Posted on 08/19/2011 5:01:37 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. Weather has been great here in East Central Mississippi but my garden is basically done for the season. I do have some paste tomatoes coming along just fine and hope they produce before the first frost. They have a good chance to produce because the first frost around here is usually in late October or early November.
If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.
I hope all your gardens are flourishing.
From one website that I saved:
"Seriously, you’ve never really had great tomatoes until you’ve had dry farmed tomatoes. They are generally smaller and pack full of concentrated tomato flavors that have not been diluted by too much water while growing. The skin of a dry farmed tomato is a little stronger than that of the regular tomato, which is an added bonus because that means the dry farmed tomatoes don’t bruise as easily. Joe’s dry farmed tomatoes are seriously good, and good in practically anything."I tried some Better Boys this year with minimal watering. They were extremely good, but half the size of the ones that were watered regularly. It is a trade-off. Generally, the plants are given an adequate amount of water until they start setting the first fruit, and then the watering is left to nature ... unless they wilt and start to die and then you have to water a bit.
Isn't it funny how I had that seemingly odd bit information floating around in my head from earlier in the year and you come up with a question that makes it actually useful?
I'm pinging Red into my comments because I had a thought all of a sudden. Paste tomatoes are usually sweeter and have a better flavor than slicing varieties, but they do not have a pleasant texture for slicing. Can you imagine how good paste tomatoes would taste if they were dry farmed? Man, that sauce would be good!
My guess is they are hybrids from different farms.
Your description of “dry farming” is approximately about what happened here through serendipity and a little bit of laziness. Of course pots (urns) dry out while the other tomatoes still have plenty of water. I was not really faithful about watering those urns until I saw them in a case of serious wilt when I dumped a lot of water on them. They were left to fend for themselves because I did not have the water hooked up out by the rose garden. (This has been a tough year for us with too much work and not enough energy to get everything done. Add bad weather, and...)
You have provided the perfect answer to my puzzle, and I’m sure you are spot on!
Excuse, excuses, excuses ...........SMIRK!
Mmmm...Mmmm...Mmmm! :)
I DID get the green & yellow wax beans put up! Starting on more oven-dried tomatoes.
Did you see Stephanie’s recipe for homemade granola? Yummy! That’s on the docket as soon as it cools off again.
I like to put my basil in a little water in zip-lock bag and jut freeze them in small batches. Works well for me - just thaw and chop and toss in sauces or soups.
In what form did you put all corn that up?
Wow. Rose of Sharon plants pop up like weeds in my yard. Very little stops them.
SO I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO DRINKS PICKLE JUICE!
On storing dried herbs...
I strongly encourage that dry herbs NOT be crushed into small pieces. By doing that, the surface area is increased and the volatiles will depart more quickly and oxidation will be faster. Store in the largest pieces you can manage to dry—crumble upon use.
that pic has wonderful color....mind if I ask what kind of camera you have?
Thanks! Sounds interesting I will have to do some research on dry farming of tomatoes!
No you are not the only one who drinks pickle juice. My kids eat the pickles, dill, garlic, jalapenos and onions then drink the juice.
Healthy kids.
Yes, I saw that recipe.
As I told Cath earlier, my new best friend is the guy with the produce stand down the road. He has a grand old time with his prices! He’s going to get me a bushel of romas from the Amish auction he goes to every Wednesday. He can’t promise me today how much but he said most likely between $9 and 12. And his shrimp is to die for!!! 10 count for 7bucks a pound. YUM.
I learned last week (on this thread) that certain plants are poisoned by having a Walnut tree close by.
Do You have one?
http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/qt/Black_Walnuts.htm
Just an FYI
I’m going to have to replant my apple tree.
I first spotted 3 plants of them growing in a field that ultimately got bulldozed for a development, bye bye beautiful lilies. They don't transplant well and can only be grown by bulb, tremendously difficult to get seeds from them, have to cross with a similar plant with little success. I have no idea how on earth those three beautiful flowers got growing in that field. Diploid and sterile come to mine, I had to ask on a group about them.
They're not really lilies but a member of the amaryllis family. They sure look like lilies. Google for it, also called naked ladies and painted ladies.
I've had many gardening disappointments like that so have let nature have her way and grow what doesn't need to be watered. We need rain badly. I went out with a shovel last night to dig up some bad dandelions I've let go, ground is hard as a rock, trees are fighting with my plants for moisture.
I want to grow veggies and herbs next year, think I'll try to get some herbs going under my lights or they grow well in the sunroom IF I remember to water them.
I found a neat recipe that calls for rosemary but I don't know where to get seeds for it, found the rest I like. I think I could grow salad greens under my lights for winter, too, but not tomatoes.
I rigged up a bank of gro lights myself with pvc pipe, have two double sets of fluorescent lights on a timer.
Appreciate the ping and next week will try to follow all the posts. I always want to grow exotic things and am excited about some seeds for corn that has beautiful colored kernels that look like glass, am looking forward to that, am on a waiting list.
Also got a volunteer so will see if that does anything.
Maybe you can answer 2 questions for me. If I clear out a compost area that is circular and about 5' in diameter, can I plant one in the middle and 4 around it? I'm not real happy with siting them there because I'd like it for flowers but it's too dry behind the garage where I really want them but the farthest to haul water.
I read it's easier to keep the weeds at bay if you mulch. All I have to mulch with are grass clippings which should be fairly free of seeds and can collect some oak leaves this fall. Also people lay cardboard and magazines and put mulch on top of that. I have some bark mulch left but have gotten away from using it because it's a nuisance plus it's harder to get my flowers to reseed.
Most importantly, if I move, how hard would it be to move some with me? I hate to have to start all over or buy plants because they are at least $9.95 apiece on the internet and mine were practically free.
I thought the picture good quality, too. Hope the poster doesn’t mind my answering, but I have an exif viewer, and it’s a Panasonic DMC-FP1
Last week I asked what to do with a branch that broke off a patio tomato plant.
Good news, all of the green tomatoes have ripened or are ripening beautifully.
I stuck the branch back in the container and kept it moist and within one week all is well.
Thanks to everyone for your advise!
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