Showdown at Suze's

[Suze]

Thanks for the kind words, folks. Some years are better than others, and this has been a good one for me. It was tough going in early April with those late (near) frosts, and I even got some minor cold damage at one point. The plants grew out of it, though.

I use Daconil early in the season, as I think it makes a big difference in helping the plants stay healthy long enough to reach a critical mass. Later on, I stop using it for two reasons: (1) It's a pain to thoroughly scrub all that ripe fruit, and (2) Too many plants in my case to make it practical when they get big. In the pictures, I hadn't sprayed for over a month. I'm meticulous about my plants early on, and will clean up leaves below the first fruit set. I'll also go though a couple of times a week and remove any 'blighty' leaves I see. Of course, later on, with all those plants it becomes impractical to keep it up - but I like to get them off to a good start.

Also, I don't have it as bad as the folks in Houston do. We don't get as much rain (normally), but still a fair amount, and it is not quite as 'tropical' here. A little less humidity, bugs, etc. So, my season is a little longer.

Originally Posted by ewtx

Wow, we should have the next SETT FEST at Suze's place, it would save her the trouble of having to haul all of her tomatoes to the festival.

Eric, actually, we'd briefly considered that as an option -- but that would have been an awfully long drive for Houston folks.

Originally Posted by duajones

Suze,Feldon. I was wondering how each of you think cherokee purple stacks up against the heavy hitters on your list.

Duane, CP is a 9 - 9.5 for me. Believe it or not, I didn't even grow it this year! First year ever that I've been CPless. But I did grow Indian Stripe and Cherokee Chocolate.

Originally Posted by PNW_D

Two questions - Suze - what are you feeding your plants, soil mix, etc.? Apologies if already answered elsewhere and I thought I saw a picture of Burracker's Favorite, but no notes??

Denise, the Burracker's Favorite has done fairly well for me in the past, but is pretty bland this year. Could be all the rain we've been getting here, combined with the super cool spring (for Texas).

I'm on solid sugar sand -- my backyard is like a beach. The raised beds are 12" high and were filled with a custom garden mix (50/50) of quality compost and sandy loam (I inspected the mix before buying). I also added Peat Moss; two bales per 3' x 12' bed. According to my rough calculations, the peat was probably ~25% of the mixture.

The peat may have not been strictly necessary, but I wanted to be absolutely sure everything was light and fluffy, because that's what plants seem to prefer, especially with the occasional torrential rains that can happen here.

Amendments - I limed the beds with dolomitic/granulated lime, small amounts of Epsom Salts, plenty of organic fert (a cornmeal/alfalfa mixture).

Then, I mixed everything up with a pitchfork and wet it down a couple of weeks before planting - the soil mix, the peat, the amendments.

I also have been feeding every couple of weeks since fruit set with slow release/granulated fertilizer marked 'for tomatoes' (or vegetables). I use whatever is on sale.

Originally Posted by PNW_D

oh, and a third question - the Portuguese Neighbo"u"r - would that be the one I shared with Carolyn? I recall there already was one named without the "u" so opted for our Canadian spelling ..........

Yes, I am growing the one you shared with C. that should be spelled w/the "u". I didn't mention that to Morgan, and our tasting notes were likely pretty jumbled and tomato juice smeared.

[orflo]

Amazing garden, and the way the tomatoes are grown, simply unimaginable over here because of the late blight, this year's first 'attack' end of May(!), even in a greenhouse this cannot be realized over here, and wonderful pictures too, great,
Frank

[feraltomatoes]

Very nice!
If you just moved there then I would call it an instant pop-up tomato forest.

Brad....

[Rena]

Very very NICE!!!

[bbjm]

What are the cages made of?

How many plants are in the 3 x 12 beds?

Great looking tomato garden.

[tomakers]

Suze,
You certainly have a beautiful garden. Hard to believe it's the first year. How many varieties total are you growing? It is almost enough to make me want to visit Tejas again.
Actually I love it, but my experience is mostly Houston and points south along the coast. I am extremely jealous. Here in my frost pocket my plants are just beginning to flower and set fruit.
Happy gardening,
Tom

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by bbjm

What are the cages made of?

Texas Tomato Cages

Originally Posted by bbjm

How many plants are in the 3 x 12 beds?

I mostly saw 6-8. Some beds had as many as 10 if they were smaller plants.

[Suze]

Tom, I'm growing around 110 varieties this year. Thanks for the compliments.

[Grub]

Glad to read your assessment of GMG.
Wonderful beds. Inspiring.
Got me all excited again.
Thanks Suze and Feldon.

[Adenn1]

Wow...I mean wow...those are great pics and Suze has a great garden. Truly an inspiration!

Thank you both...simply beautiful.

[Earl]

Very Nicely Done, Feldon! And Suze, wow is an understatement, those are superb plants. I now proclaim Suze, Queen Suze, Queen of Tomatoville!

My god, now I'll be ashamed to post pics of my pitiful plants!

Glad ol' Faux did so well in the tasting. It really is a great tasting tomato.

[Suze]

Originally Posted by Earl

Very Nicely Done, Feldon! And Suze, wow is an understatement, those are superb plants. I now proclaim Suze, Queen Suze, Queen of Tomatoville!

My god, now I'll be ashamed to post pics of my pitiful plants!

*blush*

Coming from you, Unca Earl, that is high praise indeed. Just remember that Carolyn is still Princess of Pistils. LOL.

Glad ol' Faux did so well in the tasting. It really is a great tasting tomato.

I knew you'd notice that.

[duajones]

While it may not mean nothing, I consider many of you here at tomatoville practically royalty when it comes to tomatoes. Great bunch here no doubt and its nice to see South Texas so well represented. Suze, although you may not toot your own horn, the praise you recieve is well deserved. Its great to have such a great resource almost in my backyard.

[tomakers]

Originally Posted by duajones

Its great to have such a great resource almost in my backyard.

Only in Texas is 250 miles almost in your back yard.

[Zana]

Originally Posted by tomakers

Only in Texas is 250 miles almost in your back yard.

Since I've known fellow Crazy Canucks that have driven from Regina to Calgary(764km/477.5Mi) for a good steak, or from Toronto to Montreal (539km/336.9Mi) in time for a lunch of Montreal Smoked Meat (one serious leadfoot used to do the Toronto/Montreal run in less than 3 hours on a regular basis, so much so that the cops after years of not catching him, set up road blocks along the Hwy 401/Trans Canada Highway to finally catch him! Still got off with a relatively low fine in comparison to these days - today he'd lose his license.) Our own family drives over 350km/219Mi to our place up in "cottage country" for the weekend....and many other "southern" Ontarians drive quite a bit farther and longer for a chance at a weekend away from the city.

Since I travel over 2600km/1625Mi to see my Sweetie in Sugar Land, 250 miles doesn't seem all that far to little ol' moi. I'm with you, duajones....almost in your own backyard! LOL....its all relative.


Suze! I'm in awe of your tomato patch. I can only aspire to producing something like that here....or in Sugar Land.