Tomatoes planted

I planted in my seed house several varieties of tomatoes on Feb. 15

Today I transplanted them in the garden, under a plastic rings cover.

I have been trying for several years now to find varieties of indeterminate tomatoes that do well in the slightly cooler temperature of the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Here is what I am planting this year.

Stupice - (Solanum lycopersicum) - this is a variety I am now grow every year.
A Czechoslovakia Heirloom sent to the U.S. from the by Milan Sodomka circa 1990.
It is a compact plant with potato leaf foliage loaded with clusters of 2-4 inche fruits.
55-70 days from transplant, heavy yields all season, indeterminate.

Ukrainian Purple or Purple Russian - A new variety I am trying.
A Ukrainian heirloom sent to the US from Irma Hemkel circa 1980.  
A tall plant with interesting dark green 'feathery' foliage with plum-shaped fruits are purple-red, smooth and perfect. 3-4 inch fruits and 6 ounces.  
75 days from transplant, heavy yields all season, indeterminate.
Flavorful, sweet, meaty flesh, Resistant to cracking.
One of the best varieties for salsa, fresh eating, and beautiful and delicious in salads, but they are also tasty cooked. 

Black prince -  A new variety I am trying
Originally from Irkutsk, Siberian Russian, this is a black Heirloom tomato.
A tall plant, This is a fairly early tomato, and one that is more apt to set fruit in cool climates. 
Slightly pear-shaped fruit are deep garnet red with some dark chocolate brown and black.
Medium sized with 2 1/2 inch diameter average 4 oz.
60 days from transplant, heavy yields all season, indeterminate.
Tomatoes are full of juice and incredibly rich fruity flavors. This is a tomato that chefs I deliver to rave about for it's rich flavors. 
Very popular in Russia that there is now a company in Volograd that is producing an extract of the Black Prince called "Black Prince Tomato Oil." The Black Prince tomato is said to have considerable health benefits beyond the presence of lycopene.  

Missiouri Pink -  A new variety I am trying.

An American Heirloom Grown since the Civil war by the Barnes family who grew it as an ornamental, believing (as many people did at the time) that tomatoes or "love apples" were poisonous
Best grown in tall cages, This potato-leaved variety produces big beefsteak, pink fruit.
Large sized 
75-85 days from transplant yielding 1-3 fruits per cluster
are slightly sweet and very rich-tasting, juicy, meaty texture.

Starts stalled

Lesson learned. My starts, after shooting up and looking great after a couple days, slowed down then turned yellow on the top of the starter leaf and purple on the underside of the leaf. The plants stopped growing.

After adjusting the water. Schedule and adding some compost tea mix to the water to increase the NPK levels, they are off and running again. This has taken a few weeks off of their growth.

I went to my fallback plan and hit the master gardeners sale again.
I put them in the ground last weekend. It has gotten cold again and the plants cold use some cover.

I will post the types in the ground soon.

Tomatoe starts

The digital thermostat hooked up to the heat mat has fully automated this with precise control.
I drilled enough holes in the box to drop the temperature down to lights on 72 degrees. With the mat, I am able to hit germination temp of 80 degrees, day grow temp of 75 and night temp of 65.
Ambient temp outside the box is 45 degrees at night and 50 in the day.

Sprouts are healthy and germination rate is 95%.

With the dome I

Seed starts

I built a small germination box. It is 20 inches deep by 30 inches wide and 18 inches tall.
It fits a single 10x 20 seed tray with a 4 bulb 24" long T5 grow light. Using 6500 temperature buLbs.

The box is made of 3/4" insulating hard foam panels with reflective coating on inside side.
In the garage, where temperatures hit a low of 45 degrees, the box held between 78 and 82 degrees with the seed heat mat.
When I turned on the grow lights, temp hit 113 degrees.
So I made an alternate front that I drilled 12 1/2" holes into. This dropped the temperature to 92 degrees with the mat turned off.

I will need to buy a temperature thermostat controller for the heating pad to turn it off when the lights are on.

Seeds were planted 2 days ago in it.

I also have started sugar anne peas in the greenhouse. They are coming up nice, need to be planted soon.
I plan on putting the around the tomatoe cages.

Tomatoe cages

I have perfected the tomato cage by using Neil's design and painting it. I am makings about 20 of these. Everyone wants at least 3.

Soil test

I received the official results of the soil test. Recommended I add gypsum, 3lbs per 100 SF.
The ph was 7.0. Every other category was optimum to near optimum levels.

Recommendation was to add 6" of compost every year and supplement with added nitrogen.

Seed order

Ordered seed today
Last frost here is February 15, first frost is 11/30.
I will keep the row cover on until may 1 or so.

Lemon Cuke Cucumber CU103
Turkish Orange Eggplant EG134
Arugula - 1 oz OG106-C
Arugula Pronto OG121
Red of Florence Onion ON103
Orange Bell PP137 1 $2.75
Emerald Evergreen Tomato TG102
Stupice Tomato TM199
Black Prince Tomato TP104
Black Mauri (Black Moor) Tomato TP134
Thessaloniki Tomato TM101
Parris Island Cos Lettuce LT101
Little Gem Lettuce - 1 oz LT116-C
Rouge d'Hiver Lettuce LT105
De Morges Braun Lettuce LT145
Crisp Mint LT150
Envy Soya Beans SY101
Sugar Ann Snap Pea 1/2 lb SN107-F
Evening Sun - Sunflower FL733
Red Sun Sunflower FL912
Autumn Beauty - Sunflower FL720
Giant Primrose - Sunflower FL734

Cover

I built a nice row cover and. The lettuce has been growing terrific. I am going to keep the cover on through April at least, to give the tomatoes a warmer start.

Soil test 1-27-13

Ph 7.3
K high
Phos Med High
Nitrogen High (finally)

I will be getting a prof. Test done soon.

Fall soil change

After I pulled the summer garden out, I put a bag of chicken manure, added azomite and lots of the compost we made. Planted vetch wooly and fave beans and lettuce
It has been in ground for 3 months now. I think I will take a sample and get it analyzed. Been waiting until year 3 to do this, to get the soil built up.
Still not enough worms.

Lettuce ready.

The lettuce I planted after the tomatoes is done

First frost

We had the first frost this past week.
I moved the hothouse from the lettuce bed to cover the pepper tree. It didn't do so well, loosing many of its leaves. Looks like it will come back in spring
I bought another 20 clips and will drill out the wood to install the hoops over the rest of the bed length, using Home Depot 4 mil plastic again. Lasts about 2 years then gets brittle.
Plan on making something more permanent for the pepper tree.
Using electrical conduit.

iPad app

I just got the iPad app for blogger, should make this easier for me.

It is well into fall now, having skipped a year of blogging I have some catching up to do!

Progress

The garden has taken off.  Nonie has requested a spot for container gardening.  She misses the spot she gave to Linda.
Planted two pumpkins in the back area.
Tested the soil that George brought in.  PH 75., Nitrogen Med. , Potassium Med , Phosporus High.
Good soil for first year.

The lettuce I planted, 3/4 of the packets labeled as lettuce had tomatoe seeds....

Planning winter garden now.
Re-did the drip system in one section.  Seems to work better.  1/4 spray one directions, 1/4 soaker hose the other direction.  12" spacing.

Lettuce planted

I put the lettuce in the seedhouse.  I have some trays that fit 50 plants each, three of them.
Lettuce is in two, Misc in the third.

Expansion Done

We are entering our second summer growing season with the new expansion project complete with the fence in place the two new boxes are ready for planting. After the board meeting on 5/1 a few members expressed interest in participating in the community garden project.

Neal Wooley said he would help dig holes for future expansion and will contribute some cash. Neal will take half of one of the new planter boxes. Once the dead oak near the end of the garden is removed two more posts can be set, extending the perimeter of the garden. I'll mark the where the holes need to be dug after the tree is down on 5/9. Neal please feel free to start planting now.

Joanne Woldhagen helped move a few yards of soil and contributed cash and started planting in the low box. I would like to rebuild this box to match the lumber and height of the original planter boxes at the end of this summer season.

I thought I heard that the couple who are the web masters for the Chemeketa website are interested in participating. Linda, I don't have their contact information, can you check with them to see if they would like to join? If so the other half of the box Neal is in is available and if they decline that box is available for someone else. 

Dan will take one of the two new smaller planter boxes adjacent to his current boxes. 

Linda expressed interest in the second smaller box. Nonie Mosby indicated that Linda can take her spot where the strawberries are planted, Linda can you please confirm.

Jody, Claire, Yelena and I are taking one of the two new large planter boxes and will stay in our original planter box.

As for the expenses for the expansion project, I purchased wood from Mintons Lumber when they were going our of business last September. I needed to get some additional lumber and supplies to complete the expansion. The additional materials came to $800 which included additional planter box lumber, fence posts, cement, cloth wire to keep the moles out, screws, cement, soil/compost and the dump truck rental. So far I've collected $590 in donations, thanks to all that have contributed!

We now have enough area for 4 to 6 additional 6'x4'x2' planter boxes, depending on how they are laid out. I estimate the cost for one planter box including lumber, soil, truck rental and tax cost $400. If we butt them end to end and build more than one at a time the cost would go down. Once we have the current expenses covered we can gauge interest in expansion for existing participants or new participants and begin fundraising. I'm sure we would all enjoy more area for planting.

SeedHouse Spinach "New Zeland" (Spinacia oleracea)

Spinach Sprouts:
This is a very old Heirloom, said to have been brought to England by Captain Cook's expedition.  It has been grown in North America since the colonial times.

The spinach has sprouted in the seedhouse, seems to be keeping warm inside.
The Spinach is "New Zeland" (Spinacia oleracea) - 60 days to harvest
I bought these seeds from VictorySeeds.com last year.
by it's very nature, it naturally has a low germination rate and is dificult to start.
The federal germination standard is 40%.  I soaked the seeds in warm water for a couple of hours.

Santa Clara County Master Gardener Sale / Tomotoes planted

Annual Master Gardner Sale: On saturday I picked up some tomatoes, lettuce, peppers.
They had a recommendation to plant two like type tomotoes in the same cage.  In their experiece the plants together will yield the same amount as a single plant.  I am going to try this and I planted them today.
Planted:  I put two Classics tomatoes together: Stupice and Glory of Moldova
and I put two Beefsteak together:  Aker's West Virginia and Brandywine from Croatia.
Like all the plants in the Garden, All are Open Pollinated varieties.
Stupice:  Czech origin, very early, cold tolerant, highly productive, small very flavorful fruit. Holds well. Red Indet  52 days
Glory of Moldova:  Gorgeous golden globes grow in clusters of 4-6.  Flesh is a deep golden orange and flavor is fruity & Sweet.  Highly rated in taste tests.  Early and consistently productive throughout the season.  Gold, Semi 80 days.
Aker's West Virginia:  Vigorous plants produce big harvests of delicious 1 lb tomatoes with sweet, rich flavor and very little cracking or other blemishes.  Family heirloom from West Virginia,  Taste test winner.  Red Indet 80 days
Brandywine from Croatia:  Productive, large, meaty pink tomato with delicious, complex flavor.  Very tender skin.  Regular leaf.  Rare, only available from Santa Clara Master Gardeners.  Pink Indet 85 days

I need to get a calender together to track days to Harvest.
Although the Nitrogen tested higher than last year, I am a little reserved about planting the tomotoes in the same place as last year.

all the walls and roof are on the seed house.  I still need to seal the panels in and I am going to tile the bottom to increase the thermal mass of the space.  I need to put in a shelf also.  Seems to working well.  I moved my seeds into it and also put the lettuce, peppers, eggplant and remaining tomatoes I got from the sale that still needs to harden off.

Spring has Arrived - March 13, 2011

I pulled out most of the overwinter compost crop from section 2 and put it in the composter.  The soil underneath appeared to be darker and richer.  The mix of plants is supposed to increase the nitrogen in the soil, which will be needed as the tomatoes were in Section 2 last summer.
I started some seeds today, lettuce and spinach.
I also tested the soil from Section 2.  PH is 6.5, Nitrogen in Med, Phosphorus is high and Potasium is medium.  This is improved from last spring, all were low.