I picked up some tomatoes from Mary last week. They're very healthy, and she has some really fun varieties. I had a hard time choosing, and had to rein myself in so I didn't get carried away and pick up more plants than I really have space for. They're so much nicer than nursery starts, and I loved having the option to choose varieties that are really better suited to our short growing season(s) :)

Thanks for the testimonial plstqd. It's always fun to meet my on-line buddies and put a face and personality with the screen name. She and I had lots of fun picking out Just The Right Plants for her garden. Ditto pagancat.

I'm selling until Sept 3rd and will donate what's left to local community garden(s).

Well, thank goddess I didn't put those tomatoes in the ground yesterday evening! Another thanks to me for putting them well under the porch overhang. Who knew there would be a frog-strangling, gully-washing, Noah-would-be-proud rainstorm last night!! I'm nursing my babies under roof till this weather insanity passes. We got over an inch of rain in less than 2 hours last night.

One of my taller ones flopped over, even though he was tucked away on the patio, but after a day of being propped against the side of the house and drying off a bit, he's all perky again. I'm toying with planting mine this weekend, but I'm scared -- Mary grew such beautiful plants, I feel quite a responsibility to them, lol!

I'm planting several of mine this weekend. I did one Sun Gold already because it was so tall into a large container and it seems very happy with the idea. Unfortunately, my beds are not ready but I have some large containers to use. These babies are getting so leggy, they just have got to get planted soon. Keep us posted on how they do you two.

Mary, since you're so into experimenting, how about this one? I caught a photo of it this morning on FB and googled it. It's quite stunning.

Here is a link that might be useful: White Tomesol

Uh - no a white tomato is so unappealing to me. To clarify for others that may now have the impression that I'm 'experimenting' with oddball tomatoes: I'm not. I am however searching for intensely flavored, hearty tomatoes that are primarily short days to maturity (DTM). For the spring/summer tomato garden the search is for varieties that do well in our heat. For the fall/winter garden I'm looking for varieties that will grow and produce fruit in cooler temps.

Our biggest problem here is a short growing season. For spring/summer we have to wait for the soil to warm up (that's around April) and get fruit set before air temps are too high (June). See the problem?

For fall/winter it's the reverse: we have to wait for the soil temp to cool to a minimum of 85* (75* is better) and this is around Sept and get fruit set before a frost, usually Dec. Short growing seasons for tomatoes.

I will finish selling Sept 3rd, any plants left will be donated to a community garden. There's only about 30 plants remaining at the moment. A big THANK YOU to the folks here who have come by and for spreading the word. It's been fun meeting new folks and reacquainting with others - and talking tomatoes to all!

How's everybody's 'maters? I've lost two to wilt. Doing everything I can to keep the rest happy. Would everyone be so kind as to tell how and where you planted yours? All this info sharing is really helpful.

Those plants all need to be potted up to the next level. If you cannot plant out in your bed(s), get some good soil-less potting mix and pot them up to a larger container. And water thoroughly so any soil build up will drain out. This is standard planting/gardening technique, those babies were well ready for the next stage - I talked about this with everyone who came by......THEY ARE READY!!

Thanks again to all who purchased and have managed to maintain the plants until this heat breaks.

I've followed George Brookbank's advice on planting tomatoes for a long time. It's worked well most of the time. I have one tomato, possibly two, planted in spring that's survived the heat. Because it's still so blasted hot, I put these in a bed between sunflowers and okra. The whole thing has a 50% shadecloth cover. Not shady, but still not exposed to blazing sunlight. The bed's on a timed soaker hose and the soil is well-amended and has good drainage.

This is how George says to do it and it works really well for leggy plants. Not so much foliage to remove along the stem.

"There�s a trick to get an early harvest from a strong plant. Take off the lower leaves to make a bare stem for more than half the plant. Make a shallow trench with a deep end to it. Lay the plant sideways with its roots in the deep end and its stem lying in the trench. Cover the stem with about two inches of soil, leaving the end tuft of leaves in the air. These will grow upright overnight. The stem will grow fresh roots to give you a plant with twice as much roots as if it had been planted normally."

Did I mention how much I wish this heat would go **away**?!

"Would everyone be so kind as to tell how and where you planted yours? All this info sharing is really helpful." ~~ Mary

Nobody has anything to add? The two I lost to wilt were Black Sea Man and Sun Leaper (2 I had big hopes for). Doing well are the Blondie, Sophie's Choice and Glacier. Sun Gold appears to be succumbing to wilt and the blasted critter that decimated the basil appears to be snacking on the Black Cherry. AAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!! I love Black Cherry and I'm going to move this one in hopes of saving it. (I can *not* find the pest so I don't know if it flies, crawls or walks.)

I've been looking for a thermometer to see if my plants will take being planted yet.

I'm a little worried that they'll have too much manure and therefore too much nitrogen where I'm planning on putting them.

pc, just a plain, basic meat thermometer is all you need. Like from Safeway.

I bought four plants. Three are in the ground, one (Stupice) I almost rescued from wilt, but it's now bit the dust. Two of the three in the ground are doing great. Those are the Cherokee Purple and the Sophie's Choice -- they're in a bed that seems to have a really good microclimate for summer growing. The other is a Momotaro, and it's currently in a bed where it's getting hit pretty hard by the sun. I have a tomato cage and shade cloth around and partly over it. It gets pretty droopy during the day, but is always perked right up in the morning, and seems to be hanging in well. It was very lanky when I planted it, so I put it in pretty deep, so at least the roots are relatively cool.

This is my second time planting using the instructions from some fellow in Scottsdale, where you dig a deep hole and add a fish head, an eggshell, a couple of aspirin and a handful of bonemeal. My plants were going great guns last year using this method until the frost nipped the tips off, so I have high hopes again for this year.

plstqd, do you fish, else where do you get the fish heads? I've thought of trying one of the asian markets for inexpensive fish. Could it be that easy?

Thanks for the feedback, I'll track varities that have been problematic for planning purposes, as well as the strains that do well.

LOL, plstqd! That sounds like a voodoo curse, er...blessing. Did the guy give you reasons for that recipe?

I've gotten fish heads at the 99 Ranch Market, but it's pretty far from you, Mary. Got 'em for the dogs who turned their noses up. Next time, I'll put 'em in a hole for a plant.

Rut ro - are there tomato eating rodents?

Okay - I'm going to steal Teddy's meat thermo - got him a remote b-b-q one, anyway.

You can get fish heads at Lee Lee market or Ranch Market, but I've also used low sodium water-packed canned sardines as a cheap substitute with good results. The fish provides nutrients as it breaks down, the egg shells provide calcium to help with blossom end rot, and the bone meal of course is also for added nutrients. As for the aspirin, plants produce salycilic acid as a defense against disease, so I'm guessing it's intended to help keep the plants healthy. Here's an article on it Researchers Find Plant Immune System's 'Take Two Aspirin' Gene, Offering Hope For Disease Control Without Agricultural Pesticides.

All I know is, voodoo curse or not, I had very healthy tomato plants last fall, and I'm hoping for the same kind of success this time around!

I'm game, I'll try the Fish Head Tomato Planting Technique (FHTPT).

I have two beds ready : Singh Farms garden soil mix and home-grown compost was turned in last weekend. It rained real good here yesterday so those beds should be prime planting material. Temp was nearly 100* the other day though, hopefully the rain brought that down some.

As an aside, SW Gardener is having a class today on Soil Building that I signed up for. It starts at 10am, I'll see what Gregory Ware thinks of our FHTPT. Maybe I'll see some of you there. SW Gardener in on 15th Ave, east side just south of Thomas.

Here is a link that might be useful: SW Gardener

I wanted to mention something the salesperson at the hydro store, Sea of Green, told me the other day. He said at ASU Ag dept they have a 40' long tomato plant. Rather than train it UP, they trained it along the ground and it rambles along the garden for 40'. I have a spot that's perfect for this.

I found the 'recipe' for FH's, eggshells, aspirin and bone meal (or something like it). Very interesting site and the company is in Redlands, CA so it's not too different from the Valley.

Here is a link that might be useful: fish heads and stuff for tomatoes

I took plstqd's story to the tomato growing forum and stirred up a real nest. You can check it out with the link below.

Bottom line for me: If you are only growing a few tomatoes and don't want to amend an entire bed, this is a good way to go. But for the more serious farmer/gardener, amending the soil of your beds makes more sense to me. And I'm a tad worried about my cat, who already digs too much in my garden, wanting to locate the source of that fine, fine smell....errr, odor.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Growing Forum Post

Oops, didn't mean to stir anything up! I do only plant a few tomatoes, and honestly, Mary, by the time that stuff is buried a foot or two deep, I dare any cat to smell it and dig it up. I have several neighbors who like to let their cats roam, and I haven't had any issues with digging. But, that's one of the beauties of gardening -- lots of people with lots of opinions, and each one of us has to find the methods and practices that work for him/her. There's always something new to learn, and as they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure.

I like a good experiment and I have two side-by-side beds that will make a good foundation for the FHTPT experiment. Two plants each bed, one bed with the FHTPT formula and one not. Stay tuned!

I potted all the 1 qt and half gallon grow bag tomatoes into LARGER containers - they are so leggy and *TALL* but the in-ground garden beds may be a month more before I can plant.