Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

I harvested my first 2 heads of Castle Dome broccoli from this crop. The number of days from transplant was 37. I wouldn't have dreamed that it possible to produce broccoli in that short of time. Amazing the difference between varieties.

Wow that's quick!

Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

Harvested our first cucumber ever! It was delicious although the pretty plant and pretty flowers and watching them grow was more fun than eating it. I wonder why it had little pricklys on the skin. We peeled it because of the prickleys

Ginny

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[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

I harvested my first 2 heads of Castle Dome broccoli from this crop. The number of days from transplant was 37. I wouldn't have dreamed that it possible to produce broccoli in that short of time. Amazing the difference between varieties.

Wonderful! I even bought Castle Dome seeds from Park Seed when they had unlimited free shipping.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Harvested our first cucumber ever! It was delicious although the pretty plant and pretty flowers and watching them grow was more fun than eating it. I wonder why it had little pricklys on the skin. We peeled it because of the prickleys

Ginny - Do you still have the Alpha Beta's that I gave you? Try sowing those now, they will be a little prickley, but easy to knock off and skin is thin and definitely edible. I've picked tons already. Everyone I ever gave them to thought they were the best cuke they ever tasted.

On my Snow Cucumber, I've picked 4 so far and they look just like a dill pickle. The kind that you would get as pickels from the bins back in the day. Looking into making pickles now.

Finally, on my 3rd cucumber plant, (Sweet Success), it isn't large and doesn't have any flowers yet, but all the buds(?) are female.

[Fiishergurl]

Ho Barb,

I do still have some. I will give them a try.

Having so much fun with the cuke plants and the peppers and tomatoes. Oh and the herbs... :-)

Ginny

[Barb_FL]

Has anyone ever ordered from Seedsnsuch?

They have multiple pricing levels such as 1-6 pack $2.79
7-12 $2.39
13-19 $2.19
20+ $1.99

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Any comments about them? Their shipping is $2.95

Sell lots more than just tomatoes, but even tomatoes they have hybrids too.

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PM or post here if anyone wants to go in on an order to try to get to the $2.19 price or $1.99 price. (Everyone would get their own packs)

I would order and then send your packs to you and you can pay me back.

Ginny - they have a cucumber called Sweeter Yet. (I saw the cucumber on Raybo's 2016 garden photo).

[JaxRmrJmr]

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

Last summer I was experimenting growing Rocoto peppers. I had some success with them and was able to overwinter a couple of the plants. The first picture is from one of those plants. It is 5 ft tall and has 17 peppers. That is more than it ever had last year and is producing much earlier. Those were from seeds I bought from NWSU Chile Pepper Institute.

The 2nd picture is a plant I started in November with seeds I saved from my plants last year. It already has 19 peppers on it. I think I am making progress with the Rocoto and hope seeds saved from my 2nd generation plant will do even better. It still is the most difficult pepper I have ever germinated. It takes forever and the germination rate is pathetic.

Never heard of it before. What made you want to grow it?

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Has anyone ever ordered from Seedsnsuch?

They have multiple pricing levels such as 1-6 pack $2.79
7-12 $2.39
13-19 $2.19
20+ $1.99

---
Any comments about them? Their shipping is $2.95

Sell lots more than just tomatoes, but even tomatoes they have hybrids too.

----
PM or post here if anyone wants to go in on an order to try to get to the $2.19 price or $1.99 price. (Everyone would get their own packs)

I would order and then send your packs to you and you can pay me back.

Ginny - they have a cucumber called Sweeter Yet. (I saw the cucumber on Raybo's 2016 garden photo).

Never heard of them but will check it out. I'm overloaded on seeds but appreciate the offer.

I am so excited to try all the new hearts I grew this year. I have never had a heart tomato and they are growing like gangbusters as are all the others. For hearts I have Brad's Black Heart, Cherokee Black Heart, Rinehard Kraft Purple Heart (I hope I got the name right), Orange Minsk Heart, and Sgt Peppers. Also, new to me this year are Paul Robeson, Painted Pink, Not Purple Strawberry, Surpriz (the unstable seed I got from Laura a couple of years ago and this one is looking like the beefsteak, non antho version), Brad Gates Small Mix, Neves Azorean Red, Cow's Tit and San Marzano Redorta. There are others at my neighbor's, some of which have died premature deaths due to no fault of their own and then some of my old stanbys like Black Cherry and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye that we just love. I can't wait for some of these new varieties to start ripening... getting close!

Ginny

[kayrobbins]

"Never heard of it before. What made you want to grow it?"

I wanted to grow it for several reasons. The Rocoto is in the Capsicum pubescens species which means that it will not cross pollinate with peppers from any of the other species. I do make isolation cages for some peppers but that is time consuming and I wanted to grow something that would not cross.

Its history is also fascinating. The species is believed to have been domesticated around 6000 BC making it one of the oldest domesticated plant in the Americas. It has mainly been grown in the Andes mountains and fresh peppers are not readily available in this country. One Tomatovillian did find them for sale @ 12.95 per lb in California.

And then there is that beautiful deep purple bloom and the fuzzy leaves. It is a striking plant. I like to experiment and I felt if I could get it started early enough to be mature before our heat got intense and found the right place with only morning sun or all day dappled sun I could make it work. I have it in 4 different areas of my yard trying to find the best location. I have given plants to 3 friends to grow to see how they do with it in different parts of town.

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

"Never heard of it before. What made you want to grow it?"

I wanted to grow it for several reasons. The Rocoto is in the Capsicum pubescens species which means that it will not cross pollinate with peppers from any of the other species. I do make isolation cages for some peppers but that is time consuming and I wanted to grow something that would not cross.

Its history is also fascinating. The species is believed to have been domesticated around 6000 BC making it one of the oldest domesticated plant in the Americas. It has mainly been grown in the Andes mountains and fresh peppers are not readily available in this country. One Tomatovillian did find them for sale @ 12.95 per lb in California.

And then there is that beautiful deep purple bloom and the fuzzy leaves. It is a striking plant. I like to experiment and I felt if I could get it started early enough to be mature before our heat got intense and found the right place with only morning sun or all day dappled sun I could make it work. I have it in 4 different areas of my yard trying to find the best location. I have given plants to 3 friends to grow to see how they do with it in different parts of town.

I still have seeds from you. I am going to try them again. I didnt do them right before... did not understand their needs... :-)

Ginny

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[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Never heard of them but will check it out. I'm overloaded on seeds but appreciate the offer.

I am so excited to try all the new hearts I grew this year. I have never had a heart tomato and they are growing like gangbusters as are all the others. For hearts I have Brad's Black Heart, Cherokee Black Heart, Rinehard Kraft Purple Heart (I hope I got the name right), Orange Minsk Heart, and Sgt Peppers. Also, new to me this year are Paul Robeson, Painted Pink, Not Purple Strawberry, Surpriz (the unstable seed I got from Laura a couple of years ago and this one is looking like the beefsteak, non antho version), Brad Gates Small Mix, Neves Azorean Red, Cow's Tit and San Marzano Redorta. There are others at my neighbor's, some of which have died premature deaths due to no fault of their own and then some of my old stanbys like Black Cherry and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye that we just love. I can't wait for some of these new varieties to start ripening... getting close!

Ginny

Oh and i forgot, I am growing the famous (or infamous depending on how you look at it) Pink Brandywine and it hasnt set a tomato yet. And it has very few blooms. I thought for sure i could coax some big ol tasty tomatoes from it. I am saying now that i think it deserves its stingy, fickle reputation. But it is still trying so we will see what happens.

Ginny

[kayrobbins]

Ginny I hope you do get some Rocoto germination. I would soak the seeds overnight and be prepared for a long wait. If they don't work out I know I will have a good supply of 3rd generation Florida grown seeds after this season.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Oh and i forgot, I am growing the famous (or infamous depending on how you look at it) Pink Brandywine and it hasnt set a tomato yet. And it has very few blooms. I thought for sure i could coax some big ol tasty tomatoes from it. I am saying now that i think it deserves its stingy, fickle reputation. But it is still trying so we will see what happens.

Ginny

Ginny - Even the Pink Brandywine Cherry tomato is stingy. (and when it finally produces fruit, it is LATE).

I tried growing Brandywine Red so many times; beautiful plants. 0 fruit.

I even gave Yellow BW their own SWC and got one HUGE fruit.

I would get some blooms but they never materialized in fruit.

The only one that produces a ton is the Brandywine Dark Cherry (BCD). I wonder how close that is to how a BW actually tastes. I've never tasted one.

[Barb_FL]

Ginny - Aren't you growing Juane' Flamme? What a producer!

New to me: Orange Russian, Painted Pink, Lucid Gem (done for the year), Pink Passion Dwarf (done), Tommy Toe Yellow, Juane Flamme, Sekai Ichi, GoldKrone, Dragon's Eye, Corum Kirmizisi (from Turkey) , Fred's Tie Dye (dwarf), Orange Swirl (Dwarf), Boronia (Dwarf), Coastal Orange (dwarf), 4th of July, Maiden's Pride, Extreme Bush (dwarf), Black and Brown Boar, Bosky Chabarovsky (done), Perth Pride, Summertime gold (dwarf), Sweet Sue - Red (dwarf), JD Special Tex (grew before with purchased seeds that were definitely not true), 2 dwarf project varieties. 1 Micro dwarf variety.

Repeats: PBTD, Sun Gold, Large Barred Boar, Wild Fred (dwarf), GDD (great dark dwarf - probably Tasmanian Chocolate), Big Beef, Vorlon *****, Porter's Pride (grew Porters before),
2nd Chance: Bulgarian Triumph, NAV, Jazz, Orange Jazz

I'm really glad that I gave Bulgarian Triumph another shot; It was the one plant I yanked when I had the Virus in the fall. At the time, I had one tomato and planted seeds from it. I have 2 tomatoes now in root pouches; one is sharing a Root Pouch with Dragon's Eye; both are productive especially the one by itself and healthy.

Jazz and Orange Jazz TBD

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****** Vorlon **** grew in the fall in an EB; mega producer but a lot of BER initially; I think because it was such a fast grower and sucking water. Anyway, this time the seedlings were wimpy; I put in a 15 gallon root pouch, with some JOBES 8-8-8 fertilizer I wanted to get rid of anyway; no big deal when the plant dies. The plants exploded; looks like AKMARKS plants; no disease, not optimal sun because it is behind Bulgarian Triumph, and GoldKrone, and further right is Juane' Flamme. I'm so impressed with the plant.

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I'm picking so many tomatoes; I'm so happy that some of them are still growing and green.

[Fiishergurl]

Barb, yes the Juane Flamme and Stupice are at my neighbors. I take care of them and he eats them... :-) those are two easy and productive and early tasty plants.

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