J&L Gardens

[Alpinejs]

Stop that! Stop that! Stop that! Every time I think I have my house in order, someone
dangles new-to-me varieties that I just gotta have. It ain't fair!! Not fair at all!! Oh for the
good ol' days when I only needed to buy a couple of "big boys" or "late girls" at Wallyworld.
Alas, I even thought our local produce dept. sold tomatoes. WRONG! Can't we have like a
three year moratorium where no new varieties can be introduced and certainly not touted.
I'm like these end-of-the-world folks that stockpile #10 cans of lima beans. I have seed for
great varieties that I don't even have the room to grow. They go on my next year list, but
then I add so many new and wonderful discoveries that they are again relegated to the
next year grow list. (how many years till seeds go stale?)

I digress. Thanks for sharing your super on-line catalog with all these addicted people.

[clkeiper]

ENABLERS! ALL ENABLERS! aren't they?
I just got mine the other day form them. I can't wait. I think I need another 2 or 3 acre garden

[goodwin]

We are going to offer various samplers of five different varieties - at least for a while during the holidays. It was greenthumbomaha's idea and I think it is a good one. I need to decide what to include, though a selection of new varieties would make sense.
It is really cold here now, down to 2 degrees the last couple of nights. We're staying close to the fireplace and sketching out next years' planting.
I have always enjoyed this part.
Thank you for all your kind comments. It makes what we do truly worth the time.
Lee

[KY Grower]

Received my order today! Excellent service Lee and I appreciate the extra bonus. Just like Christmas coming early.

[Doug9345]

Originally Posted by Alpinejs

. . . Every time I think I have my house in order, someone
dangles new-to-me varieties that I just gotta have. It ain't fair!! Not fair at all!! . . . I have seed for great varieties that I don't even have the room to grow. They go on my next year list, but then I add so many new and wonderful discoveries that they are again relegated to the next year grow list. (how many years till seeds go stale?). . .

They say you can grow them all, but that doesn't stop us from trying.
Seed should be good for 10 years without having to mess with it too much. You can always pit it in a tight container and put it in the freezer.

[baileyj]

Alpinejs,
My sentiments exactly.
If my DH realized how many seeds I have, he would not be encouraging me to try more...

Lee,
I posted my order a few minutes ago, before seeing your comments here about Lions Tail...will it grow here in zone 7.
Also saw your note here about variety samplers....I did not see this on your site before ordering....perhaps I missed it, Are they ready yet ?

So.... ready to start seeds, but have a good 3-4 weeks to wait.
Thanks,
Judi

[goodwin]

hi Judi -

Lion's Tail will be very happy in your climate. I will send you some seed. The samplers will have to wait until after New Year's, when I have a bit more time. There are 8 seeds of a variety in each mini-packet and 4 varieties in a packet. Anyway, thank you for the order, and I hope you are enjoying the holidays.
Lee

[cornbreadlouie]

I still plan to review all the stuff from J&L that I grew in 2012, but for now I'd like to give a special shout out to the bosque blue tomato. If you're a first time black/purple/blue tomato grower or want to grow more of them, check this one out.

It produces many fruits on manageable size plants. The taste is good, not exceptional, but the aesthetics are great. Truly a beautiful tomato. The best part for me though, is the resistance to splitting & cracking. Even in the hardest rain, or the most uneven watering, the bosque blue skin stayed together.

If you're interested in breeding blue tomatoes, I think this one is a good stepping off point. A f1 cross I made with the bosque blue is showing mostly desirable traits, with pretty good anthocyanin accumulation.

Not a great pic, but the striking difference between bosque blue and regular tomatoes. http://i46.tinypic.com/22lrpf.jpg

[goodwin]

I think that is a darn good photo - what a great assortment of colors and shapes! I'm looking forward to hearing how your cross shapes up. When there are several genes working together, as in the blue color, things can get very interesting. The Bosque Blue is easy to grow and earlier than others - some good traits to start with. And I'd enjoy hearing how the rest of the garden did last season, because your climate is so different from ours.
I got an email yesterday from someone in the UK who grew out a number of our varieties in a really wet and cold year. Some I wouldn't necessarily expect to do well under those tough conditions thrived and others succumbed. So it's good to know how they may adapt.
Lee

[goodwin]

Here are some thumbnails of new varieties for this season. Most of these tomatoes are smaller because that is what we sell at the farmers' markets. A couple are re-releases like the Midnight Select - a strain of J&L Select, a variety which has been out for several years. We've sold our Pruden's Black before as well, but we like this particular line with the dark shoulders and green gel around the seeds. Sugar Drop we sent out for trial two seasons ago, but it was not completely stable. I think it is now. Vincent's showed up as a volunteer - so it is probably a named variety - I just don't what. Vincent was the old cat who always followed me about in the fields, and it's named after him now.
Lee

[natural]

Anyone know if Starfire Isis is available for order?

[goodwin]

natural,

Oops, the Starfire is available - I just needed to enable it on the website. Thank you so much for checking back!
The pattern is quite striking - particularly when the weather is a little cooler.
Lee

[natural]

thanks Lee! I'll be ordering that one along with a few others.

Bill

[gill_s]

Hello Lee

I am having problems with the e-mail for 'Contact' on your website. I have a query about Fioletovyi Kruglyi. You do not give an e-mail address and I have been unable to use the Microsoft Outlook on my computer. It had seemingly downloaded but I still wasn't able to send a message. I sent an e-mail, using the address I previously had for you, but didn't get a reply, so assumed that you were no longer using that address.

Gill

[goodwin]

Hi Gill,

I think I figured out what happened to your message. Anyway, I checked the Fioletovyi Krugli I planted and it is doing fine. My experience has been that when seedlings fail to take off, it is usually the whole tray and it has to do with the starter medium. When I pot them up, they respond with deeper color and vigor.
That does not sound like your problem, so I am at a bit of a loss. I will send an email.

Lee