]
Red Brandywine
Cherokee Purple x2
Big Beef x3
Pink Berkeley Tie Dye x2
Beauty King
Large Barred Boar
SuperSteak
Lemon Boy
Early Girl
Celebrity
SungGold

[U]Peppers[/U]
Big Bertha Bell x2
Golden Summer Bell x2
Cal Wonder Bell x2
Sweet Banana x3
Jally
Pinento
Anaheim

[U]Cucumbers[/U]
Dive x2
Eureka x2

Bunch of bush beans and snap peas

Life is good :)

[IMG]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/RTracer/IMG_1842.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/RTracer/IMG_1839.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/RTracer/IMG_1847.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a95/RTracer/IMG_1843.jpg[/IMG]

Awesome photos! Thanks for sharing :). Could you please link me how to make the home depot self-watering (?) tomato planters? Pretty please? Thanks!

Do you can and/or dry some of your tomatoes?

Nosy person wants to know :cute:

Annapet

Hi Annapet

The BWB's(bottom watering buckets) are quite easy to make...and cheap.

Basically its two 5g buckets...one sitting inside the other. Naturally there is about a 3" or 4" gap between the bottom of the top bucket and bottom of the lower bucket. That space becomes the "water reservoir" The top bucket holds all the potting mix and has a "whicking basket" that extends down into the "water reservoir" and whickes up moisture to the potting mix.

Here is a copy/paste from a thread I posted in at Garden Web

I used the two bucket method. Simple, and at $2.50 a bucket....what the he!!
Using the two bucket method you get the advantage of the full 5 gallons for the potting mix. I used the lid with a small cutout to act as the mulch cover.

Drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of one of the buckets except for in the center where you will make a cutout to fit your whicking basket.
You can use many things for the whicking basket, I used a small 10oz plastic cup that I used for my seedlings. Or you could use some PVC pipe like imstillatwork says.
I used a heated nail and poked about a million holes(ok. not a million:) in the cup to turn it into a whicking basket.
Your whicking basket should be the same heighth as the gap between the two buckets so that it sits on the bottom of the lower bucket when inserted through the hole in the top bucket and sits flush(or close to flush) with the bottom of the top bucket.
Drill the applicable size hole in the bottom of the lower bucket on the far edge to insert your fill tube. I used a piece of 1/2 sch40 PVC, so a 3/4" hole was right for me.
Drill a drain hole in the lower bucket about 1/2" below the bottom of the upper bucket so there is airspace between the soil and water resivore.
To fill
First fill the wicking basket with wet wet wet potting mix, again, wet wet wet and pack it in there really tight. You want that initial mix in the whicking basket to be super saturated and packed reaaly tight in there.
Then fill the bottom water resivore(you want to start the whicking action.
I then put a layer of mix about 1/2" deep in the bottom of the bucket and wet it dowm. I them cut out a circle of landscape fabric to install before I finished filling as I want to try and keep the roots from penetrating down into the water resivour. This is a purley optional step.
I continued to fill the bucket with mix about 2" at a time and wet it and lightly packed it as I went.
When the bucket is about 2/3rds full, add 1 cup of Dolommite Lime and mix throughout the soil.
Once the bucket is full, I made a small indentation around the perimiter of the soil to add my cup of fertilizer. You dont mix it in, just put it on top.
Plant your plant. I used the lid as my mulch cover. I just cut a hole in the center of the lid and carefully slipped the plant through the hole

Wow, what I love about the BWB, is the depth of the bucket. That means I can plant my seedlings low, and continue to add potting mix as the seedling grows. I really like mulch cover idea!

How long do the BWBs last?

Thanks, Brian!

Annapet

Hi Annapet,

I realized that you never answered your own question! Okay, so I can be nosy too!

So... what have you planted so far? I have a lot of babies, but many not yet ready to plant out. Hopefully soon!

I purchased some starts from the Santa Clara County Master Gardeners' sale, started several plants from saved, purchased, or swapped seeds, and will be starting a few more that will include determinates for our patio.

I don't remember quite how Corte Madera's climate compares to ours here in Sunnyvale, but I'm planning on having some later season starts to fill in when some of the earlier plants peter out (somewhere in July/August).

I'll dig out my list in the next couple of days so I can let you know all of what I have. I got a few new-to-me varieties from the MGs' plant sale - Aker's West Virginia, Reif's Red Heart, and Dr. Neal; I also got some favorites of mine, including Aunt Ruby's German Green, Ananas Noire, and Paul Robeson. I have a plot in the Sunnyvale Community Garden, and I grow using concrete reinforcing mesh made into cages for my indeterminates.

Yours in 'maters,
Betsy

Hi All...It's been quite a while since I have posted to this site. As some of you may know, I sold a house with a 700' sq ft garden in Summer 2007. Last year, I didn't have a garden in my new house 'cause a rattler scared me. This year, DH put in 2-9x3 ft beds. In the fall, he'll add 2 more. I also have a built in 14x2 bed.

So far, I have planted black krim, rose de berne (sp???) and stupice in one of the 9x3 beds. There are herbs interplanted (tightly) in that bed. In the 14x2 bed I have sweet peppers. I also have 2 Earthboxes (1 w/sungold, 1w/red grape). I have cukes (miniture white) and summer squash (romenesco) that I started from seed for the other bed. I the second bed, I placed 2 sets of Armenian cuke starts that died off. I hope the miniture white and romenesco won't share the same fate.

Im a little jealous of your planted-out tomatoes!

We should get at least 1 good frost still, but its almost 90 this week.

We planted 2 large-fruited crabapples this year! they are leafing out! got scads of arugula, the perennial salad burnet has been gorgeous for weeks, some radishes and turnips, and the Egyptian walking onions look good. I planted some herbs a bit early and lost a Thai Basil (it was a little bitter, ive got seeds to restart!), eating chives, and the peas vines were a bit slow, they are 1-4 inches or so.

Hi, Betsy, Angelique, and Garnetmoth :P. Having a wonderful Sunday, I hope.

I got my "Lay Off Notice" shortly after we got this thread going and I've been kind of sad :(. However, I'm sure to snap out of this because no one wants to hang with mopey :lol:.

Here's what I have planted so far (and I'd love to hear your notes growing these varieties). I don't know how good I sorted these babies...feel free to correct.

(F) Flowering
(2) Quantity

[B]Cherry Tomatoes[/B][LIST][*]Chocolate Cherry (2)[*]Isis Candy (F)[*]Sugar Snack (F)[*]Sun Gold (F)[/LIST][B]Black Tomatoes[/B][LIST][*]Black (2)[*]Black Krim (F)[*]Black Prince (F)[*]Carbon[*]Japanese Black Trifele (2)[*]Purple Calabash (2)[/LIST][B]Yellow/Orange[/B][LIST][*]Gold Dust[*]Green Zebra (F)[*]Northern Lights (F)[*]Persimmon (F)[/LIST][B]Dark Pink/Red[/B][LIST][*]Matina[*]Momotaro (F)[/LIST][B]Unknown[/B][LIST][*]Two of 12 varieties I started way too early (lesson learned that it's cool for me to start seeds in April).[/LIST]I have crook neck squash, zucchini, cucumber, four (4) eggplants, and herbs.

I planted them all in containers.

Going to church and I shall be back in a bit!

Annapet

Sorry to hear about your work situation change. Prayers that it is quickly resolved, and at least you have your baby mater et al. to keep you busy for a lil while!

thanks, garnetmoth. i sincerely appreciate the prayers.

have a wonderful week ahead. i should be updating the resume but tended a few roses instead :love:.

My plan was to grow only tomatoes I'd grown from seed this year.

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay away from nurseries or plant sales (or kind offers from other Tomatovillians!). "I'll stop in and see what they're selling this year," I told myself. "Only looking."

Here's what's in the ground, each in its own greenhouse-equivalent (wall-o-water and bubble wrap).

Sun Sugar F1 -- planted March 9, so that I could have early tomatoes. Plus, I told myself, it's only one plant, it's not like past years where I've planted 5 or 10 too early and spent too much time trying to protect them every time a storm hit. I've grown it before and it's reliable and tasty. Now 4 ft. high with blossoms!

Caspian Pink -- also planted last month, it's the third time I'm trying it. Already 3.5 ft. high with blossoms. Several years ago, the squirrels sampled almost every one before it was ripe, but the one I got to taste was so good I wanted to grow it again. Last year, it got to 4 ft. high before the mid-April winds killed off all the top growth. It survived to produce 2 tomatoes. So when I saw a plant this year, I wanted to be sure I got one, even though I saved seeds.

unknown pink -- a tiny seedling with only 2 true leaves offered by another community gardener, who found it in his tray of lettuce seedlings and asked if I wanted it last month. How could I not rescue it? I'll have to find out its name. Almost a foot high.

Marianna's Peace -- almost got this one last year but restrained myself, so when I saw a nice one at the nursery, gave in. It's sturdy and a foot high now.

Dagma's Perfection -- I don't know why I went to the master gardener sale this year, but it occurred to me that I haven't tried any large yellow tomatoes, and the description seduced me.

Fox Cherry -- Also from the mg sale. I really love cherry tomatoes, and haven't tried this one. I vaguely recall it being on someone else's favorites list, so...

Green Doctors -- This one was on my wish list, and Damon was kind enough to offer big seedlings of this one and the next two. Really looking forward to a bowl full of cherry tomatoes in a rainbow of colors.

New Big Dwarf -- Interest was piqued by the dwarf tomato project. Plus, this is one I can grow in a container. And maybe make some crosses?

Kosovo -- My seeds didn't germinate, so I was happy to get this one! I had a great harvest of Orange Strawberry last year and have been looking forward to trying more oxhearts.

Purple Russian -- The first of my own seedlings I've planted. I planted my seeds on March 13 in a cold frame, and everything was still in its original densely planted cell, so these were spindly and thin. I put two in one spot rather than risk breaking another stem (but I potted up the broken one anyway, thinking that since it's under the soil it might heal or grow new roots.) The seeds came from a farmers' market fruit.

So that's already 10. Usually I have room for about 20 tomatoes, but even that's stretching it. But I have ideas for squeezing in a few more. Problem is, I have more than just a few more: I'd like to find space for about 20 more!

The seedlings I want to plant this week, many from seeds I got from Tomatovillians, a few from Wintersown, and a few other sources, are
Opalka -- has been one of my favorites both times I've grown it before, red oblong
Ceman -- from Carolyn's seed offer, a large pink plum shape that sounds irresistible
Prue -- ditto, a red bomb shape or heart shape
KBX -- looking forward to orange tomatoes!
Toedebusch Pink -- large pink that sounds wonderful
Dr. Wyche's Yellow -- was going to be my first large yellow, now I have 2 large yellows
Cherokee Purple PL -- maybe: it's not PL, but I'd like to try a different strain of CP
Earl's Faux -- another big pink I've been wanting to try
Anna Russian -- eager to try more oxhearts
Black Brandywine -- I've liked most black tomatoes
Brown Berry -- bought a seedling last year, but it was mislabeled
Chocolate Cherry -- another addition to the cherry collection
Cherry Roma -- my only nonround cherry
Nebraska Wedding -- seeds either didn't germinate last year, or else I planted a volunteer, so still looking forward to this orange tomato

I went a little overboard saving seeds last year. It was my first year, so I saved everything, then I put off testing germination until it was time to plant, so I ended up sowing about 10 seeds of each. I got anywhere from 3 to 12 seedlings each (after the snails ate their fill, before I realized they'd invaded my cold frame). I spent all day yesterday potting up my seedlings into small pots (72) and 6-packs (15 packs, so 90 smaller seedlings, which may or may not survive), most of which I'll take to a local plant sale and plant exchange tomorrow and Saturday.

The ones I will definitely plant from my saved seeds are
Aunt Ruby's German Green -- has been a favorite both years I've grown it
Black Cherry -- a favorite the two years it did well, but 2 years ago the seedling was mislabeled, and last year none of the cherries did well
Druzba -- recommended it to a neighbor and saved seeds from that one; pretty good for a red round tomato
Orange Strawberry -- one of my favorites last year, and produced pretty well in a poor season
Momotaro F2 -- eager to see what I get

The seedlings I don't plan to plant are
Caspian Pink -- already have a plant
Cherokee Purple RL -- trying PL instead
yellow-red bicolor -- saved seeds from a neighbor's squirrel-bit tomato before I composted it

Of the remaining varieties, I'd like to plant some of these, but these are the ones that (at least today) I'd leave out.
Bonny Best -- grew it from seed last year, it was pretty good but it's a basic red round
Camp Joy -- grew it for 2 years, but hasn't produced a lot and hasn't had outstanding flavor; willing to give it another try but maybe not this year
Paul Robeson -- didn't produce a lot last year, and I don't recall the flavor as out of the ordinary
Russian 117 -- produced only a few tomatoes last year, which were good, but I seem to have enough other hearts
black plum -- this is what I got from the Brown Berry seedling I bought last year, a consistent producer and actually one of the best ones last year, but ...
orange banana/plum lemon? -- from a farmers' market fruit, a yellow plum/lemon shape
orange salad -- from a mislabeled Mr. Stripey, one of the best producers last year, but not striped and more like a large cherry tomato
Pineapple -- from an old seed packet, I wanted to see if these were still viable
Ponderosa Red -- remaining seeds from last year, none of those seedlings survived

wow, quite an extensive list! thanks for taking the time to write. i added a few more yesterday with the arrival or territorial seed package.

ananas noire (2)
pineapple (2)
cour di bue (2)

matina is the first one to set fruit. i'm ecstatic!

have a great day!

sincerely,

annapet