Wow…nice going.
Some day i hope to get a ripe tomato in June. I have a few tomatoes sizing up so maybe in a couple weeks.
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I just barely made it, last year I had tomatoes earlier. I picked two more today. Girl Girl’s Weird Thing and Malakhitovaya Shkatulka. I just got back and they were slightly over ripe. I immediately cut them up for sauce. Well the green (Malakhitovaya Shkatulka) when ripe saved for ketchup.
I tasted all three I picked this year, and flavor was nice is all three. The green is interesting, tastes pretty good! It isn’t that green anyway, some red and yellow. I didn’t take any photos now cut up.
I was just out in the patch between rain storms to inspect and tighten up the tape fence. As mentioned up-thread, I had put a fishing line “fence” three feet outside this one. So far, no deer incursions, but it’s only been a week since that was put up…
Yesterday I added some more staking and laid down some more mulch, because they were calling for a lot of rain today. Also, pinched off some of the lower branches, as I don’t want those picking up mud and the like.
I had the wife come out to check out the patch, and I showed her some little baby 'mater’s budding out. From what I can remember, these varieties have small fruit on them:
Paul Robeson, Black Brandywine, J Black Trifele, Russian Queen, Gordost Sibiri, Jaune Flamme, Stupice, Abe Lincoln, Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Great White, Orange KY Beefsteak, Watermelon, Cherokee Purple, Lemon Oxheart, maybe more but can’t remember them all! Of course, most of them are smaller than a pea, so we got a ways to go.
Most of the peppers are still pretty small, but some have really grown and greened up nicely.
I’ll try to get some more pics of the little fruitlets when the rain stops.
Also, I noticed that my Black Brandywine has regular leaves on it as opposed to the Pink and Yellow versions, which have big potato leaves. I thought all BW’s had the tater leaves, but maybe not. Perhaps this is not a “true” black BW?
subdood,
@MuddyMess_8a plants similar to how we do. When does the cold weather get there? In Kansas we plant our sweet corn on April 1st -15th. We plant cabbage, lettuce, collards, mustard, spinach or any greens in march. We plant irish potatoes on St Patrick’s day. We plant sweet potato on june 1st- 15th. We plant green beans, squash, cantaloupe, pumpkins on April 15th through may 1st. We plant watermelons and green peppers may 15th-june 15th. Some years if warm enough we plant those May 1st. We plant tomato by seed on April 5th or by plant late April through May 15th depending on temperature. Those are just rough numbers but we are usually around those times. I have planted potatoes in February or in April but the later I plant the lesser the crop because for us spring rain is critical. Very nice job on your veggies though the times are much different than ours. We are zone 6a in Kansas. If you want to plant lettuce in February you can or maybe earlier in your zone but you might need one of these https://www.amazon.com/Plymor-Brand-Glass-Cloche-Display/dp/B006XIQQ1U/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_cp_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=31FsGvpn2lL&dpSrc=sims&preST=SL500_SR89%2C135&psc=1&refRID=6X6SK2H4F1D8DFG7KC7Z. If you want to zone stretch a bit more and in larger quantities read this article http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/hoop-houses.aspx. For lettuce you can get some close line wire and bend it into hoops and cover the row of lettuce and then stretch greenhouse plastic over that. Turnips we grow almost year round because they are so cold tolerant.
Most things won’t grow much once daylight drops below a critical amount. Their development stays relatively static, but since they’ve become well established, they grow rapidly once they start getting sufficient light again.
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Very true but you can leave them in the ground and harvest when you need them. Or if you grow them inside under lights you can put them out very early and its easier on them. You likely know from your greenhouse some insects that can be a problem such as white fly.
Do you mean the (2) greenhouses in my daydreams, filled with tropical and subtropical plants and winter veggies? Those don’t have white flies, or any other pests. 
What I have indoors is a mylar lined grow tent, and lots of 6 ft. tall windows in the house. The biggest problems indoors are spider mites. Scales are the #2 problem. I do have a huge problem with white flies outdoors, though. If I ever find a way to successfully get rid of sucking insects without harming beneficials, I might start to consider myself a somewhat accomplished grower.
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Our spring weather this year was very atypical for these parts. April and May were for the most part cool and wet, with even a freeze on May 16. If I had planted out all these tomatoes and peppers in the first part of May like we did last year, we prob would’ve lost all of them to the freeze. So we got lucky there.
BTW, we are zone 6b, but we had two brutal winters the last 2 of 3 years. Last winter (Feb 2015), we had a night of -6 followed by a night of -14. Summers have been usually highs in the 80s, with nights in 50-60s, but this summer has seen quite a few days in the 90s. So, yes we are 6b, but it’s not the 6b you’d see in the Midwest like you, or the 6b in New England for that matter.
Because of various reasons in addition to the weird weather, this year some of our plantings have been delayed. We did however plant cukes and potatoes at the end of March, with the taters doing well for April and most of May. But now, most of the 200+ hills of our potatoes have died off, like you’d see in the fall. I suspect the freeze damaged them more than I believed, plus beetles got after quite a few of the plants. And I don’t think the cool wet weather those two months helped either.
It’s odd that none of our corn planted and sprouted in early May didn’t suffer any apparent freeze damage, maybe because that plot may have been a bit warmer than the tater patch. But, it is starting to tassel now, which I’d think is too early. Most of the plants have very small ears on them, and aee about 2-3’ tall. But, it seems something has been breaking the stalks at about a foot off the ground, but not eating any of it. Talking with folks here seems to indicate that coons are the likely culprits, by which I don’t know what to do about them. A fence won’t keep them out like it would do for deer.
We planted 4 rows of cukes, and we had maybe 7 hills come up. I will blame that on the cold and wet weather as well. I imagine the seeds just rotted in the cold wet ground, which they do not like. We replanted more last month and just about all of them have sprouted nicely, no doubt because of the heat, and somewhat dry weather.
I planted the leafy vegetables in the same plot with them, just because I mainly wanted to see if they would even sprout, which did not happen last year. Last I checked a couple days ago, some of the kale, red cabbage, lettuce, and maybe some of the chard has broken ground. It may be too late, but I wanted to try. It does get cool here at night in these hills, so that might help.
We planted some radishes last week, they should grow alright. And our sweet potatoes were planted a couple weeks ago, and they seem to be doing very well, especially since they were fenced in.
Our tomatoes seem to have got really settled in and are producing some fruit now. A lot of them are about 3 feet tall now, and I’ve already had to double stake a lot of them. Hoping for a good harvest, but still have a ways to go, so don’t want to get my hopes up just yet.
OK, gotta go to bed. Have a good night/morning all.
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The stake is 42" tall.
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I like the apples on the background too
It has been strange weather this year. That makes sense. I considered you might be in a special climate. People I knew lived in the mountains and their weather could stay cold longer so they planted later.
Well, today I was outside doing stuff and the humidity was almost stifling, but the temp was only about 80 or so. I usually don’t sweat much, but on days like this, I’m just about soaked in about 60 minutes outside. Since I’m cold natured it’s not too bad, but that hurts me in the winters here.
Anyway, they’re calling for temps in the mid-hi 80s the next week or so. That should help the tomatoes and peppers. I was out in the patch today adding some more stakes to the plants, they’re growing fast, and putting on all kinds of fruit.
So far, no more deer visits since I put up that second perimeter fishing line fence, knock on wood. I bought some of that Liquid Fence repellent, but haven’t tried it yet. Might need to spray the corn patch with it. My wife said today she saw lots of cloven hoove prints in the patch, so apparently it’s deer, and not raccoons.
Speaking of fishing line, in my cuke/leafy vegetable and sweet potato patches, I’m trying a hybrid of tape and fishing line for my fencing. No deer visits to either plot, but it’s only been a week.
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Some of my Russian plants still have that wispy, droopy habit, but they’re still growing. The Gordost Sibiri, Amur Tiger, Korol Sibiri, and others are putting out some small fruit now. I’ll try to get some pictures of the fruit from these and other plants posted soon.
I’ve also noticed that these plants show some leaf curling, is this normal as well?
Do you spray your plants with any anti-fungal spray to help keep diseases from harming your plants? I bought some Bonide copper fungicide, and had some questions about how to apply it. I was wondering if you spray the whole plant, or just the bottom leaves/branches, since that is where the diseases seem to start.
Subdood, I think the shape of the leaves is genetically determined, so those that you mentioned will be forever droopy and they’ll have some curl, the main thing if they will give you a good tomato set.
I do spray my tomatoes. I use the mix of neem oil and either Bonide copper or Daconil. If you planted your tomatoes on the new place, they probably will have minimal disease problems this year, because diseases tend to accumulate over time. In general, if the weather is wet or humid or you have morning dew it is recommended to spray every 7-10days. Also spray after the strong rain. I noticed that the frequent spraying make the growing tomatoes expensive, because you have to buy a lot of fungicides, so it is for your judgment how you do it. Mulching and removing leaves is also effective. I use grass and spent flower stalks from my garden. You have quite large grassy areas, so it is not hard to collect grass for you. I regularly remove diseased leaves and the leaves that grow inward the tomato cages for ventilation. When the weather is dry and the plants are young I tend to skip spraying if I do not see a lot of disease problems. Right about this time they started to show up, so I sprayed with Daconil and Neem oil this week. I also have to say that spraying never remove the disease completely, so you have to learn how to manage it.
Here are some pix of developing fruit. Most of the plants have been in the ground about 6 weeks.
Jaune Flamme, ping pong ball size orange colored fruit when mature
Japanese Black Trifele, note the pear shape, will be purple-ish when mature
Korol Sibiri, yellow gold, oxheart shape when mature
Russian Queen, when mature, red, with orange stripes. These are the most vigorous plants, over 4’ tall now
Black Brandywine, with some fused blooms
Mr Bruno, a compact variety from Australia. Small red fruit when ripe
Aunt Ruby German Green
Maybe Cherokee Purple
All plants are staked, most with 2 tobacco sticks, some with as many as 5! Those types are bushy varieties sprouting all kinds of branches. Don’t know what I’m going to do when they get above the sticks. Some now are about 4 feet tall.
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Marie
Nice harvest!!!
Tony
Black tomatoes which I grow this year.
Black cherry is on the left, round ones are Black from Tula potato leaf, the pear shaped are the hybrid of BFT and Japanese Truffle Pink. All of them I like very much, very productive and tasty.
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Do you know what kind of insect caused the hole in that bottom tomato? I’ve found two of my tomatoes (not even close to ripe yet) with those. I know what blossom end rot is, and it isn’t that. You have a beautiful bounty collected there!
@Brenda_nearOmahaNE,
This is not an insect’s damage as far as I know. Just some varieties grow this way, they have a ring or an indentation on a bottom. On the other way, there are tomato worms and they usually eat green tomatoes, so you really may have some tomato damage.
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