Thanks for posting, Susan. Due to various trials and tribulations, I don't have a single seed started this year. Chandra kindly gave me an Early Girl tomato he started, and if we do not have a spring fling I will be hitting the stores to get all tomatoes and sweet peppers I need this year. I did get my portion of Dixondale order in the ground a few weeks ago, and in the move from old to new house I have pots of cilantro, rosemary, asparagus and garlic to get into the new garden.

Hoping to start a few things like coleus this weekend, and dig the rest of my veggie bed. Will transplant my peonies and hydrangeas to the ornamental beds, too.

I may have to take a drive by there. Sounds like they have some good varieties and all my broccoli went kaput from transplant shock...

Atwoods in Tulsa has their entire selection out now, and Carmichaels in Bixby has a handful of tomato varieties. I think some of Atwoods have been treated with growth regulator so beware if you are trying to get some really early fruit in tunnels or similar.

Susan, Juliet produces huge amounts of tomatoes and never slows down, but it seems like it has thicker skin than the ones we prefer. Jelly Bean is the same way.

Mia, I am sure we will have a Spring Fling and, barring some sort of natural disaster here at my house that destroys my plants, I know I'll be bringing lots of extra tomato and pepper plants. The first year in a new house/new garden is so hard. I think you're doing great. Our first year here, my garden was teeny-tiny.

Scott, Did you buy any?

Dawn

I think I have 39 or 42 now potted up in large pots under lights. I plan to be out of state for half of July so I decided it is early or nothing this year. The blueberry crop will be small to medium and very early so our farmer marketing will end before July.

I started none from seed but bought Juliet, Sweet 100, Celebrity, Goliath, Mtn Fresh, Champion, and some other old standards.

This year I started from seed sungold, san marzano, yellow pear, brandywine and an experimental tomato heirloom that was sent by totally tomatoes, I forget the name. But I wanted some black crim, I may go by Horn this weekend.

I am reluctant to set them out this early, they are still small, but could go if I wanted to...

Ezzirah,

If they are small, there may not be much benefit to setting them out this early. They might grow better for the next couple of weeks in more protected locations. I don't like to put smallish tomato seedlings in the ground in March because the wind can beat them to death.

I have a lot of varieties of seedlings, and the only ones going into the ground are, literally, the tallest and biggest ones. For example, most of my JD's Special C-Tex seedlings are 12-15" tall and have main stems that are over 1/4" wide, so they were among the first plants that went into the ground. By contrast, my Phoenix plants are ridiculously small--maybe 4-5" tall and with thin main stems and none of them are in the ground yet and won't be for some time. So, do what makes sense to you!

I don't have any of my plants caged yet, but after I finish planting three more rows of tomatoes today, I will wrap each cage with Agri-bon and cage the plants. We are expecting increasingly stronger winds as the week goes on and I want the young plants to have some wind protection. The Agri-bon won't block all the wind, but will give some protection.

In some very windy years, I have wrapped the lower 2 to 4' of each cage with 4 or 6 mm clear plastic for wind protection, but I don't like that as much. It blocks all the wind and the plants need to endure wind exposure to make them strong. So, the Agri-bon is a nice middle of the road solution that slows the wind but doesn't block it all.

One of my "old farmer" gardening neighbors used to cut the bottoms off 5 gallon buckets and he would work the lower 2 to 4" of the bucket into the ground to anchor it, and would put a bucket around each tomato as he planted it. That gave the plants protection from the winds for about a month. He removed the buckets once the plants were wide enough that they were touching the sides of the buckets or tall enough that they were growing above the tops of the buckets. He moved to an assisted living center last year and his house was sold. There's nothing in the garden plot this year, and I will miss seeing that little row of white 5-gallon buckets stuck into the ground.

Dawn

Carmichaels in Bixby has a bunch of tomatoes and peppers as of today. They have some great varieties that you won't find anywhere else. I haven't bought peppers yet. It's hard to resist, but it's just too early.

They also had Blueray and Bluecrop blueberry plants but are down to one of each now.

You know Dawn, a blood transfusion from you would be like a constant flow of 5hour energy drink. After reading one of your post just thinking about everything you are doing wears me out.

Dawn,
My mother used old coffee cans with the bottoms cut out and then even the metal five gallon buckets with the bottom out. The problem with them was the heat fact of the metal but worked well when plants were small and early in the season. Then after most buckets started being made out of plastic her and I both switched to them. I have 30 or more or the plastic buckets and also several of the larger plastic coffee containers. I use the smaller ones around peppers ect. What I like about them is if you save the snap on lid you can always snap it back on if it is going to be a cold night. The five gallon buckets are used around the tomatoes. Jay

Terry, I come in so exhausted every night that it likely would be better if I slowed down some and didn't try to do too much in any given day. Sometimes I come here to the forum and read, but am too tired to type a reply until the next day. That's kind of pitiful, isn't it?

My garden is very labor-intensive early in the season, because I do all my caging, staking, trellising, etc. and put tons of mulch on every square inch of garden bed and pathway. All that effort pays off later in the season because the mulch greatly reduces the amount of weeding I have to do and the cages, stakes, trellises, etc. keep the plants growing more or less in the area where I planted them.

One year for some reason I didn't cage tomato plants as I planted, and by the time I came back to do it, they were so big that I had trouble working the cages over them and around them. I learned my lesson that year, and it is not a mistake I ever intend to repeat.

Jay, My dad would get the big No. 10 veggie cans from the lunch ladies at our elementary school when I was a kid. He switched to buckets too as the white 5-gallon buckets became more readily available. I save Tidy Cat kitty litter buckets, and have a 14-year-old collection of them. I will throw them away after they start cracking and breaking, but they last for years and years. I'll be sad when they stop putting kitty litter in buckets. I like the lids for the same reasons. With the kitty litter bucket the lids are attached and I remove them before I use them, but I can put them back on (secured with duct tape since they don't just snap on and snap off) when a cold night threatens. However, the Agri-bon I use now looks more attractive than the kitty litter buckets. The Agri-bon does make it look like there's a ghost convention occurring in my garden.

Dawn

These are wonderful ideas! I have for the past three years I been gardening saving every single coffee can I have used, every single 2 liter pop bottle. (I don't drink much pop, so it is not that many, but coffee? I down some coffee...) That would be a good idea to use those like that!

Dawn - thanks for that...I get to excited about things and jump the gun. I will sit on my hands some more. LOL.

Ezzirah, I only plant early if the plants are ready to endure the elements early.

If you really want to get your tomato plants in the ground to beat the heat, then try it with maybe half of them. To protect them, if you use cages, wrap the bottom foot or two of the cage with something that will stop or slow down the wind. Don't leave it on for more than the first month or so. The plants do need some wind exposure to help build stronger main stems, so leaving them wrapped too long gives you taller plants with skinnier stems that may not be able to support the weight of the plants as well as thicker stems would.

Dawn

Dawn,

Is the Agri-bon sold in any of the local stores or do I need to order from Johnny's?

Thanks,
David

David, I'm not Dawn, but she is probably in the garden and stuck in the mud. LOL

How much Agribon are you planning to buy. There are lots of sources closer than Johnny's. I saw it on a rack at a feed store in Arkansas about a month ago. I ordered mine on an early bird special deal in January or February and received it this week, but I bought 10' x 500'. No, my garden isn't that big, but it will last me several years. I ordered from Environmental Green Products and they drop shipped from the manufacture to arrive in mid March.

I have seen small folded pieces in Walmart in the past, but what I saw in Springdale was in rolls and they had three different lengths.

I'm sure Dawn will answer when she can.

Here is a link that might be useful: Farm Tek

I am not Dawn either, I just chuckled after reading Carol's comment and imagining about the Dawn stuck in the mud, but trying hard to reach rows to plants as many tomatoes as possible from that stuck location.

David,

Based on the Dawan's suggestions, I have bought DeWitt 0.5oz Deluxe Seed & Plant Guard Frost Blanket 10' x 500' from http://www.agriculturesolutions.com/DeWitt-Frost-Blankets/View-all-products.html

You can also buy from the http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod2670054 for $9.58

-Chandra