Green thumb is itching, anyone else?

[Chickerdoodle13]

Roma tomatoes are my favorite for everything. They don't tend to split like larger tomatoes, they are great for sauce, canning, salads, sandwiches, etc. We've had good luck with them most years. Last year we had a cut worm problem though! I was able to fix it after I realized what was going on though.

Spaghetti squash is my favorite for storing over the winter. It lasts forever and is very versatile with what you can do with it. It's also delicious!

 

[Roosterfry]

Quote:
I would LOVE to have a green house! I never though about that option keeping bugs away... I've never heard of Paul Robeson I'll have to "google it." I was thinking about mari-globe or hawiian tomatoes. I'm need something naturally pest resistant, it is CRAZY how many different bugs eat tomatoes in Mississippi....

-chickerdoodle13- what part of the country are your Roma's thriving? I see the plants for sale here at Lowes home improvement store in the spring, but they always have several dozen varieties for sale. I like to grow tomatoes I plant from seeds.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Quote:
I would LOVE to have a green house! I never though about that option keeping bugs away... I've never heard of Paul Robeson I'll have to "google it." I was thinking about mari-globe or hawiian tomatoes. I'm need something naturally pest resistant, it is CRAZY how many different bugs eat tomatoes in Mississippi....

-chickerdoodle13- what part of the country are your Roma's thriving? I see the plants for sale here at Lowes home improvement store in the spring, but they always have several dozen varieties for sale. I like to grow tomatoes I plant from seeds.

I'm in Northern New Jersey. The year before last we had a really bad crop. All our plants turned brown and yellow and hardly produced any fruits. Apparently there had been a tomato blight in our area and we were affected. Last year we got a decent amount (despite the cut worm damage!) but the heat of the summer did burn the plants a bit. This year I'm going to try and rig up some sort of shade for them. Hopefully then they will produce longer!

 

[Roosterfry]

I don't know anyone who's planted roma's around here. Lot of better boys, early girls, and any type with the name "beef" in it. I'm just trying to find somthing VERY acidic and hardy.

 

[Czech's_chicks]

If I could get a greenhouse I would be in HEAVEN! I wouldn't have the gophers to contend with and I could have succession after succession of the stuff that I cant protect from the critters and moths. I need to start my herbs up again. The last of the basil just about died and I don't want to risk cutting to make starts. I found, it is easier and cheaper to just get the herbs from the store that come "live" and plant those. It takes to long for seedlings and hate to thin and the snails/slugs get to them before I can do anything with them - and I wont bait or poison because I also have decolate snails and I don't want to harm them.

I did pick up some nice windows and timbers for a cold frame but hubby never got around to making it for me and it's a little too late to start for this year, so maybe next year.

 

[robnms]

What a coincidence, I just started looking thru the Burpee catalog today.

I'm still harvesting collards and lettuce, gotta love the south. The weather has been a little tricky for the past month, we get a few days of 30-40 nights then back up to 70's in the daytime. I wore shorts and flip-flops all weekend and then a front came thru last night and it about 50 outside. here's a pic I just took.

 

[Indianfeathers]

Quote:
I am just getting into the canning part of my gardening, but i do have a question: How do you save the seeds from your plants? I have tried but they do not seem to work out when I plant them. Is there a process to do it?

 

[urban escapee]

most of the seeds you buy have been genetically modified, to NOT reproduce. Make sure you are buying heirloom and not GMO seeds.

 

[thesunthemoon89]

Still in the planning stages..especially considering the snowstorm that dumped a couple of inches on us last night

. Very much looking forward to starting my seeds though! Spring can't get here soon enough.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Avoid hybrids and commercial varieties. Go for heirlooms, that's the first step

After that it depends on the plant. Nightshades are relatively easy, as you just collect the seeds and let them dry then store them. Tomatoes you can squeeze out the flesh and seeds into water, let it rot and mold up, then strain it out and get only the seeds. I often just pull the seeds out, wash them in a strainer, let them dry once clean, and store them.

Avoid cross-pollination though. Best thing to do is either keep your Tom's and the sort in a greenhouse or keep each variety at least 10 ft apart for best results. Tomatoes self-pollinate but there's always that chance some pollen fell out into a bee or hoverfly, and transferred to another flower.

Melons and Squash are the trickier ones, in a way. One must either watch all female flowers closely and keep them closed until you personally hand-pollinate them with males from another plant of the same variety or keep each variety farther than 30 feet from each other. Any Cuke (melons, watermelons, squash, cucumbers, etc) is open pollinated, right out there in the open air, and pollinating insects LOVE em, so cross-pollination is very easy.

Once the fruit develops, make sure it is fully mature, no matter what the type, then collect its seeds (and enjoy the food!) rinse them until all the sugars and flesh is off, let them dry, and store them.


Greens are trickier though, and they depend on the type. Some are really easy though.