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Tomato Talk

Posted on March 29, 2023 by Dallas Garden Buzz
Me-Ann at the Ann Norton Sculpture Garden in Florida

Like a bee going from flower to flower for different types of nectar, I am flying all over gathering information from many sources about tomatoes. Last year I learned of a grower, Bobby’s Best. You can find him on instagram-Bobby’sbeststarts.com

Recently he was kind enough to share his compelling explanation of the advantages of using organic fertilizers. Remember if you feed your soil, it will feed you!

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0b3k9rnty84MkkqNSpA8g65Rw

Ann Lamb, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2005

Download the video after opening the link. If any of our dear Dallas Garden Buzz readers have trouble viewing the link, please let me know.

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The Garden In January As We Wait for Spring

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Dallas Garden Buzz

January 26, 2023

A quote from Southern Bulbs has captured my thoughts:

“Spring starts the day after Christmas.”

Working with our veggie team at Raincatcher’s last Monday, January 16th, spring was definitely in the air and now we have had over an inch of rain to further encourage our spring longings.

We sat at tables under our education pavilion planting tomato seeds with dreams of epic tomatoes. For a list of tomato varities we are seeding, see below.

Elephant garlic planted in November, to be harvested in June, was examined.

We considered the carrots that took a hit during the December low temperatures but have rebounded.

Last year the Raincatcher’s Garden delivered 700 pounds of fresh vegetables and fruit to North Dallas Shared Ministries Food Pantry. The goal for 2023 is 1,000 pounds of harvest. With the dedication of this band of Master Gardeners and expert leadership, I am sure they will succeed.

Ann Lamb, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2005

 

Tomato varieties and place purchased are as below. 

Johnny’s Selected Seeds – Hybrid Cherry BHN-968, Early Girl, Five Star Grape, Tasmanian Chocolate and Juliet.

John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds – Cherry Falls.

Botanical Interests – Patio Choice Yellow. 

Tomato Growers Supply Company – Red Robin and Wild Cherry. 

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Tomatoes Will Break Your Heart

Posted on February 25, 2022 by Dallas Garden Buzz

I will listen to anything anyone has to say about about growing tomatoes. I have a tomato app on my phone. I’ve taken meticulous notes at many a tomato class. And what I have learned through experience is that tomatoes will break your heart in a new way every year. So select your varieties carefully- heirlooms for flavor, hybrids for disease resistance – and don’t even try the gigantic beefsteak ones you remember from your youth. Too much will go wrong before they are ready. Okay, try a big flavorful heirloom but hedge your bet with Sun Golds and Early Girls.

This year in the north garden we are going to try the Florida weave trellising technique to get the vines off the ground and improve the air circulation. The tomatoes in the how-to diagrams look very well behaved. I’m anticipating an amorphous blob of vines unless we prune daily, which will become a test of faith by the middle of April.

My best tip for obtaining delicious tomatoes for your BLTs is to make friends with someone’s uncle who has been growing tomatoes for a hundred years. Then one day your friend will say her uncle died and you will say you are so sorry to hear that while thinking, “I hope it wasn’t the one who grew tomatoes.”

Beverly Allen, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2018

You will manage to get some tomatoes at least this far. If your tomatoes tend to vanish in the night, harvest at the first hint of pink and ripen indoors.

Hornworms are not uncommon and will defoliate your tomatoes. If you let them live they will develop into beautiful sphinx moths. Thank you, tomatoes, for this dilemma.

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Hugelkulturs and Tomatoes

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Dallas Garden Buzz

This is a 4 minute video, taken in April, full of info about the origins and natural habits of tomatoes and the composition of a hugelkultur. Hugelkultur, pronounced Hoo-gul-culture, means hill culture or hill mound. Jeff Raska teaches us from our edible garden:

June update on tomatoes: It’s’s all in how you look at it.
We put leggy plants in late for our season, the hugelkultur soil is still very new (and we’re discovering that the angle of the hill is a bit steep in places). Add to that strong winds breaking the branches in some cases, and squirrels running around, breaking branches, digging, and harvesting the green fruit, and you don’t have a picture-perfect, ready for the cover of a glossy magazine hugelkultur.

Having said that, there are a couple of plants that seem to be thriving…

From The Edible Garden Team

Lisa Centala

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