repentantslide said:

Maybe they just really like tomatoes

If I had exactly the room to grow 25 tomatoes I would grow 25 tomatoes and nothing else.

@Newyorkrita has lots of pepper plants to. Something near 100, IIRC.

My tomato plants were all like 8-10 inches high before the heat wave hit about a week and a half ago, now they're almost all 2+ feet. Crazy how fast they grow in nice weather!

Back to crappy low temperatures and rain this coming week though... large sigh

SoCalGardenNut said:

Newyorkrita has lots of pepper plants to. Something near 100, IIRC.

Yup, planted 110 so far. Maybe afew more to plant. 5 maybe.

I was just out doing a walkabout in the crappy weather too look at all my tomato plants. Seems like the two days of rain has made them grow!!

You are like me Rita.......I watch my tomatoes to close.

Paul2032 said:You are like me Rita.......I watch my tomatoes to close.

There is no such thing as watching tomatoes to close.

Remember that tomato seedling I mistakenly bought and Rita advised me tp plant it? Well, Wednesday I'll try to plant it by myself. (If I can't, it'll have to wait for my garden helper to rescue it!)

When I got it home, I discovered it was bone dry and VERY root bound, so I up-potted, watered and stuck it with my other tomato seedlings. And therein lies the problem: the "pot" was a 5-pound METAL coffee can (the only thing I had bigger than my standard final "pot", the same size around as it's too small "pot") and in one week, that seedling more than doubled its size!

The coffee can has a "lip", so the seedling can't just slip out......can I run a knife around the lip, so the seedling can slip out? Will this cut off all its side roots so starve the plant? I can't figure out a way to get the seedling out, unless I mangle the can (which I don;t care about) and do harm to the seedling (which I DO care about).

Maybe I should just call my helper and have him bring some tin snips. . .

Near perfect weather here. I spent most of the afternoon watering my tomatoes, admiring them, reading a good paperback , and nursing down a large delicious cold Diet Cherry Pepsi. I found my first tomato, a tiny Momotaro Gold. I did some searching for info on Montomaro Gold and its history is quite fascinating. It is a Japanese tomato that has a long and interesting history. Worth a look. I look forward to it growing and ripening so I can give it a taste. I'm growing 25 varieties and will list them later......

Bet...I was typing while you were doing your question so will answer here. I don't think disturbing the roots a little will set the plant back much. My experience is that tomatoes are pretty rezilient. Tin snips are probably a good idea.

Paul2032 said:Bet...I was typing while you were doing your question so will answer here. I don't think disturbing the roots a little will set the plant back much. My experience is that tomatoes are pretty rezilient. Tin snips are probably a good idea.

Yup. I agree with Paul. Not to worry about disturbing the roots too much and do what you need to do to get the plant out. It will be fine as long as you keep it watered.

All my new tomato seeds that I put in a few weeks ago have sprouted. I now have Abe Lincoln.

SoCalGardenNut said:All my new tomato seeds that I put in a few weeks ago have sprouted. I now have Abe Lincoln.

I've had my eye on the Lincoln. Let me know how it does. Now that I'm planning to move to Phoenix, my climate will be much more similar to yours, would make your experiences more relevant to me.

Plus I just like growing anything big and tasty, and Lincoln looks big, and I truly believe you can grow any variety to be tasty if you have the right conditions.

repentantslide said:

I've had my eye on the Lincoln. Let me know how it does. Now that I'm planning to move to Phoenix, my climate will be much more similar to yours, would make your experiences more relevant to me.

Plus I just like growing anything big and tasty, and Lincoln looks big, and I truly believe you can grow any variety to be tasty if you have the right conditions.

How soon do you plan to move? I didn't know you can move that fast. Don't you need to sell your house first? How about job, are you retired yet? I'm already retired, btw.

There are a lot of big tomato seeds, I had to exercise some restraint when it comes to tomato seeds.
This is my year for gardening. Next year, I will travel for 3 months to celebrate our 30 years anniversary. By the time I come back, I have to start over from scratch. My kid will not be taking care of my garden.

I won't move until October or maybe November if I have to wait on something. I don't have a house to sell. And my job will transfer me anywhere in the country that I ask them to.

Wonderful job. I wish ours was like that, we had to retire or else.

Yesterday, I finished planting 5 heirloom tomatoes, in containers, in the front of my house: today, they all had their first bloom.

As for that heirloom tomato in the metal coffee can (I cringe just saying that ) my helper comes this weekend with his tin snips to rescue it and plant it in my side raised bed.

As huge as its getting, he may not NEED the tin snips. . . I'm starting to have visions of finding a mound of soil from it splitting the can , , , or seeing roots coming out the sides!










as

I've been pinching off leaves in one tomato bed. The sun needs to get in there. I'm embarrassed to tell you how many plants I have in there. Mum is the word.

I had to prune a bunch of lower leaves off of tomato plants before the rain hit this week because cold + rain + leaves touching ground = dead tomato plant.

Yep, cloudy, rain, sprinkling and cool nights has not been kind to my tomatoes this year.

We have had a very rainy Spring here also. I guess the tomato and pepper plants like it as it helps them grow.