Danwigz's Tomatoes

[danwigz]

Okay, not sure if this deserves its own thread, or should be in a different forum, but here's where I'll put my garden "blog" for the season.

I just finished planting the last (well almost) tomato plants. This is much earlier than last year in Wisconsin, so hopefully this will mean a lot more tomatoes. A few of my plants are starting to grow their first flowers, and I'm eagerly waiting for them to bloom.

I've done 4 separate plantings this season,
1st extremely early (too early May 1st): plants are stunted but growing
2nd about 2 weeks later (May 15thish): plants slightly stunted, growing slowed but not as much as the first group
3rd about a week ago (May 22ndish): no stunting, extremely good growth
4th with plants I just purchased from WIsunflower and a Cherokee Purple I picked up from a local garden shop (May 30th).

Overall my Brandywine-Pink plants are showing their first flower growth, but the Green Zebras seem to be waiting longer. My largest and most beautiful plant is a Green Zebra; it was planted in the 3rd group. I've used a fertilizer for all my plants called Tomatoes Alive and am using a mix of Organic and non-organic Miracle grow garden soil along with a cheap topsoil.

I'm also doing a small experiment with my volunteer grape tomatoes (a generic variety I got through a school fundraiser last year). I have a total of 16 in small pots, 9 of which I'm experimenting with fertilizers. All are in Miracle grow potting mix, 3 have added worm castings to the mix, 3 have added Tomatoes Alive, and the rest don't have anything besides the potting mixture.

In total I have the 16 volunteers, 7 (+1 yet unplanted) Green Zebras, 3 Brandywine-Pink, 1 Cherokee Purple, 1 Sungold, 1 Green Dr, 1 Snow White Cherry, 1 Black Cherry, 1 KBX, 1 Sicilian Paste, and 1 Negro Azteca. Additionally I have 3 Matt's Wild Cherry plants that are all very small that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with. I have room for one more plant in a bed, but the other two I'll probably have to find another large pot to put in.

What I'm going to do if those 16 volunteers actually produce lots of fruit is beyond me. Pics to come soon.

Dan

[danwigz]

June 3rd I bought my last tomato plant after reading, rereading and looking at pictures about and showing the Japanese Trifle Black. Sigh. Maybe I went too far for my first year? 11 varieties for someone who only a year ago only ever thought of tomatoes as red... lots of fun

Here's some photos:

Tomato Bed1tv.jpg My main tomato bed. 3 Brandywines, 2 on the right and one in the back middle, 5 Green Zebras

Tomatobed2tv.jpg This one has all the extra varieties I've planted, not including the most recent purchase. I've also got beets and some very small pepper plants growing (I lost most of my more developed ones unfortunately).

TestMaterstv.jpg Here's the test maters. All volunteer grape tomatoes. The 7 on the left have nothing added to the Miracle Grow potting mix. The 3 on the far right have wormcastings added, the 3 on the row to the left of those has Tomatoes Alive added. So far I've noted that the plants with nothing added are growing bigger that the rest, the wormcastings second, and the TA plants are a little smaller than those. I'd have a more recent picture, but its rainy and dark out today.

Letuce and Garlictv.jpg The bed that has a little of this, and a little of that. Lettuce of two varieties, onions, garlic, basil seedlings, sugar snap peas (on the far right), some oregano that did nothing last year (I don't even remember seeing a single leaf from the seeds I planted) but has spread to a few different locations, and a couple pepper plants.

Pepper Plants tv.jpg Last year I made lots of salsa, but had to buy hot peppers. I saw this thing at Shopko (if not familiar think Kmart, Target, or Walmart), and had to buy it. It has Jalapeno, Poblano, and something called "Gard-n-Salsa." So far I have many peppers growing and lots of flowers. Now I just need to figure out when to pull them.

[kath]

It's really fun to see what others are growing and how they set things up. Thanks for sharing your pics. I sounds like you're really enjoying your garden this year. Hope things continue to do well for you.

[lowlylowlycook]

Haha. 99% of all weeds I've pulled out of my raised bet were maple seedlings.

Do you pick up all the little helicopters or are you lazy like me?

[danwigz]

I thought those just added to the mulch pile lol.

l A z....

[danwigz]

Here's a pictorial update.

TomatoBed1atv.jpg The main tomato bed.

GZBiggestTV.jpg My biggest (green zebra) plant, just starting to make multiple flower buds.

BigleafohnoTV.jpg So I wanted to take a picture of the massive leaves of my largest Brandywine Pink plant. I'll bet you can see what I see... now I need to learn how to make my own soap mix since I used the entire store bought bottle I purchased to help my basil survive the season.

Tomatobed2atv.jpg My other Tomato bed.

japanesetrifletv.jpg While my Sungold OP produced the first visible fruit, this Japanese Trifle that I just recently put into the ground is looking like it's going to be a heavy producer (assuming the aphids don't attach themselves here). I'm really happy I decided to go for this last minute purchase.

TestMaters1tv.jpg Test Mater update, the ones without any extra fertilizers still seem to be outpacing the rest.

blackcherrytv.jpg Here's a late plant I started from seed, its a black cherry and is still small. I just hope I get a taste of a few maters from it.

windcasualtyTV.jpg And here's the result of really gusty winds in Wisconsin yesterday. Totally knocked over my hot pepper collection, and lost these, hard to tell their size, but they're all rather immature. I was thinking I'd chop them up and freeze them and use them as salsa filler later in the season.

LetuceandGarlicatv.jpg And finally my third bed with the random assortment. The basil, both sweet and purple is starting to show more true leaves, the cilantro from seed is getting visible, and the cilantro I bought from a nursery is bolting (i won't make that mistake again). I've been eating salads at lunch almost everyday for the past week, and it appears to have made little dent in my lettuce supply.

Happy aphid hunting!

Danwigz

[danwigz]

Wow, the garden sure has grown a lot over the past month. Unfortunately I seem plagued with a few pests, mostly aphids and some white flies. I'm not sure but I think some of my plants may have contracted one of those awful diseases from the white flies. More soap mix, and I'm thinking of buying some insecticide, but boy do I need a lot of it, those little spray bottles don't cover much.
tvGZandBP.jpgtvBeets.jpg (I'm really looking forward to tasting those beets!)

On the brighter side its appearing that I"ll get at least a few tomatoes from the plants I am really excited to try, my JBT has the most fruit of all my plants and can't seem to stop producing flowers; I hope I like it
tvJBT.jpg

Additionally my Cherokee purple is starting to set fruit, of all the varieties I planted this year this is the one I'm most excited to try.
tvCPs.jpg

The volunteer tomatoes are all doing well despite their small containers, and a few have open flowers, the rest almost all have a few flowers that are very close to opening. It seems that the fertilizers had a negative effect on the plants originally, but now they're almost indistinguishable from the rest.
VoulCherriestv.jpgtvMoreCherries.jpg

My "non" tomato bed has become overrun with volunteer tomato plants, but I'm letting most of them grow, even if that isn't recommended. The Sugar Snap Peas have well... overgrown my small staking system (just 3 small tomato cages in a row) but are flowering, and much to my surprise today, have actually started growing snap peas. I couldn't see them through the forest (even though they were right in front of my face earlier lol).
tvSSPs.jpg

Lettuce has become a staple, and I swear I've been eating a salad for at least one meal every day for the last week. Will this stuff ever stop growing, I really want to plant more snap peas here!
tvToomuchlettuce.jpg

That wonderful grouping of hot peppers has taken a dive. I'm not sure whats wrong, I'm trying to lightly fertilize them in hopes that was the problem.
tvsadpeppers.jpg

Well I'm off.

Danwigz

[Talon1189]

Tomatoes look good.........looks like it is time to build bigger raised beds

[kath]

It's nice to see the progress your plants have made. I'm growing peppers in pots for the first time and find I have to fuss with them a lot to try to make them happy. Next year it's back into the garden with all but a couple that I can overwinter inside.
Can you purchase a sprayer and save money by buying concentrates?
Your lettuce looks pretty and is still growing strong; here, when the temps get really high and they're in the sun most of the day, they will start to elongate and form a stalk, and when that happens, the taste becomes bitter. Not sure what your climate is like, but we can't plant peas for a fall crop until much closer to the end of summer as they don't grow well in the heat either.
Happy gardening!

[dustdevil]

Are the marigolds keeping the rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks away? The hot peppers probably have been set back by the lack of sun and all the rain lately.

[danwigz]

Originally Posted by Talon1189

Tomatoes look good.........looks like it is time to build bigger raised beds

I agree I'm going to wait till next summer, and see what my yard is like then (I might be moving soon, hopefully I'll get tomatoes before this happens, if not I'm going to find out what transplanting a huge tomato plant is like lol)

As for a sprayer, I think that's the route I'm going to go. If the soap mix doesn't keep them in check, I'll be purchasing what I need, no matter what (or is that no mater what? lol)

dustdevil Are the marigolds keeping the rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks away? The hot peppers probably have been set back by the lack of sun and all the rain lately.

As for the marigolds, I have no idea what they are for, my mother always planted them with tomatoes, so I am too lol. I do have to say, the rabbits have kindly left all my plants alone except for the sugar snap peas (they can help them selves to lettuce, but don't seem tempted by it jeesh). The fact that there has been a lot of rain and little sun could explain the hot pepper defoliation, hopefully they'll spruce up soon, at least there is a lot of peppers already growing.

Thanks for the comments everyone,


Danwigz

[dustdevil]

BTW: Shopko Nursery stuff is now 50% off! :-)

[ubergoober]

Looks Great!! But just wait...once your lettuce is gone...you will miss it! lol

[danwigz]

(Update July 1, 2010)

Ubergoober, I'm sure I'll miss the lettuce... but for now...
tvlettuce.jpg

Tomato plants are all doing well. Still seeing some curling on some plants, and finding a few aphids here and there but not finding huge colonies, so I think they're under control.
tvgzbps.jpgtvbeets.jpg

Almost every plant has open flowers, and I have fruit set for every variety except one in the ground, and 3 cherries I started from seed very late. The Japanese trifle black is still producing flowers and setting fruit like mad. I think I might need to extend my caging "system" for this one.
tvjtbgreens.jpg

In second place for fruit set currently is the Cherokee Purple. I have this huge cluster of fruit (8-9 I think) that all came from the same spot. It looks very crowded, so I hope I won't have any problems with them (see pics). Beyond that the plant is spreading like no other and I'm probably going to have to buy more stakes just to help support this plant. I'm trying to get as many suckers as I can, but I think I must have missed a few.
tvcpcluster.jpgtvcpcluster2.jpg

Miss a few days of salads... well you saw the lettuce above. It's getting a more bitter flavor, probably because the leaves are getting older; I'm hoping they'll go to seed soon. The rest of that bed is doing well. The snap peas are ripening well, and I've eaten a few right in the garden. The volunteers are starting to set fruit, so the onslaught of cherries is around the corner.
tvsnappeas.jpgtvcherries.jpg

When I was growing up the street I lived in had a few empty lots that were well wooded. In Wisconsin berries such as raspberries/blackberries/black raspberries grow well in the wild, and the empty lots had a ton of these plants. I used to gorge myself in the summer on these wild berries, and some how escaped getting hit with poison ivy. When I moved into my current house I noticed a few black raspberry plants growing on the side of the garage (I'm pretty sure they were wild). Now three years later...
tvGarageberries.jpg tvberries.jpgYUM!

While trying to train my Sungold OP back into its cage... I made a Sungold "Oops" and snapped the branch pretty good. So, time for another experiment. I pulled out some potting mix, and stuck the branch right in, then wet the mix until water poured out the bottom. I can't believe it, but I think the flowers that came with the branch are actually going to fruit! I've never tried to do a "cutting" before, but I think it worked.
tvsungoldoops.jpg

My earwig infestation seems to have disappeared, I think they realized they had been caught and ran away. I'm only finding a few slugs at night, so that seems to be under control as well. Hopefully more lady bugs will show up and help me with whatever aphid problem I still have.

Happy Gardening...

Danwigz

[Timmah!]

Looking great Danwigz! Cherokee Purple for me too, is doing exceptionally well in growth & fruitset. Pineapple is another growing vigorously.