16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

The tomato isn't necessarily named for a place. A lot of varieties are named for saints or for other things. I have one tomato that I bought in France called Reine de Ste. Marthe.

Try the link below for more history, naming places for Saints, etc.

Carolyn, dealing with two feet of new snow, actually just looking at it and it's still snowing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Saint Pierre

I lived in Central Illinois (45 minutes West of Peoria) for years and had good luck then (80's & 90's) finding great tomato plants in the temporary nurseries that often popped up in grocery store lots and the like.

I was willing to give them a try because it was a long trek to Peoria to find a big box store. And, they weren't as pricey as the permanent nurseries.

As it happens they were local and a great source of information and conversation about local conditions. The varietal offerings then weren't nearly as diverse as the market is today, but it was a nice local connection.

And, as Kathy mentioned, the soil there was incredible! It was dark, loamy goodness and never a hint of blight. I've been told it was due to the Illinois River, its tributaries and a millenia of flooding. I really had to do little more than fertilize and water - no ammending necessary.

I now live to the southwest of Chicago and it hasn't been as good. I've been working for 8 years now to improve my garden soil. It's getting better every year but this here swamp clay was a wet mess in the spring and got rock hard in the summer. Compost, compost, compost...

Thanks kathy and tom for your valuable inputs. Really appreciated. Kathy I can totally relate to that, because last year was my first time and I hardly took any notes. Now I am kicking myself.

Tom I agree the soil is really good here. Last year I added some compost and thats it other than regular watering. I was pretty satisfied with the results given it was my first year of gardening.

If I remember correctly I had like 5-6 varieties of tomatoes. Celebrity and big boy did really bad. The others were good. Too bad, I just remember pink girl out of the varieties that did well.

Yes, I've grown Old German and many other red/gold bicolor varieties.

Some that I especially like might include:

Virginia Sweets
Big Rainbow
Marizol Gold
Lucky Cross
Mary Robinson's German Bicolor

..,. to name just a few that I've grown.

BUT, they are very finicky about weather, and one season variety A might be lucious and sweet and the next year mealy and bland,

Also, the flesh of most is soft, so they tend to have poor keeping qualities, but when they are good, they can be very very good. ( smile)

Carolyn

I've grown Moonglow for the past 4 years and not only are they good to eat, but easy to grow. They always out perform all the other heirlooms I grow. FWIW

I agree with seyson that stringing is the best choice. Once the plants start growing and getting bushy, the 6" grids will increasingly become a problem for getting at the branches and arranging them. I have found stringing to be excellent for getting the branches arranged for good production and for maximum flexibility.

Run a cable lengthwise 18 inches in from the side of the greenhouse overhead along the roof. From this cable you can attach nylon cord/s to run to the base of the plants. As the plants grow attach nylon tomato clips to the plant and cord. If you choose to have more than one main stem just run another cord from the overhead cable to the plant. The clips can be reused for 2-3 seasons.

Thank you Carolyn for the link and other vendors. Shipping costs are definitely not the main concern, but a concern nonetheless. Of course I am more interested in healthy plants and a wide variety of them, which Darrel certainly offers.

I order from Laurel's. Very healthy, sturdy plants. I pick up as I am local.

In my opinion, I will tell you based on the words of your post, that your problem is the wacky weather. As Betsy clearly states, there is debate regarding allelopathic theory.

Debate in itself means nobody knows what the truth of the matter is. And that is it. I think the last sentence of your post is the answer.

Just feed the soil a bit more along with water. I have a hard time believing shade is an issue,along with any properties regarding 2 plants grown closely together.

Then again, I have many issues regarding recent studies. We just do not live long enough to know what the truth is.We can try though,and that usually makes us feel better.

Take care,
Travis

For the last 2 years I have grown a mix of sunflowers ( from giants to small varieties)along the highway fence in front of my property. Just on the other side of that fence I grew squash, and melons 2 years ago and last year I grew 35 tomato plants as a crop rotation. Both years, I did not have any adverse reactions from the sunflowers. This year I will be growing my sunflowers again (same spot), but growing only the big giants and the crop rotation this year, on the other side of the fence, will be corn. I use the sunflowers as privacy screen during the summer/fall months and the birds enjoy the seeds all fall/winter until I remove them the next spring. I would think the giant mammoth sunflower would be a very sturdy support for tomatoes by strategically planting the sunflower seeds. Before planting, the entire area was given compost and rotting manure. I had such an abundance of tomatoes last year and the year before squash that kept on growing into November.

Also:

"I understand that determinates are more compact but due to my insane work schedule (usually over 60+hours a week) the whole plant would probably be dead before I had a chance to harvest and eat. "

Keep in mind that the care of the plants themselves, whether determinate or indeterminate, is pretty much the same. They will both need to be watered regularly -- every day or even twice a day when the temperature soars -- which is the most "labor intensive" part of container gardening after the initial planting. So if you don't think you'll be able to keep determinate plants alive, it's not going to be any different for indeterminate ones.

Indeterminate plants do tend to produce fruit over a longer time period, though, so that would be a plus for you if you have a really long growing season and you want to spread out the harvest. But I'm not experienced with that kind of long season nor with the climate in Tokyo, so I don't know how many months of harvest you could expect. But you can always freeze or can the extras - whole, chopped, or made into sauce - to enjoy when your plants aren't growing, either from excessive heat or cold.

Paradoxbox,
be sure to drill holes for drainage in the plastic garbage cans. I personally would try to find containers that are BPA-free (BPA being a endocrine disruptor that can be taken up by plants).

Given your work schedule, I really recommend Earthboxes or CityPickers or similar self-watering containers, if there's anything like that in Japan. I garden on a 10' x 20' deck and two Earthboxes (4 plants) supplied many more tomatoes than I needed (this year I plan to can). The soil used is regular potting mix (I use Promix BX but have used Miracle Grow in the past). After the initial setup, there's no need to fertilize and no guesswork about over watering or under watering. The water stored in the bottom of the self-watering container helps prevent splitting, and may mean you need to water less frequently. Though when it's 90F/32C, I still water daily.

I have grown only indeterminates so far. They get 8ft / 2m tall very quickly and do require a sturdy staking system and pruning every few days though. Otherwise they take off to your neighbors and you have to whack off a big branch full of blossoms to prevent tomatoes from falling on a neighbor's property. On the plus side, pruning is rather therapeutic after a day at the office :-)

I am hoping the foliage might resist insect damage better than regular leaves. Probably just wishful thinking. I have started some Tasti-Lee. I hope they do better than my last attempt.

Garf,

I am getting ready to place an order with Territorial Seed and they have Tasti-Lee new for 2014. Wondering how you liked it?

Thanks,
Deanna

Raising money for teacher expenses is a great idea.
I think this is risky though. Damping off. Bugs. Too much, too little water.
Could you maybe see if you could get volume deals for some stuff and sell an heirloom 'kit' complete with potting mix, containers, seed, and instructions?

I am a teacher and we did this for an activity I got a small grant for. We grew about 100-150 plants, tomatoes and peppers. If you have never grown plants from seed, I would start now small. There is a learning curve. I wouldn't try the first time be when you start 2,000. I am a market gardener and have grown my own transplants for over 10 years now.

First of all, you would need to start them in small flats, 98's to a 1020 tray would be a good size then pot them up into either 2401's or 3601's trays that you could break apart to sell.

Greenhouse Megastore is just one source for these trays. I would suspect you would want to grow single plants and not 4 packs. As most people will plant 4 tomatoes, but they want them to be 4 different tomatoes.

You can grow these plants to sellable size under flourescent shop lights. Just make sure you use 2 four foot lights for every 4 trays.

I would grow a variety of shapes and colors.

Jay

I got Opalka from Tomatofest last year. It was by far the most productive variety in my garden last year, and seemed resistant to problems that other tomatoes had.

Don't you just love dealing with a stubborn old lady such as myself? LOL

Been doing it for 50 years now. But then she claims she learned how to perfect 'stubborn' from me. :)

Dave