Who else is stoked to plant tomatoes?

I definitely like the black better than the green zebras, more flavor and don't get mushy quick like the green ones. Cherokees are excellent too. I have never tried the black prince but they look interesting and are probably a great tomato for you up north, says they are from Siberia!

 

We get a little wind here sometimes.
I sink rebar and t=posts, almost anything on hand to lash to to anchor pepper and tomato cages.

 

I've found the store bought cages tend to fail from the weight of the plants. The welds on the vertical supports are very poor and the only last a season or two before they are useless.

 

Rain barrel feed Maters in today. Peppers in tomorrow, first cutting of lettuce tomorrow.

 

Mike, do you have issues with late blight getting your plants? I seem to get hit every year except for those grown under cover.

 

My current system and most favored by far is 8' t posts, deck brackets u-bolted to the top, 16' 2x4s between the top of the posts, single vined on masons string. I use the same trellis with poly deer fencing for cukes, beans and peas.

 

I am! This will be my first veggie garden ever and I'm actually kind of ill prepared but we'll see what happens. I've grown other stuff so I'm not a total newb lol

Got some onions, a few different varieties of tomatoes, and a couple watermelon plants. It just quit snowing about a week and a half ago so I'm waiting til the first week of June to put anything out but they are in the bay window in the bedroom for now and are all pretty happy.

 

I never had trouble with late/early blight until 3 years ago.
I've tried growing a bit further apart and prune off the bottom leaves as they get taller or the blight starts on them.
I might try plastic for mulch and heat next year if I get it ahain this year.

 

Late blight is airborn drift. If some one down the road has it, and the wind blows your way, that is all it takes. I do think that keeping plants separate does help some. Some varieties have a little resistance. Grape and Roma tomatoes are among them. Some others have been developed to have resistance, but I've not liked either the tomato or the amount of crop from these. Those growned under cover seem to avoid late blight. Late blight does not survive the winter. It is brought in every year by infected plant material. Even those pretty baskets of petunias can carry in the disease. I would say buy only locally grown, but unless everyone around you does that, it isn't an effective prevention. Even the local greenhouses import young seedlings (plugs) which they plant in hanging baskets etc.

 

I've yet to have a problem with late blight, been producing tomatoes up until the first frost every year

 

It's been my understanding late blight is actually a water mold that most certainly can overwinter if the soil doesn't freeze.
That the Irish potato famine originated in the mid-atlantic states with weather conditions that were repeated here in New England in 2009. ( I had wonderful tomatoes that year while everyone around me was ripping tomatoes out ) . I've been battling it ever since. (so 5 years, not 3, time flies ) In fact I've also been battling it ever since I started no-till growing , which I may start doing every Fall just to expose every inch of (surface) soil to Old Man Winter. Maybe not trying to over-Winter carrots and beets in the soil with heavy mulch cover as well.

 

I cut way back on the tomatoes this year. I live in such a wet and windy climate and I don't feel like dealing with Mother Nature. I went with a couple bush varieties to see how they will fair. I am planting celebrity, roma II, huskies, and lizzanos. I know huskies do great here but have to stake them because of the storms.

 

From: http://umaine.edu/publications/2427e/

What causes potato and tomato late blight?

Late blight is caused by Phytophthora infestans, a fungus-like organism. This pathogen is an obligate parasite, which means that it can only survive on a host: it cannot live in soil or dead plant debris. This organism will not survive long in soil or away from association with a living host.

 

It's nice to try different things every year.
My sister has her Masters in biology and manages a good sized greenhouse operation here with acres of greenhouses and fields supplying Shaw's, Home Depot, Lowes , retailers, landscapers and wholesale greenhouses in the area. I get to walk thru and pick what I want for vegetables and annuals every year. Plus I start some of my own just to do it. I got 350 fuseable wave petunia plugs (1400 plants) so my yard ( and friends and relatives yards) is quite pink this year with a combo from Pan Am Seed that may or may not go into their catalogue next year.

 

I planted my plants a few weeks ago. Have 24 total mostly better boy with a few big boy in there

 

I luke my homemade cages that I make out of wire fence. The kind that is like 5ft tall. I bend them into a circle or square and fold the wire on itself to hold it together. You could use hog wire goat wire whatever I guess. Mine has the smaller rectangles in it. I have cut some of it out with the grinder to make hand access areas in the cages to get fruit.

 

That is an awesome perk!