Sunday, February 25, 2007

ToMayTo ToMahTo


There is a very good story about tomatoes in the last issue of Cabinet magazine, which can be read here (it's probably too late now to find the magazine still on the shelf).
I've got my seed packets fanned out in front of me - Pink Brandywine, Yellow Pear, Stupice and Principe Borghese - and I'm hurting my brain over whether to get them started a bit earlier this year. I have noticed on several blogs that people already have them germinating. Is this a good thing? Might it result in produce ahead of blight? Or are they going to be very leggy and weak? I usually don't get them started before the end of March. But then I've had to throw away half the crop (or more) the last few years when they succumb to the inevitable. Hmm...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would normally start my tomatoes in a few weeks, but I grow them outside.

If you grow them under glass or plastic, and put them out several weeks earlier, now might be a good time to start them.

For blight to infect a plant, the leaves need to be wet. If you grow your tomatoes under cover where the rain can't get to them, and you are careful not to otherwise get them wet, they can't get blight.

The reason a lot of people may seem to be starting their tomato seeds early is because they aren't growing them outside.

Anonymous said...

What a delightful assortment of tomatoes. I cannot help you with the planting dilemma as the season here is so different.

Your self portrait is a bit scarey now. What big teeth you have Miss Hathorn. Is this your dark side?

Misshathorn said...

Thanks for the advice, Patrick. I do grow them outdoors although if I get my greenhouse finished soon, I may try some inside as well.

Misshathorn said...

Q - is this better?

Anonymous said...

Well it's definitely much cheerier. And I quite like it.