TOMATO SEEDS STARTED

I started the seeds this evening. The only real difference between previous years is that I used black plastic 4 cell planters. I just had them and decided to use them up. This year I did not go and buy many new seeds. Trying to be economical and use what I have. For the most part, it's the same as last year:

Pineapple - Territorial
Beam's Yellow Pear - Seed Savers - Old Standby
Brandywine (Sudduth's) - Seed Savers
Hillbilly Potato Leaf - Seed Savers
German Pink - Seed Savers
Gold Medal - Not Sure where I got this
Federle - Seed Savers - did great last year - large fruit
Old German - Terrotorial -
Big Mama Hybrid - Burpee - A hybrid paste type. Just decided to try something different.

Last year was not a great year for the tomatoes. A long cold wet spring caused all kinds of problems. The Verticillium Wilt got into most of them before I could get good strong development. The Federle and German Pink did well. This year I will do a better job of mulching.

Seed Starting Time

It's that time of year again - time to start some seeds!

I usually wait until St Patricks Day before I begin anything. That is 8 weeks before my last frost date and there is no reason to start anything prior to that. I don't want my plants to be too leggy.

This year will be similar to past years. Tomatos & peppers will be my primary starts. I'll grow some for my mom and a couple of her friends as well as my own. I'm also starting a permanent herb garden this year. I usually have some growing in pots but now I have a space devoted to them (at the suggestion of my wife - who usually sees the obvious things that seem to pass me by).

This year I did not purcase many seeds. Trying to keep expenses down, plus I have so many I really need to use up or throw away. I'll be growing many of the same varieties I posted about previously.

DIY CIP - cheap and easy

One of the other things I spend my time and money on is homebrewing beer. You may have guessed this by the hops I grow. After my last brew day I had a bunch of stuff to clean, as always, and I wanted to just wait and do it later. I had seen pictures of Clean In Place devices and thought that would be pretty neat to have, but with budgets being tight, I figured that would be something I can do without. After cleaning a keg the other day I realized I had nearly everything I needed to cobble together a cheap and easy CIP. The only thing I purchased was a riser for a sprinkler - for $1.50 on a clearance rack.

Here are the basic parts: Pond Pump with riser attached, large tub, milk crate. I use the pond pump for a recirculating chiller. I had the large tub that I used for soaking bottles and general cleaning or storage. The milk crate? Who doesn't have a few of these around the house.

Here's how I use it: I fill the tub with 5-6 gallons of hot water and my favorite cleaner (Oxyclean, PBW, One Step or whatever I have on hand). I place the pond pump in the middle of the of the tub. I place the crate over the pump, sliding the riser through the bottom. I then place the item being cleaned - be it a bucket, carboy, or keg - over the riser. Plug in the pump and let it go for 10-20 minutes. It's clean as a whistle.

It's that time...

Here it is - ice cold and snow covered and all the garden catalogs are starting to come in. I'm ready to start planting - but I'll have to plan first.

Gooseberries

I just like the pictures...I think the variety is Pixwell.

Tomato progress

I haven't posted much about my tomatoes this year. They are doing great this year. We've had a ton of rain and that may have helped some. This year I planted several new and a few trusted varieties.

Here's what I went with this year:
Pineapple - had great success with them last year. Great flavor and BIG. Territorial Seed Co.
Beam's Yellow Pear - For my wife cause she loves them - Seed Savers Exchange
Brandywine (Sudduths's) - I haven't grown Brandywine's for a few years. I can't remember why cause they are great - SSE
Hillbilly Potato Loaf - New for me - Big - yellow red - right up my alley - SSE
Green Sausage - Green cylindrical shaped - Determinate - I haven't grown anything like them for a while - MTF - SSE
German Pink - Big, German, Pink - Describes me after I've been in the sun - SSE
Gold Medal - New for me - gold with red streaks - I sense a pattern - SSE
Federle - Big long paste tomatoes. New for me - SSE
Old German - Red and Gold streaked big meaty flesh - Territorial Seed Co.


Here is the first fruit of the year. It is the Green Sausage. Truthfully I pinched off a few fruits a couple of weeks ago or I may have had a couple of nearly ripe fruits in JUNE! This is one odd looking plant. It just sprawls all over the place. The leave are sparse and long with several clusters of fruit spread all over the plant. They seem to be resisting my efforts to stake them. I may let them win.

Here are all the tomatoes. They are in the north bed this year. I also made a better effort to put more space between them as I felt they were a little cramped last year. They are all 2 feet apart in all directions. So far so good.

This is the Hillbilly Potato Loaf. Nice healthy looking plant.

I believe this is a flower from the German Pink.

Hops Update

Well I did it...I killed some hops...I'm so ashamed...I think it was inconsistent watering...too little followed by too much...not to mention the rain mother nature blessed us with in the first half of June. So my Cascades and Magnum are gone. I'll be looking to replace them next spring.

Here is a hop cone, at least it will be. Right now it's a burr. This is a blooming flower from the hop plant. Plants used for cone production are all female. I don't know the technical parts of the flower but I'm pretty sure you can see almost all of them. This is a Kent Golding that came up along the east side of my deck. I thought I dug it all up but...

Here's the burr just starting to emerge. This is a Fuggles I transplanted.

Here is another burr from a Nuggett plant I moved this year.

Here is the Nuggett. the bottom of the eve is about 8 feet tall. I snipped the growing tip at that point. The bines on the left are up to about 10 feet. I snip the growing tips to encourage side shoots. These shoots are where the hop cones actually grow. This plant looks good this year.

The one on the left is the Fuggles. A windy thunderstorm did a number on it and snapped some of the bines at about 3 feet, I looks like the survivors are coming back and I expect them to do fine this year. The one in the middle is a transplanted Kent Golding. It's growing like crazy, about 14-15 feet tall. The one on the right is another Kent Golding. I planted it just to fill in a blank spot and it has taken off. I think next year it will be a winner. Look at the far left at the lattice under my deck...there are some 'volunteer' Fuggles. They really like that corner.