Tomatoes, Flowers, Seedling Galore

Lots of tomatoes... I decided to plant much less tomatoes this year though.

I transplanted some to a "bigger" container, but there are still several that are waiting to be transplanted. I am waiting for the second true-leaf to show up.

Zinnias... lots of them. Small, medium, and tall! It will be great!!!

Marigolds... a few types. This one is the Best Mix (I believe it is by Burpee).

This is a small zinnia. I will plant in front of all the others.

Still in the "start container", are the basil seedlings.

In the front, another Zinnia... I believe this one is Thumbelina.

At the back, Marigold Bolero.

At the back, Cosmos, most likely Sensation.

In the front, another Zinnia. This one is from seeds that I saved from last year Zinnia that I planted in my front yard. They are small, and fluorescent yellow. 

Behind the small Zinnias, I believe is another Zinnia, the giant Scarlet type. They are gorgeous!!!

Thanks for dropping by,

Luiza

Tomatoes - Summer 2015

It has been a week since I planted all my tomatoes! I planted last Friday. On Monday, some of them had already sprouted!!! Today, they have all sprouted and are happy.

Because it is not too hot here, I am putting them outside so the little plants do not have to bend to get some sun :)

Here is the list of the types that I planted (yeah... it is more than the tomatoes that I have been publishing the last few days :) ) - 29 types !!!!  

1. Black Krim
2. Cherokee
3. Abe Lincoln
4. Delicious
5. Zebra
6. Rutgers
7. Tangerine
8. Sweetie
9. Crimson C.
10. Red October
11. Morgage Lifter
12. Brandwine
13. Porterhouse
14. Burpee's Best Boy
15. Brandy Boy
16. El Fresco
17. Early Girl
18. Sungold
19. Sweet Gold
20. Jubilee
21. San Marzano
22. 4th July
23. Juliet
24. Sweet Aroma
25. Red Cherry
26. Honey Delight
27. Marvel Stripe
28. Celebrity
29. Gardener's Delight

Thank you for stopping by

 Luiza

Tomatoes in a Bottle

I decided to protect my tomato seedlings this year. I came up with this idea: use bottomless soda bottles.

My rationale was to provide not only protection for cutworms, but also heat for the plants to flourish as fast as possible.

I only left the bottle for 1-2 weeks, depending on the plant.

This all happened in March. Right now, my tomato plants are huge :)

Thanks for dropping by,
Luiza

Tomatoes

List of tomatoes I planted for this summer (started from seeds)

• Cherry Tomatoes:

• Super sweet 100
• Black Cherry
• Sungold
• 

  Super Sweet 100

  Sweet Gold
  

  

  Black Cherry

  

  Sweet Gold

  

  Sungold

• Tomato Sauce 

• Marzano
• Sweet Aroma

Sweet Aroma

Marzano

• Yellow tomatoes large

• Jubilee

Jubilee

• Heirloom

• Zebra
• Mortgage Lifter
• Brandywine Pink

Zebra

Brandywine Pink

Mortgage Lifter

• Early Tomato

• 4th July

Seedlings

I start several seeds in the beginning of March. Now they are all outside in my mini-greenhouses.

Lots of tomatoes, flowers (several zinnias). I also made several cuttings of impatiens. I will give some of the impatiens to a friend that lives in Berkeley - talk about shade!

I still have a lot of work to do. Several flowers need to be transplanted to individual pots. I start the seeds in trays - recycled from strawberries, grapes, etc. So, when the seedlings grow the first true leaf, I need to transfer them to individual pots. It is very rewarding the whole process, but it is a lot of work. You need to love plants to do that.

Thanks for visiting.

Seedlings...

I woke up with a big surprise: my domain was gone!!! The reason is a combination of all the misshapen that have happened since I created this service: google accounts cancelled wout explanation, change of phone numbers because of things that are happening in my life, etc
So, I would really appreciate if you can spread the word regarding the "change" of url to this site. I will need to come up with a new domain, so I can make life easier... in the meantime, it will work with blogspot. I am very sorry for any inconvenience. Luiza

My seedlings could not be doing better. Here are the tomatoes and the pepper that I seeded on January 29th.

Here are the Cosmos and Peony Poppy also seeded on January 29th, and the While Cosmos (the middle one) seeded on Feb 7th.

Here are the Impatiens seeded on Feb 7th.

And finally the last tomatoes that I seeded: Mortgage Lifter. I seeded on Feb 13th.

Tomatoes

 

I love tomatoes, and so does my husband - my children do not like them too much, yet. I like to grow lots of varieties. I try several heirloom varieties. This year I tried Black Krim,   Brandywine, and several others that I cannot remember the name. I love Brandywine. I am sure you heard that before... I actually thought it was just marketing that people were talking so much about this tomato. But boy, was I wrong: they are so good. I have tried others, but I like Brandywine the best.

This is the way that all starts... Seeds. I plant lots of seeds around February, and take a lot of good care of them so they survive. As soon as the seed sprout, I take them outside to my mini-greenhouse. I have a new greenhouse, as my old one was really falling apart. I believe the name was flower house. After 3 years of good use, the fabric fell apart. The older one was very low, and I had to sit down in order to take care of the little plants.  This one  is vertical, with 4 shelves. It is much easier to put the plants down. However, I have to be careful to provide enough sunlight for all of them. Also, the cover is made of plastic. I am not sure how long it will last. But I am happy with it.

 

In the picture below, I tried to point where some of the tomatoes were. In particular the one pointed at is Black Krim, a Russian heirloom tomato. 

As I mentioned before, my tomatoes only started to mature almost at the end of August, as we did not have a hot summer in Silicon Valley, where I live. But when the heat started.... my tomatoes made me smile.

 

Do you see these red tomatoes? These are some Brandwines. I did not get too many of them. But, I enjoyed the ones I got.

Another tomato that I really like is Jubilee. They are yellow, big, and meaty.. I planted some this year that did not turn out very good. I wonder if these are the ones from some seeds I saved last year... They were too soft and squishy and small ... Jubilee are meaty and delicious. They are big. I did get some of the good ones. I am not saving seed this year, as they are hybrid, and I only wanted to check. I will just buy the seeds next year.

 

Here is a closer picture of some of the yellow ones, which I believe are Jubilee Tomatoes:

 

Still pretty.But most of them were small. I had to try and see if the seeds were going to turn true to the kind. But they  did not. No big deal: I always like to make experiments and take chances. Not much too loose.

Just in case something goes wrong, in terms of diseases, I always plant a big red tomato that has all the letters in the title of the seed package, describing their disease resistance LOL. This year I planted Big Boy. I think I got several of them. I also planted a very small tomato. I have to be honest that I do not even try to find them, as my eyes are acting very hungry when I go and pick the tomatoes, and I tend to pick the big ones :-)

The reality is I try to label the tomatoes, keep the names as I label the seedlings. But I plant so many together, that at the end it is a crazy, delicious mass... Lots of leaves that make it even hard to pick the tomatoes, let alone see their names. Sometimes I do not know the type I am eating, but I do not care... I only want it to be tasty.

This year I had a good weed control. When a company came to cut one of my trees, I asked that they dump their truck in my driveway. I spread the wood chips all over my yard (and yes, I did not get any help). It was very labor intensive, but save me a lot of time during the whole summer, and now during the fall, as I have very little weeding to do.


What I will do different next year? I hope I have some time to build my cages from the "cement wire".  I did that when I was living in Michigan. The cages I have are not big enough for the kind of tomatoes I am planting. Most of them are indefinite. So, they keep growing. Right now, some of the plants are growing at ground level. I do not like that, and I am not a neat freak :-)

For sure I will use my compost (I will describe in another post). I am making it at home, and it is turning beautiful. Almost time to collect the leaves so I can mix with the grass. Beautiful black stuff....


I will also try to make bigger labels, so I can read far away. Not a priority, as I can recognize the tomato that I like best: my Brandywines!!!

How about you? Which tomatoes did you grow this summer? Which ones did you like best?

Luiza