March 27 2015

Tomato seeds planted on 3/19 have not sprouted above soil yet, but I wasn't using the heat mat this time since they are in the same trays as the already germinated stuff and didn't want to dry everything out.   So these should be coming up over the next week.

Reisetomate seeds arrived today along with some bonus cilantro seeds. I'll plant these both this weekend.

Reisetomate

I may get these seeds because they are so weird shaped...Reisetomate.  What a great mutation.  This seems like a "ribbed" phenotype that has gone to the next level. !

2015 Germination

Everything I sowed March 7 has germinated pretty well.  I was very happy to see my CPxIR seeds germinated well!  ~80%.    I was then eager to see if I could already see phenotypic differences intermediate between CP and IR.  I believe that the F1 cotyledon leaves are greener and larger than those of the IR seedlings, suggesting they really were fertilized with CP pollen.   On the other hand the F1s seem to have a darker color in the stems than the parental CPs.   Won't know for sure if they were cross-pollinated till fruit emerges.

Since I had no more seeds left for Flamme (FL) and Hawaiian Currant (HC), I had to re-order these and   sowed them yesterday, March 19, along with some extra CP and BC seeds, and sweet basil.

Some more notes and thoughts

Looks like I will only plant about 10 of the varieties from last year.  I should put down lots of tarp - and early - it's totally worth it.

Here is my list to plant this year.

Black Cherry, Cherokee Purple, Costoluto Genovese, Flamme, Green Zebra, Hawaiian Currant, Indigo Rose, Kellog's Breakfast, Mortgage Lifter, Orange Slicer, Super Sauce, and the CPxIR hybrid seeds. = 12 varieties.

CPxIR hybrids: Plant them all as I'm not sure if these will germinate well - since I harvested these myself.

I plan to sow these next Saturday March 7 2015.

Var.	Sow	3" Pots	Garden
BC	4	3	2
CP	10	9	8
CG	8	7	6
FL	4	3	2
GZ	6	5	4
HC	4	3	2
IR	10	9	8
KB	8	7	6
ML	12	9	8
OS	10	7	6
SS	10	9	8
totals	86	71	60

And also, CPxIR, sow 12+ seeds.
It's OK to sometimes plant 2 seeds in single seedling pots at sowing stage.  e.g. For ML if goal is to have 8 live plants in garden, sow 12 seeds across 8 seedling pots so some will be doubled up. Helps ensure the numbers will be maintained at the transplant stage.

Some choice Mortgage Lifters and a Super Sauce at just under 1 lb

From summer 2014.  

And notes for next years gardening

1.  Need to be more aggressive about weed control .  The tarp strips worked really well but need to use more.

2.  Keep fruit and branches off the ground.  I lost a lot of fruit that way.   Prune low branches aggressively.   Tie up things better.

Summary thought on 2014 varieties

Airy leaf:  ok but not as impressive as super sauce.

Better bush:  I got a few, nice round red tennis ball size, but not super prolific in the end.

Black Cherry: As last year, this is a very prolific cherry.   With about 4 plants I had a lot of these and I canned 2 quarts. Still a great plant.  Good taste.

Black from Tula:  similar to Cherokee Purple in color and size, but BFT are often a little bigger and weirder shaped.  Still nice, great flavor .

Costoluto Genovese:   I think it's worth planting again,  as it was not bad for yield and it's a great deep red fluted fruit, and sauces surprisingly well.  It is prone to end rot and otherwise softens/rots very quickly on the vine.  

Cherokee Purple:  lived up to high expectations:  good yield, great fruit & flavor.  Rounder than BFT.  Plant again!

Flamme:  still did well , nice yield.  

Green Zebra:   Nice yield but I didn't get to many of them in time due to vacation, and the plant location (the ones in the back got less live).  Still a good one.

Hawaiian currant :  still a great currant.   Super prolific.   Only need 1 or 2 plants.

Indigo Rose:  hardly harvested any, though they made lots;  too overgrown in the back there,  but it accomplished my goal for cross-pollination attempts.

Kellogs Breakfast:  did pretty well and I like these big yellow fruit.

Mortgage lifter :   As widely regarded, this was prolific, grew well and had great fruit.  Tasty.  Plant again for sure.

Orange Slicer:  did well, was prolific, good tomato.    Just barely darker orangey than KB.   

Pink ping pong:   I don't recall seeing these at all (1 plant , planted late) but the location in the back row was pretty overgrown with weeds.

Red pear:  my kid seemed to like these last year so I planted this again.   But despite fantastic yield,  the fruit was very susceptible to disease, bugs and spoiling, so I didn't pick many.   Won't plant it next year.

Super sauce:   I liked these a lot.  Got some fruit up to ~1 pound.   Need to support these better to keep the gravy trusses off the ground!!