Philly - place to purchase heirlooms?

[Fiishergurl]

Mark,

We drove through Media on the way back... such a pretty town. Would love some recommendations. It looks like a place that has some great local restaurants and didnt seem inundated by chains yet.

I am sooooo excited! Looking forward to Saturday. Its going to be so hard to decide on just a few with all of those choices.

Ginny

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[Adenn1]

Sent you a PM.

[JRinPA]

You are in no way too late. This is early/normal time yet, and this year has been cool. I just put some out a couple days back and putting out more today.

I am growing completely from seed for the first time and could spare some extra plants but I am located a bit out of your way (between Reading and Allentown), and it sounds like you found some to your liking.

[Jonnyhat]

JRinPA i grew up between Reading and Allentown in Hamburg, my parents still live there. are you close?

[JRinPA]

No, I'm about 45 min to Cabelas. I'm from eastern corner of Berks Co., Boyertown area. We have great soil here, but it is getting paved at an alarming rate.

I put 9 plants out today in my new raised bed. A couple days back I put 14 in the ground where I had the butternut trellis last year. All but four are heirlooms. We'll see what happens...I'm a little nervous to be honest. I am accustomed to high production from hybrids in the regular garden. I have space for 5 more in the shorter bed, and I may hedge and plant a row of big beef back in the garden to be safe. I had hoped to give the regular garden a rest from years of tomatoes and instead try pole beans and okra there.

[Fiishergurl]

So we went to Wolff's yesterday (Saturday) and we are still at the hotel so I only bought 4 plants (see picture). We got there before the rainy day kicked in and it was fun looking through them all. I didnt get as many heart types because they were back in the corner and most that I could get to had some minor leaf issues so I went with some others. For now I ended up with Green Berkeley Tie Dye, Wes, San Marzano, and Pink Brandywine. We are looking at places through AirBnB and depening on where we end up, I might get more.

Mark - we ate at the Iron Hill Brewery that you recommended and it was delicious!

JR - always good to have a backup plan... :-)




The plants above in the hotel room window.


Some of the tomatoes I brought from my plants at home including several different heart types.

Ginny

[PhilaGardener]

Catching up with this thread a little late. Wolf's is a nice source; the elder Wolf passed last year and it is great to see the family keeping it running. Welcome to PA, Ginny! Plants in the ground in my garden just have been sitting there in our cold and damp Spring, so you are not late at all. Self watering planters might give you some mobility (on a dolly). Good luck getting settled!

[Fiishergurl]

Thank you PhilaGardener!

We ended up renting a place in Media until mid october with a fenced in yard and can plant some tomato plants in the ground. Does the Florida Weave work up here?

Ginny

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[Fiishergurl]

Does good Philly area soil generally need lime added? I see quite a few earthworms in it. Picture above.

Ginny

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Does good Philly area soil generally need lime added? I see quite a few earthworms in it. Picture above.

Ginny

JEALOUS

[Fiishergurl]

Hahaha.. Marsha... :-) I feel like I'm gardening on another planet! Throw out the old Florida rule book. It doesnt apply up here.

Ginny

[JRinPA]

A farmer friend of mine does the weave for the plants on their co-op. It works well until they get heavy and get a big August storm, but by then it doesn't really matter if they fall, I guess.

I did a weave last year for the first time at friend's house. It was a dry year and they pretty much relied on rain. Nothing fell, and they were very healthy. The tomatoes were smaller and substantially fewer than in my crw cages that get watered when needed. Basically 3 trusses. I hope to plant that spot again this week, and will do the weave.

[PhilaGardener]

I have tried the Florida Weave but prefer one T-pole per plant, mostly because I try to shift growing locations around in my garden each year.

Our clay soils can be really tough to break in. Add as much organic material as possible to lighten it up. I also use a compost mulch to reduce disease issues by preventing soil from splashing back up on the leaves.

A lot of our municipalities compost leaves collected in the Fall and provide it free to residents, so you should definitely tap into this.

For Delaware County PA, check out http://www.co.delaware.pa.us/recycle/composting.html

[Fiishergurl]

JRinPA and PhilaGardener, thank you for the input... :-) There is a food waste/leaves compost bin in the backyard and also a leaf compost pile. So I had already mixed some of the compost in the holes when I planted but after reading about the leaf mulch that you posted PhilaGardener, I put a layer of compost around each plant this morning and then a layer of leaves. There were earthworms in the ground, and in the compost, and in the leaves so I'm hoping thats a good sign. Pictures below.


Above with a ring of compost.


Composted leaves added on top.


Did one row of four plants. Didnt do the other row yet.


Hubby marked the pickle garden (pickle plants and pickle spice plant (dill... :-) so it wouldnt get weed wacked.

And in case the in ground garden fizzles, I planted three tomato plants in swc's.

Any advice would definitely be appreciated. Still thinking about staking methods.

Regardless of what happens this is such a fun adventure. The journey and learning have already been so much fun so thank you to everyone again for the input... :-).

Ginny