Tomatoes for Christmas

It's now 3 weeks out from planting my tomato plants, so today they got potted up to bigger pots, as they're drying out too much in the foam cups I usually grow in. 

Here's some photos of what they look like, including the medium that they're going to grow in while in 140mm pots.

Grandfather Ashlock
Striped German
Morado
Some 'special' additions to the Potting Mix as seen in the bottom photo.. 

 Grandfather Ashlock

 

 Striped German

Morado

2012/13 Tomato Season has kicked off

Another year and another Tomato Season has begun, hopefully it will be a good year, but tomato plants can be finicky and you always seem to take what you get. I started off earlier this year due to work commitments, my first variety down was UK2000 as I wanted these as my main crop variety, and they never let me down.

I sowed my tomato seed on the 18 July 2012, 10 days earlier than my normal start date, but I doubt a few days will matter all that much.

My final list for the season will be :-

Arkashin
Bychok
Donksoi
Morado
M.S.
Nicoleta
Orlinyi Klyuv
Shkharnyi Zhelty
Striped German

UK 2000 which are already up, plus waiting on seeds for one other variety.

About the time I was ready to prick out, I received a seed swap from a grower on Tomatoville, offering Herring Strain and Cen-Tex, family favourites that had been grown in his family for a number of years. I sowed a few seeds of each and will grow them for seed this time around.

Winter Shrub Cuttings

While I had the heat mat on with the Tomato & Capsicum seeds, I took advantage of the spare room on the mat and took some Winter cuttings in the hope of some success. Considering it was a cold Winter, I had fairly good results, although some plants were never going to cope with the below ordinary temperatures. An old favourite of mine is Grevillea iaspicula, which never lets me down, plus amongst the other plants there were Correa's, Darwinia's and Acacia cognata 'Limelight'.

Here are some that made it.

Rhubarb Update

This is a shot of the stalks on the plant on the right in the previous photo, my Paragon rhubarb which is looking great since being planted in the ground and mulched. I really want this plant to grow well here for me.

A Few Tomatoes

With work commitments following straight on from a year doing my course, I have been neglecting my tomato crop at home, but you have to do what you have to do. Here are some photos taken during the season showing seedlings and fruit.

Seed Grown Rhubarb

I planted the two seed grown plants this morning that I grew, which are for varieties usually found in the USA and UK., so hopefully they will establish better in the ground. I will be trying for my own seed, but not this year, as they haven't got a sizable crown at this stage that would support the flower. I had terrible germination on the seed for both of these plants, so hopefully when I get to save my own seed, they'll be a bit more viable.