Tomato time!

[Michael Wise]

We've got beefsteak, big boy, better boy, brandywine, super sweet 100, and sweet snacks.

Starting 1/2 as many plants, but more variety.

Plan to be bombarded beyond belief with another season of tomato pics!

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp32 ... 44f302.jpg

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[texasweed]

My mators are better than yours, they are heirlooms.

[MorpheusPA]

Oooh, tomato porn! My mother's giving up this year, her care is at best so-so.

[Michael Wise]

Four hours and still nothing sprouting up?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[MorpheusPA]

Give it time!

I've collected heirloom seeds from my Salvia farinacea, which year by year are more strongly descended only from plants that already did well in the gardens and sprouted indoors for me. Over the past few years, sprout time has gone from 10-12 days down to 5-6, and now this year...I planted them late Friday night. Cotyledon emergence is already underway.

The same's happened with the cleome, other salvia, and Melampodium.

[andy10917]

Morph, I'm not questioning your logic, but very curious about some parallels to your approach when compared to the animal kingdom.

I breed Angelfish.



One of the problems that a breeder faces is that while inbreeding may accomplish the expression of a desired genetic trait faster, it rapidly leads to higher infant mortality, weaker fish and higher levels of malformations. No surprise there - the bad genes get concentrated as the good genes get concentrated in the generations of the "strain".

Do you see any of weaknesses in the "strain" that you've developed by selective breeding?

[MorpheusPA]

Not yet, anyway. The red salvia and Melampodium are slowly reverting to type--taller. In neither case is the flowering weaker, it's actually stronger. I'll eventually want to add new blood (as it were) to reduce size again, or may want to simply start over at some point if the genes pin off in a direction that doesn't make me happy.

Certainly there's inbreeding. In the case of the cleome, all plants are descended off three. For the salvia, several dozen each. I never breed my marigolds or zinnia as results are unpredictable in terms of color and I plan colors in the garden pretty carefully.

With plants and insects, inbreeding matters less. All Australian wasps are descended off a single breeding pair and they're having no issues. Plants, being unable to move around, tend to inbreed a bit anyway.

And in their case, obviously flawed plants--which tend to show by either having one dicot leaf missing or the seed never sprouts--get removed from the seedling trays.

For the cleome, which are uncommon, there probably aren't any others in the neighborhood. For the salvia, which are more common, I'm sure I get some incidental external pollination.

[Ohio2112]

This year I'm trying Brandywine Pink, Big Daddy Hybrid, Fresh Salsa, Sweet Baby Girl Hybrid,
Honeybunch, Napa Grape Hybrid, & Sun Gold Hybrid.

How many extra plants of each variety do you start?

[Michael Wise]

I'm starting twice as many as I'll transplant. If for no other reason than I really enjoy it and couldn't self limit to 6 plants.

I was surprised at how many people wanted one once they knew I was growing them. I'm sure someone will take my excess.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[texasweed]

This year I'm trying Brandywine Pink, Big Daddy Hybrid, Fresh Salsa, Sweet Baby Girl Hybrid,
Honeybunch, Napa Grape Hybrid, & Sun Gold Hybrid.

Sun Gold is the only Hybrid I still grow. Prolific and sweet as candy. Bu tmy favorite cherry is the Sweet 100 OP, not the hybrid. My two favorite slicers are Cherokee Purple and Marianas Peace.

[xapabwa]

I'm starting twice as many as I'll transplant. If for no other reason than I really enjoy it and couldn't self limit to 6 plants.

I was surprised at how many people wanted one once they knew I was growing them. I'm sure someone will take my excess.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

I you weren't so far away, I love to take you exces tomatoes! Nothing quite as good as a garden grown tomato. To think, there are some people out there that don't like tomatoes because the only ones they've ever had are those imposters they sell in the grocery stores.

Anyone grow pole beans? My mom had a vegetable garden and always grew pole beans. Meaty and flavorful and nothing like anything you could buy in the grocery store. When she died in 2008 and I was finally over the shock of losing her, it suddenly dawned on me that I might never eat a decent green bean again. About few months after she died, I found an old vitamin bottle in her refrigerator that had a masking tape label that said "Aunt Edna's half-runner 2004. I planted some of those seeds after I put in a raised vegetable garden in 2009 with little hope that anything would come up. Much to my surprise and absolute delight they grew. You'd have thought that I won the lottery when those sprouts came up. All but one seed that I planted came up and produced beans. I was totally elated. I've tried to save some from my plants from the past two seasons, but the don't look nearly as big and plump as the ones mom saved. I'll keep trying. I know that my mother had to have saved seeds from plants for a very long time to keep these going as the Aunt Edna on the label was my grandmother's older sister and mom was 72 when she died. Hate to lose a tradition that's been around that long!

[MorpheusPA]

Seeds, properly stored, can last an amazing amount of time. Even improperly stored. We've sprouted heirloom grains from Pharoah's tombs! The germination was very low, but a few made it through.

Ten to one your mother fed them something; somebody in your family might know what. For now, you can just plant and harvest for seeds for the following year if you want, or accept that your beans just aren't as plump as your mother's were.

[xapabwa]

The beans are as plump as mom's were and taste just the same as they always have. However, when I leave pods on the vine to save for seed, the seeds in the dried pods aren't as big as the ones she saved. Perhaps the dastardly heat and humidty we've had the past two years have someting to do with it, dunno. I'm planning to keep these babies around as least as long as I'm around to enjoy eating them. Love me some home grown string beans! She used to blanch and freeze a lot of hers. She had a commercial grade freezer in her garage and my brother and sister-in-law are still enjoying green beans she froze before she died. My daggone freezer has a tendency to freezer burn stuff if it's in there longer than 6 months.

[MorpheusPA]

I do notice seed variance from year to year. Last year's red salvia seeds were particularly large and plump. My sunflower seeds were much smaller than the ones I bought (but passed germination testing just fine).

Heh, with proper care, not only you but your entire family could have plots of these things for centuries. For the most part, that's how amaranth has survived. It's no longer commercially grown very much (grain yield is too low) but the plant and flower are attractive enough that it found a home in gardens. Should we ever need it, that's where we'll go for the seeds.

The same's true of a lot of heirloom seeds. They're too cheap, too uncommon, too unpopular, or too difficult for growers to bother with. But some of us love them and keep the cultivars alive.

It's a little scary when you realize how many food plants only survive that way. It's kind of a thin thread if we ever do need them. And with monocultural practices and tight inbreeding and poor to no self-pollination in commercial crops, someday we probably will.

[Michael Wise]

Germination! I'll get pics later when more have come up!

So far, one of each variety is up, so mission accomplished! Now I just have to not kill them.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[MorpheusPA]

You did very well not killing them last year. They may look small, but they're mighty.

[Bavaria]

I'm trying Marianna's Peace, Brandywine Pink, Boxcar Willie, German Giant. Last year Brandywine was good not high producer, but worth growing again. Peppers- Cal. Wonder, Red Bells. Brown Habanero, New Mex Big Jim, and Joe E Parker. Mucho Nacho Hybrid. Ancho San Luis. Ancho San Martin. Biker Billy Hybrid. Already germinating very well in the closet.

[Michael Wise]

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp32 ... ffd4b5.jpg

Here is a pic from this morning. I *thought* I had one of each up, but the beefsteak are fashionably late. I'm not worried. I have until mid-April.

The 2 empty looking pellets furthest from the camera DO have sprouts trying to peek through. They should be up today at closing time.

The 3 empty pellets closest to the camera are all beefsteak. I'm guessing that since they are all behind, it must be a beefsteak thing in this particular start. Upon REALLY close inspection, I can see something happening down there, and expect at least one to be here shortly.

[texasweed]

I'm trying Marianna's Peace

You will kick yourself waiting so long to try them. It is my second fav to Cherokee Purple

New Mex Big Jim, and Joe E Parker. Mucho Nacho Hybrid. Ancho San Luis. Ancho San Martin. Biker Billy Hybrid. Already germinating very well in the closet.

Killer Pepper list, I have grown all of them and still do. Only suggestion is you have a conflict between Mucho Nacho and Biker Billy as they are virtually the same Jalapeno of large, thick flesh, extremely productive and hotter than you know what. Put the two side by side and you cannot tell the difference or taste any difference. FWIW they make excellent Pepper Popper aka Armadillo Eggs. It does take some Brass Balls to eat them though because the peppers are so HOT. Be sure to split them in half raw and remove all the seeds and veins before stuffing to tame the heat down.Especially important to do for Tenderfoots and Gringo's

[Bavaria]

Where do you think I got most of the ideas from? TW. I like to try variety every year, some I do every year like BB, Anchos, and Brown Habs. I was reasonably happy w/ the Brandywine, but as you said not highly productive. What is your thoughts on the 1884 tomato?

By the way I had a large groundhog climb my 4 ft. wire fence and ate 1 of my brussel sprout plants late last fall. I still have one that survived the winter.