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Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.

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Old August 11, 2017   #1
StephenCoote
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Default Only 25 More Sleeps Until Planting Time !!

I love growing tomatoes from seed. I will be planting seed for my main crop around the first week of September.

I cut some tomato stakes from a neighbor's bamboo patch this morning:



I had intended to grow just a few varieties this year, but unsurprisingly I've found seeds for some interesting types.... so the list has grown. Because my garden is relatively small.... and because I want to grow more than one vine of some varieties, I intend growing all the indeterminates as single leaders. I'm pleased to have found some Scottish Yellow seeds... although these are maybe six years old. I also have some, evidently de-hybridised, Carmello coming to me. Another promising variety of seed coming by post is Imur Prior Beta which is said to be suited to shorter growing seasons.

Four days ago I placed a couple of Sub-Artic Plenty seeds between the folds of a wet paper towel inside a ziploc bag. Today they had decent sprouts. Tomorrow I'll plant them in seed raising mix in pots. I'll keep them in a warm place.... and hope for the best. I would normally not expect ripe tomatoes before Christmas, but theoretically I could get a few Sub-Arctic fruit significantly earlier than that. The Sub-Arctic sprouts are beautiful and sturdy.

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Old August 11, 2017   #2
ddsack
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It will be fun seeing and hearing about your tomato progress as many of us in the north, wind down our seasons by October. I envy you your easy source of nice straight bamboo poles!
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Old August 11, 2017   #3
StephenCoote
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Yep, bamboo is great stuff! I think it is a bit cold here to grow some of the bigger varieties, but I'm grateful to have access to my neighbor's clump. Some of it gets to maybe two and a half inches in diameter at the base. I got four six or seven foot tomato poles from some of those shoots.
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Old August 12, 2017   #4
StephenCoote
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Bamboo is a useful as well as attractive plant to have growing nearby. We don't have any native bamboo, so I'm pleased that folks imported it a long time ago.

We have a very useful native plant down here called NZ Flax. It isn't closely related to linen flax, but some strains of it yield a very strong fiber. Before synthetic fibers were commonly used, there was quite an industry here producing rope and twine from flax. Our Maori folk used it for all sorts of things as you can well imagine.

I use it for tying up my tomatoes. I don't extract the fibers, I just tear the leaves into narrow strips. While I also use synthetic cord for garden work, I'm using more and more flax nowadays. It is a renewable material, and at the end of the tomato season I can throw my natural string in the compost bin.

There are two main types of flax. There is a small, softer variety we call mountain flax or Phormium colensoi. It has relatively small, weak leaves. The bigger, stronger type is known as Harakeke or Phormium tenax. Harakeke can grow to over six feet tall and it provides the best cordage (the Maori recognized many different varieties of Harakeke... some are evidently better than others for some purposes).

While it looks beautiful, NZ flax can be a nuisance in some gardens. It needs to be regularly trimmed, and if the leaves get caught up in your lawnmower or weed-whacker blade you can get quite a tangle. You might even get pulled off balance by a tangled weed-whacker. The flowers and very attractive and birds feed on the nectar produced.

Here is a Phormium tenax plant growing just across the road from my home. Behind it is another native plant which produces cordage, the cabbage tree (Cordyline australis). It, too, can really tangle your lawnmower blade with its fallen leaves.
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Old August 13, 2017   #5
imp
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What a good idea to use a local and renewable and free source to tie up tomatoes!
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Old August 13, 2017   #6
oakley
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Love the '25 more sleeps'. In NYC we call it '25 more wake-ups' referring to how many work days to
the next holiday and such.
Are you coastal and high winds.? Bamboo is great and strong for that.

Curious about your weather. Not really deep low temps, or very high. But clearly four seasons? or
just a colder time and warmer time.

We do have four seasons but seems more like snow/cold, zip through Spring quickly, hot, short Fall
season and into cold pretty quickly. Unpredictable.
Unlike places in the world, SanMiquel Mx comes to mind. 65-75 pretty much year round. Not many
places so perfect. (except for the thousands of retired Americans that have made residence).

Fascinating. Please continue to share your garden.
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Old August 13, 2017   #7
StephenCoote
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Heh. "Wake ups" is a good way of looking at it.

I guess we are only about a mile from the sea, and we certainly do get high winds. All four seasons are fairly well defined. We have snow on nearby mountains and we get a couple of months where frost is common... although it may occur any time between, say, the beginning of May until mid October.

Winter day temperatures might have a low of -2 C to 6 C (hovering near freezing point), but the maximum day temperature could be between 8 C and 16 C. In summer we can have really hot days, but mostly we wouldn't get far above 28 C (around 82 F) in our valley. Things can be different elsewhere in the country.

The Nelson region (where I live) is often said to be the 'sunshine capital' of New Zealand as we sometimes miss the cloud and rain that hits elsewhere. I seem to recall reading that our area gets maybe 36 inches of rain annually.

Best wishes...
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Old August 13, 2017   #8
Spartanburg123
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Hey good luck Stephen from Kiwi Land! Love the idea of bamboo! Best of luck down there!!

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Old August 14, 2017   #9
Nan_PA_6b
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I'm also impressed with your very up-close photography of those germinating seeds! Well done, and good luck with your planting!

Nan
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Old August 15, 2017   #10
StephenCoote
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It is great what a modern digital camera can do... and mine is not a top-of-the-line model. I don't even have to select a special 'close up' option like I had to do with my old camera.

I have the two seeds planted in separate small pots that are sitting on top of potting mix in a larger pot. One of these plants will get planted into the bigger pot. I've just used a clear polythene bag as my 'greenhouse' cover:


This morning I checked to see if the sprouted seeds had broken through the surface of the soil... but they hadn't. This afternoon I checked again, and found they'd sprung through:


I intend giving all my tomato plants a serial number this season, and I hope to record information about each plant. This is all part of my plan to find the most suitable and productive plants for my neighborhood.
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