2015 Organic Heirloom Tomato Journal

[Worth1]

Why cant I see the pictures?

Worth

[TheUrbanFarmer]

Cole Robbie - Let me know what you think, and by all means, feel free to share a picture in this thread of your plants / tomatoes as well. It helps me out a lot to see other people growing the same thing! As far as the buckets, the main reason for using them is it is a way to re-purpose the cat litter buckets, in which case makes them free.

IF I were to take the time to make a bed, I'd be filling it full of dirt and using it like a proper bed. I think in all honesty, I under-estimated how much I was going to enjoy growing tomatoes. I thought in my mind that 2 beds would be enough. I should have known my natural tendency to dive into something head first would kick in.

There are many things I would have done differently, I can admit this! I would have made my walk ways tighter. I originally thought I was going to mow the grass in between the beds, but I had read (somewhere ??) the carbon monoxide from gasoline engines can affect the taste of tomatoes and that is the last thing I'd want.

So, given my garden is small, I have taken to sheering the grass by hand along side the beds and honestly, I pace and look at the plants so much, the grass and weeds in the center of the rows hasn't grown up much...hahahaha!!!

But that aside, I would have put the rows closer together, knowing now I wouldn't be running a mower through there. I also could have technically had 3.5 more FULL beds in the yard had I done this. TALK ABOUT DROPPING THE BALL.

I have around $250 in costs for the construction of the beds and that includes 6mil plastic, lumber, t-posts, 14 gauge wire, and the weed barrier fabric. That does not factor in the cost of the soil. Of that cost though, only about $115 was in lumber, and I had some left over still. So figure for another $120 I could have built the other beds, as I have plenty of plastic and weed fabric left and I can always make more soil.

All in all when I get to the heart of the matter, the main reason for not doing more beds, was that extra $120 felt REALLY prohibitive at the time. This garden was put together on a tight budget and I suppose the decision to "fill in" with buckets indicates exactly how tight of a budget!!

I don't mind watering but I've just started participating in my second Farmers Market and I realize time is becoming more and more crunched. The ability to just turn a valve and have the whole garden watered is certainly what I consider "ideal" so I've been plotting scenarios where such would be possible.

I've got an idea for watering that I'm digesting still. Thinking large tank for rain water collection (300 gallon) > valve > some pvc > some drip lines and emitters and let gravity do the rest.

Worth1 - I'm not sure why you can't see them?? I double checked and who can view my album is not restricted in any way.

Is anyone else having an issue seeing pictures?

[Sydney Grower]

Yep, I have no pictures and no links

Just blank space between your headings

Is it a Mac thing?

Carl

[TheUrbanFarmer]

Well, my photos don't seem to show when using mobile. I typically use my PC and this is not an issue. Mods?

[schill93]

For what it's worth. I see all of your photo's on my PC running Windows. Looks like a real nice garden. I think you will need to hook up some type of auto watering system, because hand watering every day and twice a day will wear you down after a while.

The rain barrel gravity fed watering is a good suggestion. There are lots of videos on You Tube showing how people set up different systems. For your your future bucket container garden, you might consider the rain gutter system hooked up with a rain barrel and float, which you can see on You Tube.

You can also hook up a timer to your hose bib and connect it to some 1/2" irrigation tubing with 1/4" lines coming from it to your plants. But should the timer fail, and you are not home, you could have a big water bill. Rain barrel is safer.

How are your plants in your Kitty Litter buckets doing in comparison to your raised beds? If they work out ok, then the rain gutter system with float would be a good system for you.

[MissS]

I would love to see your pictures, but nope not a thing showing up.

[zipcode]

Definitely no pictures. On windows 7, tried 3 different browsers. It's a site issue I'm assuming.

[Gerardo]

No pics. Using Opera, on windows.

[Conklin1979]

I can see pics fine.
Windows 7 professional
32 bit
Chrome Browser

[salix]

I can see everything just fine (and they are lovely!) on a Mac.

[RayR]

I can see the pictures
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Chrome & IE 11

[Wolfie1038]

No pics here either. Windows 8.1 64 bit w/Firefox

[TheUrbanFarmer]

Apologies for abandoning this thread.

I guess I just got discouraged that half the people here couldn't even see my photos when uploading them to the site properly. Seems odd to me that proper usage resulted in what seems like 50% of people not being able to view them and it never got addressed by the admins.

Considering there is a very limited onsite photo capacity, I wasn't too keen on the idea of having to create an account at some place like instagram, photobucket, imgur, etc. just to be able to continue sharing here.

The garden was very successful and I'll spend the next couple days uploading a few pictures to share the rest of the season with you. Hopefully, people will be able to see the pictures...

I will be continuing this thread, for the 2016 season as well, seeing how it is only 2 pages long.

Hello, again, TomatoVille!!!

[Wolfie1038]

Welcome back! I'll be anxious to see how your 2016 season progresses!

[TheUrbanFarmer]

Thanks, Wolfie! Glad to be back. I'm going to try to figure this forum out and get all my previous pictures to show. They are not showing for me either, now...HAHAHA! Go figure. Which admin or moderator do I contact to address this issue?

Seeing how I am just backlogging information at this point, I figure I might as well start with the grand finale.

I had never participated in a county fair of any sort, so in 2015 for fun and friendly competition, decided it would be a good idea to do so. I was very surprised when the fruits of our labor resulted in being highly rewarded, winning 10 total placings out of 13 entries.




The feedback received was fairly useful in deciding what varieties to grow again in the 2016 season as well as which ones to discard because they did not stand out for various reasons.

As much as I loved the flavor of the Red Velvet cherry tomatoes - I WILL NOT be growing them again. They were the first to attract pests and the first to fall victim to any sort of viral attack. It was so bad, the plants were cut down mid-season because they simply weren't productive enough compared to the high level of maintenance they required.

The favorites list from 2015:

Break O' Day - simply amazing flavor. I'm making much more space for them this variety in 2015. Great classic, sharp, old school tomato flavor with a hint of sweetness that is truly lip smacking good. This is probably my favorite standard red I've ever eaten. We were awarded a 2nd place finish in the "red tomato" category for these fruits.

Chocolate Cherry - I cannot say enough good about these vines. They grew to be over 6 ft tall before they ran out of support wires, then the stems bent, healed, grew all the way back to the ground, and half way back up. These plants would have been 12-15ft. tall if properly supported. The fruits would crack if left on the vine too long and especially if not picked before a watering or heavy rain. I did not consider this a downfall because I loved the bite texture that came from their thinner skins. These are probably the sweetest, most complex, cherry tomatoes I've ever had. These were a huge favorite of people at our local farmers' market as well. They were awarded a 1st place blue ribbon in the "cherry tomato" category.

Yellow Gooseberry - Another extremely vigorous and hearty vine. I wasn't expecting much from a yellow tomato so keep these in buckets as opposed to the beds. In 2016, this variety will be getting MUCH more dedicated space to spread their roots. The sweet, very citrus nuances, with a lower acid bite made these fruits my #1 absolute favorite from the garden in 2015. A bit tougher skinned and an ability to hold on the vine for what seemed like an impossible amount of time made these a much more forgiving variety. Their somewhat more blocky shape made them a standout at the farmers' market and made them excellent to place in mixed variety lbs. The vines themselves were very thick and rigid and tended to shoot roots half way up the plant in higher humidity levels. They were awarded a 1st place blue ribbon in the "yellow tomato" category.

I will discuss and give thoughts on some of the other varieties in a future post - but really wanted to highlight these particular tomatoes, as I found them to be exceptional.

In the mean time, here is a picture of some roots from plants in the 6 gallon kitty litter buckets. While this is not quite the entire root system, it does give you an idea of how established these plants can become in an organic container system. In fact, every plant in a container had grown roots through the drainage holes and affixed themselves to the ground beneath. I had to literally uproot the buckets...