One month from planting - here's a progress report

June 5 view of the garden

That was a really fast month. The May 6 blog detailed what was planted. This entry will take a look at the various crops and plants. We managed to squeeze a week at Ocracoke Island (lots of kayaking and seafood consumption), so the following represents 3 weeks of garden care. Please also note that I am now engaged in my weekly Instagram Live sessions (my name there is @nctomatoman), Fridays at 4 PM eastern.

Flower garden, early April

flower garden, early June - and all of this was there (perennials are such fun!)

Above are two views of our main flower garden. Pretty much everything vanishes over the winter. Warm weather wakens the various perennials planted in there, and we get the view shown in the second picture. At this point, astilbe, miniature roses and spider wort provide the color. Soon, zinnias, salvia, phlox, echinacea and rudbeckia will join the show.

Zinnias, chard and herbs May 4

June 5 view

What a difference a month makes. The small zinnia, chard and basil plants really took off over the last month in this new raised bed. We are cutting the zinnias to bring in, and using the chard and basil in our meals preparations.

Lettuce, chard and herbs May 4

June 5 view - wow!

Lettuce grows very quickly in cooler weather. We are having a lot of salads - we steal outer leaves - but the plants will bolt soon. I started some new lettuce plants so that we can take advantage of the partly shaded location of this new raised bed #2. Nothing tastes better in the spring than home grown lettuce!

June 5 view of bush snap beans that were direct seeded into the bales

June 5 view of direct seeded cukes

June 5 view of direct seeded summer squash

The above pics show the strawbales that were direct seeded in early May. Due to the warmth created by the composting interior of the bales, growth is shockingly rapid. We expect to see blossoms on all of the above very soon, and harvest of the various crops within a month or less. Strawbales really work so well!

Eggplants on June 5

Peppers on June 5

Above our pics of the eggplants and peppers planted into the strawbales on May 3. Both heat loving, it took some time for them to really catch on, but they are now growing very well. The plants were very tiny when planted. Small buds are showing on all plants.

The tomato Polish on May 3, just after planting

The same tomato plant, Polish, on June 5.

Dwarf Zoe’s Sweet X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy F1 in mid May

Dwarf Zoe’s Sweet X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy F1 on June 5

The set of pictures above show the remarkably rapid, healthy growth of the tomatoes, from 2 inch tall seedlings in early May to 3 plus foot tall beauties on June 5. The staking and/or caging is all in place, and plants have been pruned to 3 suckers each (for 4 fruiting stems) - except to those in cages that will not be pruned (Captain Lucky, Sun Gold, Mexico Midget and Egg Yolk), and the three new Dwarf X Dwarf hybrids, that will not be pruned at all.

That is it - a tour of the garden roughly one month from planting. So far, so very, very good (knocks on wood, crosses fingers!). I hope the gardens of all of you are off to a great start.

Garden on May 11 - compare to the first pic in the blog, June 5 view!

Sue on the beach at Ocracoke during our May escape

The garden is mostly planted. Here's the scoop!

Bales planted and potting mix topped - Friday May 3

The bales were ready on Friday May 3, so in went the plants. Today is day 3 and everything looks happy. It’s been pretty consistently rainy - not downpour rain, but light and occasional. The mushrooms are really popping right now.

I only slightly adjusted my plant numbers. There are 16 tomatoes growing in my yard - two varieties are sharing a strawbale, three are in large containers, and the remaining straw bales now host 2 eggplants and 2 peppers. One bale is ready for cucumbers, four for bush snap beans, and four for summer squash. The avid mushrooming through the potting mix means seed planting is delayed.

The potted tomatoes are the three new dwarf X dwarf hybrids created last year - Dwarf Walter’s Fancy onto Dwarf Zoe’s Sweet, Dwarf Walter’s Fancy onto Dwarf Blazing Beauty, and Dwarf Walter’s Fancy onto Dwarf Choemato.

One of the new dwarf X dwarf hybrids - this one will be fun to work on - possibility of variegated chartreuse leaves!

Indeterminate tomatoes living singly in the bales are Cherokee Chocolate, Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Green (from 2016 saved seed), Abraham Brown, Captain Lucky, Polish, Earl, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, Lucky Cross, Potato Leaf Yellow, and Sun Gold. Sharing a bale are Mexico Midget and Egg Yolk.

Lucky Cross on day 3

One bale has peppers Pinata and Shishito. Another has eggplants Twilight Lightning and Mardi Gras.

Once the mushrooms cease their energetic arrivals, I will plant 1 seed in each of the four squash bales - two will be Zephyr, with the other 2 zucchini, varieties TBD. The cukes will be varieties sent to me by my UK garden friend Sam. The beans will be Goldilocks, Marbel and an additional variety TBD.

Lots of ink cap mushrooms where the beans will eventually be planted on May 6

One of the new raised beds now has nice looking leaf lettuce, basil, chard and oregano. The other has Rosemary, Parsley, Thyme, Chard, basil and various Zinnias. The older raised bed on legs has garlic and spinach. The older ground level raised bed has garlic, bloody dock, collards and kale. The potatoes sent to me by Bill Minkey, in large black containers planted in last year’s straw bale leftovers, are up and growing well. A container has some Fowler bush bean plants dedicated to seed saving.

Potato plants already appearing

At the Veterans Healing Farm, 60 tomato plants were set into 30 strawbales on Monday April 29. The bales there are also mushrooming like mad. I removed the side plastic from 5 of the bales so we could do a performance and water retention comparison.

covered and uncovered bales at the Veterans Healing Farm garden

My goodness. My last blog was February 29. Today is April 20. It's been busy. Read on...

Strawbales laid out for the 2024 garden - treatment is underway. Yes, there are less!

In my February 29 blog I discussed the various seeds I planted. Jump ahead to today and now have seedlings that will be ready to go into strawbales in a few weeks. I know that March and early April existed - a few Instagram Live sessions that I carried out prove that. Rather then rehash it all, let’s take it from today and move forward.

Work and life thus far has been in three categories - (1) Zooms, talks, podcasts, Instagram Lives, email answering and seed sending, (2) getting my seeds planted, seedlings transplanted and labeled, (3) relaunching the Tomato Team for the Veterans Healing Farm and getting the strawbales cooking, and (4) hiking, primarily for wildflower seeking.

Trilliums along the North Slope trail in the Pisgah Forest

As far as talks - after today’s workshop on tomatoes in Morganton, things really thin out for me. I will talk tomatoes at the Veterans Healing Farm in mid May, at the Etowah Library in July, and at the Buncombe Master Gardener event in Hendersonville in October, and straw bale and container gardening in Brevard in September. Please note that examples of my talks and recent podcasts are now posted as links on my Instagram Linktree, found in my profile (@nctomatoman to find me on Instagram).

Regarding my own garden, 2 new raised beds are filled and as of yesterday contain chard, lettuce, collard, spinach and kale seedlings. 23 strawbales are under preparation. This will (as I’ve said for months) be a smaller garden. The tomatoes that will reside in the bales - 1 plant per bale - are Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Chocolate, Cherokee Green, Earl, Polish, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, Potato Leaf Yellow, Abraham Brown, Lucky Cross, Captain Lucky, Egg Yolk and Sun Gold. I will place a Mexico Midget in a large container in the driveway, and my recent new dwarf hybrids in grow bags, also in the driveway. One bale will contain Shishito and Pinata peppers, one will contain Twilight Lightning and Mardi Gras eggplants, one will grow cucumbers. Four bales are pushed together for three types of beans -Goldilocks, Jade and Marbel. Four bales are pushed together for summer squash - 2 plants of a zucchini (probably Dunja), and 2 plants of Zephyr summer squash - one plant per bale. That’s it! Basil will join parsley, rosemary, and oregano in one of the new raised beds. I will probably purchase a thyme plant.

This will still be a very interesting garden, as I will be aiming for excellence in the tomato plants. I want to try for maximizing yield and health. I’ve yet to decide how many suckers I will let develop on each non- cherry tomato plant. With greater spacing and less plants I am hoping to do a better job with issue identification and mediation - disease and critter spotting and removal ASAP.

2024 seedlings sunning themselves prior to fully labeling

Our Veterans Healing Farm Tomato Team is quite large this year, which is highly appreciated. We have a good mix of experienced and new members. Since we can not use the greenhouse this year (the current location of the Farm must be vacated by August, but we will be able to use the large veggie field next to Shaw’s Creek until the growing season ends). The VHF is seeking a new location and funding. There is a donation link in my Instagram Linktree in my profile.

We are going to keep the roots out of the soil by using strawbales. Since water is more of a challenge (we need to pump it out of the creek), we have the bales linked up in a row of 30. They were placed in large plastic bags. Holes were cut in the bottom for drainage, and the top mostly cut away, leaving all sides enclosed.

Drainage holes in the bale bottoms

We are half way through the bale treatment. On Monday April 29 the seedlings will be planted, 2 indeterminate tomatoes per straw bale. We are limiting numbers of varieties this year. Current thoughts are that the tomatoes planted will include Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Chocolate, Big Sandy, Nepal, Red Brandywine, Earl, Polish, Brandywine, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, Potato Leaf Yellow and Lucky Cross. We will work out the quantity of each very soon. Note that we are not planting cherry tomatoes. The key is flavor, productivity and acceptance by those to whom the tomatoes will be donated.

I look forward to finding out how the bales do when enclosed in plastic to reduce water evaporation. The issue we had last year of enclosure in the greenhouse - which led to rapid disease spread and lower fruit set on the upper part of the plant - is absent this year. The plants will get full sun all day and excellent care from the team.

There it is - a full update on the goings on in my gardening life. We are going to keep up the hiking, and soon add kayaking. The weather has been mostly gorgeous. I hope all of you have excellent 2024 gardens! Be sure to catch me on my weekly Instagram Live, which should soon settle out to Friday afternoons (up to now, they’ve been very spotty and impromptu). You can watch them all after the fact at the reels tab on my Instagram profile.

Tomato team at work cutting away the tops

The Seeds are all Planted. Greens are Transplanted. Here's what I am growing...

Cell of Bright Lights chard ready to separate into individual cells

A typical season (since I dove into heirlooms in 1987) would mean 5 or 6 plug flats, all 50 cells filled with seeds. This season is now so clearly different - 2 plug flats, one of which less than half full (the greens plantings). A few days ago I planted tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and basil. That’s it - my 2024 garden is now well underway, including varieties that will be in my back yard and the Veterans Healing Farm Flag Garden, with a few planted to bring to local events. I’ve also separated and transplanted the greens that were seeded a few weeks ago into individual cells in a plug flat. It is the last day of February - I’d call this progress.

Here is the list and seed lot number of what I planted:

• Abraham Brown T23-4 - for my garden

• Polish T23-5 - maybe my garden, maybe VHF garden

• Big Sandy T23-7 - for the VHF garden

• Lucky Cross T23-8 - for my garden, and perhaps the VHF garden

• Brandywine T23-13 - maybe my garden, maybe VHF garden. If T11-7, 11-49 and 11-60 germinates, one of them could be in my yard, the others at the VHF

• Cherokee Purple T22-3 - both gardens. If T11-51 germinates, that will be in my yard

• Cherokee Chocolate T22-2 - both gardens. If T11-13 germinates, that will be in my yard

• Cherokee Green T23-22 - backup

• Earl T21-5 - one or both gardens

• Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom T23-10 - my garden

• Cherokee Green T16-142 - my garden

• Lucky Bling T23-24 - not sure

• Mary’s Favorite Yellow T23-27 - not sure

• Captain Lucky T23-173 - both gardens

• Potato Leaf Yellow T23-36 - both gardens

• Sun Gold hybrid JSS packet - my garden

• Egg Yolk T23-46 - my garden

• Mexico Midget T21-70 - my garden

• Dwarf Choemato X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy F1 hybrid T23-123 - my garden

• Dwarf Blazing Beauty X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy F1 hybrid T23-124 - my garden

• Dwarf Zoe’s Sweet X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy F1 hybrid T23-125 - my garden

• BrandyFred X Polish F1 hybrid T23-126 - just a check to see if the cross took.

• Fairytale Angel T23-132 - VHF garden

• Lillian Rose T23-133 - not sure

• Fairytale Fruit T23-131 - not sure

• Nepal T23-150 - VHF garden

• Red Brandywine T18-11 - VHF garden

• Sample sent to me to confirm whether dwarf

• Uluru Ochre T23-52 - to share

• Dwarf Gloria’s Treat T23-60 - to share

• Dwarf Eagle Smiley T23-199 - to share

• BrandyFred T23-88 - to share

• Dwarf Beauty King T23-97 - to share

• Dwarf Wild Spudleaf T23-111 - to share

• Dwarf Saucy Mary T23-110 - to share

• Sweet Scarlet Dwarf T23-117 - to share

• Dwarf Purple Heartthrob 7583 - to share

• Dwarf Chocolate Heartthrob 7577 - to share

• Shishito pepper T23-3 - my garden

• Pinata pepper T22-9 - my garden

• Midnight Lightning eggplant T23-3 - not sure

• Mardi Gras eggplant F23-1 - not sure

• Skinny Twilight eggplant T23-4 - not sure

• Twilight Lightning eggplant T23-2 - not sure (I will plant 2 of these 4 in my garden)

• Various basil - Devotion, Prospera, Genovese, Caramel Chianti, and saved from the WNC Arboretum - 6 cells, a pinch in each - I will have some in containers in my yard

Separated chard seedling all tucked in deep

Reiterating thoughts on both gardens: For the Veterans Healing Farm garden (VHF), there will be big changes from last season. The farm has to relocate, so there is no use of the greenhouse. We will have use of the flag garden on the other side of Shaw’s Creek for this growing season. Current plans are to put the plants into prepared straw bales, 2 plants per bale. We hope for 30 bales/60 plants, focusing on those varieties that combine flavor with productivity. The varieties I planted will cover our needs. We will also have a few bales ready for varieties for the farm volunteers. The main challenge will be providing adequate water. The tomato team will surely rise to the challenge!

2 of the three transplanted greens flats - spinach, kale, collards, lettuce, chard

For my garden, I plan to put one plant in each bale, with 12 bales for tomatoes. I may have a few driveway containers for experimental varieties. Anything I planted that won’t be grown out are extras to distribute at my events.

The above does indeed represent a significant change, and I look forward to have the ability to focus more on each plant and share techniques and care during the weekly Instagram Lives. It should also leave plenty of time for me to complete the book on the Dwarf Tomato Project.

While I am planting seeds, Sue is down in the cats’ downstairs room working on a quilt

It's Planting Time! Here are my choices. And - some milestones. And March events.

Greens planted on Feb 6, getting some filtered sun outdoors Feb 23

With just a week remaining in February, it is time to get my seed planting plans in place. I already have some things up and growing, which I will show and describe below.

Let’s start with some milestones.

• Epic Tomatoes was published in December 2014. It’s been 10 years since its release!

• My first significant garden was in 1981 - 43 years ago. That’s a lot of pounding stakes into the ground, dealing with dirty fingernails, feet with ground in clay soil, and tomato foliage-stained T shirts!

• I joined the Seed Savers Exchange in 1986 - 38 years ago. No wonder my heirloom seed collection grew to the size it now is.

• The SSE was formed in 1975. That means next year is its Golden Anniversary - 50 years for the great idea and incredibly relevant organization.

• I received, and first grew (and named) Cherokee Purple in 1990. That is 34 years ago.

• I’ve grown Cherokee Purple 52 times, Cherokee Chocolate (which appeared in my garden in 1995) 40 times, Cherokee Green (which appeared in my garden in 1997) 28 times, Brandywine (Sudduth strain which I received from Roger Wentling in 1987) 45 times, and Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom 30 times - these are the varieties I’ve grown the most often by a wide margin.

Time certainly flies when you’re having fun - the speed that the above transpired can only mean I am having a blast!

Now, on to seeds planted, or planned to be so soon.

My first 14 cells, planted on February 6, included spiderwort (a slow germinator, still waiting for it) Bright Lights chard, an heirloom Collard, a smooth leaf Kale, the spinach varieties Acadia, Space, Seaside, and Giant Nobel, and lettuces Magenta, Cherokee, Cimarron, Gabriella and Green Ice. The seeds germinated quickly and mostly well (a few varieties are a bit old and were no shows), and are getting their first taste of outdoors and sun today.

As for tomatoes, I always like to go back and germinate some really old seed of important varieties. Sadly, the list of potential candidates is much smaller this year. Today I planted Cherokee Chocolate from 2011 (T11-13), Cherokee Purple from 2011 (T11-51), and Brandywines from 2011 - T11-7, 49 and 60. These are the oldest vials, closest to originally sent seed, that could germinate. for Brandywine, 11-7 is 4 plantings removed from source seed, and 11-49 and 11-60 are 5 plantings removed. Cherokee Chocolate 11-13 is only 2 plantings removed from discovery, and Cherokee Purple 11-51 is 3 plantings removed.

At this point, it seems the 12 tomato plants destined for my main tomato strawbale garden, 1 plant per bale, are Abraham Brown, Polish, Lucky Cross, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Chocolate, Cherokee Green, Captain Lucky, Potato Leaf Yellow, Sun Gold F1 hybrid, and Egg Yolk - and either Earl, Mary’s Yellow or Rainbow Bling. I will have Mexico Midget in a container in a different location, and am pondering growing out 1 each of the new hybrids I made last year at the Veterans Healing Farm greenhouse. For all of these plants, I will be going to most recently saved seed.

Varieties I will start for the Farm straw bales in addition to the above are Earl, Big Sandy, Nepal, Red Brandywine, and. Fairytale Angel. I did want to have a few plants at my home to donate or give to local gardens, so am also going to start Lillian Rose, Fairytale Fruit, Uluru Ochre, Gloria’s Treat, Eagle Smiley, BrandyFred, Beauty King, Wild Spudleaf, Saucy Mary, Sweet Scarlet Dwarf, Purple Heartthrob, and Chocolate Heartthrob. All of these will be from most recently saved seeds. Filling the 50 cell plug flat will be peppers Shishito and Pinata, eggplants Midnight Lightning and Twilight Lightning and some downy mildew resistant Basil, as well as some Genovese.

Events for March

• March 4 - Containers and Strawbales, Zoom for a PA library

• March 16 - Veterans Healing Farm, US Garden History, Johnson Farm on Rt 191 Hendersonville, 10 AM, free

• March 19 - Containers and Strawbales, Hendersonville Library 5:30 PM, free

• March 20 - Tomatoes, Sonoma CA garden group Zoom, details to follow

• March 27 - Containers and Strawbales, Sow True Seeds, Asheville, 5:30 - link to follow (fee event)

first flowers are crocus - we did not plant these (thanks birds or squirrels!)

Seed Sending Update, Gardening Thoughts, Latest Events Schedule and more...

Last time Sue and I were on cross country skis in a big snowstorm in Raleigh 24 years ago

January is done, all gone in the blink of an eye. That’s 8.3% of 2024 now behind us. The weather here has been pretty consistently cold and wet - no snow (sadly), but it certainly feels better to be snuggled indoors. Growing season is right around the corner, though - that is clear from the new growth on the hellebores and the emerging growing tips of tulips and daffodils, and swelling buds on the quince bushes.

Here’s a series of updates on topics noted in the blog header

1. Satisfying all seed requests. All done! My 2023 seed request folder is empty. My seed supply is now uniformly very low. I won’t be able to fill any seed requests until the coming fall - and it will be much, much smaller due to the low number of tomato plants I will be growing this year. For all those who got (or will soon be getting) seeds from me, any donations you would like to make are welcome - the donate button at this link goes to Paypal.

2. Gardening thoughts for the coming year: Our garden will be very different from nearly all other gardens. The goal is 12 tomato plants - 12 tomato varieties. I haven’t completely settled on the varieties, but Cherokee Purple, Captain Lucky and Sun Gold will be three of them. I think I will skip bell peppers and have just Shishito and a Jalapeno. There are likely to be two eggplants. There will be cucumbers, and lots of bush snap beans. I am pondering having ONE tomato plant per straw bale to maximize production. This would all add up to 20 straw bales total. To get things started, I hope to get some greens seeds started indoors soon. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants will be seeded on March 1, with a target plant out date of May 1. I hope to get straw bales conditioning in early April.

3. Gardening at the Veterans Healing Farm: Recent news is that the Farm has to relocate. We will not have access to the greenhouse, but will instead put the tomatoes in the flag garden on the other side of Shaw Creek. My tomato team is intact from last year, and I will be gathering them soon to plan things out. We will plant in straw bales, and my latest thoughts are 10 varieties, 6 plants each - about half of last year’s plant and variety number.

Digging in the garden with my dad Wilfred in West Chester, PA, 34 years ago. This was the garden that I first grew the unnamed purple heirloom sent to me that I named Cherokee Purple.

Finally, below is the latest event schedule - it has been growing over the last few weeks. I am not sure which of these may be open for registration beyond the organizing group, but will let you know as each approaches.

• January 16 - WI MG Zoom, topic Strawbale and container gardening, 7:30 PM eastern (closed event, no wider attendance possible) (completed)

• January 18 - The Growing Space podcast recording (my friend Erin Hostetler, The Patio Gardener’s new podcast) - I’ll let you know when this runs and how to listen (recorded - will air in the spring - more info to follow)

• February 3 - central IL MG Zoom on Tomatoes - time - 10 AM eastern - closed event, no wider attendance possible) (completed)

• February 10 - Greater Greenville (SC) MG SC symposium - giving two talks (tomatoes and containers/strawbales). Event requires registration - see the link. It is apparently sold out. (completed)

• February 21 - 56th Annual Winter Vegetable Conference, Asheville NC - Dwarf Tomato Breeding Project - Event requires registration - see the link. (completed)

• February 21 - Hardy Plant Society, mid Atlantic group Zoom, talking tomatoes, 6:30 PM. Not open for others to join (completed)

• March 4 - Peters Township Public Library, McMurray PA Zoom - straw bale and container gardening - 6 PM. Not sure if it is open for others to join.

• March 16 - Veterans Healing Farm, History of Gardening in America - 10 AM, Johnson Farm off of Haywood Road

• March 19 - Hendersonville Public Library - Gardening with Containers and Strawbales - 5:30 PM, free

• March 20 - Sonoma County CA MG Zoom - tomatoes - 8 PM eastern. Not sure if others can join.

• March 27 - Sow True Seeds - containers and straw bales - 5 PM - I will post registration link when available.

• April 5 - Veterans Healing Farm - Strawbales and containers, at the farm on Yale Road - more info to follow

• April 5 - Tomato Talk - live discussion at 7 PM eastern.

• April 6 - Central Oregon MG Zoom - tomatoes - 1 PM Oregon time, 4 PM eastern. Not sure if others can join.

• April 8 - VA Beach MG Zoom - tomatoes - time TBD. Not sure if others can join.

• April 20 - Morganton - containers and straw bales - much more info to come

• May 14 -Veterans Healing Farm - tomatoes - Yale Road location - more info to follow

• September 12 - Brevard train depot, strawbales and containers - more info to follow

• October 9 - WNC MG Symposium - Hendersonville - tomatoes; time TBD.

• I am also working on an article for The American Gardener on tomato staking and pruning that will run in the spring.

Possible participation in other podcasts, such as Joe Lamp’l, possible additional workshops at Sow True Seeds, and unforeseen requests are all possible - check back for updates.

As for the Dwarf Tomato Project book, now that seed requests are fulfilled, I hope to dive into that project very soon. I want to write it (I NEED to write it), and it will get done - eventually. I plan to self publish the book.

On into February we all go! Keep following my Instagram posts (@nctomatoman), and keep reading my blog. I should start Instagram Live sessions some time in March. Any questions - just shoot me an email - nctomatoman@gmail.com - and I do read and respond to comments on this blog.

Picture of my dad, Wilfred, in his scout uniform, age 10. Picture found when we were packing for our move from Raleigh to Hendersonville in 2019. My dad was a major influence on my love of gardening.

A very brief seed request fulfillment progress report, upcoming activities, and more "what's next"

Sue and Betts on our Blue Ridge Parkway walk last week

It’s a blustery, chilly Tuesday morning, and I am just back from the post office. The last padded envelopes that fulfill recent seed requests are on their way to gardeners here and there in the US. A few books tucked with seeds will be on their way as well. All that will remain are a few complex seed requests that are headed outside of the US, always a challenge! Hopefully those will be done by the end of this week and I can call this task complete.

My first Zoom, for a Wisconsin master gardener group this evening, is not open for wider attendance, unfortunately. I’ve updated my list with additional details - my current list of events is in this blog entry.

With seeds and books on their way to you, and events underway, the next topic on my to do list is planning my 2024 garden. Initial estimate is to get lettuce and spinach planted indoors on Feb 1. Tomatoes will follow on March 1. I will of course share my thoughts on this blog, and on Instagram.

Also on my list at a high priority is digging into the Dwarf Tomato Project book that I will write, then self publish.

One of our peaceful afternoons - still life with dogs and Sue

Seed Request Fulfillment Update as of morning January 9

The complex process of fulfilling seed requests

With another trip to the post office soon, I am moving at a slow but steady pace through all of the seed requests received last year. I don’t know the exact count, but from 120 emails in my 2023 seed request folder, I am at 38 emails to be processed. 2/3 done, 1/3 to go.

I use a bit of a triage method - some requests are easy - just 1 or 2 varieties. Those get done first. For whatever reason, there are quite a few “complex'“ requests looking for older seeds, or to play in the dwarf tomato breeding project, or heading outside of the US. These take more time and I leave them for last.

I am running out of quite a few varieties that I talked up, so don’t be alarmed when you find seed packets with but a few seeds - Abraham Brown in particular. I will save 5 for myself, but that will end up being the extent of that variety in my collection (I will grow it next year to bump up my seed supply a bit). Captain Lucky and Cherokee Purple are also running down fast. The lead selection for Lillian Rose is down to just a few seeds for me, so I will be sending F3 seeds to select from.

This represents my very last large scale seed distribution, an activity I’ve done each winter for many years. It is the end of an era! My seed stock will be appropriately depleted after this, so for those obtaining seeds from me, be a seed saver!

NOTE - I did a bit of work on the Dwarf Tomato Project release page on this website. I have to work on descriptions, but the releases via Victory per year should now be accurate and stands at 157 varieties. Though the project is officially done, a few remaining releases are working their way through the system - the eventual final number will be between 165-170!

View from the Blue Ridge Parkway on our walk yesterday

Hello 2024! Initial plans, activities and thoughts to kick off the year.

back yard on a chilly, windy Jan 1, 2024.

Happy New Year! I am not sure where 2023 went, but here we are, like it or not!

I really don’t do resolutions - there is no need because I have a planning/task driven tendency (for better or for worse) which keeps me moving forward. With age and retirement the “must do” list really does get much shorter. Whatever doesn’t get done today just gets moved to tomorrow - which I suppose is just another way to think of procrastination! For example, as I set to embark on getting envelopes stuffed with requested seeds, that perfectly depicts procrastination - I had hoped to have all seeds sent by Christmas. Let’s call it by mid January instead!

My thoughts about 2024 are pretty relaxed. If there is a major objective, it is to make significant progress on the Dwarf Tomato Project book. I’ve got a set of garden workshops in my calendar - I’ll outline them at the end of this blog entry. There will be involvement with the Veterans Healing Farm, the specifics to be determined. I will have a garden, but despite the disbelief expressed by many of my friends, it will represent a significant reduction in size and complexity. It just feels like time to do so. I do expect to continue with Instagram Lives from my yard, with frequency and timing to be determined. I expect to do garden planning in January, seed starting in early March, strawbale prep in early April, and planting in early May. I will blog on my specific plans (varieties, crops) later on in the winter.

We will take a week to go to Ocracoke in May with our kayaks - we miss that little island so much and it will be good to return (though we realize it will be haunted by the ghosts of our 2 chocolate labs, Buddy and Mocha, that accompanied us there for so many vacations some years ago).

Mostly, I look forward to another year of hiking with Sue our dogs, lots of hours sitting in our comfy chairs listening to great music and interesting podcasts and audiobooks. We will seek things to watch (we are on the last season of Slow Dogs - not the best thing we’ve seen, but quite good).

Fall will likely see left knee replacement surgery, which I had scheduled for last December but decided to delay. It has to happen sooner or later if I want to keep gardening and hiking.

My last thoughts as we all embark on 2024 - I so appreciate having so many gardening friends and such support for my endeavors. Not saving tons of seed, not leading a complex breeding project, not ending up with a significant list of seed requests by the end of 2024 will be a big change, but I am ready for it. It is encouraging to see in many of my younger friends the seeds of continuing and furthering some of the things I was deeply involved in, putting their own personal twists on things. That is perhaps the most important thing of all.

Just a small part of my reorganized seed collection. I’ll be going through these to fulfill seed requests and carry out seed staring (when the time is right)

As promised, here is a list of events I have on my calendar. I am not sure which of these may be open for registration beyond the organizing group, but will let you know as each approaches.

January 16 - WI MG Zoom, topic Strawbale and container gardening, 7:30 PM eastern (closed event, no wider attendance possible) (completed)

January 18 - The Growing Space podcast recording (my friend Erin Hostetler, The Patio Gardener’s new podcast) - I’ll let you know when this runs and how to listen (recorded - will air in the spring - more info to follow)

February 3 - central IL MG Zoom on Tomatoes - time TBD - I will confirm whether it is open to others to join - 10 AM

February 10 - Greater Greenville (SC) MG SC symposium - giving two talks (tomatoes and containers/strawbales). Event requires registration - see the link. It is apparently sold out.

February 21 - 56th Annual Winter Vegetable Conference, Asheville NC - Dwarf Tomato Breeding Project - Event requires registration - see the link.

February 21 - Hardy Plant Society, mid Atlantic group Zoom, talking tomatoes, 6:30 PM. Not sure if it is open for others to join

March 4 - Peters Township Public Library, McMurray PA Zoom - straw bale and container gardening - 6 PM. Not sure if it is open for others to join.

March 16 - Veterans Healing Farm, History of Gardening in America - 10 AM, Johnson Farm off of Haywood Road

March 19 - Hendersonville Public Library - Gardening with Containers and Strawbales - 5:30 PM, free

March 20 - Sonoma County CA MG Zoom - tomatoes - 8 PM eastern

March 27 - Sow True Seeds - containers and straw bales - 5 PM - I will post registration link when available.

April 5 - Veterans Healing Farm - Strawbales and containers, at the farm on Yale Road - more info to follow

April 6 - Central Oregon MG Zoom - tomatoes - 1 PM Oregon time, 4 PM eastern.

April 8 - VA Beach MG Zoom - tomatoes - time TBD

April 20 - Morganton - containers and straw bales - much more info to come

May 14 -Veterans Healing Farm - tomatoes - Yale Road location - more info to follow

September 12 - Brevard train depot, strawbales and containers - more info to follow

October 9 - WNC MG Symposium - Hendersonville - tomatoes; time TBD.

Possible participation in other podcasts, such as Joe Lamp’l, possible additional workshops at Sow True Seeds, and unforeseen requests are all possible - check back for updates.

Flowerless perennial flower garden on Jan 1, 2024

Goodbye 2023! I am ready to turn the page...

Christmas Eve 2023

I am sitting here listening to one of our two favorite radio stations, WXPN (Philadelphia - the other is WNCW, Spindale NC - our days are often spent moving back and forth between the 2). Sue is sitting in the sunny, corner chair knitting. Koda, Marlin and Betts are here and there on various dog beds or sofas. The Christmas tree is still taking a bit of water, but its days are numbered. It is Sunday, December 31 - a perfect time for reflecting upon a busy 2023, and look forward to a hopefully calmer 2024.

2023 saw a slew of local garden talks and remote Zoom events. It was a year of a lot of tomato growing and busy gardening, both in my back yard and at the nearby Veterans Healing Farm. It was a year of a lot of wonderful hikes, an unfortunate late fall broken wrist for Sue (she healed well and we are back at it). We did more kayaking than usual, discovering Jocassee and Keowee in South Carolina, as well as Santeetlah in western NC. We also finally got to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to do some hiking.

December walk on the Blue Ridge Parkway (which was closed)

It was a milestone year that finally saw the official end of the Dwarf Tomato Breeding project. Spanning 2005 until 2023, it has been a memorable, fun and impactful 18 years and continues to produce new varieties, with a slew showing up in the Victory Seeds catalog recently, and a few more to come next year. The book describing the project is still pending, but I hope to dive in very soon (it will be self published). It is a story that must be told.

It was a wonderful year filled with books, movies and music. We are wrapping up our 4th year in Hendersonville, which we only love more with each day. 2023 saw the 43rd wedding anniversary of Sue and I, and our special enduring friendship is always the best part of every single day.

I will follow this up very soon with a blog post that will look forward into 2024. All I will say about that is that the next week will (finally!) see a lot of seed packing and sending. I’ve been remiss - I’ve been lazy, but this year demanded a mental break from gardening. The calendar is about to flip, and I will be ready for 2024.

Sue and I at the lights festival at the WNC Arboretum in December