Growing Tomatoes

I have a bunch of extra pots and would like to grow some tomatoes this summer. A friend gave me a bunch he grew last year and the taste put the store bought tomatoes to shame.

I got full sun all day on my deck. When is the best time to plant the starts and what varieties do the board tomatoes experts like?
Thanks for your input.
SF

Not what you would call an "expert," but I grow them every year, so I have a fair amount of experience.

Full sun is a great start. Pots are also good, provided they are large enough to support the roots, which grow quite large when the plants really take off, as plants directly in the ground tend to collect slugs, especially when the fruit starts kicking.

I suggest you wait until at least May to plant (or buy starts, which I usually do). June may be even better. The freezing isn't much of a risk by mid-April, but as you know, the rain doesn't slow down around here until June, and too much rain early in the season can cause the roots to rot or develop mold, neither of which is good. When you do plant, mix some good compost/chicken poop/steer manure/etc. into your soil. If the rain doesn't take care of it for you, make sure the plants get a good watering after planting, to prevent the fertilizer from "burning" them. They will probably look a little sad the first week or two, while they adjust to the new digs, but don't worry; they're pretty hardy and will generally come back with a vengeance very soon.

Because our growing season is relatively short, I recommend sticking with small-to-medium varieties. Cherry tomatoes do great. Romas and Early Girls are good choices in the small slicer category. If you find heirloom plants, give one a shot. Sometimes those do pretty good, and the fruit they produce is amazing. There is a variety of fist-sized slicers from Oregon that I have had good success with; the name escapes me now. I quit messing with big slicers like Beefsteaks years ago; you're lucky to get one good tomato before the plants wilt and die in this climate.

Beware the temptation of growing too many plants. Once they start fruiting, especially the small varieties that do best here, they are relentless. You will probably not eat more fruit than three or four plants will provide, and even at that number you're likely to have some to share with friends.

Lastly (this one's somewhat controversial), if you see the frosts of fall approaching fast and still have nothing but green tomatoes on your plants, don't be afraid to start picking the green ones and placing them on a sunny window sill to ripen over a few days. I've had people tell me that makes garden fresh tomatoes no better than the store-bought ones, but I couldn't disagree more. Besides, fried green tomatoes are delicious, so why not have a few green ones on hand?

If we have a typical transition from spring to summer to fall, you should start getting good fruit in August, and they will keep coming through most of October. Good luck, and enjoy!

The only thing I can add to what fleaflickr said is to get at least one plant of sungolds. They're a little bigger than cherry tomatoes, are ripe when they are a yellow orange color,are very prolific and really fuckin good.

Another vote for Sungolds. They ARE fuckin good... and I don't even really like tomatoes.

Our Lincoln peas were the star last year and will be here long before any tomatoes. I can't wait!

Beware!

Roma tomatoes are very good for cooking.

Use the search, this topic has come up several times. Go with the early girls.

Love tomatoes.....wife doesn't

Sweet 100's and Early Girls are my go-to producers

I will seek out some Sungolds this season. All those rave reviews can't be an accident. Thanks in advance, Dudes.

If you find one, stick a SunSugar tomato plant in one of those pots. Better yet, put the plant in the ground. SunSugar is supposed to be an improved SunGold. It's a very sweet tomato; I've seen claims stating its orange fruit is four times sweeter than a red cherry tomato. Here's a bit of info on some cherry varieties:

http://www.sunset.com/garden/best-cherry-tomatoes-00400000040994/

Great info and suggestions. Much appreciated.
SF

I always had success planting the tomato plants inside the opening on a tire. Same principle as black plastic.

We started ours a couple weeks a go. We have been accumulating our seed "library" for a couple years. At the end of the year , we just squeeze seeds out on paper towels and let them dry. In the spring , just moisten the towel, scrape the seeds off and stick them in the Jiffy pot.


We have some strange ones, like Black Japanese Triffle, which is roma shaped and excellent for making sauce. (BTW, blossom end rot can be caused by low potassium) and Blue Cherry , which actually starts out black on the vine and slowly turns very dark purple/bluish. Sun Gold can produce hundreds and our vines sometimes hit 12'+. The school bus stops just down the trail and the kids are welcome to pick as many as they can. They hardly leave a dent.

Find the Tomato jiffy starter pod things. Not the little ones, but the 4" ones. There are 36 in a tray. Check at Freddies. We have two trays going under lights. We use pretty simple lights, plant and aquarium f40.



Here are some shots from the previous few years

(a few store bought mixed in ...)

The upside down things fill in spots nicely


I am going to try and keep up with the pictures this year.

When those hit about 5 or 6" I will transplant to the 5" pots. Those stay under lights until mid-late May, and then start spending days outside. Eventually as it warms, I will leave them out overnight and soon, like first or second week of June depending on weather into the ground. Just keep hoping for a nice September and you could have more tomato's than your neighbors know what to do with

Great info for a tomato raising neophyte with a black thumb, I have been taking notes as I love fresh tomato's.


Fishy

the upside down bucket thing has always fascinated me.
Any tricks?

We have had the upside down things growing around here for a few years. We have usually just stuck things like Patio, Snow White and other cherry type things in them. They do OK. They are pretty easy to deal with once you get the plant in. Be sure to start with a small plant or something with a small root ball. You have to stick it in through the bottom, put the gasket thing around it, fill it with dirt and water. Pretty easy.

A couple more tips from a guy who has been growing them here for 50 years.

Do NOT water unless they are wilting and NEVER water the foliage. Do not fertilize with nitrogen ever and very sparingly with other fertilizers. If you overwater and over fertilize you will get ten foot tall plants and tons of green tomatoes but no ripe ones.

The guys who grow in pots tend to get more ripe tomatoes because the plants are not as happy in a pot as in the ground. They fruit when stressed. Keep them slightly stressed and on a diet and they will fruit faster.

As far as late blight it’s a real killer here. I keep a big sheet of plastic over mine form late August on. In part for heat but mostly to keep that late rain off the plants.

Do not try to grow huge fruited varieties like Beef types. We just do not have the warmth to reliably ripen mid or long season varieties. The wall O water seems to help a bit . . .

P.S. I remove all suckers as soon as they appear. If you have a limb with no tomato larger than a pea by the end of August, remove it . Blossoms not set by August 1st will not make it.

Those are some great tips DV. Gutz setup is inspiring. Thank guys.

Thought I'd bring this back up.
So the tomatoes are doing well based on my less then stellar track record of growing them. Thanks to everyone for the advice.
SF

Mine are okay, but not great. iI have had about five ripe so far - all from Glacier. These are small and only slightly better than what we get at Safeway, which is dim praise indeed. The next flavorful ones are still at least two weeks away.

I grow several varieties of tomatoes every year. This year I have 2 Italian sweets (small roma looking, great flavor), 2 Glaciers, 1 sungold, 1 roma, 1 sweet million, 1 early girl, 1 bush early girl, and 1 stupice. I get lots of sun at my place and water all plants by hand. They are doing exceptionally well this year thanks to the great weather.

DV's tips are spot on, plus to quicken the end of season ripening...don't water at all.

I've been trying to keep my girl from watering them...she sees all those big fruits on them and can't help herself from thinking they are about to die if she doesn't water them thoroughly. Thanks to Dave, she now believes me

Anyone grow many peppers? I know this is not a good climate for them, but I have a few plants, two of which actually have a nice pepper each growing on them. I never water them, either...am I doing it right on those?

I figure I'd water them if they start to severely wilt but we get enough moisture here in the air overnight and in the mornings that they haven't wilted at all yet.

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. I have an heirloom Roma of some sort in a bucket and it not only has 24 fruits on a plant that's about two feet tall, it adds one to three every day. The biggest ones are nearly maximum sized, about four inches long and pretty thick throughout. Never been fed, and hasn't been watered since it was first planted a couple of months ago.

Todd,
I grow jalapenos, this year three varieties...regular, mucho nacho, and mammoth. The mammoth is a new to me, but the plant is healthy. Fruit comes on in August. Favorite way to eat them is to cut them in the half length-wise, scoop out seeds, fill each half with goat cheese, wrap each half in bacon.....grill slow and low. Wash them down with ice cold beer and life is good.
Snake

Snake,
That pepper recipe sounds great. May have to try that next year.
SF

SF,
They are really good, but don't wait until next year. I get my goat cheese at Costco or Trader Joes, jalapenos you can buy at markets if you don't grow any. The trick with the bacon is to par boil it first so it's fairly cooked but still pliable to wrap the pepper. I usually use a toothpick to keep it all together. I place them on a mesh grill that sits on my barbecue grill. Dipping sauce is a sweet red pepper jam that Pasta & company sells.....stuff goes well on anything, even hamburgers.
Snake

I don't have any problem with eating peppers...I want to find out if I am growing them correctly!



Fish on...

Todd

you can water them once a day Todd depending on heat will determine how much... a good option is to install a soaker hose into the garden bed and then just grab your hose, connect to it, and turn it on for a bit....

this way you arent watering the foliage, and leaving beads which can cause severe burning depending on how much sun you get...water in the morning, so the plants can suck it up and use it during the day...

I water my jalapenos daily and they get lots of sun. I also hit them will Miracle Gro mixed with water occasionally. I have 10 plants in the ground and two in pots, they do equally well.

BTW, my two beds of walla walla's are rocking. Beer tempura batter, deep fried onion rings very soon.

As an organic option to Miracle Gro for veggies we're gonna eat, we amend with organic okara (soy pulp). Picked a couple of 5 gallon buckets for *free* at the local plant in February. When you see how big and healthy your veggies get by comparison, you'll say "Holy soy shizl!" too. Don't have to worry about the Monsanto effect either....

I'm starting to see more significant growth of my plants, and I stopped picking off the flowers that they said to do early on, along with the suckers, to promote better plant growth. I'm not watering them as heavily either, but a soaker hose runs through them on the way to other plants on the next terrace level.

I am NEVER concerned about growth on my tomato plants, and I do not understand the idea of picking off blooms. If we don't get fruit on blooms by August 15th its unlikely they will mature.


I want to repeat someones earlier advise about Late Blight. If you h get a hard rain on your toms after mid August there is a good chance you will be wiped out by late blight. Tomatoes need to be covered to keep off late summer rains. If late blight hits you will lose all your plants almost overnight.

As much as I would like to have shown pictures of my wanna be vegie garden this year.... I'm just to emmbarrased to even show what a pitiful effort it has become... Nothing more than a damn fool weed patch is what I have to show for this year.

Strike Zone's wife must be related to mine. Caint even keep a cactus alive in the freakin desert, cause a cactus doesn't ever have to be watered... right?.

I was told by a master gardener from WSU Skagit CountyMaster Gardener Program that the blight is in the soil and gets splashed up onto tomato plants by the rain or watering. She said to prevent this put some plastic on the ground under and around the plants. I haven't tried this because I grow all my tomatoes in a green house so I can't say that it works for sure.

blight can also be in the water, so if you gather your own rainwater, pay attention...

blight is a fungi, its spores spread throughout the air, just like all other molds and fungi... but it can also be in the water...

and, it can also be in the soil as you said...

you never want to splash any plants with dirt, if you are splashing your plants hard enough for dirt to end up on the leaves to cause blight, then you are watering your plants way too violently....

people think that "it will make them tougher" well, it can and does the exact opposite, you will get less fruit and it wont be as good...

as far as greenhouses, you can get every single type of pathogen in a greenhouse as you can in outside... they are EVERYWHERE... they are on you right now, as we speak...

treat your plants with respect, and they will reward you with their fruits...

i just proved this to my GF this year, by not gardening this year and letting her do it.... guess who won the comp?


chuck the Miracle Grow and go and get some organic "house blend" hydro nutrients from your local hydro store, and thank me later....

Sounds like you know your stuff.
I don't have any problems with blight because all I grow now are Sungolds. By growing them in the greenhouse I have a steady supply into November.

Now that's what I call Harvest!
(I once heard the Evangelist Ernest Angley say that at an African Missionary Gathering. It was hilarious. I used to enjoy laughing at him)

This is Dad with a bowl full of Black Japanese Triffle


This is another really cool one call Indigo Blue or Blue Cherry

This is a favorite - German Queen

These have done really well this year. We have 3 or 4 of these plants around - Campari

Bringing this back to the top. I bought my plants a couple weeks ago and they are growing nicely.
Next week looks like we may have some 70 degree weather.
Would it be ok to plant them or should I wait a few more weeks?
Thanks,
SF

i would wait.. as you know, we have weird weather here, and it could be 70 one week, and freezing the next..

a fairly safe bet is around Mothers Day..

with that said, you can put them out during the day, and bring them in at night to help acclimate them.

Mine are in my greenhouse, but I'll put three in the ground next to my front doorway....tons of sun, but under eaves so no direct rain, and warmth of the house will help.
I've planted one raised bed of Spanish sweet onions and tomorrow I'll do a bed of Walla Walla's. The first two rows of corn will go in Thursday.
Raspberries and grapes are budding nicely.
Snake

Thanks
I had pretty good results last year based on the info in this thread.
I'll wait a few weeks before planting them
SF

I am a very impatient person but have learned to wait. If you put out tomatoes now and again in a month they will fruit at very nearly the same time. Cold nights are not a tomatoes friend.

Years ago a sturdy by Organic Gardening found that small plants put out at the same time as larger ones actually reached maturity sooner. Go figure.

It is safe now to pant all leafy crops, peas, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, beet, parsnips, etc. IMHO it is too early to plant beans, corn, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, eggplants and any other heat loving plants.

Started 72 mostly Heirloom's the day we sprung ahead. I use the 36 pack Jiffy 50mm tomato flat things. They work great.

Here is a shot under the lights -


and here is a yesterday out in the Sun!

Back to the top again.
Got everything planted last weekend. The extended weather forecast calls for a pretty dry June.
Hope everyone has a good crop this year and thanks again for the info.
SF

Ours are outside now...fingers crossed

Fish on...

Todd

Mine have been outside protected by a wall-o-water for three weeks. Two plants now have a couple for fruit set on.

I got my plants the other day and plan to put 'em in the ground today. I wrapped new visqueen around my "tomato hothouse" frame, so they should be plenty warm.

BUMP.


So how's it going for you guys? I started Roma and Cherry seeds sometime in April and have been eating fresh tomatoes for a few weeks now. I started a bunch of seeds, picked the best seedlings and ended up with 6 Cherry and 4 Roma plants, they produced a couple hundred tomatoes and turned my lanai into a tomato jungle! Basil is going strong and my Jalapenos and Sweet Bells are flowering and look like they will produce some good yields. They will be taking over the space that my soon to be finished tomatoes are in.

It has been a hell of a year for tomatoes in the Pacific NW.

We started early and have been harvesting for months. The Sun Gold cherry tomatoes continue to be the best cherry tomatoes I've ever eaten. Great producer and incredibly sweet. We also grew Super Sweet 100's. As great as they are, in direct comparison to the Sun Gold, the flavor simply isn't as good and the skins are slightly thicker.

We're harvesting San Marzano tomatoes for sauces, and they are perfectly suited for it. Plus, they are great looking, with a rich red color in a medium-sized, pear-shaped form.

For larger ones, we're growing Early Girls, which is a classic and similar to a very, very good grocery store tomato.

We've abandoned all heirloom tomatoes we've grown in the past with the exception of Pink Brandywine. It might be the best eating variety we grow. Sliced with salt and pepper... damn!

Tons of Sun Gold cherries over the past month.
I've told the neighbors to start picking some as I have more then I can use.
Lots of Early Girls ripening up over the past few weeks.

Our tomato's are doing quite well. We have had a few surprises like these giant red ones. We thought they would be 1/2 as big as they are. They are bigger than your hand


This little Patio was one that Grandma really liked called Red Robin. Lots of very sweet tomato's on a short stout little plant

These are really cool , called Blue Cherry. They start almost black and slowly turn red

Black Japanese Triffle

Yellow Cherry


There are a bunch of others.

Good, but overall, we seem to have fewer Cherries so far this year. Still 6+ weeks to go ...

Our tomatos have been pretty good...heirloom varieties kind of halfass, all the cherries and romas have done really well.

Tomatillo plants are really coming on now, we'll be making salsa verde and mole soon

Fish on...

Todd

While my plants produced plenty of fruit I had trouble with leaf miners. I started spraying with a solution of Dr. Bonners soap/water with some good success early on. Unfortunately (for the plants) I got distracted by some good fishing, got behind on the spraying and the pest problem really took off towards the end. Anyone have a suggestion for other ways of safe bug control? Something with a longer range of effectiveness would be nice.

SNS 203, Jake...

This thread is making me hungry and per usual, Stam has it all figured out.

The new GF is a great little Gardner, so I've been getting treated to fresh goodies all summer. We've picked over 30 pounds of Blackberries and they just keep coming. I love summer in Washington and the gifts she gives us. I've lived most everywhere and there is not a better place to live.

We've had a pretty good year, as well...with the added bonus of having blue huckleberry plants with lots of fruits left all around our camping zone over the weekend, and even found a few handfuls of chantrelles without even trying, they were growing ten feet from a trail at a spot where I, apparently, was the first one in a while to venture off of to take a leak.

Snap peas, green beans, and shelling beans have been absolutely nuts this year. Potatos, too. Strawberries were the best I've seen. We aren't very good at Spaghetti Squash, it seems, at least not in quantity...but we have a handful in various stages of readiness out there and have eaten a couple already.

Beets, carrots, chard...all not too bad. Onions were awesome, too.

Planted kale a couple of weeks ago and it is six inches tall already.

We were snatching leaves off of a dozen or so lettuce plants of various varieties for a couple of months but left for a long weekend and they all bolted while we were gone...but it was a good run while it lasted.

Cucumbers have really been coming on lately...and though we have never had much luck with basil we have a fine crop of it this year.

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme...all very good.

Add in the freezer full of things that are dumb enough to be killed by me over the year and more often than not most, or all of our dinner comes from the garden and that freezer...and that's just fine by me.

Add in some canabis oil and I'm ready for the Zombie Apocalypse.

Fish on...

Todd

I prefer advice from people with jobs.

Anyone with a job want to second or shoot down foodstamp's advice for sns 203?

Bonide Eight worked well on our Flea Beetle problem.

http://www.bonide.com/lbonide/backlabels/l442.pdf

Best tomato year ever. Sungolds look like Xmas trees, my big fruit plants...Early Girl, Champion and Fantastic are awesome. Grape Juliets, Italian sweets and Roma are incredible.
Jalapenos were delicious last night with goat cheese and bacon on the grill. Corn is slow.
No bugs or blight, just #@$% raccoons in my grapes.

Steve, I haven't tried it because cutworms have not been a problem in our garden, but I hear that coffee grounds scattered around the base of the plant stems will keep them off the plants...doesn't kill them, but they won't eat the plants.

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. When it comes to herbicides/pesticides, we only use stuff that is good for organic food...there are plenty of things that will kill bugs and weeds in your garden that come with enough warnings on the label to make you think it was made in Chernobyl. Why people would consider putting stuff like that in their yard at all, much less on their food, is a mystery to me.

Beneficial nematodes , they come on a sponge you set in water then put in a sprayer. You can also use diotomaceous earth around the base of the plant. It cuts the worms. You can get both at most grange supply stores. You can also rake the soil around your plants if it will not disturb the roots and you can pick the worms up as they are disturbed . Keep your garden clean and always use nematode a through out the season.

Steve and all:

Plant a bunch of Marigolds or Basil (or any strong, aromatic plant) in-between your Tomato plants. Once the season is over, chop up the aromatic plants and till directly into the soil.

Also, when planting your Tomatoes in the spring, place a collar around each plant buried 1/2 into the soil. An empty yogurt cup with the bottom cut off works well. This help keeps Cutworms from moving from plant to plant during the season.

Good luck,

Been getting a few ripe tomatoes for a couple weeks now, which doesn't seem bad for starting them so late. We could use more tomatoes, but I haven't figured out how many plants is "just right" to fill our in season needs. I just have 4 plants.

Over did it on lettuce. Shoulda' planted about 1/4 as much. Some beets are big enough to eat, and peas are about ready. The squash is about to occupy the entire deer exclosure. I'm learning that butternut squash isn't suited to raised bed gardening. Got basil going good in a couple pots and more cilantro than we can use, but it's fun trying out stuff that's new to me.

Got my starts a few weeks ago.
Have them sitting near the heat register and they are liking it.
Hopefully we'll have another great great summer for growing tomatoes.
SF

Ours are about two inches tall, growing inside in the window...shaping up to be a good summer for tomaters!

Fish on...

Todd

Similar weather pattern in the mid 90's my notes show blight was really bad the 2nd warm winter. Use new soil or sterilize your old soil before you transplant this year. Then cover the area and do not top water.

The fungus among us live and breed in the soil. It's spores go airborne to expand its range. The rain hitting dry ground sends them air born as do birds and bugs etc. WSU told me only steaming the soil in the spring up to two feet deep and an area 2x the height of the tomato plant in circumference at maturity is the only guaranteed way to kill the blight. You can replace the soil with sterilized soil or treat with fungicides also. If you have never had blight I would think being less aggressive in treatment makes some sense. I have it so I steam the soil with a big ok Bon fire every spring .

Seeing massive amounts of bugs already as well. Saw flies are already tenting in the plum trees as well as pear slugs.

I bought some plants at Costco about a month ago and have noticed some of the lower leaves are showing brown spots that are growing in size. I cut off all the branches that had the brown, but what to do next? It would seem it might be early blight but don't know for sure. everything I've read says to treat with a fungicide, but is that safe later when you eat the fruit? The cherry tomato plant(called 100's) already has some blossoms.

are the leaves cupping upwards?

seem to be

Could be bacterial could be fungal post a pic. Typically it's from over watering and or too much fert. If I am the removing leaves phase with starts I chuck them because it's hard to know for sure what it is and you end up fighting it all season then it ends in disaster.

The instructions for the treatment will tell you how long you have to wait before you can eat it. Fungicides and bacterial soaps are mostly considered organic.

exactly RR, can you post a pic Jerry?

it could be alot of things, curling narrows it to a few, but still difficult without seeing....


if you have pest problems, try the SNS line (Sierra Natural Science), very good organic stuff, not cheap however, but you wont have to worry about having concentrations of bad chemical deposits in your plants or fruits/veg....

Perhaps you should try to get a job at a nursery...

Anyone get there starts yet?
Plan to get some Early Girls 50's this week.

They did pretty well for me last summer. Hope for the same this summer.
SF

I'll get mine from my sister. She starts a ton in her greenhouse as part of her organic farm business. I'm making my tomato cold frame more permanent. I painted the wood framing to match my house trim and ordered heavy gauge plastic sheeting from some gardener's supply. It's supposed to last at least 4 years. The extra heat it generates seems necessary to assure that my tomatoes all ripen before the first frost. I need to buy some hinges and a latch for the door today while I'm running errands.

I will plant heirloom, sungold grape or cherry variety, and Early Girl. That should make for some good eating come late summer.

Every year we plant a Sunsugar and a Sweet Millions tomato plant. Then, we add an "experimental" variety or two as we find them at the nursery. A couple years ago, we tried a white cherry, aka ghost tomato plant. Sickly yellow in appearance and disgusting in taste, it was a total waste of time, water and garden space. The nursery we bought it from said other gardeners had the same complaint.

Last year, besides the Sunsugar and Sweet Millions, we planted a black cherry tomato. It was quite prolific, not really black, and not tasty enough to be invited back for dinner.

Without some kind of life support, it's too early and too cold to plant tomato starts in the ground around here.

Yes, I have my starts inside right now. The cat I'm watching seems very interested in them.

I grow my tomatoes in pots as I really don't have a good space for a garden at my place. Besides tomatoes, what other types of veggies have folks had success with growing in pots?
I'm thinking maybe some cucumbers, onions and peppers this year as well.
SF

Nice lookin' stuff !

I remember fondly those big, red-fleshed, tasty tomatoes that Grandpa used to grow.
With mayo slathered on some bread, Grandma would make some dandy tomato sandwiches for us kids.

I can also remember having a big tomato sandwich and then meeting up with Tommy for some L&M cigarettes.
After some pulls off that L&M, I promptly projectile-puked that sammy out while Tommy laughed his ass off.

How are you guys' tomatoes doing so far?

I planted several, and it's mostly a few small pea size green tomatoes per plant. Nothing seems to be going gangbusters (yet).

Ok, but not great.
Biggest are around golf ball size.

I don't know what I did. Anaheim peppers were looking good but the just kind of fizzled out. Got two big peppers and the small ones are just dropping off the plant. Suggestions????
SF

None to eat yet.

Fish on...

Todd

The tops of all our plants got deer-pruned. New house, new problems.

Ate about a dozen Sundance so far (planted Sundance in place of Sungold this year. Supposed to be less susceptible to splitting.) I have 2 or 3 of the larger variety (forget the name again) that are just about ready to pick. Overall I'm having my best and earliest tomatoes ever.

I had a cherry tomatoe in a large pot on the deck a number of years ago. One evening towards the end of summer it was loaded and gorgeous and smelled heavenly from 50 feet away. I was gonna pick them all but wanted a picture and it was late in the day so I decided to wait until the morning. You can probably guess what happened and now I know deer will jump a gate and walk down a deck around a house to get at good tomatoes. The plant was a stump the next morning.

This is my first year gardening. I started these inside from seed in April. Not too many tomatoes yet, but plenty of growing season still to come.

Kind of a rough year for my toms so far. Planted early, when it looked like we were in for another hot, dry late spring. Weather changed. A couple plants are looking great, two more are so-so, and two were lost to blight.

The neighbors (peppers) are also a mixed bag. I planted good-sized bell pepper starts and some smaller Anaheim and Hatch chile starts in May. When the weather turned, all started flowering and producing fruit. I think they thought fall was here early. Anyway, the bell peppers are still growing and looking good. The chiles are perking up, but the peppers that started growing early on are rotting away. Those did well in the heat last year, but they don't seem to care much for more typical Western WA summers.

Peas, radishes, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, kale, and green beans all doing great, but they usually do in our climate. It's been a great year for berries so far.

I think you guys using greenhouses and other heat-trapping systems for tomatoes have the right idea. In typical seasons, we need all the extra heat we can get, especially to grow slicing varieties.

Flea -

You should try Wall-O-Waters. They are cheap and work great.

Wall-O-Water

Looks like a winner. Thanks, Nick.

My peppers are still doing fine but I've been pulling off all the flower buds as they've appeared. I'm hoping to get them bigger and hardier before some nice weather rolls in and let them go to fruit. Their growth rate has certainly slowed down the last couple of weeks though.

Thought ours were safe up against the house on an elevated patio too. One more day and they'll be perfect. Damn deer....