any heirloom tomato experts out there?

[redforever]

I did mention this in another thread, but since this thread is specifically about tomatoes, I will explain again how I grow my tomatoes. I grow about a dozen plants every year....so lots for fresh eating, I make copious amounts of salsa and can some as diced tomatoes as well.

I plant all of them in large tubs, and they are all situated on my garage pad. Some are on a wagon my husband built. The wagon has wheels of course, and rope handles on each end, so I can turn it around to vary sun exposure, or bring it inside the garage if weather is going to be inclement or frost threatens.

And I plant some tomatoes in pots, right up against the house, so well protected, still on the concrete garage pad, but also up against the bricks of the house. The concrete and bricks help to hold the heat at night.

My garage pad faces sun, so it gets east sun in the morning, lots of hot south and west sun in the afternoon. Tomatoes like "warm feet". Having raised pots helps towards that end, and my pots have been painted a dark brown, which intensifies the heat as well.

I have found that for the area I live in, this is the only way to consistently grow tomatoes that produce well and ripen on the vine.







Edit: I should mention that all of the tubs I grow tomatoes in do have drainage holes. And I put trays under the tubs. When I water my tomatoes, I like to make sure I soak rather than sprinkle. And I try to avoid getting too much water directly on the tomato plants themselves. So the trays catch any water that might flush through. But I don't water so much that the tomatoes are constantly sitting in trays of water.

If the weather turns to stretches with a lot of rain, I remove the watering trays because tomatoes do not like to sit in water for long periods of time.

I fertilize regularily with tomato fertilizer, that is what it is called on the container. And when I plant my tomatoes, I put some bonemeal below the roots. I cover this with a bit of dirt before I put the tomato plants in. You could also put in calcium vitamin tablets instead of bonemeal, basically both provide the same nutrient.

[notoepik]

I think Kalispell and Calgary are really similar in climate. At least it seems to be the last few years as I have checked weather here and there.

I do have them in the ground, I have better luck than in pots or planters. Yes I do rotate them around my small garden plot. No method to the madness though. I usually grow 8-10 plants, 1-3 of each variety I choose that year.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by notoepik

I think Kalispell and Calgary are really similar in climate. At least it seems to be the last few years as I have checked weather here and there.

I do have them in the ground, I have better luck than in pots or planters. Yes I do rotate them around my small garden plot. No method to the madness though. I usually grow 8-10 plants, 1-3 of each variety I choose that year.

I have vacationed quite a bit in the Kalispell area, around Flathead Lake, Blaine Lake etc.

The summers there are quite a bit warmer. The main difference I found was the evenings never cooled off as much.

I am not sure though what the gardening zone is around Kalispell or when gardens are actually planted there or when the first killing frost usually occurs in fall. Calgary is around zone 3a.

[Antithesis]

Thought I'd chime in here as well, after asking for (and getting) some awesome help in another gardening thread. I had three tomato plants but I have no idea what variety they are - they were brought to me by my mother as a "garden warming" present. One of the plants grew massively, overtaking the tomato cage and bending it around. There's a huge amount of tomatoes on it that vary in size between the kind you get in the store down to cherry tomato size.

The other two are similar sizes but getting lots of tomatoes off of them. I may have to make some salsa or something out of them because we can't seem to use them all quickly enough.

One of my cucumber plants died early in the season but the other has thrived, we've gotten 5 excellent-sized cucumbers off of it that were very tasty.

Spaghetti squash plants overtook the garden; we probably won't be growing those again as the garden just isn't large enough to contain them. Lots of squash off of that, including (I thought) an impressive 8.5 pound one that we sent off with my Mom.

Lots of bell peppers as well though most not the size you get in the store but very tasty, a decent amount of jalapenos off of one plant (15 or so) and a huge amount of chilis off of two plants. I think I might try to dry them and use them as pepper flakes or something. They are REALLY hot ... like knock you on your butt hot. My father-in-law is a big spicy food guy - and they made him cry just from eating the tip of one.

Regardless, thanks everyone (and redforever especially) for the help and encouragement earlier in the season.

Any favorite websites for ordering seeds? One of the walls in the science lab I work in is entirely windows so I have a sort of makeshift greenhouse there so I might start some seeds during the late winter. Also thinking of buying one of those compact greenhouses to get the plants a decent start but I haven't done much research there.

[moncton golden flames]

do you guys prune your indeterminant plants? from the pics red shows, they appear quite bushy and i'm guessing there is no pruning. i have been pruning everything below the lowest fruit set and all suckers. i also topped my plants only in the past few weeks, which i believe is too late.

compared to those photos red posted, my plants look very small and spase, but i may get some fruit off of them.

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by Antithesis

Any favorite websites for ordering seeds?

i have not yet used this site, but i will try my luck and order some seeds in the next week or so. i want to grow so many varieties, i might buy too many.

http://www.tomatofest.com/heirloom_t...seed_home.html

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Antithesis

Thought I'd chime in here as well, after asking for (and getting) some awesome help in another gardening thread. I had three tomato plants but I have no idea what variety they are - they were brought to me by my mother as a "garden warming" present. One of the plants grew massively, overtaking the tomato cage and bending it around. There's a huge amount of tomatoes on it that vary in size between the kind you get in the store down to cherry tomato size.

The other two are similar sizes but getting lots of tomatoes off of them. I may have to make some salsa or something out of them because we can't seem to use them all quickly enough.

One of my cucumber plants died early in the season but the other has thrived, we've gotten 5 excellent-sized cucumbers off of it that were very tasty.

Spaghetti squash plants overtook the garden; we probably won't be growing those again as the garden just isn't large enough to contain them. Lots of squash off of that, including (I thought) an impressive 8.5 pound one that we sent off with my Mom.

Lots of bell peppers as well though most not the size you get in the store but very tasty, a decent amount of jalapenos off of one plant (15 or so) and a huge amount of chilis off of two plants. I think I might try to dry them and use them as pepper flakes or something. They are REALLY hot ... like knock you on your butt hot. My father-in-law is a big spicy food guy - and they made him cry just from eating the tip of one.

Regardless, thanks everyone (and redforever especially) for the help and encouragement earlier in the season.

Any favorite websites for ordering seeds? One of the walls in the science lab I work in is entirely windows so I have a sort of makeshift greenhouse there so I might start some seeds during the late winter. Also thinking of buying one of those compact greenhouses to get the plants a decent start but I haven't done much research there.

Hehehe, as soon as I saw the words spagetti squash, I wondered what your comments would be. And yup, not surprised it overtook the garden, it is a massive crawler. First time I grew it, I planted two hills, and I got around 75 squash, huge ones. My son was still living at home at the time, he loved it, but my husband detests it, so like friends got quite a few, Food Bank got the rest. And I am sure some of my friends had call display and never answered their phones when they saw it was yet another call from me))

There are other varieties of squash that will produce within about same growing days, that are not quite as invasive. Try Ambercup squash. Just as tasty and bright orange inside as Buttercup squash. It will send out some trailers, certainly not like spaghettie squash though. Just sort of wrap the trailers around the main bush.



The websites I rely on are:

http://www.dominion-seed-house.com/en-CA/

http://www.stokeseeds.com/cgi-bin/St...eds.storefront

http://www.veseys.com/

Now do try some bush variety of beans next year, both yellow and green. If I recall, you said you never planted any this year? You will see from the sites I just listed that they display growing days to maturity. Try to choose 50 to 65 or 70 days for the Calgary area. And most yellow beans will mature a bit earlier than green beans.

If you want a salsa recipe, the type you can for later use, pm me. I also make a very nice Corn, Tomato and Avocado recipe that uses a lot of tomatoes and is some yummy, pm if you want it. Maybe I will go to that cooking thread and post it there. How about Insalata Caprese for using a lot of tomatoes? Very easy to get the fresh mozza in most grocery stores now. I know Co-op deli regularily carries the larger variety that is suitable for Insalata Caprese.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

do you guys prune your indeterminant plants? from the pics red shows, they appear quite bushy and i'm guessing there is no pruning. i have been pruning everything below the lowest fruit set and all suckers. i also topped my plants only in the past few weeks, which i believe is too late.

compared to those photos red posted, my plants look very small and spase, but i may get some fruit off of them.

I only prune once the growing season is at the stage where I know any further flowers will no longer produce maturing tomatoes. Then I snip off any further growth and let all the growing energy go into the tomatoes already on vine.

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by redforever

I only prune once the growing season is at the stage where I know any further flowers will no longer produce maturing tomatoes. Then I snip off any further growth and let all the growing energy go into the tomatoes already on vine.

interesting. most, if not all the documents i have read say to never let the suckers grow longer than an inch or two. letting the suckers grow takes energy away from setting flowers, and thus the fruit.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

interesting. most, if not all the documents i have read say to never let the suckers grow longer than an inch or two. letting the suckers grow takes energy away from setting flowers, and thus the fruit.

Yeah, I think there are two schools of thought on that. And I think any gardener does what works best for them. Anyhow, I have had great success planting in raised pots on a wagon, no regular pruning, so continue to grow them that way.

Why not try an experiment next year? Prune one plant, but not another of the same species? And get your own results.

[Shazam]

Erskine's tried what you suggested a few years ago. He said the unpruned ones fared a lot better. He still tops them near the end of the season though.

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by redforever

Yeah, I think there are two schools of thought on that. And I think any gardener does what works best for them. Anyhow, I have had great success planting in raised pots on a wagon, no regular pruning, so continue to grow them that way.

Why not try an experiment next year? Prune one plant, but not another of the same species? And get your own results.

i'm hoping to sell my house and travel for a while, so next year is hopefully out of the questions. maybe once i own my farm in new brunswcik i'll give that a try.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Erskine's tried what you suggested a few years ago. He said the unpruned ones fared a lot better. He still tops them near the end of the season though.

And that is why I grow tomatoes like I do. I also got the tomato wagon idea from his "Let's Get Gardening" talk radio show. Barry Erskine lives in the Calgary area as well, is a horticulturalist, so figured I would follow his advice since I live in the Calgary area as well.

[Shazam]

Yup. Although his knowledge of roses is terrible, which is a shame considering his father.

[Bagor]

I prune the side shoots. For the simple reason that I don't see the point in the plant investing energy in a part of it with minimal yield.

[notoepik]

I use to prune the tomatoes but in the last few years, I have not done any pruning and the tomato crop seems to be better than when I did prune.

Kalispell is in Zone 4 for the most part. We usually plant the last week of May. And the first frost is usually the first week of September, but can be as early as the 3rd week of August. I know several gardeners here who will plant much earlier, but it rarely does any good, the ground is just not warm enough for the seeds in an average year.

[Slava]

Bump....I know this guy who had the best intentions of harvesting all of his tomatoes before last night but got too busy and I see we got frost. Am I screwed or will the tomatoes still be OK?

[Antithesis]

I covered mine

Haha, sorry man, I have nothing to contribute.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Slava

Bump....I know this guy who had the best intentions of harvesting all of his tomatoes before last night but got too busy and I see we got frost. Am I screwed or will the tomatoes still be OK?

They're mush if they actually got frost. Sorry.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Antithesis

I covered mine

Haha, sorry man, I have nothing to contribute.

Since you rejected my CPHL trade can we do a deal with the tomatoes?