Overthinking My Tomato Plans / Sauce Tomatoes / Dwarf Tomatoes. 3.31.2021

 Last year, the cooking tomato crop was great.  There were lots of tasty excellent tomatoes.  They ripened over a few weeks, so I was able to process them for freezing in a few batches.

The slicing tomatoes did not do so well.  There were only a few, mainly on the variety  'Early Girl".  

The cherry tomatoes were late, and a lot of them split and rotted before we could eat them.  They also tended to come all at once.

This year, I decided on several goals. Unfortunately, those goals have evolved, and I don't have the plants in the ground yet.  

Image:  Vintage image of seed packet, Livingston's Seeds.   100 years old.

With the pandemic, I thought the seed prices went up, shipping and handling went up, and availability went down.  So one thing I wanted to do was see what varieties I can save my old seeds from.

I still want to try some hybrids, which I think have potential for better disease resistance.

I want to try some with potential for growing in our climate, which tends to be cooler than a lot of tomato country.  The midwest, for example, is hotter, hotter nights, longer season, and more humid.  Looking at historic varieties, I thought Russian types might tolerate this climate and have potential for seed saving because they are not hybrids.

So the goals were:

Some Russian historic types, for saving seeds and possible better in this climate.

Some hybrids as a backup.  Especially, my two favorites, Better Boy and Lemon Boy.

Different choices for cherry tomatoes.

Another more than 100 year old seed packet.

For the sauce tomatoes, I also want to try some to see if I can save seeds, but have back up hybrids in case those historic types don't do well.  So I planted seeds for:

la Roma III Hybrid multi disease resistant, 76 days to maturity, determinate.

I didn't think to check for determinate types.  Determinate means they all ripen at once, which I want, and don't grow extremely tall and need tying up to tall posts.  Unfortunately, I got

Amish Paste - which on further reading is not determinate, not even necessarily a paste tomato, so why is it called that?  I planted a six pack but I think I'll just keep one plant to try.  85 days.

Tyren F1 hybrid - a Marzano type, but a hybrid, multi disease resistant, 75 days, indeterminate.  There's that indeterminate again, and I didn't check.  Again, maybe I'll just grow one plant from the 6 pack.  I don't really have room for a lot if they are not what I wanted.

So, I decided to order some of the old type Roma, which is heirloom, so I can save seeds; determinate so I can harvest all in a narrow window of time and they don't grow so tall.  I think I'll just grow a couple, and use the La Roma III as my main past tomato, and grow a couple of Roma and see how they do and save seeds.

OK, now more overthinking.  I started looking into dwarf tomatoes.  Dwarf tomato plants have a mutation in the gene for stem length.  They can be all sizes, colors, and types but grow a lot shorter.  I have never tried them.  Most if not all of the new varieties were developed by amateur tomato growers using a dwarf parent and various heirloom tomato parents.  Dwarf Tomato Project.  Most tomatoes grow very tall, need to be tied to tall posts, and take a lot of maintenance.  The dwarf types might need a post, but apparently do all of their growing on a lot shorter stems.  They are also considered stable, not hybrid, so a home grower can save seeds.  The heights range usually range from 2 to 4 1/2 feet tall.  Much better for me in the future if they work out.   I decided to experiment.  There is still time to start tomato seeds - I usually start them mid April - so I ordered from Victory Seeds.  Victory has a lot of non-corporate type seeds, historic or open pollinated types, and nice descriptions.  The seeds shipped quickly.  I can start them today.

Here are the choices I made, and the available info.  Some are older varieties, not from the Dwarf Tomato Project (DTP).

Alpatieva 905-A.  65 days. An old Soviet Russian variety, about 1950.  Very small plant, 18 to 24 inches tall.  Red 2 to 5 ounce tomatoes.  Might be nice in containers.

Extreme Bush.  50 days.  An old seed catalog (Gleckler, 1958) variety.  12-28 inches tall.  Red.  These might be nice in containers, or raised bed. Plant size more like peppers or eggplants.

Dwarf Johnson Cherry.  65 days.  "Dwarf".  "Very Prolific".  Cherry, pink (look red to my eyes).

Dwarf Champion Improved.  85 Days. Apparently an improvement of Dwarf Champion  which was introduced by Maule's Seed company in 1889 and later carried by Livingston Seeds.  Pink 3-5 oz tomatoes (again to my eyes they look red in the image).

Brandy Fred.  10-16 oz tomatoes, purple.  A hybrid with Brandywine.

Tanuda Red.  75 days.  Red.

Dwarf CC McGee.  "late season".  4-8 oz, "Ivory" (look yellow to my eyes).

Clare Valley Pink.   84 days.  Small to medium size pink tomato (look red to my eyes).

So that's all my overthinking tomatoes.  Most of the dwarf types will be in containers or in small spots in the garden.  I didn't intend to add more tomato plants, but these are a nice experiment for future gardening and for saving my own seeds if they do well for me and are tasty.

New Quilt Project. Disappearing Nine Patch, Batik. 3.30.2021

 These are the fabric samples that I will use for the next quilt.  There are two  sets.  One is a subtle pattern in plain colors.  The other set is more vibrant, batiks.  They are "fat quarters", fabric cuts sold to make quilts or other projects.  I bought them on the internet, not wanting to venture out to the local coronavirus fabric store.  With the fabric bundles, you kind of have to make the best guess and take what they package together, so not all of them work.  I think most of these will.  

This should be enough for a queen size bed quilt.  I won't know for sure until I see how it fits together.  The pattern will be what is called a Disappearing Nine Patch, a popular pattern that a relative newcomer to quilting can do.  It's basically, cut / arrange / sew into blocks, cut again, rearrange, sew into blocks, then arrange and make the quilt top from that.

These are the fabric pieces that I want to use.  They are folded, so when I cut them into 5 inch squares, each piece will make about 24 squares (I think).  I tried to pair each batik piece with a semi-plain one that is either lighter or darker, and has a color that contrasts or matches the batik piece.

 For practice, I cut up some mail order nursery catalog photos.  The color one is from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds,  and the black and white one is from Fedco nursery.  Those are two of my three favorite sources of seeds and plant resources.  The Baker Creek photos are the most beautiful in the catalog business, by far.  Fedco gives the most interesting history and background info of any catalog of its type.  My opinion.  My third favorite source is Victory Seeds, which doesn't have a paper catalog this year due to the pandemic.  More about them, later.

I cut the catalog pieces into 5 X 5 squares.  I used black and white to contrast with the color photos.  

I arranged for the red based images to be at the corners, and the green one in the center.  The black and white are in the middle of each side.  There is no law that says they have to be in this pattern, or any other, but it's easier to follow when one is learning.  The squares can be any color or location.

By having the different color, green, in the center, we can see what happens to that patch.

Then I tape together by threes.  With fabric, I would sew with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Then join together the three strips of three.  This is called a "nine patch" block, one of the  main standards of traditional quilts.  I could stop there, and make a pile of these quilting blocks, and it wold be a "Nine Patch Quilt".  That would be fine as is, but I like the added sense of movement and playfulness of what happens next.

Now, cut the nine patch into quarters.  The "nine patch" disappears due to the cut, so now it will become a "disappearing nine patch".  So then, instead of a roughly 14 inch by 14 inch square, you have four roughly 7 inch squares.  

 This image is right after the cuts.  What's nice is, instead of all of the squares being squares, now there are big squares, that will come out about 4 X 4 inches, little squares that will be 2 X 2 inches, and rectangles 2 X 4 inches.  What pattern and color comes out in what shape and size is up to the person making the quilt.  Here, the green flowers are now the smaller squares.

One way to rearrange the squares is to turn two opposite squares so that the small squares are at outer corners.  If you wanted, you could do this using all four from the patch that you just cut, or using patches of different colors from all over the quilt.  I have not decided yet.

Or, turn so that the small squares are at the outside corners.  Then it's like there are four big squares in the center, with a kind of border of black & white rectangles and green small squares in the outside corners.

Or totally random, or any other pattern.  Again, there are no laws about any of this.  Another option is instead of cutting at right angles, those cuts can be corner to corner, but I'm not doing that this time.

I have black batik that will be the center, so it will be a kind of accent like bow ties all over the quilt.  I'm not sure if I will do a random arrangement or try to make a more planned pattern yet.

Chinese Chive Seedlings. 3.30.2021

 The old Chinese Chive plants are not thriving at all.  They are perennial but I think they are just too old.  Some may be twenty years old.  Plus, they didn't get good treatment last year.  I think some will recover but doubt we will get a lot of meals from them.   So I planted more seeds from what I saved last summer.  They germinate quickly, about 5 days after planting, on a heating mat.

It takes quite a lot to get enough for a meal.  I will continue to try to revive the previous bunches.  We may get some meals from them.  The seedlings may not be big enough in their first year.  So we may have to buy some at the Asian market.  That's OK but of course home grown is better. 

Starting them now, giving them lots of TLC, maybe I can speed the process.

Kitchen Garden Seddlings. Progress Notes. 3.30.2021

 Today I'm resting from a medical procedure last week (or maybe two weeks ago now?).  Plus the second COVID shot.  So it's just obsessing over the seedlings, and maybe a trip outside later.

I've been sitting some of the chill tolerant seedlings out on the deck to get time more tolerant to unfiltered sunlight, expose them to more light and wind, and get them ready for permanent outdoors life.  Just the nontropicals that like chill, or can tolerate it.  Currently it's overcast, which is helpful, a little too cool but OK.  Some have been outside for 2 to 4 hours on previous days - potatoes, apples, celery.  Today's goal is maybe 5 or 6 hours.  Depending on how bright it is outside.

Those celery are for Ning.  Homegrown is much stronger flavor than grocery.  I ate the "microgreen" thinnings, nice celery flavor.  The cultivar "Utah" is shorter and greener, while the Chinese type is taller and has white stems.  There will be enough for quite a few meals when it's ready.

Those apple seedlings again.  The top is #3, the last to germinate but quite vigorous now.   Currently still fertigating with 1/4 tsp miracle gro per 2 quarts rainwater.  They need water almost daily.

The second is greener than when it started out.  Stem shows a bit of red but minimal.  The most vigorous of the three.  It also seems to be starting tiny branches at the leaf nodes.

#1 is odd.  It had distorted leaves at first, then I replanted it.  Then it got a longer stretch of thin stem, now a tuft of smaller leaves with narrow internode spacing.   It seems to be growing now.  No idea what the final tree  will be like, or what its fruit, if any will be like.  But it's fun to grow them.

Apple Seedling Progress Report. 3.27.2021

 Just showing one, but all three of the apple seedlings are growing nicely.  When it's nice outside, I'm setting the plants outside in full sun for a few hours.  They get "fertigated" with 1/4 tsp of Miracle Gro per 2 quarts rainwater, just about daily.  

Maybe it's just my imagination.  I still think the stem is stouter than I expected, with closer than expected internode spacing.  The big question will be whether that will continue. 

So far I'm loving the burgundy color of these leaves and the stem.  Another seedling is darker, and one is almost entirely green now.

Pinching Peppers and Eggplants. 3.27.2021

 Some of the peppers are developed to the point where I can pinch out the tops, leaving four good leaves / leaf axils.  I do this so that the plants will be well branched from the outset.  Instead of one growing point, there will be at least four.

Before photo of Banana Pepper seedling.  It's doing nicely, has four good leaves with reasonably separated leaf axils.

Same plant after pinching.  I actually don't "pinch" although that's what it's called.  I use a scissors with a fine tip, to cut at the right point and not crush stem or cause other damage.

Here is an Early Jalapeno that I pinched about a week or two ago.  The branches are starting to grow nicely.  It's interesting that branches may be starting at the cotyledons too, so it's possible there will be six branches instead of four.

In the background someone can be seen watching for cats, considered by someone to be the spawn of Satan :-).  

Some internet writers state this "forces" the plant to produce branches, or "directs energy" to the branches and roots.  In reality, the growing tip produces a plant hormone, auxin, that flows downward in the plant.  The auxin inhibits growth of lower buds.  Without the auxin produced by the growing tip, which is now removed, the buds at those leaf axils are released from dormancy and grow.   That's different from "forcing".  

This year I'm trying the same for at least some of the Japanese eggplants.  They are from the same plant family, and seem to have similar growth habits, as peppers. 

Northpole Apple. Pruned and Ready to Bloom. 3.27.2021

 This is the Northpole apple tree on unknown but aggressive rootstock.  Or, planted to deeply so the scion grew  its own roots.  Twenty or twentyone years old.  I pruned it a couple of weeks ago.  I actually like the odd shape and sturdy trunk, but it's too vigorous for the small garden and less aggressive pruner.  My newer grafts are on less aggressive rootstocks.

Kitchen Garden Seedling Progress Report. 3.24.2021

 They are mostly doing well.  Lots of growth for the up-potted tomatoes, eggplants, and some of the peppers.  Basil is growing nicely.  I also planted some old basil seeds.  The 5 year old seeds had spotty germination.  A pack not labeled by date, maybe a year or two old from Baker Creek, purple leaf basil, germinated very well.   Chinese and regular chives from home saved seeds doing very well.   Lettuce and celery doing well.  Apple seedlings too.

Slicing and Salad Tomato Seedlings

 

Basil, Lettuce, Some Peppers, Marigolds, Celery, and others.

More Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplants, Kale. 

 

Planting More Seeds for Kitchen Garden. 3.24.2021

 This morning I planted more seeds for the kitchen garden.  With so many seedlings already, it can be a challenge to give them space under the plant lights.  Most of the early ones are tropicals, like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, but some should be able to go outside soon.  Like lettuce, cilantro, celery, chive seeds.

What I planted:

Two six-packs of Chinese chives.  We use a lot of those for dumplings.  Home-saved seeds from last fall.  We've been growing Chinese chives from our saved seeds for about 20 years.   They are perennial so I don't save and plant every year, or even every other year.  The seem to fail to thrive after four or five years, so it's good to regenerate them now and them.

Two containers of cilantro.  One from new seeds, one from seeds saved last fall. 

Paste tomatoes, experiment.  One batch is Roma II hybrid, one is Amish paste tomato.  One six-pack of each.  I have not tried either.  The best are Ranger hybrid from Territorial Seeds but they are WAY more expensive and their shipping and handling is horrendous.  If the Amish turn out OK, I can save seeds from those for future growing.  If not, there is the Roma II hybrid.  My main challenge with paste tomatoes has been blossom end rot.  I read that calcium spray will prevent that, so ordering that now.  Flavor-wise, it's possible that either the Roma or Amish will be better than Ranger, anyway.

I planted some old parsley seeds.  About 5 years old.

The last batch of cilantro seeds was interesting.  I thought the home saved seeds always did well.  This time, germination has been spotty.  Maybe I'm just too impatient.  Still, there is some.  Today, to do a side-by-side comparison, I planted a pot of new Ferry Morse cilantro seeds, and another pot of home saved seeds.  We can use a bunch of cilantro each week, so they can be planted every week or two.

Photo is cilantro seedlings.  I think this is about 2 weeks old.  It does look like more are germinating.

Update on Potato Seedlings. 3.24.2021

 Today I repotted the potato seedlings.  Germination was actually pretty good. I had planted about 3 seeds per cell.  Germination was about that, or slightly less.  From the 6-pack plus 2 cells, I planted 16 plants, and discarded a couple of runts.

The potatoes still seem delicate, and quite a bit behind the tomatoes and most of the eggplants, and a bit behind most of the peppers.  There is quite a wide range of vigor, and some have different leaf appearance and coloration.  Maybe this up-potting will give them a big boost.

Spreading Wood and Chicken Bone Ashes for Mineral Supplementation. 3.24.2021

 Yesterday I spread a small bucket of woodstove ashes in one of the tomato beds and one of the sweetcorn beds.  I had to pull back the leaf mulch for the tomatoes.   I hand-tilled and turned over the corn bed.  That one is in the footprint of a former raised bed.  The raised bed was one that I had built the first summer here, 2012 or 2013.  I don't know whether being where a raised bed was, is good for the soil or not.  The soil here is low in calcium, good in potassium, low in phosphorus, low in magnesium.  The wood ashes are a combination of trees that grew here that were cut and burned for firewood, and the bones that resulted from making dog food from chicken thighs.  Those will be high in calcium, phosphorus, and trace minerals.  Potassium too from the wood ashes.  It kind of averages out to a decent mineral supplement for those vegetables.  Plus, the soil here is very acidic.  The ashes are alkaline, so moderate that.  I apply a dusting of ashes, and let it mellow for two or three months before using.

Potatoes should not be given alkaline supplements, so I did not apply in potato areas.

The bone fragments are still visible, but after burning them they are soft and fragile like chalk.  They break down very quickly.

After rains, turning the soil and tilling in, the minerals will be pretty evenly dispersed.

 

Plums blooming now. 3.21.2021

 It looks like all of the Asian plums and plum hybrids are blooming now.  They seem to have a lot of overlap.

Hollywood Plum.  I grew this from a cutting, from the Hollywood plum I had in Vancouver. It stays fairly small.

Crimson Pointe (I think), ornamental plum.

The white flowered branch for this plum is Beauty.  The tree also has a graft from a very dark skin and flesh pluot, farmer's market, that I grew from seed.  It has never fruited, but it blooms.  This tree was originally "Ember", a hybrid Asian/American plum that never bore either.  I had grafted it on a Hollywood rootstock, which seems to work fine.

This tree is Methley.  The tree is more than 8 years old - I replanted it from my old front yard in Vancouver, where it had grown for a couple of years.  The pollinating Hollywood (again) branch seems not to be there now.  It also has a branch of Shiro also in bloom.

This is Flavor Supreme Pluot.  I don't know if it bloomed before.  I planted this a couple of years ago in the front orchard.  It's too much trouble to water and weed that area now.  It has continued to grow anyway.

There is also an unknown plum, possibly grown from seed, that was here when we bought the place.  I went crazy grafting other varieties to it - Shiro, Hollywood (of course), Ember, Hanska, La Crescent.  I don't think any of those Hansen plums (Ember, Hanska, LaCrescent) has ever borne a single fruit.  They bloom every year.  Still, it's a pretty tree.  

Nadia plum X cherry hybrid is next to the highly grafted tree.  Nadia is also blooming.

Daffodils. 3.21.2021

 Each fall I plant bags of daffodils and other bulb seeds.  Most bloom the first year, then a lot of them disappear.  Some persist for many years.

And some hyacinths, which are looking nice this year.

Up-potting Tomato Seedlings. 3.21.2021

 I repotted the first dozen tomato seedlings.  There are still some left that I will give Ning.  I have a theory that when their roots start winding around in the container, their growth becomes stunted.  Or maybe its just the seedling medium. Anyway, after up-potting them, they usually take off and grow fast.

I am not a pack rat.  But I do save some things, like some of the plant containers from previous years.  The multi-packs are handy, maximum use of space.

Before repotting.  I don't know where that pink container came from.  Probably flowers last year or the year before.  I like to label each cell, directly instead of with a label I'll probably lose.

The roots are pretty nice looking.  It still amazes me that a tiny seed grows into a nice tomato plant that grows bigger and bigger and makes tomatoes.

Twelve tomato plants, ready for their next step in life.

Vegetable Seedlings. 3.20.2021

 Most are doing very well.  I think the tomatoes are due to repotting into the next larger containers.   Soon.

Repotting Some Tropicals. 3.20.2021

 I repotted a couple of Nepenthes.  The sunroom is too hot for them and they dry out way too fast.  That led to the demise of the larger ones.  For these, I had some heavier pots so they don't fall over any more.  Also a more moisture retentive soil.  We'll see how they do.  Also, I repotted two small zygocactus, and took a bunch of cuttings from the oldest, largest one.   That's the top left one.  The flower is a nice salmon color.  I've never seen another one like that. 

Early Seedlings. Some Multiplier Onions. 3.19.2021

 We got some chicken feed at BiMart.  Went early, so store would be near empty.  Everyone was socially distant and wore masks.

They had some of the multiplier onions that I tried a couple of years ago but lost to weeds.  It would be interesting if these are potato onions.  Not that I need more.  But I bought a package.  Actually, three of them were bad, moldy, so who knows.

Two or Three weeks ago I planted seeds in the raised beds, spinach, radishes, lettuce.  It's been chilly since then with a couple of frosts.  Today I noticed the spinach, radishes, and lettuce are all germinating.

 

Lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson, home saved.

Spinach.  I forget the variety.

Radishes, mixed varieties.  Some of the seeds were 4 years old.