Gardeners

[Graybeard]

No hybrids that I'm aware of and the pack doesn't say they are. Just a pack of seeds we got from Walmart (Early Girl/Super Boy) and I ordered a pack of Jet Setters. We have great luck and lots of fruit from the Jets.

I like to start my own just to have fun and nice to have that when winter hangs on. I'm sure I could go buy them a lot cheaper than hand growing them but.... I enjoy it.

Those are all hybrids.

OP - open pollenated (not hybrid)

 

[Graybeard]

Sungolds are indeterminate and they grow like crazy. If anyone complains, just give them some of the tomatoes. I have never met anyone who doesn't like Sungolds. They're like tomato candy.

The only hybrid I will grow.

 

[street]

Those are all hybrids.

OP - open pollenated (not hybrid)

Thanks Graybeard.

 

[old medic]

I'm not a tomato fan, But we always have a few varieties planted. Will get the wife the Chocolate ones for sure. And may need to PM Gumby if I can't find that one.. Wive does both the Sun Dried and Tomato Jams too. We have several large farms around and will hit them later in the season to put up sauce and salsa's.

 

[simple girl]

Two excellent sources for tomato seeds are: Totally Tomatoes and Seeds 'n Such. I've ordered from both in the past. Both have huge selections of both heirlooms and hybrids.

I also order from Seeds 'n Such and have been quite happy with them. Their shipping used to be cheaper than other companies but now it has gone up. It always bothers me that I have to spend more in shipping than I do for a seed packet! (I often only need one packet, as I usually have seed left over from prior years.) I can never find the seeds I like in stores, so I have to use online sources.

I have since discovered that Ferry-Morse offers free shipping on seed-only orders if you join their free rewards program. Love that!

 

[EastWest Gal]

I have a small raised bed system in the sunniest part of the yard. I don't grow tomatoes every year because they should be rotated due to pests and soil conditions. This year is a non-tomato year. I've decided to grow a lot of broccoli, because it is the one vegetable we could all eat every day and not tire of. One year my broccoli plants produced until New Year, even when it got cold.

I planted garlic in late October and it should be ready to harvest in June or July. It's doing very well this year. I grow basil hydroponically indoors because it's one of the plants Japanese beetles love. Curly parsley, sage, rosemary and oregano don't seem to have any pests around here. We have loads of farms and farmers markets here, so I find growing herbs very easy on the budget, since I can go out and cut what I need almost year round.

 

[simple girl]

I grow basil hydroponically indoors because it's one of the plants Japanese beetles love.

I grow basil outdoors but I am finding we often have issues with downy mildew. I'm thinking of growing it indoors on the windowsill. I'm curious - why did you choose to grow it hydroponically vs in a regular pot?

 

[street]

I'm not a tomato fan, But we always have a few varieties planted. Will get the wife the Chocolate ones for sure. And may need to PM Gumby if I can't find that one.. Wive does both the Sun Dried and Tomato Jams too. We have several large farms around and will hit them later in the season to put up sauce and salsa's.

I was very impressed with the Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes variety. It really was like eating candy and I'm not a cherry tomatoes fan. My DIL just couldn't believe the taste and would eat her share when they came. Lol

Good luck and hope your experience are as good as mine.

 

[old medic]

Good luck and hope your experience are as good as mine.

Our High School has an FFA program and do a plant sale every year. Just pickup 2 flats of different veggies, 64 plants for $50

 

[pacergal]

I am hoping we have better luck this year. We bought a very small portable greenhouse to try in our back yard this year. Still a bit cold out, but hoping by mid April I can get some plants going in pots. Nothing better than home grown Tomatoes! Will try cucumber or zucchini again, maybe some peppers.
Nothing I have done in the past couple of years has done well.

 

[Graybeard]

Will be starting tomato seeds tomorrow.

 

[street]

Our High School has an FFA program and do a plant sale every year. Just pickup 2 flats of different veggies, 64 plants for $50

That would be a great deal!! I don't have a lot of room in town where our home is at. I do plane on raising some things at the ranch this year. Not sure if I can keep wildlife away but will give it a try.

 

[old medic]

I do plane on raising some things at the ranch this year. Not sure if I can keep wildlife away but will give it a try.

We have 2 spots on the 4 acres here. 5 raised beds beside the house I moved this year hoping to cut down on the nightly raiding. Have about 30X60 garden tilled and hilled up, nothing planted yet and already trampled pretty good. I have said most of the stuff from our garden taste like venison.

 

[scaubie]

I start my plants from seed in January under grow lights and they are almost a foot tall and ready to set out. I’ve got about 40 plants but only keep about 6 and give the rest away to friends and family. Better Boy, Beefsteak, Juliet and San Marzano. My raised bed is inside my pool fence otherwise the deer would mow them down!
Happy gardening everyone.

 

[street]

I start my plants from seed in January under grow lights and they are almost a foot tall and ready to set out. I’ve got about 40 plants but only keep about 6 and give the rest away to friends and family. Better Boy, Beefsteak, Juliet and San Marzano. My raised bed is inside my pool fence otherwise the deer would mow them down!
Happy gardening everyone.

WOW!!!
Mine are about 5 to 6 inches tall. I won't be planting till first or second week in May. In a couple of weeks I will start the Buttercup squash, pumpkins and cantaloupe.

 

[Gumby]

I usually don't put my tomatoes in the ground until Memorial Day. I will start the seedlings under lights in my kitchen on April 22, then repot them twice into bigger pots, and cold harden them first. (I'm in Zone 7a).

 

[Graybeard]

Started tomato seeds 3/31. On Monday one variety was already 1" tall, transplanted them up to the leaves due to being extremely leggy. The other variety came up the next day with more hooks appearing today. Time to move them to the basement under shop lights.

 

[EastWest Gal]

I grow basil outdoors but I am finding we often have issues with downy mildew. I'm thinking of growing it indoors on the windowsill. I'm curious - why did you choose to grow it hydroponically vs in a regular pot?

I thought I answered this but probably didn’t finish the post.

I got an Aerogarden knock off called IDOO for Christmas two years ago after visiting a friend who had an Aerogarden. The knock off is simple and doesn’t use proprietary seed pods. I use grow sponges that and liquid plant food purchased through Amazon, and regular seeds. The unit fits perfectly under a corner cabinet, filling in an otherwise useless corner countertop.

No pests, no dirt, no pollution from passing cars. When I need an herb, I snip off what I need. I don’t have to go out to the garden, wash off dirt, etc. I’ve grown basil, dill, parsley, and cilantro.

I cleaned the unit and started 12 broccoli plants the last week of February. The last week of March they were eight inches high and I put them into peat pots in a window sill. They’ll go into the garden in about three weeks.

 

[wearefinishedworking]

I love reading this thread and am excited for the growing season! We live in the mid-Atlantic where we are experiencing a very early warm up. My lilacs are ready to bloom and usually do not until May. Making lists to go to the greenhouses in late April. I have not planted vegetables from seeds, only my hyacinth bean vines.

 

[Beststash]

We have a garden every year. The last few years it has gotten so hot so early that we now try to plant tomatoes no later than the first week of March. Last year we had already hit 100° in May and although we can hold them over through summer usually pull the tomatoes in July. As we are getting older we now usually just plant tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, and either pinto beans or purple hull peas.

Garden entry -

Tomatoes - we'll plant the beans or peas down the middle

Squash, Green Beans, and Cucumbers just coming up - we'll plant another row of beans/peas in the middle

 

[street]

We have a garden every year. The last few years it has gotten so hot so early that we now try to plant tomatoes no later than the first week of March. Last year we had already hit 100° in May and although we can hold them over through summer usually pull the tomatoes in July. As we are getting older we now usually just plant tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, and either pinto beans or purple hull peas.

Garden entry -

Tomatoes - we'll plant the beans or peas down the middle

Squash, Green Beans, and Cucumbers just coming up - we'll plant another row of beans/peas in the middle

Very interesting!!! We don't even get a ripe tomato by first part of July on most years. A beautiful place to raise a garden.

 

[wearefinishedworking]

Yes ripe tomatoes here after July 4th. This must be Texas?

This is a lovely garden!

 

[scrinch]

I started my seeds (several tomato, pepper, and basil varieties) in late February on a rack with a heat pad. When they came up I turned on the grow lamp. Just last weekend I repotted them and put them in my sister's greenhouse. I'll plant them in our garden in late April or early May. Everything else (squash, potatoes, beans, beets, carrots, lettuce, pumpkins, cucumbers, and sometimes corn) gets sown directly in the garden in May. We don't get any full sized tomatoes until August, and we typically harvest them into November.

This past year I grew quite a few mild jalapeno and mild habanero peppers, and I've had a great time making sauces with intense pepper flavor but without the intense heat. Also smoked the jalapenos for mild chipotle, and some pimento peppers for smoked paprika.

 

[simple girl]

Just harvested a few of my first sungolds - YUMMY!

 

[NW-Bound]

Soon will come the time when we stop travel due to age, and the only pastime is staying home to tend to our garden.

Tomatoes are a favorite for home gardeners. For us, the only variety we have had good luck with the the yellow pear tomato. The winter temperature here, while nothing like the midwest, is still too cold for tomatoes, and the summer is too hot and dry. Hence, the growing season for tomatoes is short. Many varieties barely survive the summer heat, and they don't set fruit when it's hot.

Tough to grow things in the lower desert. I envy people in more moderate coastal regions where it is also not so dry. But humidity while good for plants is murder for people. You cannot win.