I couldn't stand it any more, the tomatoes were turning the house into a jungle. The temps have been in the upper 60's during the daytime with mid to upper 50's at night so I planted almost all of them out in the beds today.
Below are the worst offenders, the Amish Paste. They've been supported with chopsticks the past 2 weeks.
Below is the Pink Brandywine bed. I have no clue what I did with these stakes LOL, all I know is that cages suck, the Florida Weave wasn't what it was cracked up to be, not sure what I'll do this year but I have to keep the dogs out of the beds until the plants get bigger. Does anyone else find that along with the need to continually try different tomato varieties comes the need to find the "perfect" tomato support? There isn't one, of course, it's a sickness :)
6 Pink Brandywine and 2 Heirloom Long Keepers
The small bed below has 3 Red Zebra tomatoes
I won't be able to save seed this year as the tomatoes are absolutely crammed in tight to make room for all of them. I definitely needed to grow more this year since hubby is not deployed this year so it's another mouth to feed, and a big one at that :)
This is also the first year I have planted in-ground tomatoes. We amended the soil a bit to break up the sand/clay that we have, but this area is also immediately next to the compost area and our peppers that were in unamended ground last year did pretty well. The below area holds 6 Hillbilly tomatoes. Once again, I know these cages won't do much but for now it keeps the dogs from trampling them.
Below, the peas are really healthy but S.L.O.W...... or maybe I am just really impatient.
Dadgum raspberries coming up all over my beds....
Below, the Brussels Sprouts bolted! Now I don't have to feel bad about yanking them to make room for the Amish Paste tomatoes, 8 of those went into this bed after I pulled this out. Pretty, though!
Spotted today... a 1962 (I think) Ford Falcon Squire Woody Wagon!
I don't care how few miles per gallon it gets, if I had this car I would drive it all the time, I'd probably sleep in it. I'd probably have to moonlight as a table dancer to get the gas money for it but hey, think of the cool road trips we'd take in it! :)
I followed it as long as I could :)
As you might have guessed, my back is feeling about 100% again, and I can breathe "a little", the pharmaceutical winner this year appears to be Astelin Nasal Spray :)
Gosh, your tomatoes look good. I think I'm sending my spindly ones your way for you to fatten up!
ReplyDeleteI agree about the station wagon---very fun looking. I'd stick a mattress in back and travel. I don't think I could cut it as a table dancer--unless they were paying to NOT see me dance-LOL!
It must feel good to have the tomatoes in the ground!! I think that your peas are growing just fine...patience you must have a little patience :)
ReplyDeleteGotta love that woody wagon :)
Oooo.....planting!!! I was hoping to plant peas and onions this weekend and maybe plant out my little cabbages but it has been raining steadily all day which makes for a muddy garden :(
ReplyDeleteJudy
Dang, those amish paste are huge in their little containers....I agree about the station wagon - i'd drive the heck out of it if it were mine...
ReplyDeleteWouldn't be caught dead in the station wagon, lol. My peas are only about the size of yours but I have flowers on one of my tomato plants! When my tomatoes run out of support I just drape them across the fence or whatever, they will still get tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteWhen I set my tomatoes out, I "plant" a 5' piece of common, old rebar next to them. Then as they grow, I just keep tying them up to the rebar with fabric strips. Works for me. ('Course, you do know this advice is from someone who can grow 5' tall tomato plants but NO RIPE TOMATOES!!
ReplyDeleteThe concrete reinforcement cages are definitely the way to go, but it takes two strong men and a dog to put the darned things together! I'd love to have some, but I don't have any heavy duty wire cutters, and doubt I'd have the strength in my hands to use them if I did. I'm with you, hated the Florida Weave. My tomato fortress worked well last year, so I'll be repeating it this year. However, my determinates will be in-ground and I hope the T-posts I pounded in for them will keep their cages upright.
ReplyDeleteLucky you, I wish I could plant my tomatoes now. It rained all day today, but the peas that were nonexistent yesterday were peeking out at me this afternoon. I thought my garden was way behind, but actually the lettuce and brassicas are way ahead of last year, just the raspberries are really lagging. That's probably my fault for mutilating them.
Sue, I don't know I'd be much help - those Amish Paste of mine are tall, but very floppy and spindly too, the others are all very thick and sturdy, I may try a different paste variety for seedlings next year.
ReplyDeleteRobin, I know - it seems like they grow fine in the fall but I think in the spring it seems to take forever because I need the bed space back!
Judy, I hope you are getting some time to relax this weekend!
E.G. that wagon is screaming for a road trip Chevy Chase "Vacation" style with my kids and dogs in it :)
Becky3086, hi! I agree, fence draping is what they are probably destined for! And WHAT? that wagon rocks LOL!
Mama Pea, those tomatoes will get tied up to 12' sections of pvc or something, last year I used 1" aluminum pipe that worked well, 12 ft sections. My tomatoes ranged from 8-9' tall last year to those freakishly tall 13' "mystery" heirlooms aka the Jake Gyllenhaals :)
Gran, we have a couple of those cages but hubby has to dig them out from behind the shed, I'm convinced there is a pile of water moccasins back there so I don't go there LOL I get just as much as a kick out of the supports everyone else creates as seeing the tomato harvests themselves, it's fun in an "I don't get out much" anymore kind of way :)
Your garden will be in full gear in no time!
Nice!! That's a lot of tomatoes! We just end up staking ours too, and they end up out of control, but tomato cages are expensive!!
ReplyDeleteI'll take those raspberries!! :)
If you're wanting to save seed, have you considered tying pantyhose chunks :) around a blossom group, give them a good shake, and then marking the tomatoes that come from it with or a ribbon or something? Not sure if that works, but it's gotta be cheaper to save your own seeds!
Ok, I am going to vote for trellising for holding tomatoes. I have tried them all and this way, by far, is the best. It keeps everything off the ground and makes pruning a snap. And your lucky I dont live closer or I would be over there drooling over the brandywine.
ReplyDeleteGonna have all kinds of wonderful tomatoes soon! I grew the hillbilly last year and I really loved it.
ReplyDeleteYeah for planted tomatoes! I've experimented with tomato cages and tomato stakes, not exactly thrilled with either one... I might try one of those tomato towers and see if I like those better. We also have the cheap wire fencing around the beds to keep the dogs out. Not very pretty at all, but it does the trick.
ReplyDeleteI hope the storms that went through here the other night missed you, they were rough.
ReplyDeleteAmish Paste is by far my fav, but here in NE TX once the temps hit 90 degrees (any day now) tom's slow down. This will be my 3rd year to grow them, the first year they did great, last year's was a volunteer that showed up, I only had one, and it was not in a great spot. I'll be using a trelis or string method (tight on money) where you train the tom to climb the string, like they do in the greenhouses.
I would love to try a pink brandywine, I have the black brandywine this year, supposed to be the best and sweetest for salsa, I wanted a sweet one so I could try peach or pineapple salsa.
Loved the picture of the Woody, I now have The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean running around in my head.
those tomatoes look so good./ i planted some in containers last year on the deck cus of the deer. my neighbor concocted a a hot sauce egg concoction to defer the deer but we had to much rain last summer. plus with my brown thumb...... after the Easter. egg hunt,i can relax. my eldest son is making dinner tonight heyyyyyyyyyyyy. have a good week end
ReplyDeletei did not realize there were 2 judy's-my mistake
ReplyDeleteTable Dancer Erin! Gosh girl, there really isn't a thing you can't do! I love it! I can't get over how wonderful you things look. No such luck here. Think I may be doing some re-seeding and lots of praying.
ReplyDeleteLoved the car! Brings back fond memories!
I'm so impressed with how nice your tomato plants are. Mine are just germinating. Our temps here have been sporadic cold and warm. So I'm going to try to keep them indoors until it really warms up here. I love that woody, what a great station wagon.
ReplyDeleteI did a search for "hops" on your blog to see how you have yours setup. Didn't find any posts on it. Do you have blog posts about growing hops? I'm curious, do you have your rhizomes in the ground or in containers? We would like to grow them in containers but are unsure with how well they will do.
ReplyDeleteHey Erin, I hope you guys all weathered the storms all right. Storms and wind are bad things for little tomatoes and big people.
ReplyDeleteJudy