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Posts Tagged ‘tomato gardening’

Tomato Gardening Journal — Review of May 2009

July 2nd, 2009 | Author: Dot

So. Cal. 15 May 2009 - 41 Tomato Plants; 40 Varieties

Dot’s Thot: “Of the tomato or love apple, I know very little. It is chiefly employed as a sauce or condiment. No one, it is believed, regards it as very nutritious; and it belongs, like the mushroom and the potatoe, to a family of plants, some of the individuals of which are extremely poisonous. Some persons are even injured, more or less, by the acid of the tomato.”
‘The Young House-keeper’ by William Andrus Alcott (1846)

15 May 2009 — The tomato plants have been in-ground for a few weeks:

Looking at the plants in the ground, before any fruit, before any colorful globes, and not knowing better, this old comment from the mid-1800’s might be plausible. The reference to poison is because tomatoes, like eggplants, belong to the nightshade family. Thank goodness for the learning — now we embrace lycopene and its benefits.

The photo above shows the tomato plants at about 6-7 weeks after purchase and planting in the ground. We had followed the “old geezer” advice about planting tomato seedlings in the ground. Pinch off the leaves on 80% of the stem, leaving 20% of the leaves on the seedling. Bury the stalk deep with some organic fertilizer. Plants on the right were bought a week ahead of the ones on the left. In addition, that area has had amendments added for several years.

The plants on the far right are in soil recaptured from the lawn this year and is not as well worked. The soaker hoses lie on top of seed mats laid over the tilled soil and share some space with three pepper plants. Those are aloe plants in the pot (using for burns and even a little in juices and smoothies).

Seedlings were bought in March and shown here in May. In the next posting, we’ll start journaling the tomatoes and varieties as these plants fruit. I doubt I will write about all the plants, but hope to record as many as I can.

Grow Tomatoes Review: Orange Santa; Outstanding Grape Tomato

June 23rd, 2009 | Author: Dot

Dot’s Thot: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” — folk saying – this goes for tomatoes, not just people.

Dot's Orange Santa Grape Tomatoes

Grow Tomatoes Review: Orange Santa — Outstanding Grape Tomato

Yes, indeed, even in tomato gardening, absence makes the heart and tongue both grow fonder. This year, when it came time for buying and planting tomatoes, I missed the special nursery sale at the Fullerton College Horticulture Department and had to go the week after to get what I could. I did make it to the Cal State University Fullerton Arboretum Monster Tomato Sale and got more plants, many wonderful varieties for tomato gardening. I’ll post pictures of those as we progress.

However, I was unable to find one of my very favorite little tomato seedling — the Orange Santa Grape tomato. I want to share a picture today of a bright orange grape tomato that I regret not finding this year. I had planted this in 2007 and 2008 with outstanding results.

This is my personal review from growing the plant two years running in soutern California.. The plant was prolific and long-lived. This particular plant is shown in June 2007 as the first tomatoes ripened on the vine and I proudly collected and tasted my first harvest. The tomato plant is growing in one of those huge pots from your local “mega-mart”, supported by both a conical wire tomato cage and additional bamboo poles.

The fruit proved to be hardy, staying almost entirely unblemished on the vine and graciously in the tomato basket after picking for day after day — a week+ later the tomatoes were still delicious — as the tomatoes aged, they dried beautifully without me doing anything special except to keep them dry. Each large grape tomato was a beautiful golden orange color and firm, not mushy — the taste was a nice balance of sweet and acid without excess wateriness. They were great in salads or eaten out of hand. Chopped and mixed in with other tomatoes, they perked up my salsas.

My biggest surprise was this — long after my other tomato plants were dying off, this one kept fruiting. The long clusters of tomatoes dangled on through August into September. In November, there were still a thin population of tomato clusters. Gradually these diminished, and I picked my last tomato and ate it in late February 2008, a scant month away from the planting season for 2008. I grew it again in 2008 with similar results, but sadly, in 2009, I was not able to find a seedling to buy and so when I came across this photo in my stash of photos, I grew nostalgic and decided to share the photo. Hope I can find Orange Santa next season — and maybe even have some of those tomatoes for Christmas.

Aloha, Dot

Tomato Growers' Store (Even for Growing Tomatoes Upside Down)