stratcat
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Post by stratcat on Mar 15, 2012 23:26:29 GMT -5
Sounds great having seedlings up! I won't be sowing my Tomatoes until the middle of April, tho' I have 5 mixed Coneflowers sprouted.
Hate to hear about your computer again.
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Post by kevin1962 on Mar 24, 2012 15:26:02 GMT -5
Just getting ready to drop seed this weekend, and will for the first time, begin breeding projects. Pretty stoked. Mule, do you know of anyone's lines that might have incorporated Rutgers and Sudduth's Brandywine? If so, what can you tell me? I love the taste of the Brandywine, but would like to put that in to a smaller fruited, heavier yielding, variety like Rutgers.
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stratcat
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Post by stratcat on Mar 24, 2012 23:17:14 GMT -5
Mule,
Looking forward to you getting your seeds out, especially White Sun Gold.
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swampr
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Post by swampr on Mar 25, 2012 16:48:06 GMT -5
peppers look better than ever with a new propagation mat providing bottom heat in the cool basement. two santa fe type varieties got yellow leaves when i took them off the mat for a week to germinate the tomatoes.
all tomatoes are up showing first true leaves. i planted 4 each of beaverlodge 5808 and haley purple comet three weeks ahead of the others to get first ripe. they are now in 4" pots.
garlic looks very good despite very little snow cover this winter and a dry spring. ukranian rocambole is slow and spotty to emerge. northern white and georgian crystal look strongest.
peas were direct seeded a week ago; i'm wondering if they will ever get rained on. I transplanted ailsa craig onions and direct seeded lettuces, endive, arugula, broccoli, collards, rabe, radishes, and beets under a blanket of agrofabric this weekend.
red violas, dianthus, lavender, salvia, delphiniums, thyme, hyssop, etc are all in flats awaiting passage of this week's freeze.
I also got 2 low tunnels 5' x 10' constructed this weekend and the back fence moved back 7 feet to give me more space for rubus hybrids on order.
i decided at the last minute to start 2 varieties of small dark purple teardrop shaped eggplant, one op and one f1. eggplant disappointed me last year, despite lots of special care including a reemay tunnel which helped minimize flea beetle damage.
my soil tests this winter indicate pH between 7.2 and 8.0 which combined with my sandy soil may indicate a boron deficiency so i watered in a small quantity of boric acid, Mg/Ca may be high due to the ultramafic bedrock in my area. I may end up adding a small amount of gypsum. I've used plenty of dolomitic lime, peat, compost, and bonemeal in the last few years.
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surf4grrl
Tomato Gardener
Head Growerouter
Organic farmer
Posts: 99
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Post by surf4grrl on Mar 26, 2012 7:43:45 GMT -5
Tomatoes are being seeded continuously now, I think we're able to seed about 2,000-4,000 a day. By mid april, I don't want to see another tomato seed.
The one field took us 4 days to remove the mulch and drip tape from, because we didn't do it in the fall and it was overgrown with chickweed. What a mess. usually it takes a half a day when the soil is dry and the mulch lifter goes through.
Other cool crops are being sown every week. I hope to start harvest in another month of broccoli raab, lettuces, etc. We basically didnt have a winter here - kinda worried about pest pressure. Such is life.
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Post by kevin1962 on Mar 26, 2012 8:41:05 GMT -5
Hey Mule, Can you repost it? I'm anxious to read it!
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johno
Tomato Gardener
Posts: 65
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Post by johno on Mar 29, 2012 11:01:09 GMT -5
There is definitely interest in your F1s.
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elkwc
New Member
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Posts: 24
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Post by elkwc on Apr 2, 2012 8:31:45 GMT -5
Due to the abnormally mild winter I started some seeds early. I have plants over a foot tall. I plan on dropping them in the ground with protection(WOW's or 5 gallon plastic buckets with the bottoms cut out) next weekend. Finished preparing the caged area yesterday and will start setting up WOW's today. Should have at least a few plants I've grafted to try. I will have back ups for the early planted plants in case a late freeze hits I can't protect them from. But with temps running 80-90 and soil temps varying from low 60's to low 70's depending on the time of day I check it I feel it is worth a gamble.
Mule I would be interested in buying and trying some of your seeds. I'd rather buy from you as someone else. Although I don't buy as many as I have in the past. Whether F1 or later growouts. And you know I'm always up for seeds of the Black Cherry x Sweet Quartz or a good bi-color. Jay
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elkwc
New Member
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Post by elkwc on Apr 3, 2012 14:16:27 GMT -5
We got lowered from a D4 drought area to D3. The 15 winter snow really helped us. It drifted several feet deep in many areas. I would imagine much of my garden area was 2 ft deep. That along with the rain and snow we've received since has helped. This is the best we've been in 3 years this early. Some never mowed last year. I need to mow now. So hoping we have a better year. But with 90 degree days this early makes you wonder. It has been wet and a drizzle and light rain all day. Hopefully it will pick up some. My tomato area is ready. My galic and onions are doing great and potatoes have come through the ground. Jay
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Post by betsylt on May 7, 2012 16:38:08 GMT -5
Wow, Keith - impressive weather! What's the forecast for tomorrow & beyond?
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garf
Breeder in Training
Posts: 166
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Post by garf on May 8, 2012 13:58:17 GMT -5
Looks like fun. Right now, we have a thunderstorm complete with lightning. We are also approaching hurricane season. Those are fun too.
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stratcat
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Post by stratcat on May 22, 2012 13:53:37 GMT -5
I'm in the midst of hardening off the first batch of tomatoes and peppers. We had 33 degrees Thursday morning, then 93 degrees at Mom's on Sunday. Two month's ago, I started digging in my crawlspace, so I ended up with tennis elbow again. It's been real interesting getting the gardens ready to plant and carrying all the starts back and forth.
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Post by tucsontomato on May 22, 2012 23:53:06 GMT -5
Thanks for asking Mule! I’ve been watching my Stupice plant grow unusually large tomatoes (perhaps Seeds of Change had a little bit of crossing going on). The L. hirsutum plants took a while to get started but now they are going crazy. I lost my Siletz crop to Mosaic. I plotted which tomatoes were which in my garden map, but then I had to pull some up and I’m not sure about everything I have left. Now I’m sure I’ll have to re-assess my plants again. I am discovering that I am not willing to do the work to take care of indeterminate tomato plants. Most indeterminates just don’t do well here. That plus the recent disease lead me back to the nursery to pick up the old standby: Celebrity. The purple beauty peppers are looking beautiful and my Italian cucumber-melons are growing so much I feel bad I might have to cut them back to keep them from taking over the yard. My garden looks like it is July. The temps here are about 105 F and there is hardly any room left for plants to grow. As soon as my carrots finish going to seed I’ll cut them down to make room for my Yacon. Attachments:
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stratcat
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Post by stratcat on May 25, 2012 22:24:36 GMT -5
Yesterday, I had a Hummingbird working the plastic flowers I stuck in the soil of my Cottage Garden. Last night, I saw the first Lightning Bug of the season. Today, Toad Boy dug a PL Flathead Monster out of its cup and moved in. Of course, I first re-potted the tomato and then took the picture.
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Post by linuxer1999 on May 27, 2012 1:42:25 GMT -5
You have some serious mater planting project, Mule. Are you a commercial farmer, or a market gardener (truck farmer)? I am in Little Rock at the moment, and it is dangerously hot here already this year. My plants are in Tennessee ... but they have had little rain in the last 4 weeks there as well. Dad already has to keep the plants alive with water buckets, and it is not even July!. Got my first ripe one in almost 2 weeks earlier than last year, yesterday on May 26. It has paid off to put those Early Girls in REALLY early. They even beat the cherry tomatoes to ripeness. Attachments:
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