Tomato season so far?

[feldon30]

We have such a short spring season in S.E. Texas, and fall tomatoes can be disappointing in quantity in flavor, that I put all my eggs in early planting of tomatoes in the spring. I just grin and bear it as far as protecting with row cover, blankets, upside-down buckets, etc.

It's tempting to either do a greenhouse, or build some kind of framework/structure that temporary plastic panels can be attached to. Basically take one of my 4' x 8' raised beds and make it fully enclosable for December-March so I start getting tomatoes in April.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.



NOTE: This is the rather shoddy setup I've done for 2006, 2007, and 2008 and it's too much work, and makes it impossible to tend to the plants. I would rather build a stronger framework, and plastic "panels" which are maybe 2' x 6' that I can attach to the side of the frame. I can remove a panel to work on the plants.

Also the top would need to be an A-frame with panels on it to deal with rain. I had major problems with rain pooling in the top of the 16' bed in the background. I had to poke it with a knife and wait for the water to drain before I could remove the plastic.

Feldon,

I agree. I grew tomatoes way out in the forest near Jasper for nearly ten years. We had extreme early heat, high humidity, bugs of every variety, fungus, and I still was able to harvest some tomatoes.

Ted