January 8 light snow - yep, it’s winter!
Those big “2020 garden year in review” blogs were monsters to write, but serve as a nice garden diary that I will be sure to look back on. After that last one, in late December, all sorts of things happened - Christmas, New Year, and both our birthdays. With that all out of the way (and an appropriate amount of extra poundage that will get dealt with in the coming warmer days of gardening and hiking), it’s time to think about what to grow - and how to grow it - for the coming year.
Before I start to ponder lists and decisions, today was a big milestone day - all seed requests that came in between mid 2020 and last week are now fulfilled. I’ve sent so many packets of seeds around the world that awaiting reports and results in late summer will be loads of fun. More big news - Mike Dunton at Victory Seed Company released more of our new Dwarf Tomato Project varieties, bringing the number to 134 varieties. The project continues on still, with some really exciting releases to come.
I also hope to restart the Friday Instagram Live sessions in mid February. They were so much fun to do last year and answering all of your garden questions in a sort of flash session was a great challenge. I’ve also got some Zoom webinars scheduled and sprinkled throughout the year. If any of them are open attendance, I will be sure to let you know and provide the appropriate link so that you can check them out.
OK - now on to the options for the garden this year
Tomatoes - too many options, ruthless decisions necessary
Last year I went overboard with my 133 plants. I lost control, the tomato jungle became a tomato mess, and the season was cut short by disease and critter attacks. But….was it ever fun! 63 quarts canned, mostly from the indeterminate large fruited types, superb flavors, and much was learned about gardening here in Hendersonville.
Growing indeterminates in straw bales worked well, so I will repeat that format and layout. I need to pay closer attention to staking, pruning and topping. 12 straw bales mean 24 indeterminate varieties.
My current top choices for the 24 indeterminate tomatoes will be started with all of the new hybrids I created last year. The first 8 are indeterminate X indeterminate. The next 9 are indeterminate X dwarf, or dwarf X dwarf (#16 below). #18-24, finishing off the straw bales, are top flavor indeterminate heirlooms.
Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo Family Heirloom
Ferris Wheel X Striped Sweetheart
Cherokee Chocolate X Stump of the World
Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Green Giant
Blue’s Bling X Polish
Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom
Cherokee Green X Caitlin’s Lucky Stripe
Blue’s Bling X Little Lucky
Blue’s Bling X Dwarf Mocha Cherry
Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Speckled Heart
Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum
Lucky Cross X Dwarf Buddy’s Heart
Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum
Lucky Cross X Dwarf Chocolate Heartthrob
Lucky Cross X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum
Dwarf Mr. Snow X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum
Don’s Double Delight X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum
Lucky Cross
Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom
Cherokee Purple
Polish
Cherokee Green
Green Giant
Brandywine
In front of each straw bale will be a container with a dwarf of some sort, or a determinate variety (to use as an example of determinate growth habit). Last year I grew out 4 new hybrids - Dwarf Sweet Sue X Peach Blow Sutton (the Suzy family), Dwarf Blazing Beauty X Honor Bright (the Blazey family), a purple and green striped micro dwarf with an heirloom indeterminate (either Cherokee Purple or Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom), and a compact determinate extremely fuzzy leaf variety (Fuzzy) crossed with an indeterminate heirloom (either Cherokee Purple or Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom). The grow bags next to each of the dozen straw bales will hold seedlings from these new hybrids.
There is a tomato that I grew way back in Pennsylvania, 1991, the year after I received the variety that I named Cherokee Purple. It is a variety from a fellow seed saver and amateur plant breeder named Tad Smith called Price’s Purple. Having the same color as Cherokee Purple, the plant of Price’s Purple is potato leaf. The last time I grew it was 2004, so I hope to see if I can germinate the 17 year old seed and grow a plant in my 2021 garden.
Another mystery I am working to solve is the Dwarf Tomato Project candidate Capri Show Stopper, named by Patrina in 2012 from the Pesty family as a nice flavored pink. We did a bit of work on it the past few years and what we now have is an indeterminate that produces either pink or yellow/red bicolored tomatoes. I am returning to the seed Patrina sent me to see if I can find the dwarf that she selected and named.
I may grow a few cherry tomatoes near the deck again - probably Sungold F1 (from new seed purchased from Johnny’s), and Egg Yolk. I will certainly keep them in better control.
Of course, there are loads of tomatoes I’d love to grow that are not included in my plans. The varieties I distributed in the dozens of seed shares I just sent off were made with this in mind; I will be doing a lot of vicarious gardening this year.
Walking on the Blue Ridge Parkway (the section near us is closed)