Raised beds [getting ready for SETTFest ;)]

[Suze]

Duane, those are just the bottoms of the cages, I haven't put the tops on yet. I don't do that until later, because it is easier to tend to the plants when they are smaller w/o them.

The occasional cage (in the main beds) that you see sticking up a bit are one piece 5 footers.

I do actually have a six pack of extensions that I was kindly sent this year to try out, though -- adding those would make the cage 8'.

Tired tonight. I finally got around to hula hoeing those weeds in the paths between all the beds.

[duajones]

Suze, I have been wondering how your plants made it through the cold snap. Hopefully, all is well

[Suze]

Originally Posted by duajones

Suze, I have been wondering how your plants made it through the cold snap. Hopefully, all is well

Peppers were covered with nursery pots. Tomato plants and the few eggplants I have were simply too large to do that with. Didn't bother with cukes and melons.

Tomato and pepper plants made it with no signs of damage. The only significant damage I'm seeing is to a couple of older eggplant leaves towards the bottoms of the plants, otherwise they are fine. Cukes/melons might need to to be resowed - if so, no big loss; I didn't have that many and they were only a couple weeks old anyway.

We had low/no wind the entire night and a nice steady drizzle of rain, which probably helped significantly.

I was toying with staging various brush piles throughout the yard and burning them, but didn't because of the rain.

[snappybob]

Feldon and or Suze,

Did you do your plants from seeds? If so when did you start your seeds. Your plants are so much bigger and fuller than mine. I started my seeds the first week of January and put them in the ground in mid March. They look healthy enough except for a little freeze burn from Easter weekend but they are not nearly as big as yours.

[feldon30]

I started two batches of seeds. One batch December 26th, one batch January 17th.

I potted up at the second true leaf stage from 72 cell tray into 4" pots. I fertilized with Maxicrop at half strength when the plants were about 6" tall. When they reached 12-14" tall, I potted up into gallon pots. Those are the plants that went in the ground on March 10th. I used Earl's "hole planting method" by adding 10lbs of composted cow manure, and 2/3 cup each of TomatoTone 4-7-10, Epsom Salts, and Bone Meal. I also add 1/4 cup of Pelletized Lime to each hole.

When we had the near-frost and non-stop rain of the 7th and 8th, I completely cocooned my two tomato beds in clear plastic. I did not take temperature measurements, but I believe it did not dip below 50 in either bed and actually reached 85 during the morning of the 9th. I promptly removed enough of the plastic to allow airflow and then proceeded to remove all of the clear plastic.

During those 2 days, the plants continued to grow and actually got a growth spurt from the warm temperatures on the morning of the 9th.

Most of my plants are now 2-3' tall. See the Fruitset! thread for more details including a fruit count chart.

Yesterday, I watered the foliage with a cocktail of HastaGro 6-12-6, Maxicrop, and Alaska 5-1-1. Of course then some of it was washed off by the drizzly rain but hopefully a good amount was absorbed.

[Suze]

Bob,

Yes, I grow from seed. Most varieties were started Jan 7th this year, which was a little later than usual because I had recently moved and was a bit disorganized as a result. Usually, I start around the first or even a few days before. Some of my plants were started as late as Jan 21 though.

Most of the ones that were started around Jan 7 are now 2.5 - 3 feet tall. Ones started a bit later are a bit smaller of course, which is fine by me. Doesn't hurt because it serves to stagger the harvest a bit.

How big are your plants? Have you fed them yet?

[snappybob]

The majority of mine are around a foot tall or maybe a little taller. I'm just guessing since I am not at home right now. A few are much smaller and a few are much taller. I did an overall fertilization when I prepared the beds about 2 weeks before setting out plants. When I transplanted into the beds I used a fertilizer called "Rocket Fuel" 2-6-1 in the holes. I then side dressed with manure compost. About 2 weeks later I feritlized with Espoma Tomato Fertilizer. I did a foliar spray with Fish emulsion last weekend. Sounds like maybe I'm going a little 'too' light on the feeding. Maybe I should offer them one of Feldons cocktails. I really want to have tomatos to bring to the fest in June. But I really want to have a good year with tomatoes. It's been 2 years since I had a really good crop. I'll try to take some pics tonight and post them. Thanks for your responses.

[Suze]

Bob, measure some of your plants when you get a chance. I think you might be surprised at how tall they actually are. Personally, I am not very good at guessing the size/height of a plant and really have a tendency to underestimate quite a bit.

Looking forward to seeing pictures.

[Suze]

I finally had a chance to take some pictures today. Time to get cage tops on.



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[duajones]

great looking pics Suze! Which variety is that at the bottom with the PL? Gary O'Sena maybe?

[snappybob]

I finally had a chance to take some measurements and some pics on Friday. I measured and photographed one of each variety. I peaked over the fence at my neigbors tomatoes and they are about the same size as mine. Below are some pics.


















They all are getting some blooms except for Akers West Virginia, Arkansas Traveler and Brandywine OTV. This is a little experiment to find out which heirlooms do the best around here and pick a few to stick with in future years. Last year was my first year to grow heirlooms and they didn't do well at all. I think most of the problems were due to poor variety selection and of course the drought didn't help either. So what do yall think? Will I have tomatoes in time for the fest in mid June?

[Suze]

Originally Posted by duajones

great looking pics Suze! Which variety is that at the bottom with the PL? Gary O'Sena maybe?

Originally Posted by jtcm05

Looking good Suze. What variety is that with all the fruit on it?

Guys, that's Lucky Leprechaun. I just ate my first one this afternoon. Not bad at all. Not PL, but doesn't have a lot of serrations to the leaves for an RL. A Kimberly plant is to the left of it, and you can see some of those leaves in the photo.

I do have some fruit set on my Gary O though, and plenty of other varieties. I've been so busy, I've simply not had the time to note what varieties have set fruit, but I might get around to that tomorrow or the next day.

Originally Posted by snappybob

So what do yall think? Will I have tomatoes in time for the fest in mid June?

I bet you will. Looking forward to seeing you there.

[feldon30]

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[snappybob]

Hey Bryan24, how are your Toms doing? Did you ever get the rest of them in? Any pics yet? I'm curios to see how other tomato plants in San Antonio are doing. Are you guys planning on going to the Tomato Festival?