2008 Spring Garden Diary

[BVGardener]

Hey Everyone,

I decided to start a thread, like I did this past fall, where I will post data, comments and photos of the current season's garden results.

So far....Polish Dwarf, Nyagous, Champion, Druzba and Pouce de Picardie have all set fruit.

I'll get some details up soon but for now, a few photos.








Yes, I've got a lot of weeding to do.

[BVGardener]

After work today, I watered all of the plants and added another level of string support to all rows of tomatoes. No pictures tonight - I took nothing but photos of the dwarf project varieties and will post them tomorrow.

What a difference a couple of weeks can make. Going from a very uncertain gardening outlook to complete recovery on most plants to now what I can only describe as the growth rate having kicked into overdrive. Temperatures were in the lower 90's today.

Fruit set is beyond expectations. In addition to the varieties I mentioned previously, I observed fruit on the following varieties this afternoon:

• Amish Potato Leaf
• Marianna's Peace
• Mortgage Lifter
• Tennessee Britches
• Pink Berkeley Tie Dye
• Schellenberg's Favorite (I was reminded today why this is one of my favorite varieties....5 fruit already on the vine)
• Cherokee Purple (5 fruit)
• Indian Stripe
• Bruno (7 fruit)
• Nepal
• Russian Black
• Husky Red (6 fruit)
• OTV Brandywine
• Red Brandywine
• German Red Strawberry x Cherokee Purple
• Lemon Boy
• Golden Queen
• Tabletalk
• New Big Dwarf
• Orange Strawberry

The "nematode row" plants are keeping pace with the other plants thus far. I'll pull a plant at the 30 day mark to examine the roots for signs and will continue to pull plants from that row at 15 or 30 day intervals....have not decided on how frequent yet.

[TomatoDon]

You havea great looking set up there BV. Your own paradise on earth!

Don

[BVGardener]

I've updated the list of varieties that have set fruit. I edited the first post to include the latest varieties and they are listed in red.

Below are a few photos. From left to right, Bruno, Cherokee Purple and Indian Stripe.

Jay

[BVGardener]

A few photos below showing the latest going on in the garden. The nematodes are showing up now. I pulled a plant in the "nematode row" area and it had tiny galls starting to form on the roots. However, I think I have the total solution for getting rid of nematodes in that row and the other two that are infested with them.....more on that later this season. I need to prove out my theory first.

From left to right the photos below are: Husky Red Dwarf, Polish Dwarf, a photo showing the foliage of my German Red Strawberry x Cherokee Purple cross, a photo showing a developing fruit from GRS x CP and then a photo of Neves Azorean Red.

More photos coming.

[BVGardener]

Here are a few random photos of the tomato plants. I'll be back with more later....have an appointment with the doctor to go to.

Jay

[BVGardener]

Early Friday morning I spent quite a while confirming which varieties have set fruit so far. I'll get an updated list posted here soon. After the nice 1" rain we received Thursday night coupled with lots of sunshine, the plant growth has resumed. Many approaching 3' tall but of particular interest is the growth being put forth in the width of many of the plants. I can't get over the dense foliage developing....not all of them but definately the majority.

Jay

[feldon30]

Right now I have 93 non-cherry tomatoes on 34 non-cherry tomato plants. That's 2.73 tomatoes per plant.

[dice]

That's 2.73 tomatoes per plant.

Humidity?

If not, it sounds like they are a little deficient in something
needed for fruit set. (Could be an overabundance of something
else that is blocking uptake of something vital.)

You could try a test: spray feed one of them with MG or
similar and see if flowers suddenly start setting fruit.

[feldon30]

We have a cooling trend for the next week. Crossing fingers.

[BVGardener]

Many plants now approaching 4' tall. We received some rain last night which will help reinforce the growth surge. Short term weather could be a bit stressful. Early tomorrow morning, strong storms are suppose to come through the area ahead of a cold front.

I'll have to perform a major weeding session tomorrow. So hopefully the rain we get in the morning will make that go easier.

Fruit production has probably doubled since the last count. A couple of examples are Pouce de Picardie has now set 20 fruit and Schellenberg's Favorite now has 18. Fruit producion is kicking in with the dwarf project varieties as well and I have several plants now with fruit.

I may start a different thread on my German Red Strawberry / Cherokee Purple cross. This growout is getting interesting and good news, heart shaped fruit are developing on the vine. Plus, I counted 19 fruit on that plant today.

[feldon30]

My plants also look really good after the rainfall. Really crossing my fingers for some good fruitset this weekend. The plants are loaded with blossoms.

In other news, got my first flowers on Dragon Tongue. The potatoes are declining and ready to harvest the rest of them I think. I will probably sow more dragon tongue beans in that spot, plus I am planting some squash.

[duajones]

Looking good there Jay. We got an inch of rain yesterday and another half or so this afternoon so far. I hope I dont end up with cracked fruit because of it. After a rough count, I have around 230 fruit on my 15 plants. Jet Star and Monomakh's Hat are blushing now. I did pull a fruit with BER on a JS plant this morning and Robeson that was decent color but small and damaged by a worm or something. Hope to post a few pics in the photo thread today. Good luck to all.

[MikeInCypress]

Harvested a couple of Kimberly and a Silvery Fir Tree. Had a Chello and a handfull of Sungold for breakfast. Have a lot of fruit set including 4 on Ananas Noir and 3 on Brandywine OTV. Lemon Boy has a dozen set. Waiting for Grub's Mystery Green and Red Barn. Golden Dwarf Championis loaded - 18 fruit. JS's C Tex has about 5

Now almost all are in containers and I spent about an hour tying up the plants today. Then hit them with a dose of daconil. Have had some BER but I expect that with the container plants at the beginning of the season. On Tuesdays watering I will be adding some SuperThrive and some blue stuff.

Just a little EB some of the dwarfs, but my brother's BIL had SWV on an Arkansas Traveller. It got pulled and sent off premises.

Everything looks good. Even the Black Cherry that got broken off by the wind has resprouted from its stem and looks to be healthy.

[BVGardener]

Hey guys. We got more rain Sunday morning and fortunately it was a nice rain shower and not a downpour as forecasted.

Orange Heirloom may be developing some Early Blight...I'll have to keep a close eye on that one.

If there is any sign of a possible great season, then Brandywine (Sudduth) has to be it. Probably the largest plant with 18 fruit. I had Brandywine set a high number of fruit a few years ago. Usually I get about 10 fruit off of a single plant.

Below is another photo of the garden and a photo of the GRS x CP cross.

Jay