I think that I had almost 70 tomato seedling that I had started from seed, some were big and healthy, some were quite small. I went to a local nursery Saturday morning intending to buy a few pepper plants only - I need peppers for salsa. I just happened to peek at the tomato plants - mostly just to feel pleased that I had all my homegrown ones at home just waiting to go into the garden- as I was looking (somewhat disparagingly) at the usual tomatoes that you always see at nurseries I noticed some names that sounded like heirloom tomatoes to me. I found Striped German, Old German, Purple Cherokee and Black
Krim, all for just $1.49 per 4 pack. I know, $1.49 for 4...how could I resist? How could I? Well, obviously I couldn't, and I think I showed admirable restraint in buying only one carton of each.
When I got home I googled them all and they sound delicious too.
They look so big and healthy too. I brought them home and added them to my stock of other tomatoes to go into their beds. Here they all are yesterday at lunchtime.
I spent most of yesterday afternoon and most of today so far putting in all these.
Here are three beds - the two biggest and one regular size.
I have also put cages around most and done some more mulching but am quickly running out of mulch.
I have finished two more beds since these pictures and still have more seedlings - my mom brought me 8 that she started. I am thinking that I can still find spots here and then to tuck some in. You can never have too many tomatoes...right? More later....
This is my first comment, but I found your blog a week or two ago and am completely hooked. (My favorite post so far has actually been the one with the tire-horse swing, because that is SO like the things I have played on as a child, and also like the things my father makes for my children.) I'm a novice gardener -- have grown corn and tomatoes before, but we put in a BIG one (for us) this year, and so far all is well. We're using heirloom varieties for self-sufficiency/sustainability reasons.
ReplyDeleteAll this to preface my question: With all those varieties of tomato, do you find you need to hand-pollinate? I have my Chadwich Cherry tomatoes and my Selitz tomatoes about fifteen feet apart, which I've read is OK for tomatoes -- what do you think? (I already discovered that I'm going to have to learn the fine art of hand-pollinating for my zillion different varieties of squash and melons.)
Hi Rachel
ReplyDeleteI haven't decided if I will save seeds from tomatoes this year. I would like to but I have to weigh that against how much we like having all the varieties to eat. Eventually I would like to find my "ultimate" paste type and then save the seeds from that at least. I am trying out Scinocca plum and Franchi this year to see if I want to start saving those. If I have the time/inclination I will bag some of those and see if I can prevent cross-pollination. I can and freeze a year's supply of stewed tomatoes and salsa so would love to find an excellent paste type tomato. This link shows a simple bagging method that I will try if I have time.
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/tomato/2005025852004159.html
Maybe if you try it you will let me know how it goes.
I was going to save the seeds for the squash my son bought (Musquee de Provence) but then was given some Red kuri seeds and was too tempted to plant those too. We live on about a half an acre so I don't have enough room to spread plants far enough apart to prevent cross-pollination. We did give away all the Sugar baby watermelon seedlings that had E grown so that he could only grow Moon & Stars watermelons. He really wants to save those seeds.
Thanks for visiting.