Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Get it on! Tomato style.

I think I've actually done it. I've started my own tomato seedlings. I don't have any idea why I was so afraid of it. I took this picture two days ago and since then, the one in the front left has germinated, so there's only one that didn't germinate at all. How FANTASTIC!!
The ones planted above were Beefsteak, Black Cherry, Brandywine and Cherokee Purple. I must say the Cherokee Purple are the most vigorous by far. I had such high hopes for the Brandywine and slotted several plants for this year's garden, but from what I've been reading recently, whereas yes, the taste is superb, the production is slim to none. Maybe 2-3 tomatoes per plant and I can't waste space on that. Well, shoot.

I think then I'll just put the one in to test it out and put my luck into some thing more productive. You know what that means! More seeds!!!
I got a Yellow Pear tomato (the tomato that started it all. I just love them, although I've heard others say they're tasteless, they're the perfect tomato for me to take to snack on. I just love them. I also got some Big Momma ones that are supposed to be good sauce making tomatoes and I'd like to give that a try. EEEH, I ordered some steak sandwich, too, but I'm not sure if I'll try those this year since I already have the beefsteak in. We'll see. The cantaloupe is supposed to be a true bush variety which will be interesting. They will be started in a few weeks.

I put six of the Big Mommas to start like the rest of them, but I just put the yellow pear in generic pots outside and hopefully they'll germinate when their time is right. I'm not going to stress overly much about those since I can easily get them as transplants if these don't work out.

It's just so good to see green again, isn't it, folks. I'm ready for the jungle!

The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.

12 comments:

  1. That's great! See...it's not difficult at all. This is truly the happiest time of the year for us gardeners....

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  2. Yay for you! I wasn't impressed with the Brandywines. The year I grew them I got about 3 tomatoes and they were certainly not tasty enough for me to waste any space on them.

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  3. whoa! I don't know where you were reading that, but don't bail on the Brandywines! The flavor is superb, and mine produced oodles, they were the majority of my canning, and that was only from 3 plants! Great job on those seedlings, let's get our Spring ON!

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  4. Oh, your tomato seedlings look great! I can't wait to see them grow too!

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  5. You see my confusion!

    No matter how many toms go in, I'm ready to hold and snuggle my own tomatoes.

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  6. I'm so proud of you! I'm still at the breath holding stage with my seedlings to be, but I gave birth to one tiny Buttercrunch lettuce plant already, and it was just planted Monday.

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  7. Excellent, Way to go :-) Those cherokee purple's would grow to the moon with they could. Last year we had a horribly cold/wet summer and they still produced basket fulls of tomatoes. I have not had the best of luck with brandywine either. I grew one for the first time last year and ended up with one tomato. I blamed it on the season and will try another this year.

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  8. I have read the heirlooms are very suited to certain conditions, and if your conditions are not the ones they like, they are not worth growing. Tricky to generalize brandywines because there are God knows how many varieties, but I have read the same information Ribbit......we may be begging Erin for some of her super seeds next year if our BW's don't work out!

    Congrats on those tomatoes, keep them under strong light, bury the stem when you transplant, and feed every couple of weeks until they go in the ground and you will be eatin' home grown in no time!!! Yeah!

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  9. Instead of the brandy wine I went for the hybrid brandy boy because of the yield and time to harvest. Let us know how the BWs turn out. John

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  10. Congrats Ribbit! They look great. My second sowing of tomatoes didn't go so well. I left them on their heat mat in the dark too long and now they look like anemic alien plants.

    I don't have high hopes for my brandywines either.

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  11. That's quite a variety of tomatoes you've planted.I had a small crop but don't know the name! A green jungle alright - here in my garden too. Just planted the starfruit and the lime trees. have to be patient!

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  12. Well I hope your Brandywine out produces your expectations. I've never had all that much luck with them, but then they are a longer season tomato, so it is not too surprising. But anything that gives you an excuse to buy more seeds is a good thing. Right?

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