Weather or Not, Tomatoes and Peppers for 2014

Early Annie lived up to her name!

Today was a lovely late winter day:  60 degrees, warm breeze, sunshine.  Tomorrow, winter storm Titan threatens to dump ice on us.  I should have been out pruning roses and blackberries, but I think it would be better to wait until after this last (I hope) cold snap.

Somehow, I forgot to order enough seedling trays and deep inserts from Greenhouse Megastore so, last weekend, I washed and sanitized the trays and inserts I used last year.

[Note to self:  wash and sanitize the trays as soon as you are through with them in the spring!]

A busy planting day!

By the time I was done, I was too tired to plant, so I finished planting all my peppers and tomatoes today.  I've previously listed my tomato varieties for the season, but have added Black Krim from Garden Harvest Supply and Black Truffle (Trifele), my only hybrid, from Burpee.


This year I've condensed my pepper varieties.  I'm trying two new sweet "bells":  Charleston Belle and Ozark Giant despite my monumental lack of success with any sort of bell pepper.
For hot peppers, I'm growing poblano, TAM Jalapeno, and tabasco, all from Baker Creek.  I've had luck with serranos and habaneros in the past and may add them, too.

It's a full (green)house!

With all this planting, my greenhouse is full!  Fortunately, the cabbage and broccoli will appreciate moving from the warm greenhouse (70 degrees) to a cooler spot (40-50 degrees) under a light on the rolling cart, which will give me more room.

It was an insanely busy day, but, to my surprise, I felt more energy at the end than when I began.  Not only is organic food good for me, it seems, so is organic gardening.  I was very blessed to be able to enjoy a warm, late winter day, and I hope that you soon will, too.  Spring is coming, I just know it.

What's growing in your Savory garden?

Nancy

No Vacancy: Herb Varieties in a DIY Greenhouse for My Organic Garden

Leaning toward the light!

Well, the greenhouse is officially full!  Today I started herbs and the last tomato variety for the season.  At five 36-cell trays per shelf times five shelves, that's 900 plants!

Green Tithing

While most are going in my own garden, I always start some extras to share with my church family.  This year, I've also connected with a community garden in a nearby town and will be sharing tomatoes, peppers, and herbs.  It's sort of my own version of Plant a Row for the Hungry mixed with "teach-a-man-to-fish."

Community gardens are fairly new in the towns near me, but I'm hoping they will spread this year.  Few small towns have groceries anymore and access to fresh produce can be limited for those who cannot go to "town" often.

Herbs

My herbs are the old standbys, with one exception:

Basil, Genovese                18 cells (bruschetta, anyone?)
Basic, Sweet                    18 cells
Thyme, Common             18 cells (great on chicken and beef!)
Wild Bergamot                 12 cells
Cilantro                          24 cells ( we really like cilantro!)
Dill, Long Island              18 cells (for dill pickles!)
Sage, Broadleaf                18 cells (for poultry and for hash)
Rosemary                        12 cells (for just about everything!)
Tarragon                         12 cells (great in chicken salad)
Oregano                          12 cells (there's just no substitute for fresh)

I've not had good luck with herbs in the past, but I'm hoping to change that this year!

Tomato

The power of the
Italian Tree Tomato!

The Italian Tree Tomato is probably the old Trip-L-Crop variety.  It produces large tomatoes which can crack if not watered consistently.  The vine grows so heavy, it mangled tomato cages last year and has prompted a move to either hog panels, or bamboo poles for this season.

Speaking of tomatoes, most varieties are finally sprouting,  the Mountain Fresh, Bloody Butcher, Eva Purple Ball, Santiago, Good Old Fashioned Red, Ox Heart, Rutgers Original Strain, Gold Currant, and San Marzano are coming up well, with the Black Truffle (Triefele), Mexico, and Cherokee Purple varieties just now beginning to come up.

Peppers

The early peppers are also sprouting.  The Early Jalapeno peppers plants are plentiful.  The King Arthur Sweet Pepper and Melrose Peppers have been slower in coming up.  In fact, none of the late peppers have germinated.  Soon, I hope.

Practically Gurgling

The ground is so wet it's practically gurgling, so the in-ground plantings will need to wait until it's a little dryer, as well as warmer.  Although it warmed to 60 degrees today, we had a heavy frost last night and highs in the 40s are expected by the end of the week.

Late Winter or Early Spring?

Trees are budding--although not leafing out yet--and the meadowlark is singing.  I don't know exactly what season it is, but am looking forward to working outside!

What season is it in your Savory garden?

Nancy

My Declaration of Agricultural Independence!

Well, the first seeds of the season are in the ground, um, basket.  This is my second season of growing sugar snap peas in a laundry basket.  While the temperatures have been balmy enough--70 degrees in Tennessee in January??????--the ground is sodden, ergo, basket farming!  (If you want to see just how sodden, check out the pictures on my Live a Savory Life blog!)

A previous entry in this blog detailed my adventures in potato basket farming (Mama, Them Tater's Got Eyes!)  Well, the sugar snap peas work similarly, except they need a column of wire in the center.  I just used "hog wire" and hooked it together. 

All of this water has given me time to think about last year's garden.  For tomatoes, I tried Opalka, Goliath (recommended by many in my community), and Roma with very little success.  A cold, wet spring prevented me from setting out the plants until the first of June.  Immediately, the weather turned hot, and night-time temperatures remained in the 80s for most of the summer.  During that time, I learned a valuable lesson:  weeds love night-time temperatures above 80 and those varieties of tomatoes will not set fruit at those temperatures. 

I have come away with a two-pronged plan of attack.  To combat the weeds, I'm mulching with grass clippings (see Thank You Very Mulch). 

As for the issue of varieties, I'm ignoring all those USDA zone recommendations and declaring myself a microclimate!  A microclimate is a "loophole" in the macroclimate--a place that isn't quite like the larger area.

This year I'm trying varieties appropriate for southern Louisiana and Florida to allow for nighttime lows above 80 degrees (which happened last June, July, and August).  I'm trying heirloom varieties Florida Pink and Creole from TomatoFest.  I'm also trying Burpee's old faithful heirloom Mortgage Lifter.

The variety I had the most success with last year was an unnamed currant tomato which lived in a pot on my back porch.  While only 1 cm to 2 cm in diameter, these little gems gave a flavor explosion when bitten into.  I really enjoyed them in salads and casseroles (try them instead of pimento!) last year and am expanding varieties this year:  Hawaiian Currant and Gold Currant.

I'm also playing around with some varieties just for fun:  Italian Tree, Roma VF, and Black Truffle Hybrid.  These will be my early-season tomatoes and may live entirely in pots.

I have other garden plans for the year, but that's a topic for another day.

So, that's the tomato manifesto, um, news from my newly-declared microclimate.  What's happening in yours?