Late June garden update - there is joy in the Hendersonville garden...and the best lies ahead!

Bell Pepper Royal Purple thrilled growing in a straw bale

If I was to have planned perfect weather for gardening, it would be the 2022 growing season to date. There is just enough rain, just enough heat, plenty of sun, and reasonable humidity. The proof is in the condition of the garden at this particular moment. Of course, things can change, but so far, so good.

The garlic was harvested and is in two big bunches, curing the garage hanging on hooks. We are enjoying lettuce (which will be gone in a few weeks), rhubarb (combining with strawberries, blueberries or blackberries for crisps), cucumbers, summer squash and snap beans. The sugar snap peas were fine, but they are always gone well before the appetite for them is satisfied.

Cherokee Purple - future delicious tomatoes here!

The focus now turns to the mid summer stars of the annual show - peppers, eggplants, and, especially, tomatoes. Most of the pepper plants have tiny peppers, and the eggplants are following suit. ALL of the tomatoes are setting fruit very well. Pests have been few, and disease at a reasonable level. I have one sick plant - an F2 dwarf selection from Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Dwarf Moby’s Cherry. It suddenly developed Fusarium wilt. Once the nice looking, medium sized tomatoes ripen, the plant will be gone.

We harvested (and enjoyed) the very first ripe tomato a few days ago - a future Dwarf Tomato Project release called Dwarf Irma’s Highland Cherry. It is a prolific chocolate colored cherry tomato with a full, delicious flavor that is nicely balanced between fruitiness, tartness and sweetness.

We are not far away from the first Mexico Midgets, and Suzy’s Wild Orange, Suzy’s Wild Red, Orange Fruity, Yellow Fruity, Red Egg Yolk and Egg Yolk will start to show color very soon.

Dwarf Irma’s Highland Cherry - this one ripened and was eaten yesterday…yum!

The 2022 garden is now well underway - mid-June update

Garlic removed Jan 9, variegated microdwarfs now in place

There are certain points in the year of a gardener that are simply the best. Each gardener of course will have their own particular favorite parts. For me, seed starting, transplanting, and checking out progress as the plants mature reign supreme. Sure, harvesting and tasting are great - but that part comes and goes like lightning. My least favorite part is hammering the stakes into the ground to support the indeterminate tomatoes.

As we race through June, it’s a good time to take stock. On June 5, I harvested the garlic from the elevated raised bed and used the space for variegated microdwarf tomatoes. The rest of the garlic (in the other raised bed) came out on June 9 - I think I have about 30 big bulbs curing on trays in my garage. Additional variegated microdwarfs, as well as one sent to me by my garden pal Justin, are now where the garlic used to be. Some lettuce and strawberries share the bed with the tomato plants. In the elevated raised bed, some chard is keeping the microdwarf tomatoes company.

We’ve been enjoying rhubarb, using it in combination with strawberries or blueberries for delicious crisps. We have a few containers of basil growing here and there. It feels odd to have the garden largely planted. The weeks are settling into the weekly feedings, daily waterings, and regular passes through the plants to note where suckering or tying or blemished foliage removal is needed.

The eggplants and peppers in strawbales or growbags are looking great. Most of the peppers have tiny buds, and a few of the eggplants do as well. I am so pleased that I decided to move both crops to a more favorable position, and put many in strawbales. The scant crop of each were really disappointing the last two years. Though many are unconvinced about eating eggplant, it is a star in some of our favorite summery things to eat. And who can ever get enough sweet peppers! Having Shishito and Padron as options will be really fun, and delicious.

As for the tomatoes - WOW. I still am amazed at how quickly the plants take to the strawbales and containers. It has been a month and a week, and the plants are pretty monstrous, with ample fruit set on most varieties. There are so many varieties to look forward to that I will start to feature some on my next update blog. With only a few familiar varieties - Egg Yolk, Mexico Midget, Mortgage Lifter (both Halladay and Mullens), Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Green and Cherokee Chocolate (two plants), everything else is going to be a mystery - either family heirlooms recently sent to me, or F2s of my recent crosses. What fun!

Be sure to catch my weekly Instagram Live - Thursdays at 3 PM eastern. My handle is @nctomatoman . Weekly tours of the garden demonstrate how quickly things grow!

A whole lotta garlic curing in the garage

End of May garden update - taking stock after a whole lotta rain, and focusing on our flower gardens

Sugar Snap Peas, Iris, Daylilies

Enough! Waving the white flag here after a week of rain. But, with the forecast for the week to come showing solid sunny days in the upper 70s, we enter the “perfect garden condition” phase. I am writing this blog in bits - today is May 28, and it was blue sky and 75 degrees. Delightful! The next 10 day forecast shows temps varying from 75 to 82, with just a few days with 30% chance of late day showers.

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Random gardening thoughts on the season so far:

I’ve really loved it. Stepping back from seedling sales meant starting far less plants. Needing less materials meant far less money spent. I already had enough square pots and plug flats, and a good start on plastic labels. All I needed were a few bags of Metro Mix planting mix. They discontinued my favorite, the 360 blend, so I went with 830, and thought it worked fine. Less plants meant less transplanting, less worry about frost, and less movement in and out of the garage. My typical schedule worked fine - March 1 seed start, April 1 transplant start, with plants looking good by May 1.

I did have some customers, but not through advertising - just word of mouth, or those from the past two years. Pretty much everyone who comes to get plants are delightful. The only hitch is that we have three pretty protective dogs that can get barky - each for its own reason. Getting them into the house is a must.

My two raised beds had - and still have - garlic, which hindered their use a bit. One bed had spinach that I planted as seedlings in September (along with some lettuce and chard). The rough winter (two nights with temps in the low teens, and one 11 inch snow) did in the lettuce and chard, but the spinach, once things started to warm up, was spectacular. I cut the scapes from the garlic a week ago. The spinach started to bolt, so was removed, and replaced with lettuce, and a few strawberry plants from a friend. I hope to harvest the garlic in a few weeks, and the beds will then hold microdwarf tomatoes, particularly a variegated find from last year, up to 10 plants between the two raised beds.

I seeded sugar snap peas against the fence and created string trellis, as in previous years. The peas are now 6 feet tall and we are starting to pick some. In front of the peas are iris, moved from other gardens, and in front of those, daylilies I started from seed, sent by a friend. We should be seeing the daylilies bloom very soon. I think the iris was perturbed by the move, so just foliage this year.

Shade garden - bleeding heart, pulmonaria, astilbe and more

We’ve had a great time with our flower gardens. Our shade garden is full of bleeding heart, Solomon seal, Celadine poppy, and astilbe. To that collection are a few plants purchased this spring - pulmonaria, two hellebores, a new foamflower, and an epimedium. Some foamflowers and ferns complete the dense mix in that garden, anchored in the corner by a Virginia sweetspire. In the same area, different corner, we relocated a nine bark that has made its way around the yard.

Main flower garden - all sorts of things blooming, and on the cusp.

In our big flower garden, all sorts of things came up early in the spring - tulips and daffodils, joined by phlox, miniature roses, clematis Princess Diana and a white one we moved from Raleigh, coral bells, lots of lamium, oregano, an unusual rudbeckia, several gladiolas, an echinacea, cardinal flower, lots of Kalimeras, a Husker’s Red penstemon, two different cranesbills, a threadleaf coreopsid, a Japanese painted fern, balloon flower, and four astilbes. To that we’ve added some new plants - we purchased a new Rozanne cranesbill (it died last year), some new Salvia Greggei, Salvia leuchantha, an epimedium, a new echinacea, a spider wort - as well as some annuals (snapdragon, zinnia, salvia coccinea). Right now, clematis, penstemon, cranesbill, lamium, the new salvias, and the miniature roses are all providing color. Soon to join them will be the phlox and cardinal flower and gladiolas.

Near the shed, the garden is primarily a pathway for the dogs, with mostly phlox, with some rubdeckia and a relocated butterfly bush and Miss Kim lilac on one side, and red bee balm and a relocated peony, and a large old type lilac on the other, with balloon flower emerging here and there. Oddly, we’ve yet to see Miss Kim bloom in Hendersonville. Right next to the shed is a huge Lady Banks rose on a trellis that bloomed fairly lightly - a late frost once again nipped buds. We are now seeing lots of daylilies and canna coming up.

Husker’s Red penstemon looking great

Our big back flower edge garden is mostly shrubs. Everything in there is thriving - the hydrangea is budding well, the red rhododendron (which I am trying to propagate) was spectacular, choke berry and elderberry and forsythia are now huge, two red roses are gorgeous, and the garden ends with daylilies, crocosmia, a Russian Olive tree, a double white spirea, and a Virginia Sweetspire. It is overgrown, it is wild - and it works just great. Nearby is a fig that I rooted in Raleigh and we brought with us. It had the typical winter die back but is largely looking fine. Will it be in too shady a spot to give us figs? We shall see.

Near the deck is a garden constantly in flux. With a gorgeous Samaritan Jo clematis just finishing up bloom and a big spot of Green and Gold, it started with daffodils and tulips and an old fashioned lilac and a chartreuse foliaged spirea, and how is showing Japanese Iris (violet blue or yellow), gladiola foliage, Deutzia we brought from Raleigh, Russian Sage, a new Amsonia, and some annuals - zinnia and snapdragon. The soil isn’t great and we tend to move things in and out of this garden, depending on how they do.

Princess Diana clematis is the star here

A strip garden near the hose spigot was nothing but walking iris, lemon balm, spearmint and lamium with some Autumn Joy sedum. Sue and I stripped all of that out and it how holds daylilies - some from my friend Eddie, some from seed, with the sedum and some lamium, a a pot of Salvia coccinea. Near the heat pump, a wall strip garden is mostly Stella D’oro daylilies, with Wisteria on an arbor, and a flowering magnolia next to the arbor. The late spring frost and hard pruning meant no Wisteria blooms, but the magnolia, after early blooms got frosted, put on a nice show this spring.

In front, we have an azalea garden, with a Viburnum, newly planted Flame azalea, relocated hybrid Mountain Laurel, a yew and a quince mixed in. Some daffodils bloomed there early, and daylilies are now just starting. A strip garden on the side yard/front is mostly various hostas, with some sweet woodruff and a bright green leaf, pink flowered spirea. The main flower garden is anchored by a huge white flowered camellia, a smaller pink flowered camellia, two chartreuse leaf spirea, two recently hard pruned Rose of Sharon, and a holly. The garden has a few azaleas, a lot of lily of the valley, a red hot poker plant, lots of self seeded columbine, and some gladiola and daylilies. Early on, it was full of daffodils.

That’s a tour of our flower gardens, in general, but with some end of May details. Tending the flower gardens with Sue is one of the pleasures of the season. Sure, the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, along with the green beans, summer squash and cukes are great. But their seasons can be quite concentrated - while the flowers provide joy from early spring through late fall.

Back edge garden, showing our two red roses.

Mid May Garden Update, Part 2 - Focus on the Tomatoes

Dwarf Zoe’s Sweet, on May 21

Now, on to my favorite crop - the tomatoes! I am growing far less than last year, but they will be no less interesting.

The following are indeterminate varieties planted in strawbales, two plants to a bale.

Cherokee Chocolate (2 plants) - I used lot T16-119 - I planted 2 because I am going to grow them very differently. One plant will be grown in a cage and only minimally pruned, the other grown allowing just one sucker develop. Fruit size, yield, fruit set, plant health will be compared. I am growing this because it is a can’t-do-without variety for us. By the way - T16-119 was grown from T11-13 - which was from T96-3 - which was grown from T95-47, the chocolate tomato that started this variety.

Cherokee Purple - I used lot T16-104 - Another can’t-do-without variety. T16-104 is from T02-3, which is from T91-27, which is from #287 - the seed sent to me by JD Green as an unnamed variety in 1990.

Cherokee Green - I used lot T20-8 - and, yes, can’t do without this one either! T20-8 if from T19-17, which is from T18-7, which was from a packet from Johnny’s Selected seeds - I was the source to Johnny’s.

Glory F1 hybrid - Last year I crossed pollen from Dester onto a flower of Dwarf Gloria’s Treat - this is the hybrid that was created. I have high hopes - and expect slightly heart shaped pink fruit. My friend Marsha in Florida grew it and reported it to be absolutely delicious - and, yes, pink and slightly heart shaped and large!

Lucky Cross - I used lot T21-24. I love this variety and don’t wish to do without it. T21-24 is from T20-4, which is from T19-10, which is from T11-14, 19 or 21 - all of which are from 2002 saved seed. This variety has a very complex genealogy!

Polish - I planted lot T20-7. This spectacular tomato is one that it is the very top tier of my collection. T20-7 is from T18-14, which is from T12-21, which is from T01-45, which is from T90-8, which is from #89 - the sample sent to me by Bill Ellis as a SSE transaction.

Estler’s Mortgage Lifter - Since the seed from the SSE storage gave an apparently incorrect variety, I am going with a seed sample from SSE member Neil Lockhart. My hopes is for a huge pink tomato, in the 2 lb range.

Captain Lucky - I’ve wanted to grow this Millard Murdock’s selection from Lucky Cross for some time. It is potato leaf, and should produce green fleshed tomatoes with swirls of other colors.

Yellow family heirloom - this was sent to me by Joann Jacobs of Wisconsin last year. It is regular leaf - aside from that, it is one of this year’s mysteries!

Mary’s heirloom - Supposedly a very old family heirloom from West Virginia, sent to me by Harry Moran. Another mystery! Gorgeous regular leaf plant so far.

JD Special C-Tex, potato leaf variant - sent to me by Randy Dowdy of Texas in 2020, I am finally getting around to test this. I love JD Special C Tex - a big Cherokee Purple type, but he claims this is same fruit on a potato leaf plant. We shall see!

Blue’s Bling X Little Lucky, potato leaf, variegated F2 selection - This is a selection from the hybrid I grew out last year and loved. There are all sorts of color possibilities and I wanted to grow one each of a variegated potato leaf and regular leaf plants (see below). Fruit size should be from medium to large, and round to oblate.

Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom regular leaf F2 selection - This hybrid I created was the best tasting tomato in my garden last year. I am growing out a regular leaf and a potato leaf F2 selection. All sorts of colors are possible! Fruit size should be large and oblate. Pink, red, chocolate, purple, shades of yellow are all possible.

Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom potato leaf F2 selection - see above

Blue’s Bling X Little Lucky, regular leaf, variegated F2 selection - see above

Blue’s Bling X Polish, potato leaf, variegated F2 selection - An F2 selection from another of my recent hybrids. I wanted to grow out a potato leaf variegated selection - we shall see what the fruit color is like. I expect we will see pink or purple tomatoes, of large size and oblate shape.

German heirloom - This was sent to me by a gardener from Indiana in 2017 and I am finally getting to grow it. It is regular leaf. Of course, I love mysteries - and my garden will be full of them this year!

World War II - This was sent to me by Geny Laroche of New Hampshire in 2020. I am finally getting to it, and it is regular leaf.

McCutcheon - my friend Adam Kirk gave me seed earlier this year - it is a West Virginia heirloom that should have very large fruit. It is regular leaf.

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The following are dwarf varieties, and a few determinate varieties, in 5 gallon grow bags

Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry X Blue’s Bling F2 variegated selection - This whole section contains F2 dwarf selections from recent hybrids. I can’t wait to see what sort of tomatoes are produced on all of these. For this one, the fruit color is likely purple, but size, shape and antho coverage - and flavor - have many possibilities.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F2 regular leaf selection - See above. Wide color variations are possible.

Lucky Cross X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F2 regular leaf selection - See above - another with wide color possibilities.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F2 potato leaf selection - see above.

Coastal Pride - sent to me by my garden friend Mike, he really likes this orange fruited dwarf - it is not one of the Dwarf Tomato Project creations. I’ll look forward to seeing and tasting this! This variety was bred in Canada by the McMurrays.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Speckled Heart F2 regular leaf selection - see above. All offspring should have stripes, and heart shapes are likely too.

Blazey family selection orange fruit F4 regular yellow leaf selection - Blazey was an odd cross I did between Honor Bright and Dwarf Blazing Beauty. I am hoping for good tasting orange tomatoes on a yellow foliaged plant.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F2 potato leaf selection - see above

Blazey family selection orange fruit F4 potato leaf selection - see the Blazey entry, above

Don’s Double Delight X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F2 potato leaf selection - all sorts of colors, and stripes, are possible with this one.

Dwarf Irma’s Highland Cherry pre-release selection - This is from the Teensy family - Mexico Midget X Summertime Green, with Dwarf Eagle Smiley the first release. This should be the next one, and will have tasty chocolate cherry tomatoes.

Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Dwarf Moby’s Cherry F2 selection - Cross a big pink heart with a dwarf yellow cherry and all sorts of things are possible!

Fuzzy X Cherokee Purple F3 purple fruited fuzzy leaf selection - I was delighted to find purple tomatoes on a fuzzy plant - let’s see if it continues.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Speckled Heart F2 regular leaf selection - see above - this is a second plant from this particular cross.

Fuzzy X Cherokee Purple F3 pink fruited fuzzy leaf selection - Seed for this was from a quite large pink tasty tomato on a fuzzy plant. Let’s see what I get!

Lucky Cross X Dwarf Buddy’s Heart F2 potato leaf selection - see above - all sorts of colors possible, and heart shape too.

Dwarf Zoe’s Sweet -This was given to me as a plant at my Marion NC speaking event by my TN friend Eddie Lambert. The plant is showing the characteristic bright chartreuse leaves and there are already a few small tomatoes.

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The following are indeterminate tomatoes in 5 gallon grow bags

Tennessee Surprise - This is also a plant given to me by Eddie. The tomatoes should be large and orange.

Ribbed Mystery Variety - This is yet another plant given to me by Eddie and I’ve no idea what it will produce.

Yellow Fruity - Fruity Red is a tasty red cherry tomato - this is a yellow one out of the same breeding work by Tim Peters.

Orange Fruity - This is the orange fruited specimen from the Fruity family.

Egg Yolk, potato leaf - “Wild Thing” - seed sent to me by Walter Roos of Georgia this winter.

Sun Gold F1 hybrid - Seed from Johnny’s - how could I NOT grow it!

Suzy’s Wild Red - This is from seed sent to me by Allan Robins of Georgia. I am going to compare it to Mexico midget.

Suzy family F4 selection potato leaf indeterminate fuzzy fruit - This family was created when I crossed Peach Blow Sutton with Dwarf Sweet Sue, with the goal of getting dwarfs with fuzzy fruit. A friend sent me this last year, but it seems that the plants are indeterminate, not dwarf. I am growing out one potato leaf example.

Egg Yolk, red fruit - Also from Walter Roos of Georgia.

Suzy’s Wild Orange - Also sent to me by Allan Robins, this is an orange or yellow fruited variant of Suzy’s Wild Red. We shall see.

Egg Yolk - Not only is it a favorite of ours, but I need fresh seeds.

Mexico Midget - A regular in all of our gardens, the perfect snacking tomato morsel.

Mortgage Lifter, Halladay’s - This and the one below are part of an Epsom Salt application mini-project. Grown from 2013 saved seeds, this one will not get regular Epsom Salts.

Mortgage Lifter, Mullens - And this one will - also grown from 2013 saved seeds. What will the Epsom Salts applied weekly to this plant do?

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I also have seedlings of a variegated microdwarf from a cross I made between one of Dan Follett’s Micros and Cherokee Purple. The fruit were red last year. I am going to squeeze some into my raised bed once the garlic is harvested, in a few weeks. Finally, a red fruited multiflora Micro that my friend Justin sent me.

All in all, total number of tomatoes planted - 51, with up to half a dozen of the micros.

This is significantly down from last year’s 109 plants - just as planned! And I am sure some of you didn’t believe I could do it!

Dwarf Irma’s Highland Cherry, on May 21

A Deeper Dive into my 2022 garden choices - Part 1. Peppers and Eggplants

Rear view of the main garden, May 16

One significant improvement I hope to realize in this year’s garden is improved results with two of our favorite crops, peppers and eggplants. In our first two Hendersonville gardens, I tucked them into the gravel driveway area in grow bags. The hours of sun were not optimal, and though I had reasonable yields, it was not what I hoped for. In addition, getting ripe fruit suitable for seed saving didn’t go all that well. The bell peppers tended to rot or suffer insect damage, and the eggplants didn’t make it to the golden stage of over-ripeness best for seed saving.

The major change this season is to use strawbales for most of the peppers and eggplants, augmented by plants in grow bags sitting in front of the bales. Better staking, more sun, and the amazing environment of the straw bales should provide far more success. We shall see!

Bell peppers in straw bales, on May 17

The following peppers are planted in straw bales - all planted on May 6.

Orange Bell - this is a selection of the Orange Bell I’ve grown for many years, acquiring it in a SSE transaction. My garden friend Darrel Jones selected for various improvements. It is a wonderful pepper, one of my favorites - thick walled blocky medium green bells that ripen a rich orange color, at which time it gets very sweet.

Chocolate Bell - This is a pretty stable selection from a Stokes hybrid - called Chocolate Bell - offered only briefly nearly 20 years ago. The original hybrid, no longer available, was quite unique - a big blocky thick walled bell that goes from deep green to chocolate brown, and very sweet at that stage. Last year, it was excellent - interestingly, the interior wall is deep crimson despite the outer appearance ripening to deep chocolate brown.

White Gold - This, and the next three, are advanced selections from my dehybridization efforts from Islander. I think that all are quite stable. White Gold is a slightly elongated bell, with an unusual color progression - cream to golden yellow.

Carolina Amethyst - This selection is released and available here and there. This selection mimics the hybrid - color progression cream to a gorgeous lavender, finally ending up medium red.

Fire Opal - This is my favorite of the four selections, a slightly elongated bell that starts cream, then to lavender - finally to golden yellow.

Royal Purple - This last of the Islander selections is the most blocky shaped bell - it starts out pale chartreuse green, then turns black purple, finally ending up a deep crimson red.

Shishito - We ended up purchasing these from a local farmers market all summer long. It seemed appropriate to grow them, since they are a very prolific plant. I don’t find them the best flavored, but we do like to brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss them on the grill until they are blistered with black patches and soft.

Padron - Unlike the very mild Shishito, Padron can throw some real spicy specimens, providing quite a burn in the mouth. We also enjoy grilling them. Like Shishito, they are very prolific.

The following peppers are in 5 gallon grow bags, planted May 14. The grow bags are situated in front of the straw bales, one bag per bale.

Pinata - We LOVE this unusual Jalapeno type, bred by the Chile Institute in New Mexico. The plant is super prolific - the peppers go from cream, to yellow, to orange, to red, with all four colors on the plant at various times of the season. They are utterly Jalapenos in heat, use and flavor.

Shishito - We decided to do for two plants - one in the bale, on in a grow bag. I think we will have plenty!

Eggplant Mardi Gras in a straw bale as of May 17

The following eggplants were planted in straw bales on May 6.

Skinny Twilight - This, Twilight Lightning and Midnight Lightning are all my selections from the Johnny’s hybrid Orient Express. Skinny Twilight is the same shape - a long, slender Asian type - with medium purple skin and pale greenish flesh. It is very prolific.

Twilight Lightning - This selection is very slender, very productive and is a pale lavender with white streaks. The white flesh is sweet and has few seeds.

Mardi Gras - This unique variety is my selection from a bee-made cross between the white eggplant Casper and another variety. I’ve worked on it for many years and believe it to be stable. The teardrop shape fruit are pale green, with an unusual pale lavender blush over the green. The flesh is quite green.

Midnight Lightning - This is the selection most like Orient Express. The plant is very pretty, with significant purplish shading. The fruit are black purple, slender and prolific, with pale green flesh. This plant is from 2021 saved seeds.

The following eggplants were planted in 5 gallon grow bags on May 14.

Midnight Lightning - See above - this plant is from 2019 saved seed.

Mardi Gras - see above.

Green Ghost - This is another selection from the unexpected cross that yielded Mardi Gras. The plentiful eggplants have skin of pale green and are quite slender in shape, with pale green flesh.

All in all, that makes 10 peppers and 7 eggplants, which should do the trick for our cooking needs.

Right hand column - peppers and eggplants, bales and bags - guarded by Marlin - on May 17

Mid-May Garden Update

State of part of the garden after lots of planting, on May 14.

Lots is planted, and lots is growing! The garden at our Hendersonville home is a patchwork, with fun to be had all over the yard. We have a front flower garden (viewable from Sue’s sewing room), a strip garden along the front of the house, a side garden that is mostly hosta, then our back yard array. There are 5 discreet flower or shrub gardens, as well as the two raised beds and the various straw bales or containers in the center of the yard.

The weather has been pretty much ideal, following a cool, extended spring with a few late frosts. Right now the days are perfect - upper 70s to low 80s, a few showers, nights in the 50s. If I could bottle this up for use later in the summer, I would!

Yukon Gold potatoes growing in large containers, in partially composted wheat straw from last year’s bales

At this point, the following is up and growing:

Potatoes - Yukon Gold, in four containers filled with composted wheat straw from last year’s bales

Swiss Chard - in a container, and in a raised bed

Lettuce - in a container, and in a raised bed

Spinach - in a container

Garlic - planted last September, in two raised beds - probably a month from harvest

Sugar Snap Peas looking good - blossoming and climbing

Sugar Snap Peas - planted quite early, trellised

Strawberries - plants from a friend, in a raised bed and in a container

Summer Squash - up and growing well, direct seeded into straw bales, 4 types

Bush Beans - up and growing well, direct seeded into straw bales, 6 types

Cucumbers - up and growing well, direct seeded into straw bales, 2 types

Eggplants - some in straw bales, some in grow bags - total of 7 plants, including the varieties Mardi Gras, Green Ghost, Midnight Lightning, Twilight Lightning and Skinny Twilight

Peppers - some in straw gales, some in grow bags - total of 10 plants, including Chocolate Bell, Orange Bell, Fire Opal, Royal Purple, Carolina Amethyst, Shishito, Padron and Pinata.

Tomatoes - total of 49 plants, in grow bags or straw bales. Only a few are my typical favorites (Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Green, Cherokee Chocolate, Polish and Lucky Cross). 32 are indeterminate, the rest are dwarfs.

I’ll give a full report on the tomatoes in a future blog. I still have some microdwarf tomatoes to plant - they will go into the raised beds once the garlic is harvested.

Bush Beans (foreground) and Summer Squash (rear), in straw bales

General Garden Update

Avidly shrooming strawbales as of this morning. Future spot for tomatoes, peppers or eggplants

Tax Day. Easter Monday. One more frost threat. Less seedlings to manage. Lots of wildflower hikes undertaken, with many more to come. Azaleas, daffodils, tulips, redbud, magnolia.

There’s the list of what is going on in the garden, in the yard, in my life. It is astounding to think of my life at this time over the last 20 years. It was all about the seedlings - the dance in and out of the garage as frost threats were posted. It was endless transplanting, purchasing materials, writing labels, fretting their condition, and getting spaces at the Farmers Market - or scheduling visits to our driveway. One last frost threat has all of my seedlings huddled in my garage, to emerge on Wednesday mid morning.

The 2022 seedlings, just before being relocated to the safety of the garage

This year….pretty peaceful! I have just the plants I am going to grow plus the plants resulting from my typical overplanting. A few people will be coming by to pick up some of those extras - probably starting this coming weekend. (actually, it already started - two gardeners coming by for small but healthy plants in the last week).

The straw bales are now completely prepped and mushrooms and wheat are popping through everywhere. The cucumber, summer squash and bush bean bales are already planted (but not germinated yet - I am hoping the heat generated by the composting bales will preserve the seeds sitting just under the planting medium surface).

I will be making final decisions on tomatoes soon, and my planting goal is still somewhere around May 1. I am excited to ponder peppers and eggplants in straw bales. The location for my containers the past two years did not work for stellar results.

Here is a reminder that the tomato course Growing Epic Tomatoes (a collaboration between Joe Lamp’l and I) is still open to join - you have until the end of April if you are interested. I highly recommend it! Please email me with any questions you have about the course.

One final announcement - My weekly Instagram Live sessions are happening again, with the first last Thursday. As long as I don’t have a conflict, they will take place on Thursday afternoons at 3 PM eastern, with a duration of about 45 minutes. I will do some demos, updates and take questions. All previous ones can be found on my Instagram, @nctomatoman , found on the videos tab of my profile page. In last week’s kick off, I demonstrated planting seeds directly into straw bales, and also hunting dwarf tomatoes in the F2 generation.

I have three more Zoom workshops on my agenda - early May for garden organizations in Connecticut and Virginia, and in the fall for Orange County NC. If the workshops are open for all to attend, I will be sure to post the links on a blog, and on the Linktree in my Instagram profile.

Bleeding hearts in our side shade garden

Once the sun comes out and it warms up, on Wednesday, all of the seedlings and plants reemerge from the garage. I will resume transplanting seedlings to individual containers - I have plenty, so if you are close to Asheville/Hendersonville, get in touch with me to set up a time to get some. I have a Word doc list with details that I can send you. I have lots of yard work to dig into, particularly reworking some flower beds for daylilies and other perennials. I have seeds of some perennials started - Astilbe, Spider Wort, Coral Bells, Jacob’s Ladder, Baptisia - and more stratifying in my freezer.

Having a smaller garden and dealing with less seedlings is freeing me up - I love all kinds of gardening and hope to have the time this spring, summer and fall to fully dive in. But first, there are wildflowers to spot in the many wonderful trails nearby. You will find me and Sue and dogs there most mornings!

Bloodroot, found on a hike in DuPont yesterday

Three New Items and a quick garden update

26 Straw bales - these, and some grow bags and containers will be the 2022 garden

First news item - The Joe Lamp’l (joegardener)/Craig LeHoullier (me! nctomatoman) collaborative, self paced, all video course, Growing Epic Tomatoes, has been reopened throughout the month of April for new students. Just click this link to register.

Second - Patrina (my Dwarf Tomato Project co-lead and co-creator) and I will be presenting on our project via Zoom in an event hosted by the Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) on April 13 at 7 PM Eastern. All who are interested can join - the Zoom link for you to attend is here.

Finally, I’ve decided it is a good time to restart my regular (weekly, unless indicated otherwise, typically a conflict on my end) Instagram Live sessions - 30-45 minutes of me discussing whatever is going on in my garden, including plenty of time for your questions. These will begin on Thursday April 14, at 3 PM Eastern. If all goes well, I should be able to do a video demo of spotting dwarf tomato plants in the F2 generation of an indeterminate X dwarf cross.

As far as what’s happening in the garden: All of the straw bales (26 of them) have been purchased and situated in my yard, and treatment has started. By April 15, all will be ready for planting. I will probably go for direct seeding of squash, cukes and beans around that date, and wait until May 1 for planting tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Updates on all of this will be part of my weekly IG live sessions.

All of my seedlings are up, and I’ve started to transplant into individual pots. Aside from tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, I have spinach, lettuce (several types), petunia, zinnia, snapdragon, lunaria, basil (several types), and salvia in various stages of growth. For the most part, seedlings are hardened off and spending most of the time outdoors, being brought in only when frost is likely.

There is no formal seedlings sale this year in the Hendersonville area. I do overplant, and there will be some extras for folks that are interested, but the variety list is far smaller than prior years. Plants will be available for a donation of the plant recipients’ choosing. Availability will be late April to mid May. In future blogs, I will outline exactly what will be in my garden. Any folks living near me who are interested can drop me an email - nctomatoman@gmail.com - and I will send further seedling details. Those in the Raleigh area have two good seedling options, listed in my March 26 blog entry.

That’s it for now - keep reading my Off The Vine and my Seed Collection blogs. The next in each series will post soon.

The rare and beautiful Oconee Bells, spotted during an April 4 walk in the WNC Arboretum, Carolina Mountains trail.

It feels like spring - and it is starting to look like it too. 2022 garden update!

We didn’t plant these (thanks to the birds or squirrels!) - but we are certainly enjoying them!

All of a sudden I am incredibly busy - blogging much more frequently (I hope you are enjoying the trip through my seed collection, and the republishing of Off the Vine!), weekly office hours (live Zoom) for the Growing Epic Tomatoes course with Joe Lamp’l, answering a lot of emails, starting seeds, mowing the lawn, cleaning up the garden, writing some articles, and preparing for some Zoom garden workshops. We are also finding time to hike in Pisgah or DuPont 3 times a week with our dogs.

I’ve gotten an idea of what will be in my garden, based on germination results. Most will be in straw bales, some in grow bags.

The tomato flat a few days ago

Eggplants - Mardi Gras, Skinny Twilight, Twilight Lightning, Midnight Lightning, Green Ghost

Peppers - Pinata, White Gold, Royal Purple, Carolina Amethyst, Fire Opal, Chocolate Bell, and hopefully (because they were just seeded - no germination data yet), Shishito and Padron.

Tomatoes - Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Green, Cherokee Chocolate, Lucky Cross, Polish, Captain Lucky, Estler’s Mortgage Lifter, three new family heirlooms sent to me, a new dwarf X indeterminate hybrid - Glory (Dester X Dwarf Gloria’s Treat), some mysteries that are F2 generation from a few of the hybrids I created a few years ago, Coastal Pride, Irma’s Highland Cherry (a new chocolate colored dwarf out of Teensy that we hope is ready for release), and various other experiments and mysteries.

There will be squash and beans and sugar snap peas and some spinach and chard and lettuce, perhaps cucumbers (though they really do struggle with disease here), basils and flowers. The weather looks quite iffy over the coming weeks, with one really deep freeze possible. We hope that it doesn’t bite the buds on the flowering shrubs and trees, something that occurred last spring.

I won’t be selling seedlings this year, but sharing a few extras locally. I won’t be shipping plants any longer. I’ve completed fulfilling seed requests. What comes next is purchasing and prepping the straw bales. My target plant out date is around May 1, depending upon the night time temperatures. I expect to be doing transplanting - separating and bumping up seedlings into separate containers - in early April.

For those events that are open more broadly, I will post links here, and on Instagram (I am @nctomatoman there). I will be on the WPTF (Raleigh, NC) weekend gardener on April 16, as well as Niki Jabbour’s Weekend Gardener radio show out of Nova Scotia, Canada on May 8. You will be able to listen live to each - watch for more news as the dates approach.

Double spirea just popped into bloom yesterday

So much happening - and poised to happen! Growing Epic Tomatoes - New York Times article - peppers and eggplant seeds in the flats!

Let the 2022 garden begin! Peppers, eggplants, some flowers seeded on Feb 18

Oh well, things were (relatively) slow for the last month and a half….aside from fulfilling a load of seed requests, being really active on my blog, cataloging seeds from my dwarf tomato project participants, doing some great Zooms with various garden groups.

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All of that was nothing compared with what lies just ahead. It is time to relaunch Growing Epic Tomatoes, the collaborative course between Joe Lamp’l and me that was such a wonderful experience last year. It will be different this time in that the entire 10 module course is complete! Last year our students had to adjust their pace to the real time progress of the course. This year, it will be all there, ready to be accessed at the pace of each student no matter where they are in their growing season. The Friday Office Hours will proceed as they did last year - weekly opportunities for the students to ask Joe and I their questions - live.

The key dates for the informational course webinars - free opportunities for prospective students to learn everything about the upcoming course and a chance to ask us questions - are as follows:

First - the course is now open for early enrollment at a reduced price - click this link (it is also on my website banner).

The webinar that explains the course - Five Keys to Growing Your Own Epic Tomatoes - is scheduled three times, to provide options for your convenience:

• Wednesday, February 23 at 3 PM EST

• Thursday, February 24 at 3 PM EST

• Friday, February 25 at 10 AM EST

You can choose which of these you wish to attend by signing up at this link.

Creating this course was an immense amount of fun. The feedback from our first year students has been overwhelmingly positive. Join one of the webinars and find out all about the course. I can confidently say that Growing Epic Tomatoes is the perfect way to make my book, Epic Tomatoes, come alive, strengthened by all of Joe’s gardening experiences that we’ve found blend so well together with my own. Though I am still so pleased with Epic Tomatoes and its information, it was written in 2012-2013 - I’ve learned so much more in the 9 years since publication, and all of that new knowledge is incorporated into the course.

A few uniquely wonderful features about this course:

• It is composed entirely of self-paced video modules, so students can watch us discuss the topics.

• It is entirely self-paced - each student can progress as their own season progresses.

• Course additions, bonus modules, and enhancements occur throughout the season, accessible to all students, including last year’s class.

• The weekly live Office Hours are also for all GET students, new and first year (and for all future) - there will be life time access to Joe and I to answer gardening questions throughout the season.

• All students have access to a community on the Circle platform, providing yet another way to pose questions, post pictures, and have meaningful interchange with Joe and I. I spend a lot of time in that community daily, ensuring all questions are answered - as well as providing updates from my own garden. It is free - it is NOT Facebook - and there are no ads or sales pitches.

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Speaking of Joe Lamp’l, our mutual good friend and fellow talented gardener, author and educator Margaret Roach (A Way to Garden) interviewed Joe and I about starting tomato seeds. The article is in the New York Times, and can be found here. Thanks, Margaret - the article is just lovely.

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Finally - the 2022 garden is officially begun with the planting of a selection of pepper, eggplant and flower seeds, shown in the top picture. This is a significant reduction of filled cells (30, compared with perhaps two flats of 50) in previous gardening seasons. My decisions to stop seedling sales and reduce garden size mean things will be far less hectic this spring. I am testing Metro Mix 830 as my seed starter. I will update varieties and progress in future blogs.

In the mean time, enjoy the republished Off The Vine article blogs, and my seed collection journey blogs. They will each appear weekly for months and months to come! Feel free to post comments against them!

Betts and I in Downtown Hendersonville this morning, while Sue shops!