2015 Garden Journal

[Bodhi Peace]

Well... going to the market... going to eat you a lot of peaches.

we traded for some peaches.

[BigVanVader]

Been raining here so I picked all the blushing tomatoes. Mostly GGWT, my first ripe Daniel Burson, and can anyone spot the Chocolate Stripe? They look very similar to GGWT.

[jmsieglaff]

Those GGWT sure are pumping a lot out. I'm guessing either DB is fairly late or GGWT is early-ish for its size since it is producing by the bucket full in your picture. What other tomatoes ripened at about the same time as the first GGWT?

[bower]

I loved your market table how you used a tablecloth and had it all laid out with signs. Beautiful produce and a great table design! Bet you got some conversations started over a name like "Girl Girl's Wild Thing" If the appearance alone of heirlooms and created OP's like Orange Jazz was not enough conversation piece, the names are colourful too.

[efisakov]

Your GGWT looks great. Nice harvest!
My CS looked the same as GGWT but the taste of GGWT was superior, in my opinion. GGWT was sweeter and taste was consistent during the season. CS at the beginning of the season was so so, it improved later on and was sweet and tart. GGWT was more sweet and just a bit tart. Both beautiful maters.

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by jmsieglaff

Those GGWT sure are pumping a lot out. I'm guessing either DB is fairly late or GGWT is early-ish for its size since it is producing by the bucket full in your picture. What other tomatoes ripened at about the same time as the first GGWT?

I would say GGWT are medium in production but the flavor for me makes it a must grow. Mine seem to set some and then they all ripen spread over a week or 2 before it sets more and repeats. I have 3 of them and they are all very tall, around 8 or 9 feet already and the trusses are farther apart than what I am used to. I will definitely trellis them next year, and plant more

DB seems very late. It has been over 100 days since sowing the seeds but they got transplanted late and were pretty root bound. Im sure with better care its a 85-90 day tomato.

GGWT seems to be quite early here. It was about a week or 2 behind Orange Jazz but was planted 4 days later. Mr. Snow was also planted/ripened around the same time. I staggered my plantings this year to better spread my harvest out, but I would definitely say it's more midseason. I also like how uniform the fruits are. DB bottoms have been really bumpy.

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by bower

I loved your market table how you used a tablecloth and had it all laid out with signs. Beautiful produce and a great table design! Bet you got some conversations started over a name like "Girl Girl's Wild Thing" If the appearance alone of heirlooms and created OP's like Orange Jazz was not enough conversation piece, the names are colourful too.

Thanks bower! Yeah we try to Jazz it up a little

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Your GGWT looks great. Nice harvest!
My CS looked the same as GGWT but the taste of GGWT was superior, in my opinion. GGWT was sweeter and taste was consistent during the season. CS at the beginning of the season was so so, it improved later on and was sweet and tart. GGWT was more sweet and just a bit tart. Both beautiful maters.

Good to know. Im gonna do a taste battle with them soon.

[BigVanVader]

Here is a big blushing Daniel Burson. As you can see the bottom is pretty screwed up. Customers don't like bubble but tomatoes.

[BigVanVader]

Lol I went back through this. Sorry I stopped posting mid-season but I was so busy trying to save my tomatoes. Long story short my amazing early season turned into a hellish mid/late season with huge disease pressure and I lost over half my tomato plants. Not to mention the SVB's that destroyed all my squash.

I will try to take those lessons learned last year into this year by:

1. Grafting (or trying to) to improve prod/vigor
2. Adding more covered square footage (coldframe type structure)
3. Single stem trellising all my beefsteak heirlooms
4. Soil test to make sure my soil is where it needs to be
5. Spacing my rows of tomatoes farther apart to slow disease spread
6. Providing food for be beneficials for more natural insect control. (Zinnas/herbs/etc)
7. Applying Surround from Day 1 to eliminate any early insect pressure.
8. Laying 5oz weed barrier over pretty much all exposed turf/grass and mulching.
9. Have backup plants ready to go in the ground for mid-season and late
10. Bought a pocket microscope to better identify insect pressure.

Mother Nature is a brutal but efficient teacher, hopefully she is happy with what I have learned from her and goes easy on me this year.

Even with all the challenges we still had a great year, made new friends at market, watched our amazing children grow, and had a lot of fun. We ended up selling over 600 plants and gave away about 200. I am aiming for selling 1200 this year. I just finished building a website to showcase all the tomatoes we will be selling and growing and plan to add a blog to it at some point to help educate customers and give me another outlet for my obsession. I plan to try and get in at least one retail location this year and we finally got a Facebook page up (Man I hate FB) but feel free to friend us if you'd like
https://www.facebook.com/nodinesplantsandproduce/

This year in addition to tomatoes I will be selling cukes, squash, peppers, beans, herbs and flowers. Customers kept asking for them so I'm hoping they sell well. We are excited for a new year and I cant wait! I will likely continue using this thread for the coming season since looking back through is really cool. Thanks for all the seeds and everything else Tomatovillians!

Here is the progress so far in 2017

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This tiny seedling below is Pyrethrum daisy. I decided to grow my own since it is so expensive.

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Quad-cot

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[jpop]

You have your hands full BVV, good luck this season.

[BigVanVader]

Yep, but if I slow down I start rusting up. Thanks jpop!

[TC_Manhattan]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

Yep, but if I slow down I start rusting up. Thanks jpop!

But where's your oil can, Tin Man?

[BigVanVader]

Coffee and chocolate are my oil I guess

[wildcat62]

Love seeing the progress. Good Luck this year.