Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
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February 16, 2010 | #16 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Pleasure Island, NC 8a
Posts: 1,162
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DH thinks that the 30 gallon plastic containers I got for $3 a piece (30 of them) are going to replace the 12 gallon grow bags (which are really 5 gallon grrr - another story) BUT I plan to take over Ted's Bed of Peppers (sorry Container Ted) & the other 8 x 4 foot raised bed for maters AND use growbags for those FANTASTIC Rio Grandes as well as an obscene number of peppers (sweet & hot).
Keep 'em in the dark for as long as possible I say! So many maters.... |
February 16, 2010 | #17 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: South Of The Border
Posts: 1,169
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Quote:
While I love Wyoming with all my heart, I have wanted to leave since i retired. We lost our stud 3 years ago and it tweaked me forever. I got to where I could barely go outside and see his empty pen. I had a business to run and I just did not have my heart in it anymore. We stood 7 stallions belonging to other owners and our own. We shipped and received semen from all over the world. I did a lot of embryo transfer as well (I am a retired equine reproductive veterinarian.) We bred nearly 400 mares per year. Add in nearly 1000 head of cattle of our own and my passion for gardening and it was inevitable that I would just run out of "want to". I will never own another animal for the rest of my life. I have had to say goodbye to far too many that I loved and it broke my heart worse each time. I was born and raised on a cattle ranch in the corner where California, Arizona and Mexico meet. My first language was very nearly Spanish as we had three Mexican families that lived on our ranch (three generations of those families...) I LOVE Mexico...I love the heat and the people and the geography and the history and the beaches and the food. I prefer a much slower pace of life than we are now all relegated to living in this country. Add in that we are both ardent deep sea fishermen, that I am an archeology addict (there are more sites in South American that I can ever see in my lifetime) that I can grow 12 months out of the year and there you have it! We gave the ranch and all the cattle to our son. I will never have to face another Wyoming winter, checking for new-born calves in 20 below zero weather or doing a midnight c-section on a cow when I am so sick with the flu, I had to turn my head and puke and continue on...5 months of inactivity drive me INSANE...I am about as "type A" as it gets. For everyone, Wyoming is great! I go most of the winter with no snow. Our average precipitation is 10 inches, frozen or otherwise. We have no state tax and out property taxes are the lowest in the country. Oil, Gas, coal and Bentonite in abundance and Wyoming makes those Companies pay dearly for doing business her. They maintain ALL of our roads. They pay for ALL of our schools (average class size of 21) The entire state has a population of less than 500,000. I live in High Desert, backing up to the Big Horn and Prior Mountains and we are only 70 miles from Billings, Montana which is over 200,000 and NO SALES TAX (ours is only 5%.) We pay 374.00 to license our three trucks, one car and two stock trailers per year. We don't even have a DMV and no smog requirements here. The Federal GOvernment owns 75% of all the land in Wyoming so it remains utterly unchanged from the days the Indians owned it all. Hunting...Elk, Moose, Deer, Antelope and some of the finest trout fishing in the country and odds are...you will never see another person where you go to fish...Property is still reasonable here. Utilities are still cheap. Wyoming has had a budget SURPLUS for 15 straight years. always over 10 million. So there you have it...sorry for being so wordy! I will miss Wyoming deeply and the many friends I have here.
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"If I'm not getting dirty, I'm not having a good time." |
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February 16, 2010 | #18 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: cincinnati
Posts: 202
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Tomato Marmalade -YUUUUUMMMMMMM
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February 16, 2010 | #19 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: South Of The Border
Posts: 1,169
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And...
How about tomato chutney... YUMMMYYYY
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"If I'm not getting dirty, I'm not having a good time." |
February 17, 2010 | #20 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Oakland MS
Posts: 231
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My husband and I are torn between wyoming, and the ozarks. I'm from the east. I'm used to creeks, rivers, and lotsa woods and hollers. Moved here to IL and am still not totally adjusted to the openess. Not sure i'd ever get used to the openess of the west. I like trees! Wyoming's freedom sounds wonderful, though. I still think we'd be able to find a quiet little spot in the ozarks though, without people, lol. People complicate everything.
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February 17, 2010 | #21 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Oakland MS
Posts: 231
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wow I just impressed myself. I went through all my maters (nicely organzined in ted's program) and out of 226 varieties I randomly picked (without counting) the ones I HAD to plant this year, that just couldnt wait, lol (including costoluto genovese, brokenbar, lol). I was aiming for 72.... which is a stretch for finding places to plant em all, but I'll find somewhere, lol.
I shuddered as I clicked the button to show only maters on the planting list, afraid it would say 150 or something..... and then I'd have to pare down.... I was shocked when it said 76! Guess I'll go ahead and plant em all! |
February 17, 2010 | #22 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: WV
Posts: 603
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I've got around 100 acres I could play with...restraint? What's that?
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February 17, 2010 | #23 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: South Of The Border
Posts: 1,169
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Quote:
The Osarks are very beautiful, especialy in the fall. AS I said, I will miss Wyoming and always come back to visit. My "people" were originally all from around here and southeastern Montana so it wil always be 'home' for me. And you are going to love the Costoluto Genovese...
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"If I'm not getting dirty, I'm not having a good time." |
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February 17, 2010 | #24 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 7,068
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This tomato obsession can be controlled. All it takes is will power and creative thinking.
I will plant more tomatoes this year because I ran out of sauce a month ago and now my vegetable soup tastes bland. Hmmm? Potatoes are pretty cheap in the store and I can get locally grown ones for very little and the taste is close to the ones that were occupying that good future tomato bed for the last many years. Besides I need to cut down on carbs. I really grew too many squash to eat or put up last year. I'll just plant less and viola! more space for tomatoes. I couldn't even find anyone to take my extra cucumbers so I will have to cut back on the number of vines. I just can't stand throwing so many cucs into the compost bed. So by planting a few extra tomatoes instead I will be relieving the stress associated with wasting perfectly good veggies in the compost pile. Boy it was a lot of work keeping the weeds under control in that large flower bed near the back fence. Hmmm? I wonder if some well mulched tomatoes would help keep out those pesky weeds and save me some back aches this summer. I wonder if tomatoes would do better in those areas where I just can't seem to get the grass to grow well no matter how hard I try. See, this is not an obsession. It's just a matter of critical thinking. Can any of you see any weakness in my logic? If so, please enlighten me. Now all I have to do is figure out how to grow those extra peppers I need. |
February 17, 2010 | #25 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: USA, CT
Posts: 106
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This is what I did. I talked my friends into starting tomato garden and I supply seedlings to them. This way we get to try out 3 times more varieties in a year then I would have been able to plant in my garden.
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February 17, 2010 | #26 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2007
Location: N. Indiana
Posts: 48
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restraint? Is that a new tomato staking technique?
Unfortunately, i have no space restrictions other than a lot of my property is sand and rocks...and when you have chickens, an electric tomato strainer and a reputation for giving away heirloom tomatoes there's no such thing as waste...so it's all between my spine and me, and hopefully it will back me up for another crazy year. |
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