Raised beds have been built and cardboard placed under the trucked-in soil to smother the weeds. Of course Sebastian helped! Fence and gate have been built and installed (which Sebastian did not appreciate). I started my tomato seeds in February but found out my seed starting soil/mix had major problems and so had to throw the lot away and start again in March, so I’m way behind.
I purchased some tomato plants and those went in the ground on Wednesday April 27th. After one week, they have doubled in size which tells me I made a good choice on buying the Garden Mix “The Works” soil from Yard Works.
I wouldn’t mind buying all my tomato plants, but every nursery in the Carolinas seems to have the same 15-20 varieties of tomatoes they have at the big box stores. I don’t understand why when there are over 6,000 recognized tomato varieties. I even stopped at the best nursery in Charleston ( Abide-A-While Garden Center ) and they had less choices than Walmart. I wonder if there’s a market for heirloom tomato transplants in this area and where I would sell them.
Anyway, I transplanted my seedlings into 4″ pots yesterday and they are looking good. They’ll be ready to plant in about three weeks and should provide an extended harvest.
Varieties I bought:
- Atkinson — a medium red that appears unremarkable but has received many positive reviews in the past
- Big Beef — super productive tasty red globe (I like it more than the NC/SC standard Better Boy)
- Brandywine — finicky but mind-blowingly delicious sweet pink beefsteak, from the 1890’s
- Cherokee Purple — this dark purple beefsteak is the reason I grow tomatoes, from the 1890’s
- Pink Berkeley Tie Dye — crazy coloring and zippy citrus taste, developed by Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms
- Oxheart — super meaty heart shaped tomato has few seeds, great for sauce
- Sungold — #1 cherry tomato in Japan, phosphorescent orange cherry is super fruity and has two stages of ripeness
- Italian Wine — variety sold to me by a fellow at Charlotte Farmer’s Market. We’ll see if it lives up to the praise he heaped upon it!
Varieties I started seeds for:
- Earl’s Faux — my favorite pink beefsteak by far — productive and even tastier than Brandywine
- Indian Stripe — a cousin to Cherokee Purple
- Kalman’s Hungarian Pink — super productive elongated Roma type for sauce
- Lucky Cross — yellow/orange zippy bicolor beefsteak
- Neves Azorean Red — supposed to be a very tasty red
- Stump of the World — 1 1/2 lb lumpy pink beefsteak with tremendous flavor
- Wes — massive heart shaped tomatoes with few seeds, perfect for sauce
- Arkansas Traveler — reliable pink globe with gold speckles used widely for canning in Arkansas in the 70’s.
A few photos of varieties I’m growing this year:
Stump of the World (left), Brandywine (top right), and Earl’s Faux (bottom right)
Lucky Cross (left) and Sarnowski Polish Plum (right)