My Apologies in Advance

Greetings Fellow Tomatoans!

After viewing your blog, I must admit:  I may be playing in a league beyond my abilities and maturity level.  :)  You guys are serious about this tomato growing business!  I have a total of 9 plants.  Some came from the Napa Farmer's Market, Sonoma Farmer's Market, Osh, Costco and Home Depot.  I have planted 3 plants per half-barrel.

I used organic planting soil that a friend of mine sells.  He tells me the stuff is amazing... we'll see about that!  I also picked up some Jobe Fertilizer Stakes and some crazy liquid fertilizer that looks like trouble!  I've picked the first set of flowers and the bottom limbs off each plant.

After a long day of planting, I thought I'd do a bit of celebrating... which was perhaps THE contributing factor in the development of my "secret fertilizer" that may be the determining factor in this contest.  Depending on my success, I may be looking into bottling this elixir for sale at local retailers... stay tuned!

 

So now you have an idea as to what you are up against:  a highly competitive competitor competing against capable contestants!!!  A man that knows no limits, no bounds and is willing to go that EXTRA MILE in hopes of capturing the coveted Glass Ta'Mater.  :)

Looking forward to seeing and eating some of the fruits of our labor.  In all seriousness, one of the most rewarding things of living in California is the Tomato Season.  Let's grow some fruit!!! 

-Raf

My Tomatoes for Eating and for Competition

-By Dave

Well, I finally got most of the garden in (watermelons will wait 'til they get a bit bigger), trying a new soil mix and a few other ideas. You were interested in the varieties that I decided to plant this summer, specifically my competition tomatoes, they are as follows:

-competition tomatoes-

Soldacki - russian extract
Bloody Butcher - beefsteak
Yellow Brandywine - beefsteak
Copia - beefsteak (?)

-eating tomatoes-

Early girl
Mandarin Cross

right now they are just babies, but the bloody butcher already has a tomato on it, I will probably pinch it and any other blossoms off, as the plants are really too small to support any tomatoes as of yet. I would also like to see some more size and to start structuring the growth of the plants before allowing them to fruit.


I also have some peppers, pumkin, and sunflowers in the tomato garden area. To keep bugs down and for the sheer pleasure of it, I will also be planting some X-20 & X-19 marigolds. These are not your average marigolds, they will grow on an average of 3' tall and bloom profusely. I usually plant them like a fence around the garden entire, I have noticed ever since I started planting marigolds of any sort, that have never really had any problems with insect pests. As a side note: I have not grown any of these varieties before, should be fun to see how they do! I am enclosing a couple of garden pictures, nothing too exciting, too early for anything impressive.

Our Tomato Success Kits

-By Zack

I have never won this tomato contest in all these years, although I try hard every year to come up with the biggest tomato. I hope to have better luck this year. I purchased two Tomato Success Kits online. The kit includes a self-watering planter, a special soil mix, fertilizer, a support cage and a red plastic mulch. The vendor says this kit will produce 30% more yield than plants grown in-ground. We’ll have to see. I planted a Mortgage Lifter and a Big Beef in my kit and Louise planted a Cherokee Purple and a Caspian Pink in the other.

Besides the success kits we planted 8 tomatoes in-ground and 2 in half-wine barrels. I laid Red Mulch around most of my tomatoes. Red Mulch was developed by USDA and has shown to improve the growth rate and yield of tomatoes.

I also planted a couple of Big Zac tomatoes in our garden, one in a half-wine barrel and one in-ground. This heirloom has been known to produce fruits that weigh 4 pounds or more!