Fruits and veggies?

[estación seca]

I harvest garlic when it gets hot and the tops die. It's a winter crop here. We plant it in late October.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I harvest garlic when it gets hot and the tops die. It's a winter crop here. We plant it in late October.

Same here in Texas. Garlic and onions go in the ground in October, and then get harvested in July or so.

[WaterWitchin]

What do you not understand Kvet?!? He said

PURPLE CHEROKEE
The KING of TOMATOES

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

...Speaking of which, I spent a lot of summers with my aunt and uncle in central Phoenix. We used to do the same thing with oranges and lemons.

Between November and April every workplace break room in metro Phoenix will feature shopping bags or boxes filled with citrus to take home free - lemons, oranges, grapefruit. The trees are incredibly productive. I am always amazed newcomers to the area will do things like plant 3 lemon trees, rather than an assortment of citrus, because they think they like lemons. They have no idea the enormous number of lemons even a young lemon tree produces. I tell them that, when they wish they had other kinds of citrus, I will show them how to graft, and provide budwood. Citrus are very easy to graft with a T and shield bud graft in early Spring and late Fall.

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

...Purple Cherokee....

In our climate tomatoes must go into the ground as early as possible, because once it gets good and hot, they die. Many years the plants will die by mid May. Our last potential frost date is March 15. That means planting seeds indoors on January 1, setting them out February 15, and being prepared to cover or otherwise protect them from frost.

As a result we can grow only very-short-days-to-harvest tomatoes, with even 70 days stretching it. This excludes all the heirlooms. Most people plant Celebrity or Early Girl. Cherry tomatoes are more tolerant of heat, and the earlier-bearing ones are usually good producers well past the bigger tomatoes.

We can plant tomatoes again when nights begin cooling somewhat in the fall, but if that happens late and we have an early frost, we get nothing. I know people who grow tomatoes in plastic hoop tunnels over the winter, but sometimes we get stiff wind combined with freezing temperatures, and even a hoop tunnel isn't enough.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Between November and April every workplace break room in metro Phoenix will feature shopping bags or boxes filled with citrus to take home free - lemons, oranges, grapefruit. The trees are incredibly productive. I am always amazed newcomers to the area will do things like plant 3 lemon trees, rather than an assortment of citrus, because they think they like lemons. They have no idea the enormous number of lemons even a young lemon tree produces. I tell them that, when they wish they had other kinds of citrus, I will show them how to graft, and provide budwood. Citrus are very easy to graft with a T and shield bud graft in early Spring and late Fall.



In our climate tomatoes must go into the ground as early as possible, because once it gets good and hot, they die. Many years the plants will die by mid May. Our last potential frost date is March 15. That means planting seeds indoors on January 1, setting them out February 15, and being prepared to cover or otherwise protect them from frost.

As a result we can grow only very-short-days-to-harvest tomatoes, with even 70 days stretching it. This excludes all the heirlooms. Most people plant Celebrity or Early Girl. Cherry tomatoes are more tolerant of heat, and the earlier-bearing ones are usually good producers well past the bigger tomatoes.

We can plant tomatoes again when nights begin cooling somewhat in the fall, but if that happens late and we have an early frost, we get nothing. I know people who grow tomatoes in plastic hoop tunnels over the winter, but sometimes we get stiff wind combined with freezing temperatures, and even a hoop tunnel isn't enough.

That saddens me that you have such trouble with tomatoes. They are one of my favorite parts of my summer garden. That being said, I have grown Celebrity, and have enjoyed it much. It is a determinate variety, correct, so you get your whole crop of tomatoes at about the same time? If it is actually Celebrity that I'm thinking of it, and it's nice to have a whole lot of tomatoes at once for canning and making sauces and such.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by estación seca

In our climate tomatoes must go into the ground as early as possible, because once it gets good and hot, they die. Many years the plants will die by mid May. Our last potential frost date is March 15. That means planting seeds indoors on January 1, setting them out February 15, and being prepared to cover or otherwise protect them from frost.

As a result we can grow only very-short-days-to-harvest tomatoes, with even 70 days stretching it. This excludes all the heirlooms. Most people plant Celebrity or Early Girl. Cherry tomatoes are more tolerant of heat, and the earlier-bearing ones are usually good producers well past the bigger tomatoes.

We can plant tomatoes again when nights begin cooling somewhat in the fall, but if that happens late and we have an early frost, we get nothing. I know people who grow tomatoes in plastic hoop tunnels over the winter, but sometimes we get stiff wind combined with freezing temperatures, and even a hoop tunnel isn't enough.

I have similar issues with the growing issue being too short, but not because it gets too hot. My problem is the opposite, the weather in the Netherlands doesn't stay warm long enough! I have to get them in the ground as soon the last frost date has passed (around May 15-20th), and unless it's cherry tomatoes, the plants are kept single stem as much as possible have to be topped at max 3 trusses since there isn't enough growing season to have more than that.

I'm dying to try the Purple Cherokee everyone is raving about, I can't grow large beef tomatoes in this climate, there's usually not enough time for them to ripen...

I have to grow my tomatoes semi covered. The plastic protects them from the rain to delay the inevitable onset of phytophthora, but doesn't go all the way to the ground. The gutter system is to catch rain water and also prevent all the water from dripping at the base of the plants, which leads to bland tasting fruits. The first season with the gutter system I saw a massive difference, my tomatoes were nearly sweeter tasting than peaches!

I have a mix of Saint Pierre (a french heirloom great for canning), Black Krim and Marmande (THE french heirloom for eating in salads.)

[WaterWitchin]

Oh, I feel your pain. And Purple Cherokee isn't a great big tomato. Just a long set-on period. Two of yours, I had to look up. To each environment, there's always a way, if there's a will. To an extent....

[DirtyCoconuts]

Wow you guys are awesome!

[Roberta]

BT will do the job... and you can use it on the outdoor orchids too. It is very sad to see a flower or bud disappear and there's a little green "worm" doing the munching... BT causes them to stop feeding, and kills them that way. Harmless to humans, pets, and essentially everything except insect larvae.

[DirtyCoconuts]

What is BT?

Jscott- ahem, make pickles!!!!!