I am not sure where in Texas you are. I am in Austin, and we can plant fall tomato plants from mid-July until mid-August. Seeds should be started now. I always protect my plants through the intense summer heat with shade cloth. I recommend you check with your county extension agent for the fall planting dates in your area. This info is usually readily available online. In Austin, the locally owned garden centers have a great selection of fall tomatoes, both hybrid and heirloom, available. For rare varieties, you have to grow from seed or order online. Good luck and let's hope we dry out soon!

Can you still get some cuttings, or are they too far gone already?

-Ed

I am in the DFW Metroplex and know what you mean. Mine have not been killed, but impacted quite a bit. It is amazing how fast a perfectly good looking plant can wilt from lack of oxygen to the roots. The Dr. Carolyn Pink that I posted pictures of the other day was at noon yesterday, we had at least one evening without significant rain and it looks nearly normal this morning, but there more is rain in the forecast. The underground drain on the opposite side of the garden is doing onehelluva job, but has been severly taxed if not nearly overwhelmed, and it takes awhile for water to wick or migrate about 25 feet from one side to the other.

It is tough getting young and tender seedlings through our normal intense heat and sunlight in July and August. Some years I have had a very good fall crop from nursing some of my plants thru till fall but do not know what the chances are this year.

Last year Kristi near Grandbury had very good success with starting cuttings from some of her plants and putting them out for fall garden. I am going to try that and have been practicing on (suckers that I cut off).

Trying to cover all the bases, I have also planted some seed from the first Large Red Cherry tomatoes to test germination and have some growing. I found it interesting that some of the seeds took a lot longer to come up than the others and you can of those already potted up into the yellow cups and those very small ones in the black tray.

CDG all we can do is just give it our best shot and hope that we can out manuver Maw Nature to try to have a fall crop. Good luck on your efforts.
Bill P.

It is possible that,in the next 12-18 months I may move to the Austin area,between Austin and Ft Hood. My Son in Law works for a Company Headquartered in California with their manufacturing Base in Austin,Tx. I'm Retired Military so Military facilities are important to me. This heavy rainfall will cause me to closely monitor Austin weather patterns. We,contrary to popular belief, don't usually have a lot of Rain up here,just often. Our annual rainfall is in the 35"-36". Just a lot of showers and drizzle.

I wish you all a speedy mater recovery. fortunately you do have two growing seasons.

The rain has hurt my plants also. The ones in my raised bed are ok I think,but I've got three directly in the ground that are having a tough time. They sat in water for many hours over the last few days. One may be dead--it's servely wilted and yellowing at the bottom of the plant, worse than the one gonefishin posted.
I was planning on planting some traveler tomatoes today for a fall crop. I started them from seed about two months ago. With all this rain I might hold off though.
I've done some research on Fall planting. Guides say to put in tomato transplants July 1 to July 15 for my area, DFW Texas. It's too late to start from seed. My Travelers are late tomatoes so I'm worried they won't ripen before it gets too cold. I am a newbie though, so I really don't know.
I've also read that it helps to shade them some from the late day sun since the sun can be so brutal here in Texas.

Pete

I wish nothing but the best for all in Texas getting all this rain. Hopefully all this rain will clear up soon for you and your gardens. Hang in there.

Our avg yearly rainfall in DFW is about 34 inches and we're just 6 months into this year and the 'official' tally is 32 inches. Many areas have likely gotten more than that amount (the airport is notorious for getting less rain than the surrounding cities). My toms and peppers in containers have suffered mightily in this deluge.

I half expect to see a real big boat come sailing by, with a bunch of paired animal on it...

I don't mind the rain too much, I haven't had to water my lawn at all this spring, water and electric bills are 1/3 of last years because of the cooling and regular rains. I just would prefer it spread out more over the year, say once or twice a week.

I feel a little silly complaining about the rain for the reasons above as well as that I am not anywhere near where the flooding is and there aren't any people drowning in my neighborhood.

Cheers!

I'm workin on that boat right now reaver. You may have seen some runners on T.V. about the movie they are making of it. Keep the faith baby!
Bill P.

Yeah Bill, I was wondering if The Lord was upset about the poor box office on that 'Evan Almighty' flick and was letting us Texans know about it...

Cheers!

Hello all , THANKS for all the advice and comments. Much appreciated.I found 2 huge Merced (I know they are not supposed to be available)at Walmart for near $5 each and 2 smaller Big Boys for about $3 each . This will have to be my fall garden tomatoes unless I make a trip to Abilene before my garden soil dries enough to plant. I have started pulling the sure goners and am wondering what other crops work in fall gardens since I will have quite a large area vacant.I live about mid between Ft Worth and Abilene Texas.Next year I think I may try raised beds or an underground drain such as Gonefishing mentioned . Again , thanks all
CDGTX
OBTW , the Merced was a Bonnie plant .

I think that Bonnie must have had a stash of Merced seeds. Although I have been reading for several years that the variety has been discontinued by A & M, I have found a couple of plants at H.D. the past two springs, and they were put out by Bonnie.

I want to keep it going in my garden as long as possible because I like it so much. It has been very productive for me and the taste is right up there high on my list of best tasting tomatoes. I also have a couple growing from seed saved last year to compare against . I am already fermenting seeds from these.

As crazy as it seems, I know that the five bucks for one plant seems awfully high, but if you look at the thread on here about those Ugly tomatoes someone mentioned their parents finding some in a supermarket @ $4.99 PER POUND. A good Merced plant will produce quite a few pounds of tomatoes. I have had them produce extremely well in the spring, then again in the fall.

I know that taste is subjective, but I think that you will be well pleased if you like the real, old time tomato flavor. Good luck with yours and let us know what you think later after you have a good crop of them.
Bill P.

To avoid any confusion of the color or appearance of the Merced when ripe, I took another shot of a couple of them a bit later. The one one on the .
Bill P.

CDGTXS, I grew up between Abilene & Ft. Worth in a tiny town called Ranger! It's a small world. Other things I grow in the fall are peppers, broccoli, leaf lettuces, spinach, cauliflower, & garlic. I have not had any luck with pumpkins. The fall is my favorite time to garden!

texanjana- CDGTXS, I grew up between Abilene & Ft. Worth in a tiny town called Ranger! It's a small world. Other things I grow in the fall are peppers, broccoli, leaf lettuces, spinach, cauliflower, & garlic. I have not had any luck with pumpkins. The fall is my favorite time to garden!

Hello ,Yep-small world. Breckenridge here.Thanks for the reply. I wonder how beans and B.E. Peas would do? Will try some of the suggestion here . Thanks all.
CDGTXS
BTW_ Do you know if Brandt's Plants is still in business in Cisco??

If the drenching is a regular problem, you need better drainage. The easiest way is to build raised framed beds.

But you can also rent a trenching machine. You can dig a trench about 2' deep and fill it with sand aiming downhill or into a deep pit. Water flows through sand rapidly.

Instead of starting seeds, why don't you try and root cuttings from all the plants that are drowning? It would give you several weeks of head start if it works.
Carla in Sac

I don't know about Brandt's. My parents don't live in Ranger anymore, so I don't get back there very often anymore. We lived on Breckenridge Road! We used to go to Breckenridge and eat at a restaurant where they had a real live Ocelot in a cage. When I was a kid in the late 60's or early 70's, I thought that was the coolest thing! I saw that Lake Leon was flooded. We used to fish there all the time. Hope you dry out soon! We are in for more here I am afraid.

Greetings All,

I made my first attempt at a garden this year. I choose Tomato and Jalepeno as my starter crop. Mostly for the ease and personal preference (I love me some Jalepenos!). I also made the decision early on to use raised planters made from used tires. The tires I chose put my planter height at 18 inches above ground after the tires sidewalls were cut and then the tire turned inside-out. I used a 50/50 mix of compost made in the "back 40" (feet that is...)and the remnants of a pile if topsoil I had. I had no idea it would rain this much this year, but this configuration has saved my 'maters... I did get behind on the grass with all the rain we had here and the grass around the planters grew above the tomatoes and choked out the light which kind of stunted the plants a bit, but they are coming back quite nicely...

Medina Lake was down 30 feet in April and is now going over the spillway (for about 3-4 weeks now actually). BTW - Medina is different than most dams in Texas... It is an "Irrigation Dam" built in the early 1900s. There is NO FLOOD GATE... They only have TWO 40 inch (Approx) pipes at the bottom and they (BMA, controls the dam) say they won't open the valves. One, because they use every bit of that water for the farms below and two, I heard they are afraid that if they open one of them that it will not close again because of it's age and corrosion. Either way, opening those valves would be the equivalent of poking a hot needle through the bottom of a 55 gal. poly drum... won't do much good... we are screwed if we get another deluge like in July. From the spillway to the top of the dam is only 12 feet - Someone say evacuation???

Anyway, raised planters are the way to go... I think that not only did the extra height help drainage, but the tires also helped dry the soil by way of solar heating/absorption (between rain showers LOL) I also plan to use cuttings from these same tomatos for fall crop... I know I am running behind but I think they will make it with a little help..

Best `O Luck to everyone!
AgentHandyman

AgentHandyman, it looks like you are west of San Antonio and you folks have been getting some more rain the last few days with more on tap for today perhaps. Hopefully the let up for awhile in the rain allowed your lake to go down enough to ease the worry of flooding and evacuations if more rain occurs.

It has been one of the most unusual years that I can recall. I am in the DFW Metroplex area (S.E. side) and we had a deluge of rain Wednesday, getting 1.75 inches in 30 minutes or less. Then we got over a quarter of an inch yesterday evening.

CDGTXS, Have you had an opportunity to try any of those Merced tomatoes yet? Since taste is so subjective, you may or may not like them, but I certainly do, and think that they have that old time tomato flavor. I have nursed many of my plants through the dry and hot weather that we have had thus far and they have put on quite a few new tomatoes like . I have had good success with it in the past in having a fall crop if the weather half way cooperated. Quite a few of the other varieties have similar new tomatoes and blooms also.

I have also rooted some cuttings, some of which are already producing like this some I have just put out into the garden, like this seedling (started from seed that I saved) which did not get a fair trial in the spring due to all the rain. I also now have cuttings rooting from Brandy Boy, Aunt Gerties Gold and Cherokee Purple.

have had a struggle, late getting started, all the rain, then grass coming over from Tom's side of the fence and trying to take over and choke them out. After the weather warmed up good, they really began producing and several branches broke of that were loaded with peppers. My Grandson helped me get some of the grass down and out, but I still have some work to do. I did not , but it has really kicked in now and started producing well.

I should have some fall tomatoes, barring any early frost or other unexpected weather event, but am afraid to guess what may be this year. There could well be time for those Black Eyed Peas and other things some of you folks planted for fall crops.
Good luck with them.
Bill P.

Hello gonefishin. Yep , I have tried a few of the Merced and they are a very good tomato . I grow very few hybrids but this is a good tasting tomato. You mentioned okra , this is the most productive year I have ever had for Okra . It survived the spring flooding and actually seemed to like it. It is to the point I can not give it away .
CDG

Wow! How's this for some numbers... According to weatherunderground.com, the San Antonio area has recieved 28.35 in/72.02 cm from May 1, 2007 through Sept. 01, 2007. The same site shows a historical average rainfall amount of 5-7 inches for the same period. I think we have actually recieved more here, as these numbers are for the San Antonio Airport which is about 30 miles from here.

I have run out of barrels (4), igloo coolers (3) , and 3 liter bottles (30+/-) to store the rainwater... My plants love this stuff! Pictures available... see the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Agenthandyman's Rainwater Collection