On September 14th, I transplanted my plants into containers of various sizes.

Half of the 15 gal containers have 511 mix with happy frog and the other half have Fox Farms Ocean Forrest. I also used the mycorrhizae product ( 2tbsp around the roots) when planting.

These were all the containers I had, so I decided to build a raised bed. I also had to figure out a way to fill my beds, so I ordered some compost from our city's new compost facility.

I filled all my beds with a mix of city compost, peat moss, perlite, fine bark, lime, and happy frog all purpose. I got my beds filled and started to transplant each one with the mycorrhizae product.

This is what it looked like on September 23,

My plants in the containers a week and a half after I transplanted them

September 27

I decided to get more 15gl containers for the ones in the 2 gal containers. The 4 in the top left containers were the first to be put in containers and have the FF mix and 511 mix. The rest have my own mix. This is from October 2, which makes them about 8 weeks old. They look absolutely amazing.

I got more containers, so now all my plants are in 15gal containers or raised beds.

These pics are from October 6,

I built a stringing system and a Florida Weave support system.

The one on the right is a Black Krim and the left is a Cherokee Purple ( I picked it and a Beefsteak up at my local butterfly garden center)

October 10th

I think the plants on the driveway and in containers are doing them best, they are definitely growing the fastest it seems like. I have all of them staked or caged.

This is the Black Krim from the last photo of my last post. Its almost about to be taller than the cage for it.

October 14th,

Kevin, you get an A+ for learning and you are doing very well for a beginner gardener, hope that you get a lot of tomatoes. Keep up with the good work and your enthusiasm!

Silvia

Update - All my tomatoes are coming in very nicely. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before I can start picking some. The weather here has been pretty hot still, so I should have plenty of time for them to ripen.

Kevin

Both my gardens have grown tremendously in the past month or so.

November 5, 2016

October 2, 2016

November 5, 2016

Good progress, PG.

I hope the weather stays warm and cooperates until you get all those maters nice-n-ripe. I am in USDA 8a, but our low tonight will be 39F. So from now til March will be too cold for tomatoes. I look forward to planting out some time next March. It is going to be my first gardening season down here.

Sey

Congrats again Kevin. I have learned a lot from watching you. I hope to imitate your success next fall. You have some beautiful tomatoes.

Thanks Sey, me too. I've been checking the extended forecast and it's supposed to stay warm for a while, usually we get cold fronts that will drop our Temps for a couple days, then it gets warm again. We hardly get freezing Temps, but it does happen. I'm debating on a possibility of make a makeshift covering to protect them if we do. Your new garden looks good so far. I'm still in the process of amending my sand patch. I did get a couple rows prepped and have started to plant my Barassicas.

This is how it looks so far

Hey Janice, thanks. It's funny you say that, cause it's made full circle, I was trying to imitate your grow, since I saw all your pretty tomatoes during spring and summer. That summer heat is a big challenge when planting out for the fall tomato crop, I think I got lucky (or the fact I wasn't gonna give up, even after all my failed plants prior to this latest batch.) I've been having a great time learning how to garden, I've stepped up my game and it's paying off, my plants are doing great, and I've gotten better at starting plants from seed with success. I'm super excited about my cool weather veggies, they are all doing well. Your garden looks great and I'm sure you'll be harvesting some things soon.

More seedlings about to be planted

Thanks,

Kevin

wow! Now that is a bunch of seedlings. You have definitely stepped up your game, and i will be referring back to your "grow" pages often. You have proven a beginner can have great success with determination and persistence.

Your fall garden will be beautiful as it matures. Take lots of pictures. We will enter a slow grow phase here shortly as the days shorten, but will pick back up in mid Jan. Not much you can do to speed it up without a lot of sun. It is a temporary slow down.

I found a volunteer tomato somewhere near the house. Probably previous owner throw away a tomato ?

Anyway, I dug it up and potted it. I will just try to save it. I will bring it in when it gets under 39F and leave it outside the rest of the time.

sey

Another tomatoholic has been born! Your garden looks wonderful. And you have only been a gardener for a year.

From the pictures, I saw one thing that you could improve next time. Almost everyone in the US makes the mistake of planting tomatoes too shallowly. When you transplant into bigger containers, place the seedling at the bottom of the next size pot, covering most of the stem with soil. Solanums grow roots any place where their stem touches the ground. If you plant at the same depth, you are losing the chance to grow more roots. Planting IN the ground, not ON TOP of the ground, will do more good than a ton of chemicals. It works wonders. When you plant a tomato, only 4 leaves should be showing above ground. If the seedling was 12 inches tall before, 8 inches should be underground after transplanting.

Your garden looks fabulous. This one change will make it even better.

Kevin, congrats on the expansion of your garden, your tomatoes look good!

Medium size and small tomatoes have been ripening in my garden, this week finally I will be picking beefsteak sizes....

Silvia

Your tomatoes look amazing Silvia, I hope mine will look that good. Do you have problems with the heat and plants not setting fruit. We had a couple of cooler days here and it seemed like every flower was setting fruit, then we got a week of high 80's and they stopped setting fruit. It's cooled down again and they seem to be setting fruit again. I know some varieties do better in the heat, but besides plant variety is there anything I can do to help them set more fruit.

Taroli2011 - Thanks for the tip, I do try to plant them deep, I'll make sure I do it more in the future. I know a stronger root system equals a stronger, healthier plant, which equals better tomatoes. You are correct when you say tomatoholic, I'm hooked I've been having so much fun, it keeps me busy and out of trouble.

I finally got my new garden plot to the point of planting soon, so that's definitely going to be fun to have room to plant anything and be able to experiment a lil.

Here's the new plot

Thanks for all the advice, I've learned a lot from these forums, and have been inspired by everyones gardens.

Kevin, in my experience tomatoes do best in an ideal weather which we don't have...but I still get tomatoes even with the heat, it probably helps that I leave them on the porch as seedlings and after they go by the fence, it is a little bit cooler compared to the middle of the garden. This season is not as good as others because we had the hurricane but I am getting tomatoes so I cannot complain. Tomato varieties always surprise me, the same ones sometimes do better or worse depending on a lot of variables, that is why is a good idea to plant different varieties each season and see what works for you according to your taste.

Beefsteaks are ripening, Chef's Choice did well in spring also.

Silvia

Very nice as always, Silvia

Here is my fall grow out.

I found this mystery volunteer seedling in the crack between some cement blocks. Probably the previous owner throw out a tomato.

So anyway, I dug it out and potted. I am leaving it outside during the days and bring it inside at nights.

sey

Picked my first tomatoes, the are 4th of July tomatoes. so I'll probably have another couple weeks before others start to ripen. also we have a cold front coming through and it's supposed to get down to the 30's, I have covered my plants hoping they will be okay. It's only going be cold for a couple hours so I think they should be alright.

My makeshift covers

How did it go, Kevin ?

Last night we got down to 30-32. Tonight, tomorrow night and the following night will be the same story. That is like Dec and Jan weather. Then we will be back to low 40s which is normal for late November.

I bring my volunteer tomato inside at nights. So far it is very short and stocky. I will baby it over the winter. Hopefully I can planted out in March.

sey

So far so good, I added a couple of those cheap clamp heat lamps under each grow tent, they survived fine last nite, looked a lil wilted, but overall good. Tonight it's dipping to the 30's again, then back to normal 70s and 50s the rest of the week.

The worst looking plant this morning, but has since bounced back and seems like it will be just fine. The rest of my plants are much bigger, stronger, and in bigger containers/beds. This one is a smaller weaker one, so maybe thats why it didnt do as well in the cold. I'll continue to cover my plants when necessary, I'm determined to see some fruits of my labor.

Picked a Pruden's Purple today, not fully colored yet, but it weighed in at 11.71 Oz. Can't wait to taste it, it will be my first heirloom tomatoes I've grown, I'm pretty excited.

Kevin, congrats on your Pruden's Purple, I bought the seeds when I was in Monticello a few years back, it is a good tomato.

I made this morning sausage stuffing using the Cherokee Green that were ripe, it is a good beefsteak and makes a pretty platter of sliced tomatoes of different colors.

I have to use these other tomatoes in a dish today....

Silvia

Thank you Silvia, those tomatoes look awesome as usual. Is that sorrel in the background, I have some seeds that I'm planning on starting soon.

Beautiful tomatoes.

Congrats on your first heirloom Kevin.

Thanks Janice, how's your garden coming along? I've been busy working in my garden, I have a lot of good stuff going on. I got some more rows planted today.

Today's look

The newest rows (planted spinach, kale, arugula with my new earthway seeder, made planting rows a breeze.)

Thank you Janice.

Thank you Kevin, yes it is sorrel and I made a dish with green beans, shelly beans, peas, tomatoes and meyer lemons.

You are a very ambitious and diligent gardener, your new garden is going to keep you busy and well nourished, good for you! If you like them, I would highly recommend oriental greens for you to plant, they are the easiest and fastest to produce and I use greens daily in everything. Kale is probably my favorite and I have now 3 different varieties in my garden, I made already huge kale salads for parties and they are always a hit,

In the summer you can plant sweet potatoes in the garden, I had a good harvest of sp this year and a lot of mostly oriental varieties, different colors and tastes.

Keep us updated on your garden, have a great season!

Silvia

A little update on my fall grow !

She is doing pretty good. seems to have established root system.

sey

Got my biggest tomato to date

Pruden's Purple 1lb 1.67oz

I'll share a pic when it ripens up.

Kevin, that is a beautiful tomato! good for you.

I had some big ones too this season, probably the biggest ones were the heart Kosovo, followed by Rose and Chef's Choice.

We are busy eating the fresh tomatoes from the garden, here are some pictures, a deep platter with mostly hearts at the bottom.

Oven roasted tomatoes, and I already had some for breakfast, some really big ones went for roasting.

The hearts...

The two big ones, over a pound...

Silvia