First time questions

Duke · March 27, 2011

Hi,

First time poster, first time gardener. I've never grown anything and I decided I would really like to grow my own tomatoes. While searching the Internets for tomato growing wisdom, I stumbled into Tomatoville and after a day perusing the forums and learning lots of interesting things, I went out and bought this on Friday:

And proceeded to build this on Saturday:

I think I have everything except tomatoes! That's why I am posting today. I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly when I can plant my tomatoes and what kind of tomatoes I should grow. I'm in North Central Indiana which is now USDA zone 6? Is it too late to start some seeds indoors? Should I buy some starters from the local greenhouse? Since its a container and the grow mix is warmer than the ground can I wheel it out earlier? I don't want to wait until mid May! Sorry for all the questions!

Duke

Gobig_or_Gohome_toms · March 27, 2011

Welcome to to tomatoville I am sure others in your area will have better information but I am in Zone 4 and started all my seeds last weekend for a May 10th plant out date so if you have not started seeds yet I would think now would be the time or for next year maybe a few weeks earlier.

p.s. searching these fourums using the search function should get you lots of good information.

Craig

rnewste · March 27, 2011

Duke,

Your EarthTainer looks great!! Congrats.

I am not that familiar with the Sta-Green Mix you bought. Just make sure there is no "dirt" contained in the Mix - - you want a soiless Mix as your base ingredient.

As you identified yourself as a first time grower, I would suggest for "Year One" you stick with hardy, robust plants, to get your feet wet. Stupice is one I would recommend, along with Cherokee Purple. Big Beef is another hardy and prolific variety to try.

Raybo

p.s. I really like your dolly addition, as this will make moving it around and doing the "Tainer-Tango" midway through the Season much easier.

platys · March 27, 2011

I'm in zone 5, (although I'm in the Chicago area, and I believe they are going to change us to zone 6), and I only just started my seeds. I'm late. However, in my experience, I haven't had a huge difference in how my plants did, production wise, as long as they get planted before the end of May. The earlier plants just grow slower in the cold, so the later ones catch up.

fortyonenorth · March 27, 2011

Hi there and welcome to Tomatoville. I'm in NW Indiana - north of Valparaiso along the lake - and I'm in the middle of sowing my seeds. I hope to have them all done by the end of the week. You are NOT too late. In fact, I think it's the perfect time for our area. You may not have a chance to order seeds, but take a look at what your local greenhouse or garden center has. Our little GC has a nice selection of heirlooms and some trusty hybrids as well. Hopefully yours does too.

Your portable container will make it easy for you to move it in and out of cover until the nights are reliably warm. Even if it doesn't freeze, your tomato plants won't be too happy until mid-May - then they'll really take off.

In terms of varieties, it depends on what type of tomato you like and how many you're growing. Brandywine Sudduth is one of the best, but if you're only growing one of two plants, you'd be disappointed in its production. If you like cherry tomatoes, most folks agree that Sungold (hybrd) is one of the best. I hope some of the others here can weigh-in on what the commonly found heirloom varieties might be.

**mdvpc** · March 27, 2011

Darrel Jones, one of us here at TVille, sells plants. You could buy plants from him-he ships. You should definately get a better selection and better plants than going to some local place.

If you do a search for Fusion_power, you can find his website. Never seen a complaint about his plants or service.

Welcome to TVille-pls post often.

newatthiskat · March 27, 2011

Welcome to Tomatoville. Looks like you have thought out your setup. How many Earthtainers are you planning on using? Any in ground. Hope your first year is a blast!!!

Kat

rwsacto · March 28, 2011

Hi Duke,

Your setup looks just like mine. I currently have early setting tomatoes like stupice, siberian, fireball, red alert and early girl in 18 gallon ET's on dollies. I move them into the sun in good weather and keep them in an unheated garage during the many storms we have had here in Northern CA.

I will plant more ET's in the next few weeks. Cherries like sweet 100 and sungold did great in my ET's. Celebrity Hybrid also did very well for me last year. All were purchased as plants.

You can probably plant out in the containers 2-3 weeks earlier than the ground planting date in your area. The media in the container will be warmer than the ground. Your tomatoes can also run (roll) away from hail, wind and cold snaps.

The easiest approach for this year would be to purchase a mix of cherries, determinate or semi determinate tomato plants from the nursery or big box store. See what others in your area grow and like, get some seeds, and start your own next winter.

Hope this helps,

Rick

rnewste · March 28, 2011

Duke,

I agree with Rick. You have enough things to keep under control as a first time gardener. Trying to develop from seed is something that will take a few Seasons to master, so I would find a local Nursery that stocks a combination of Hybrids and Heirloom plants. Ask advice on what varieties to grow in your local area, as folks in home gardening are most helpful.

Raybo

Duke · March 28, 2011

Wow. Thanks for all of the positive feedback! I think I will skip trying to start my own and either pick up some plants from the local green house or order some from tomatobaby. I still haven't decided on what type of tomatoes to grow but I am leaning towards a Sungold as one of them. For the other, I am looking for a larger tomato that bites back a little. To answer Kat's question, I'm only doing one container this year. My wife is already looking at me funny. Nothing in the ground this year due to some upcoming septic work in the back yard this summer and the only sunny spots left are in the front yard.

Raybo - I will take a look at the mix again just to make sure. I'm pretty sure it is soil - free.

Thanks everyone!

Duke

Duke · March 28, 2011

Good call on the Sta-Green mix. I looked at the fine print and it says "Not for use in containers"!! Looks like I'll be making a trip to the green house. darn.

Gobig_or_Gohome_toms · March 28, 2011

Depending on what is available locally one bigger sized Hybrid that you should be able to find that gets good reveiws here and that I grow along with my heirlooms is Big Beef.

Craig

shlacm · March 28, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke

Wow. Thanks for all of the positive feedback! I think I will skip trying to start my own and either pick up some plants from the local green house or order some from tomatobaby. I still haven't decided on what type of tomatoes to grow but I am leaning towards a Sungold as one of them. For the other, I am looking for a larger tomato that bites back a little. To answer Kat's question, I'm only doing one container this year. My wife is already looking at me funny. Nothing in the ground this year due to some upcoming septic work in the back yard this summer and the only sunny spots left are in the front yard.

Raybo - I will take a look at the mix again just to make sure. I'm pretty sure it is soil - free.

Thanks everyone!

Duke

Good choice!!! Tomatobabycompany is a wonderful source! She was very responsive and helpful last year (MY first year... after I drowned all my seedlings... repeatedly!) A warning, she likes to send "bonuses" so you might want to tell her you don't have ANY spare room, lol!

Looking at her list (which MAY still be last year's... not sure) I'm thinking for a large "red" (or at least not too strangely colored) you might consider: German Johnson, Mexico, NAR (Neves Azorean Red), Red Brandywine, and Cherokee Purple....

Perhaps someone with WAY MORE actual experience will peruse the list at the link above and offer some suggestions.

Also, check out Tatiana's Tomatobase if you haven't done so already... TONS of info and reviews and pics!!!Can't link to it at the moment, but will add a link later if I remember.

rnewste · March 28, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke

Good call on the Sta-Green mix. I looked at the fine print and it says "Not for use in containers"!! Looks like I'll be making a trip to the green house. darn.

Duke,

Depending on your budget, my recommendation is either Sunshine Mix #4, or Pro-Mix BX. either one is available at nearly all Hydroponics Shops.

Fall-back recommendation is Miracle-Gro Potting MIX, without Moisture Control. Available at Home Depot and Lowes.

Raybo

BTW, how did you construct your dolly?

Duke · March 28, 2011

Thanks for the info on the Mix. I don't think there's a Hydro shop within 50 miles of me though so I'll have to shop around. The dolly is pretty simple. I had the casters laying around. The main part is just a piece of 3/4" ply with two 1x4 poplar boards screwed on the bottom edges (front and back). The casters are screwed to it with some 1 1/4" lag screws. The two casters on one end are fixed and swivel on the other. I'll probably add a trim board around the edges and a coat of paint before I'm done.

March 27, 2011	#1
Duke Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Peru, IN Posts: 8	First time questions Hi, First time poster, first time gardener. I've never grown anything and I decided I would really like to grow my own tomatoes. While searching the Internets for tomato growing wisdom, I stumbled into Tomatoville and after a day perusing the forums and learning lots of interesting things, I went out and bought this on Friday: And proceeded to build this on Saturday: I think I have everything except tomatoes! That's why I am posting today. I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly when I can plant my tomatoes and what kind of tomatoes I should grow. I'm in North Central Indiana which is now USDA zone 6? Is it too late to start some seeds indoors? Should I buy some starters from the local greenhouse? Since its a container and the grow mix is warmer than the ground can I wheel it out earlier? I don't want to wait until mid May! Sorry for all the questions! Duke

March 27, 2011	#6
mdvpc Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 4,386	Darrel Jones, one of us here at TVille, sells plants. You could buy plants from him-he ships. You should definately get a better selection and better plants than going to some local place. If you do a search for Fusion_power, you can find his website. Never seen a complaint about his plants or service. Welcome to TVille-pls post often. __________________ Michael

March 27, 2011	#7
newatthiskat Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: texas Posts: 1,451	Reply Welcome to Tomatoville. Looks like you have thought out your setup. How many Earthtainers are you planning on using? Any in ground. Hope your first year is a blast!!! Kat

March 28, 2011	#10
Duke Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Peru, IN Posts: 8	Thanks! Wow. Thanks for all of the positive feedback! I think I will skip trying to start my own and either pick up some plants from the local green house or order some from tomatobaby. I still haven't decided on what type of tomatoes to grow but I am leaning towards a Sungold as one of them. For the other, I am looking for a larger tomato that bites back a little. To answer Kat's question, I'm only doing one container this year. My wife is already looking at me funny. Nothing in the ground this year due to some upcoming septic work in the back yard this summer and the only sunny spots left are in the front yard. Raybo - I will take a look at the mix again just to make sure. I'm pretty sure it is soil - free. Thanks everyone! Duke

March 27, 2011	#2
Gobig_or_Gohome_toms Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Zone 4 Lake Minnetonka, MN Posts: 967	Welcome to to tomatoville I am sure others in your area will have better information but I am in Zone 4 and started all my seeds last weekend for a May 10th plant out date so if you have not started seeds yet I would think now would be the time or for next year maybe a few weeks earlier. p.s. searching these fourums using the search function should get you lots of good information. Craig

March 27, 2011	#3
rnewste Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Campbell, CA Posts: 4,064	Duke, Your EarthTainer looks great!! Congrats. I am not that familiar with the Sta-Green Mix you bought. Just make sure there is no "dirt" contained in the Mix - - you want a soiless Mix as your base ingredient. As you identified yourself as a first time grower, I would suggest for "Year One" you stick with hardy, robust plants, to get your feet wet. Stupice is one I would recommend, along with Cherokee Purple. Big Beef is another hardy and prolific variety to try. Raybo p.s. I really like your dolly addition, as this will make moving it around and doing the "Tainer-Tango" midway through the Season much easier.

March 27, 2011	#4
platys Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2010 Location: Naperville, IL Posts: 176	I'm in zone 5, (although I'm in the Chicago area, and I believe they are going to change us to zone 6), and I only just started my seeds. I'm late. However, in my experience, I haven't had a huge difference in how my plants did, production wise, as long as they get planted before the end of May. The earlier plants just grow slower in the cold, so the later ones catch up.

March 27, 2011	#5
fortyonenorth Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: NW Indiana Posts: 1,150	Hi there and welcome to Tomatoville. I'm in NW Indiana - north of Valparaiso along the lake - and I'm in the middle of sowing my seeds. I hope to have them all done by the end of the week. You are NOT too late. In fact, I think it's the perfect time for our area. You may not have a chance to order seeds, but take a look at what your local greenhouse or garden center has. Our little GC has a nice selection of heirlooms and some trusty hybrids as well. Hopefully yours does too. Your portable container will make it easy for you to move it in and out of cover until the nights are reliably warm. Even if it doesn't freeze, your tomato plants won't be too happy until mid-May - then they'll really take off. In terms of varieties, it depends on what type of tomato you like and how many you're growing. Brandywine Sudduth is one of the best, but if you're only growing one of two plants, you'd be disappointed in its production. If you like cherry tomatoes, most folks agree that Sungold (hybrd) is one of the best. I hope some of the others here can weigh-in on what the commonly found heirloom varieties might be.

March 28, 2011	#8
rwsacto Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Sacramento CA Posts: 288	Hi Duke, Your setup looks just like mine. I currently have early setting tomatoes like stupice, siberian, fireball, red alert and early girl in 18 gallon ET's on dollies. I move them into the sun in good weather and keep them in an unheated garage during the many storms we have had here in Northern CA. I will plant more ET's in the next few weeks. Cherries like sweet 100 and sungold did great in my ET's. Celebrity Hybrid also did very well for me last year. All were purchased as plants. You can probably plant out in the containers 2-3 weeks earlier than the ground planting date in your area. The media in the container will be warmer than the ground. Your tomatoes can also run (roll) away from hail, wind and cold snaps. The easiest approach for this year would be to purchase a mix of cherries, determinate or semi determinate tomato plants from the nursery or big box store. See what others in your area grow and like, get some seeds, and start your own next winter. Hope this helps, Rick