All 2011 Container varieties are thick and healthy, growing even better than the last season. But one is rather "very early"...
Danko. Originally brought to US from somewhere in CIS. At only 4 weeks after germination, under 6500K grow lights, it already set the flower buds on all the seedlings.
Determinate, but ever-bearing red oxheart with wispy foliage. Here it is, buried as deep as the 6" pot allowed. Exactly 5 weeks after germination:
It is regarded for it's flavor, and healthy production at only 3' to 4' tall. Well, so far it is also appears to be a possible contender to be the earliest! If everything goes as planned, mid May tomatoes maybe on the table!
I do have to take a little easy on tomatoes this year, and add more vegetables to the table to keep up with the better eating habits. So I'm limiting myself:
Ananas Noir Armenian Aunt Ruby's German Green Big Rainbow Black Krim Brandeva Brandywine Sudduth Bull's Heart Pink Cherokee Green Cleota Pink Cleota Yellow Dawson's Russian Oxeheart Dynnye Everett's Rusty Oxheart Hazel Gold Heart Of The Bull Jumbo Jim Orange Lithuanian Crested Pink Orange Minsk Pink Berkley Tie-Dye Prue Reif Red Heart Roger's Best Black Sakharnyi Zheltyi Spudakee Spudatula Striped Red Boar (Red Boar) Wes Wisconsin 55
Few others will include (as a part of my $2.00 garden)
Delicious Beefsteak
And looking forward to growing out 4 dwarfs: 3 from amazing work of some folks from Tomatoville:
Dwarf Beryl Beauty Dwarf Emerald Giant Dwarf Mr. Snow
And last, but not least:
New Big Dwarf
I'm actually quite excited growing out dwarfs for the first time. Will there ever be a full dwarf garden for me? Surely not, love getting up on the ladder to reach 10' plus vines to gather late season tomatoes from them. But for the patio and limited spaces gardens, dwarfs indeed have their place. And all 4 are bred for their taste!
Sometimes I think mother nature confuses a little =) Fruit trees don't like the freezing nights, and yet, peaches and pears are already in bloom!
So we wrapped all the blooming fruit trees in huge plastic drum liners - and I'm glad we did, temperatures last night dropped below freezing, my thermometer this morning was showing 24F. But this morning, after the rays of sun hit the fruit trees, I was very pleased to see healthy blooms still
It's been a while, too busy at work, but time to update blog...
Few weeks ago, first, earlies were transplanted into the larger pots. Healthy, thick stems developed in the cool basement under the florescent tubes:
And now, sitting in the 6" azalea pots, reaching near 16" in height:
Since most of these are determinate (as with most "extra early" varieties), next weekend these will be planted into 10-18gal containers (depending on the mature growth habit). There is a nice south side wall of the garage where the sun is on all day from 7:30am and till about 5pm or so. So during the day, until the weather stabilizes, out they go, and back inside the garage with the sundown. Really hoping for some May tomato, but June will do too!
