The Trusty Gardener-Heirloom Tomatoes are Here!
It’s the Time of Year for Tomatoes-Upper Garden Update
Welcome back fellow gardeners. Recently I wrote an update on one of my gardens, what I refer to as the Lower garden. This garden has lettuce and greens, potatoes, and peppers. I also talked about planting seeds for Fall harvest, including various lettuces and greens. Now for an update on the Upper Garden, which includes the ultimate crop, heirloom tomatoes. It is turning out to be another good year for the tomatoes.
The Upper garden is my largest plot and this year included plantings of peas, tomatoes, onions, leeks, squash, cucumbers, beans, carrots, swiss chard, and sunflowers. Also there is a second lettuce box. So quite a variety of veggies.
As I stated in my previous update, this year was somewhat of a struggle due mostly to the weather. Or at least that's my theory. First, the “not so good” results. I like to write about the garden failures as well as the successes to try to understand why they failed and to help fellow gardeners. Gardening is a learning process no matter how experienced you are.
Peas and Beans
The peas were planted in mid-May and germinated well.
They continued to grow well to about 12 inches high, then started to turn yellow (unfortunately I didn’t get photos). I watered and fertilized them for several weeks but they continued to turn yellow and die off. Not sure what happened, the only thing I can assume is that the lime I added (raises pH) to the gardens this Spring affected them. Peas do prefer a soil pH of 6 to 7.5, which is acidic.
The beans also were not successful. After the first planting did not germinate well, the second planting germinated well and was looking good in late June. However, in July they did not survive, I think, due to the 11 inches of rain. July was a tough month for the garden, most of the vegetables did surprising well, however.
Heirloom Tomatoes
As I stated above, it is a good year for the tomatoes. This year I again planted heirlooms as opposed to hybrids since the flavor is just outstanding. Back in early June, I wrote a story regarding transplanting the tomatoes into the garden, and also a story in early April on planting the seeds including the varieties I chose this year.
The plants did well overall, but they were again affected by blight which has become the norm in recent years. The plants did well enough, however, to produce a great crop of tomatoes.
This year I grew an heirloom mix which contained the following:
Black Krim, Costoluto Genovese, Giant Belgium Pink, Giant German Johnson, Giant Old German, Chocolate Stripes, Cherokee Purple, French Marmande, Giant Mortgage Lifter, Roma, Giant Pink Oxheart, San Marzano, Ukrainian Purple, Amish Paste, Giant Mr. Stripey, Brandywine Red, Brandywine Yellow, Pineapple Tomato.
In addition, I also grew the following individually:
Costoluto Genovese, Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Matt’s Wild Cherry, Black Sea Man and Mortgage Lifter.
Regarding the mixture, I have definitely identified that I ended up with the Cherokee Purple and San Marzano varieties, 2 or 3 plants were San Marzano. I only planted six plants from the mixture, it seems like there may have been a higher percentage of San Marzano in the mix. I think in the future I will plant single variety tomatoes, then you definitely know what to expect. The mixtures are enticing though.
Stay tuned for more garden updates including the other veggies in the Upper garden.
