Saturday, August 23, 2014

Saving tomato seed

I have been collecting seed from tomatoes given to me. And from this years tomato grown in my garden. It is best to save seed from heirloom plants. Hybrids may not produce the same fruit  that you just ate. They may revert to one of the parent plants. But if you like what is grown from that seed. You can collect and replant it for a few years. And it may stabilize into the same plant year after year then. It is possible any plant can cross pollinate with another type of tomato. This would create a new hybrid. So if you want to have only 1 type of tomato it is best to not grow a variety near each other.
I forgot to drain my tomato seed after a few days and let it dry out. I left it to ferment from Aug 7 to Aug 21. So my seeds my not be good for next year. I should have waited only 3 or 4 days. But I was surprised the seed I collected from a tomato in my garden sprouted in the cup of water.

Monday, August 4, 2014

Tomato suprise

We had a carnival held in our local fair grounds, last week. Parking for some was in the field behind out home. Normally this is not an issue. But I went out on Friday to find all of my tomatoes that were near the stage of ripe missing. It will be more than a week for the little ones left to grow and ripen. I was so sad. This is the first bounty I have ever had at this house. My no dig straw bail garden was successful. I told a local friend about this. And they surprised me with this. A very large head of cabbage, A very large Zucchini, 4 cucumbers.
 3 Tomato variety: Largest is beef master or steak. Roma &  Small German Lunch Box ((Heirloom)). Salad tomato. Red-skinned, egg-shaped, thin skinned; sweet. 62 days. Determinate.
I plan to save seeds from them to add to my collection.
I feel so happy just to have this many. As now at least I have some to eat. But I do not think,  I will get enough from my garden to store for the winter. I am so happy I was able to see a bounty in my garden though. They were beautiful! And I will now plan next years garden to include: some sort of fencing. And early netting to prevent the plants from being cut in half. This year was a struggle. But I am not giving up. Next year will be better.