Mid May Garden Update, Part 2 - Focus on the Tomatoes

Dwarf Zoe’s Sweet, on May 21

Now, on to my favorite crop - the tomatoes! I am growing far less than last year, but they will be no less interesting.

The following are indeterminate varieties planted in strawbales, two plants to a bale.

Cherokee Chocolate (2 plants) - I used lot T16-119 - I planted 2 because I am going to grow them very differently. One plant will be grown in a cage and only minimally pruned, the other grown allowing just one sucker develop. Fruit size, yield, fruit set, plant health will be compared. I am growing this because it is a can’t-do-without variety for us. By the way - T16-119 was grown from T11-13 - which was from T96-3 - which was grown from T95-47, the chocolate tomato that started this variety.

Cherokee Purple - I used lot T16-104 - Another can’t-do-without variety. T16-104 is from T02-3, which is from T91-27, which is from #287 - the seed sent to me by JD Green as an unnamed variety in 1990.

Cherokee Green - I used lot T20-8 - and, yes, can’t do without this one either! T20-8 if from T19-17, which is from T18-7, which was from a packet from Johnny’s Selected seeds - I was the source to Johnny’s.

Glory F1 hybrid - Last year I crossed pollen from Dester onto a flower of Dwarf Gloria’s Treat - this is the hybrid that was created. I have high hopes - and expect slightly heart shaped pink fruit. My friend Marsha in Florida grew it and reported it to be absolutely delicious - and, yes, pink and slightly heart shaped and large!

Lucky Cross - I used lot T21-24. I love this variety and don’t wish to do without it. T21-24 is from T20-4, which is from T19-10, which is from T11-14, 19 or 21 - all of which are from 2002 saved seed. This variety has a very complex genealogy!

Polish - I planted lot T20-7. This spectacular tomato is one that it is the very top tier of my collection. T20-7 is from T18-14, which is from T12-21, which is from T01-45, which is from T90-8, which is from #89 - the sample sent to me by Bill Ellis as a SSE transaction.

Estler’s Mortgage Lifter - Since the seed from the SSE storage gave an apparently incorrect variety, I am going with a seed sample from SSE member Neil Lockhart. My hopes is for a huge pink tomato, in the 2 lb range.

Captain Lucky - I’ve wanted to grow this Millard Murdock’s selection from Lucky Cross for some time. It is potato leaf, and should produce green fleshed tomatoes with swirls of other colors.

Yellow family heirloom - this was sent to me by Joann Jacobs of Wisconsin last year. It is regular leaf - aside from that, it is one of this year’s mysteries!

Mary’s heirloom - Supposedly a very old family heirloom from West Virginia, sent to me by Harry Moran. Another mystery! Gorgeous regular leaf plant so far.

JD Special C-Tex, potato leaf variant - sent to me by Randy Dowdy of Texas in 2020, I am finally getting around to test this. I love JD Special C Tex - a big Cherokee Purple type, but he claims this is same fruit on a potato leaf plant. We shall see!

Blue’s Bling X Little Lucky, potato leaf, variegated F2 selection - This is a selection from the hybrid I grew out last year and loved. There are all sorts of color possibilities and I wanted to grow one each of a variegated potato leaf and regular leaf plants (see below). Fruit size should be from medium to large, and round to oblate.

Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom regular leaf F2 selection - This hybrid I created was the best tasting tomato in my garden last year. I am growing out a regular leaf and a potato leaf F2 selection. All sorts of colors are possible! Fruit size should be large and oblate. Pink, red, chocolate, purple, shades of yellow are all possible.

Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom potato leaf F2 selection - see above

Blue’s Bling X Little Lucky, regular leaf, variegated F2 selection - see above

Blue’s Bling X Polish, potato leaf, variegated F2 selection - An F2 selection from another of my recent hybrids. I wanted to grow out a potato leaf variegated selection - we shall see what the fruit color is like. I expect we will see pink or purple tomatoes, of large size and oblate shape.

German heirloom - This was sent to me by a gardener from Indiana in 2017 and I am finally getting to grow it. It is regular leaf. Of course, I love mysteries - and my garden will be full of them this year!

World War II - This was sent to me by Geny Laroche of New Hampshire in 2020. I am finally getting to it, and it is regular leaf.

McCutcheon - my friend Adam Kirk gave me seed earlier this year - it is a West Virginia heirloom that should have very large fruit. It is regular leaf.

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The following are dwarf varieties, and a few determinate varieties, in 5 gallon grow bags

Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry X Blue’s Bling F2 variegated selection - This whole section contains F2 dwarf selections from recent hybrids. I can’t wait to see what sort of tomatoes are produced on all of these. For this one, the fruit color is likely purple, but size, shape and antho coverage - and flavor - have many possibilities.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F2 regular leaf selection - See above. Wide color variations are possible.

Lucky Cross X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F2 regular leaf selection - See above - another with wide color possibilities.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F2 potato leaf selection - see above.

Coastal Pride - sent to me by my garden friend Mike, he really likes this orange fruited dwarf - it is not one of the Dwarf Tomato Project creations. I’ll look forward to seeing and tasting this! This variety was bred in Canada by the McMurrays.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Speckled Heart F2 regular leaf selection - see above. All offspring should have stripes, and heart shapes are likely too.

Blazey family selection orange fruit F4 regular yellow leaf selection - Blazey was an odd cross I did between Honor Bright and Dwarf Blazing Beauty. I am hoping for good tasting orange tomatoes on a yellow foliaged plant.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F2 potato leaf selection - see above

Blazey family selection orange fruit F4 potato leaf selection - see the Blazey entry, above

Don’s Double Delight X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F2 potato leaf selection - all sorts of colors, and stripes, are possible with this one.

Dwarf Irma’s Highland Cherry pre-release selection - This is from the Teensy family - Mexico Midget X Summertime Green, with Dwarf Eagle Smiley the first release. This should be the next one, and will have tasty chocolate cherry tomatoes.

Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Dwarf Moby’s Cherry F2 selection - Cross a big pink heart with a dwarf yellow cherry and all sorts of things are possible!

Fuzzy X Cherokee Purple F3 purple fruited fuzzy leaf selection - I was delighted to find purple tomatoes on a fuzzy plant - let’s see if it continues.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Speckled Heart F2 regular leaf selection - see above - this is a second plant from this particular cross.

Fuzzy X Cherokee Purple F3 pink fruited fuzzy leaf selection - Seed for this was from a quite large pink tasty tomato on a fuzzy plant. Let’s see what I get!

Lucky Cross X Dwarf Buddy’s Heart F2 potato leaf selection - see above - all sorts of colors possible, and heart shape too.

Dwarf Zoe’s Sweet -This was given to me as a plant at my Marion NC speaking event by my TN friend Eddie Lambert. The plant is showing the characteristic bright chartreuse leaves and there are already a few small tomatoes.

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The following are indeterminate tomatoes in 5 gallon grow bags

Tennessee Surprise - This is also a plant given to me by Eddie. The tomatoes should be large and orange.

Ribbed Mystery Variety - This is yet another plant given to me by Eddie and I’ve no idea what it will produce.

Yellow Fruity - Fruity Red is a tasty red cherry tomato - this is a yellow one out of the same breeding work by Tim Peters.

Orange Fruity - This is the orange fruited specimen from the Fruity family.

Egg Yolk, potato leaf - “Wild Thing” - seed sent to me by Walter Roos of Georgia this winter.

Sun Gold F1 hybrid - Seed from Johnny’s - how could I NOT grow it!

Suzy’s Wild Red - This is from seed sent to me by Allan Robins of Georgia. I am going to compare it to Mexico midget.

Suzy family F4 selection potato leaf indeterminate fuzzy fruit - This family was created when I crossed Peach Blow Sutton with Dwarf Sweet Sue, with the goal of getting dwarfs with fuzzy fruit. A friend sent me this last year, but it seems that the plants are indeterminate, not dwarf. I am growing out one potato leaf example.

Egg Yolk, red fruit - Also from Walter Roos of Georgia.

Suzy’s Wild Orange - Also sent to me by Allan Robins, this is an orange or yellow fruited variant of Suzy’s Wild Red. We shall see.

Egg Yolk - Not only is it a favorite of ours, but I need fresh seeds.

Mexico Midget - A regular in all of our gardens, the perfect snacking tomato morsel.

Mortgage Lifter, Halladay’s - This and the one below are part of an Epsom Salt application mini-project. Grown from 2013 saved seeds, this one will not get regular Epsom Salts.

Mortgage Lifter, Mullens - And this one will - also grown from 2013 saved seeds. What will the Epsom Salts applied weekly to this plant do?

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I also have seedlings of a variegated microdwarf from a cross I made between one of Dan Follett’s Micros and Cherokee Purple. The fruit were red last year. I am going to squeeze some into my raised bed once the garlic is harvested, in a few weeks. Finally, a red fruited multiflora Micro that my friend Justin sent me.

All in all, total number of tomatoes planted - 51, with up to half a dozen of the micros.

This is significantly down from last year’s 109 plants - just as planned! And I am sure some of you didn’t believe I could do it!

Dwarf Irma’s Highland Cherry, on May 21

A Deeper Dive into my 2022 garden choices - Part 1. Peppers and Eggplants

Rear view of the main garden, May 16

One significant improvement I hope to realize in this year’s garden is improved results with two of our favorite crops, peppers and eggplants. In our first two Hendersonville gardens, I tucked them into the gravel driveway area in grow bags. The hours of sun were not optimal, and though I had reasonable yields, it was not what I hoped for. In addition, getting ripe fruit suitable for seed saving didn’t go all that well. The bell peppers tended to rot or suffer insect damage, and the eggplants didn’t make it to the golden stage of over-ripeness best for seed saving.

The major change this season is to use strawbales for most of the peppers and eggplants, augmented by plants in grow bags sitting in front of the bales. Better staking, more sun, and the amazing environment of the straw bales should provide far more success. We shall see!

Bell peppers in straw bales, on May 17

The following peppers are planted in straw bales - all planted on May 6.

Orange Bell - this is a selection of the Orange Bell I’ve grown for many years, acquiring it in a SSE transaction. My garden friend Darrel Jones selected for various improvements. It is a wonderful pepper, one of my favorites - thick walled blocky medium green bells that ripen a rich orange color, at which time it gets very sweet.

Chocolate Bell - This is a pretty stable selection from a Stokes hybrid - called Chocolate Bell - offered only briefly nearly 20 years ago. The original hybrid, no longer available, was quite unique - a big blocky thick walled bell that goes from deep green to chocolate brown, and very sweet at that stage. Last year, it was excellent - interestingly, the interior wall is deep crimson despite the outer appearance ripening to deep chocolate brown.

White Gold - This, and the next three, are advanced selections from my dehybridization efforts from Islander. I think that all are quite stable. White Gold is a slightly elongated bell, with an unusual color progression - cream to golden yellow.

Carolina Amethyst - This selection is released and available here and there. This selection mimics the hybrid - color progression cream to a gorgeous lavender, finally ending up medium red.

Fire Opal - This is my favorite of the four selections, a slightly elongated bell that starts cream, then to lavender - finally to golden yellow.

Royal Purple - This last of the Islander selections is the most blocky shaped bell - it starts out pale chartreuse green, then turns black purple, finally ending up a deep crimson red.

Shishito - We ended up purchasing these from a local farmers market all summer long. It seemed appropriate to grow them, since they are a very prolific plant. I don’t find them the best flavored, but we do like to brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss them on the grill until they are blistered with black patches and soft.

Padron - Unlike the very mild Shishito, Padron can throw some real spicy specimens, providing quite a burn in the mouth. We also enjoy grilling them. Like Shishito, they are very prolific.

The following peppers are in 5 gallon grow bags, planted May 14. The grow bags are situated in front of the straw bales, one bag per bale.

Pinata - We LOVE this unusual Jalapeno type, bred by the Chile Institute in New Mexico. The plant is super prolific - the peppers go from cream, to yellow, to orange, to red, with all four colors on the plant at various times of the season. They are utterly Jalapenos in heat, use and flavor.

Shishito - We decided to do for two plants - one in the bale, on in a grow bag. I think we will have plenty!

Eggplant Mardi Gras in a straw bale as of May 17

The following eggplants were planted in straw bales on May 6.

Skinny Twilight - This, Twilight Lightning and Midnight Lightning are all my selections from the Johnny’s hybrid Orient Express. Skinny Twilight is the same shape - a long, slender Asian type - with medium purple skin and pale greenish flesh. It is very prolific.

Twilight Lightning - This selection is very slender, very productive and is a pale lavender with white streaks. The white flesh is sweet and has few seeds.

Mardi Gras - This unique variety is my selection from a bee-made cross between the white eggplant Casper and another variety. I’ve worked on it for many years and believe it to be stable. The teardrop shape fruit are pale green, with an unusual pale lavender blush over the green. The flesh is quite green.

Midnight Lightning - This is the selection most like Orient Express. The plant is very pretty, with significant purplish shading. The fruit are black purple, slender and prolific, with pale green flesh. This plant is from 2021 saved seeds.

The following eggplants were planted in 5 gallon grow bags on May 14.

Midnight Lightning - See above - this plant is from 2019 saved seed.

Mardi Gras - see above.

Green Ghost - This is another selection from the unexpected cross that yielded Mardi Gras. The plentiful eggplants have skin of pale green and are quite slender in shape, with pale green flesh.

All in all, that makes 10 peppers and 7 eggplants, which should do the trick for our cooking needs.

Right hand column - peppers and eggplants, bales and bags - guarded by Marlin - on May 17

Mid-May Garden Update

State of part of the garden after lots of planting, on May 14.

Lots is planted, and lots is growing! The garden at our Hendersonville home is a patchwork, with fun to be had all over the yard. We have a front flower garden (viewable from Sue’s sewing room), a strip garden along the front of the house, a side garden that is mostly hosta, then our back yard array. There are 5 discreet flower or shrub gardens, as well as the two raised beds and the various straw bales or containers in the center of the yard.

The weather has been pretty much ideal, following a cool, extended spring with a few late frosts. Right now the days are perfect - upper 70s to low 80s, a few showers, nights in the 50s. If I could bottle this up for use later in the summer, I would!

Yukon Gold potatoes growing in large containers, in partially composted wheat straw from last year’s bales

At this point, the following is up and growing:

Potatoes - Yukon Gold, in four containers filled with composted wheat straw from last year’s bales

Swiss Chard - in a container, and in a raised bed

Lettuce - in a container, and in a raised bed

Spinach - in a container

Garlic - planted last September, in two raised beds - probably a month from harvest

Sugar Snap Peas looking good - blossoming and climbing

Sugar Snap Peas - planted quite early, trellised

Strawberries - plants from a friend, in a raised bed and in a container

Summer Squash - up and growing well, direct seeded into straw bales, 4 types

Bush Beans - up and growing well, direct seeded into straw bales, 6 types

Cucumbers - up and growing well, direct seeded into straw bales, 2 types

Eggplants - some in straw bales, some in grow bags - total of 7 plants, including the varieties Mardi Gras, Green Ghost, Midnight Lightning, Twilight Lightning and Skinny Twilight

Peppers - some in straw gales, some in grow bags - total of 10 plants, including Chocolate Bell, Orange Bell, Fire Opal, Royal Purple, Carolina Amethyst, Shishito, Padron and Pinata.

Tomatoes - total of 49 plants, in grow bags or straw bales. Only a few are my typical favorites (Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Green, Cherokee Chocolate, Polish and Lucky Cross). 32 are indeterminate, the rest are dwarfs.

I’ll give a full report on the tomatoes in a future blog. I still have some microdwarf tomatoes to plant - they will go into the raised beds once the garlic is harvested.

Bush Beans (foreground) and Summer Squash (rear), in straw bales

General Garden Update

Avidly shrooming strawbales as of this morning. Future spot for tomatoes, peppers or eggplants

Tax Day. Easter Monday. One more frost threat. Less seedlings to manage. Lots of wildflower hikes undertaken, with many more to come. Azaleas, daffodils, tulips, redbud, magnolia.

There’s the list of what is going on in the garden, in the yard, in my life. It is astounding to think of my life at this time over the last 20 years. It was all about the seedlings - the dance in and out of the garage as frost threats were posted. It was endless transplanting, purchasing materials, writing labels, fretting their condition, and getting spaces at the Farmers Market - or scheduling visits to our driveway. One last frost threat has all of my seedlings huddled in my garage, to emerge on Wednesday mid morning.

The 2022 seedlings, just before being relocated to the safety of the garage

This year….pretty peaceful! I have just the plants I am going to grow plus the plants resulting from my typical overplanting. A few people will be coming by to pick up some of those extras - probably starting this coming weekend. (actually, it already started - two gardeners coming by for small but healthy plants in the last week).

The straw bales are now completely prepped and mushrooms and wheat are popping through everywhere. The cucumber, summer squash and bush bean bales are already planted (but not germinated yet - I am hoping the heat generated by the composting bales will preserve the seeds sitting just under the planting medium surface).

I will be making final decisions on tomatoes soon, and my planting goal is still somewhere around May 1. I am excited to ponder peppers and eggplants in straw bales. The location for my containers the past two years did not work for stellar results.

Here is a reminder that the tomato course Growing Epic Tomatoes (a collaboration between Joe Lamp’l and I) is still open to join - you have until the end of April if you are interested. I highly recommend it! Please email me with any questions you have about the course.

One final announcement - My weekly Instagram Live sessions are happening again, with the first last Thursday. As long as I don’t have a conflict, they will take place on Thursday afternoons at 3 PM eastern, with a duration of about 45 minutes. I will do some demos, updates and take questions. All previous ones can be found on my Instagram, @nctomatoman , found on the videos tab of my profile page. In last week’s kick off, I demonstrated planting seeds directly into straw bales, and also hunting dwarf tomatoes in the F2 generation.

I have three more Zoom workshops on my agenda - early May for garden organizations in Connecticut and Virginia, and in the fall for Orange County NC. If the workshops are open for all to attend, I will be sure to post the links on a blog, and on the Linktree in my Instagram profile.

Bleeding hearts in our side shade garden

Once the sun comes out and it warms up, on Wednesday, all of the seedlings and plants reemerge from the garage. I will resume transplanting seedlings to individual containers - I have plenty, so if you are close to Asheville/Hendersonville, get in touch with me to set up a time to get some. I have a Word doc list with details that I can send you. I have lots of yard work to dig into, particularly reworking some flower beds for daylilies and other perennials. I have seeds of some perennials started - Astilbe, Spider Wort, Coral Bells, Jacob’s Ladder, Baptisia - and more stratifying in my freezer.

Having a smaller garden and dealing with less seedlings is freeing me up - I love all kinds of gardening and hope to have the time this spring, summer and fall to fully dive in. But first, there are wildflowers to spot in the many wonderful trails nearby. You will find me and Sue and dogs there most mornings!

Bloodroot, found on a hike in DuPont yesterday

Three New Items and a quick garden update

26 Straw bales - these, and some grow bags and containers will be the 2022 garden

First news item - The Joe Lamp’l (joegardener)/Craig LeHoullier (me! nctomatoman) collaborative, self paced, all video course, Growing Epic Tomatoes, has been reopened throughout the month of April for new students. Just click this link to register.

Second - Patrina (my Dwarf Tomato Project co-lead and co-creator) and I will be presenting on our project via Zoom in an event hosted by the Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) on April 13 at 7 PM Eastern. All who are interested can join - the Zoom link for you to attend is here.

Finally, I’ve decided it is a good time to restart my regular (weekly, unless indicated otherwise, typically a conflict on my end) Instagram Live sessions - 30-45 minutes of me discussing whatever is going on in my garden, including plenty of time for your questions. These will begin on Thursday April 14, at 3 PM Eastern. If all goes well, I should be able to do a video demo of spotting dwarf tomato plants in the F2 generation of an indeterminate X dwarf cross.

As far as what’s happening in the garden: All of the straw bales (26 of them) have been purchased and situated in my yard, and treatment has started. By April 15, all will be ready for planting. I will probably go for direct seeding of squash, cukes and beans around that date, and wait until May 1 for planting tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Updates on all of this will be part of my weekly IG live sessions.

All of my seedlings are up, and I’ve started to transplant into individual pots. Aside from tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, I have spinach, lettuce (several types), petunia, zinnia, snapdragon, lunaria, basil (several types), and salvia in various stages of growth. For the most part, seedlings are hardened off and spending most of the time outdoors, being brought in only when frost is likely.

There is no formal seedlings sale this year in the Hendersonville area. I do overplant, and there will be some extras for folks that are interested, but the variety list is far smaller than prior years. Plants will be available for a donation of the plant recipients’ choosing. Availability will be late April to mid May. In future blogs, I will outline exactly what will be in my garden. Any folks living near me who are interested can drop me an email - nctomatoman@gmail.com - and I will send further seedling details. Those in the Raleigh area have two good seedling options, listed in my March 26 blog entry.

That’s it for now - keep reading my Off The Vine and my Seed Collection blogs. The next in each series will post soon.

The rare and beautiful Oconee Bells, spotted during an April 4 walk in the WNC Arboretum, Carolina Mountains trail.

It feels like spring - and it is starting to look like it too. 2022 garden update!

We didn’t plant these (thanks to the birds or squirrels!) - but we are certainly enjoying them!

All of a sudden I am incredibly busy - blogging much more frequently (I hope you are enjoying the trip through my seed collection, and the republishing of Off the Vine!), weekly office hours (live Zoom) for the Growing Epic Tomatoes course with Joe Lamp’l, answering a lot of emails, starting seeds, mowing the lawn, cleaning up the garden, writing some articles, and preparing for some Zoom garden workshops. We are also finding time to hike in Pisgah or DuPont 3 times a week with our dogs.

I’ve gotten an idea of what will be in my garden, based on germination results. Most will be in straw bales, some in grow bags.

The tomato flat a few days ago

Eggplants - Mardi Gras, Skinny Twilight, Twilight Lightning, Midnight Lightning, Green Ghost

Peppers - Pinata, White Gold, Royal Purple, Carolina Amethyst, Fire Opal, Chocolate Bell, and hopefully (because they were just seeded - no germination data yet), Shishito and Padron.

Tomatoes - Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Green, Cherokee Chocolate, Lucky Cross, Polish, Captain Lucky, Estler’s Mortgage Lifter, three new family heirlooms sent to me, a new dwarf X indeterminate hybrid - Glory (Dester X Dwarf Gloria’s Treat), some mysteries that are F2 generation from a few of the hybrids I created a few years ago, Coastal Pride, Irma’s Highland Cherry (a new chocolate colored dwarf out of Teensy that we hope is ready for release), and various other experiments and mysteries.

There will be squash and beans and sugar snap peas and some spinach and chard and lettuce, perhaps cucumbers (though they really do struggle with disease here), basils and flowers. The weather looks quite iffy over the coming weeks, with one really deep freeze possible. We hope that it doesn’t bite the buds on the flowering shrubs and trees, something that occurred last spring.

I won’t be selling seedlings this year, but sharing a few extras locally. I won’t be shipping plants any longer. I’ve completed fulfilling seed requests. What comes next is purchasing and prepping the straw bales. My target plant out date is around May 1, depending upon the night time temperatures. I expect to be doing transplanting - separating and bumping up seedlings into separate containers - in early April.

For those events that are open more broadly, I will post links here, and on Instagram (I am @nctomatoman there). I will be on the WPTF (Raleigh, NC) weekend gardener on April 16, as well as Niki Jabbour’s Weekend Gardener radio show out of Nova Scotia, Canada on May 8. You will be able to listen live to each - watch for more news as the dates approach.

Double spirea just popped into bloom yesterday

So much happening - and poised to happen! Growing Epic Tomatoes - New York Times article - peppers and eggplant seeds in the flats!

Let the 2022 garden begin! Peppers, eggplants, some flowers seeded on Feb 18

Oh well, things were (relatively) slow for the last month and a half….aside from fulfilling a load of seed requests, being really active on my blog, cataloging seeds from my dwarf tomato project participants, doing some great Zooms with various garden groups.

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All of that was nothing compared with what lies just ahead. It is time to relaunch Growing Epic Tomatoes, the collaborative course between Joe Lamp’l and me that was such a wonderful experience last year. It will be different this time in that the entire 10 module course is complete! Last year our students had to adjust their pace to the real time progress of the course. This year, it will be all there, ready to be accessed at the pace of each student no matter where they are in their growing season. The Friday Office Hours will proceed as they did last year - weekly opportunities for the students to ask Joe and I their questions - live.

The key dates for the informational course webinars - free opportunities for prospective students to learn everything about the upcoming course and a chance to ask us questions - are as follows:

First - the course is now open for early enrollment at a reduced price - click this link (it is also on my website banner).

The webinar that explains the course - Five Keys to Growing Your Own Epic Tomatoes - is scheduled three times, to provide options for your convenience:

• Wednesday, February 23 at 3 PM EST

• Thursday, February 24 at 3 PM EST

• Friday, February 25 at 10 AM EST

You can choose which of these you wish to attend by signing up at this link.

Creating this course was an immense amount of fun. The feedback from our first year students has been overwhelmingly positive. Join one of the webinars and find out all about the course. I can confidently say that Growing Epic Tomatoes is the perfect way to make my book, Epic Tomatoes, come alive, strengthened by all of Joe’s gardening experiences that we’ve found blend so well together with my own. Though I am still so pleased with Epic Tomatoes and its information, it was written in 2012-2013 - I’ve learned so much more in the 9 years since publication, and all of that new knowledge is incorporated into the course.

A few uniquely wonderful features about this course:

• It is composed entirely of self-paced video modules, so students can watch us discuss the topics.

• It is entirely self-paced - each student can progress as their own season progresses.

• Course additions, bonus modules, and enhancements occur throughout the season, accessible to all students, including last year’s class.

• The weekly live Office Hours are also for all GET students, new and first year (and for all future) - there will be life time access to Joe and I to answer gardening questions throughout the season.

• All students have access to a community on the Circle platform, providing yet another way to pose questions, post pictures, and have meaningful interchange with Joe and I. I spend a lot of time in that community daily, ensuring all questions are answered - as well as providing updates from my own garden. It is free - it is NOT Facebook - and there are no ads or sales pitches.

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Speaking of Joe Lamp’l, our mutual good friend and fellow talented gardener, author and educator Margaret Roach (A Way to Garden) interviewed Joe and I about starting tomato seeds. The article is in the New York Times, and can be found here. Thanks, Margaret - the article is just lovely.

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Finally - the 2022 garden is officially begun with the planting of a selection of pepper, eggplant and flower seeds, shown in the top picture. This is a significant reduction of filled cells (30, compared with perhaps two flats of 50) in previous gardening seasons. My decisions to stop seedling sales and reduce garden size mean things will be far less hectic this spring. I am testing Metro Mix 830 as my seed starter. I will update varieties and progress in future blogs.

In the mean time, enjoy the republished Off The Vine article blogs, and my seed collection journey blogs. They will each appear weekly for months and months to come! Feel free to post comments against them!

Betts and I in Downtown Hendersonville this morning, while Sue shops!

The snow is melting, and my 2022 garden planning continues...

Marlin and Koda - looking at Marlin’s ghostly doppelganger, perhaps?

Let’s take a break from my Seed Collection and Off The Vine blog series and get serious about my 2022 garden plans. I will be starting seeds in a month, so this is certainly timely.

Here goes! To put this in perspective, I had 109 tomato plants and dozens of pepper and eggplants. The plan below represents the first major reduction in garden size in decades.

10 straw bales for tomatoes, 2 tomatoes per bale (not specific as to which tomato in which bale yet!).

The 20 indeterminate tomatoes.

Cherokee Purple - flavor favorite

Cherokee Chocolate - flavor favorite

Cherokee Green - flavor favorite

Polish - flavor favorite

Lucky Cross - flavor favorite

Captain Lucky - been on my list for years - a find from Lucky Cross sent by a friend

Estler’s Mortgage Lifter - searching for the real deal, trying seed from Neil Lockhart

Yellow Family heirloom, sent to me this off season

“Mary’s Heirloom” - family heirloom sent to me off season

“World War II” - family heirloom sent to me off season (maybe)

JD Special C Tex, potato leaf variant, sent to me off season (maybe)

Glory F1 hybrid which I created on film last year - Dester X Dwarf Gloria’s Treat

Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom F2 - potato leaf selection (3 of them)

Blue’s Bling X Polish F2, potato leaf variegated selections (2 of them)

Blue’s Bling X Little Lucky F2, potato leaf variegated selections (3 of them)

The two with “maybe” above could end up substituted with other varieties. We shall see.

5 gallon grow bag - 1 in front of each of the 15 bales - 15 tomatoes

Lilly family (Lillian’s Yellow X Speckled Heart) F2 dwarf selections, potato leaf (3 plants)

Lucky family (Lucky Cross X Buddy’s Heart), F2 dwarf selections, potato leaf (2 plants)

Blingy family (Blue’s Bling X Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry), F2 dwarf selections with variegation and antho (2 plants)

Moby family (Cancelmo Family X Moby’s Cherry) - F2 dwarf selection (1 plant)

Crossy family (Lucky Cross X Mocha’s Plum), F2 dwarf with potato leaf and antho (1 plant)

Plummy family (Lillian’s Yellow X Mocha’s Plum), F2 dwarf with potato leaf and antho (2 plants)

Donny family (Don’s Double Delight X Mocha’s Plum), F2 dwarf with potato leaf and antho (2 plants)

Misty family (Mr. Snow X Mocha’s Plum), F2 dwarf with potato leaf and antho (if I can find it!) (1 plant)

Dwarf Coastal Pride (my garden friend Mike thinks this needs to be in my garden - so, here it is!)

Again - substitutions could happen depending upon germination results. It is clear that the focus this year is on finding interesting things from recent crosses.

5 gallon grow bag - 2 next to the bean and squash bale group - 4 tomatoes

Suzy F4 dwarf with fuzzy pink fruit (1 plant)

Fuzzy purple fruit (1 plant)

Fuzzy pink fruit (1 plant)

Variegated Micro (1 plant)

The last three above may be switched out - they can go into grow bags in a different location.

5 gallon pots near the driveway area fence - these are all cherry types, most sent by garden friends as unusual finds - 8 tomatoes

Egg Yolk potato leaf

Egg Yolk red fruited variant

Fruit yellow cherry

Fruity orange cherry

Suzy’s Wild Red

Suzy’s, orange variant

Sun Gold hybrid - flavor favorite

Egg Yolk - flavor favorite

The above adds up to 47 tomatoes - 28 indeterminate, 16 dwarfs and 3 ???

Five straw bales for eggplants and peppers (5 of each)

I will focus on my Orient Express and Islander selections for these.

This will prove to be a very interesting set of plants. There will be less sure things, however!

Marlin looking for attention in the morning (as usual)

Watching the snow blow, the dogs nap - and thinking of 2022 in the garden

Hendersonville winter wonderland, morning of Jan 17, after 10 inches of snow

My blog has been busy, with two series running in parallel - a “reprinting” of Off The Vine, the newsletter Carolyn Male and I published way back in the early 1990s for three years, and a review of my seed collection, starting with tomato number 1, 10 tomatoes at a time. I hope to one each weekly.

In between, I will be using this blog more frequently as a sort of garden diary/log. Each year in the garden is, of course, very different. Working through my gardening history through my seed collection and that newsletter gives me the impression of my gardening experiences as a big arc. I dabbled, starting in 1981, then things really ramped up with the growth of my collection, and garden size, due to excitement in joining the Seed Savers Exchange. The steep part of the arc, the upward slope, also included dipping into the USDA seed collection, selling seedlings, the Dwarf Tomato Breeding Project, writing and publicizing (though many traveled-to workshop and podcasts) Epic Tomatoes and Growing Vegetables in Straw Bales, culminating with the work with Joe Lamp’l on the all video on-line course Growing Epic Tomatoes, work with Seedlinked (the collections), and using Instagram Live to take folks “into my garden” with me.

A few days from turning 66, settled into Hendersonville in a more rural setting with more outdoor activity possibilities, and having great satisfaction of all of the wonderful fellow gardeners I’ve met and tomato varieties I’ve grown, it seems a perfect time for the arc of my efforts to be on the downward slope. Things already seem simpler; departing from Facebook and Twitter, ending my newsletter, and focusing on Instagram and my blog (and of course, email) really take the load off of my communication efforts. The time saved will be dedicated to finishing the Dwarf Tomato Project book, and, perhaps, further books, titles and topics to be determined (these are the types of things I ponder as I hike in the beautiful surrounding parks).

As far as the garden in 2022, much of the Dwarf Tomato Project remaining heavy lifting will be done by those who expressed interest and now have seeds to grow, as well as those long time volunteers who still have the fire to continue. The course, Growing Epic Tomatoes, will relaunch soon, but with most of the filming done last year, the demands will be much lighter. My garden will be significantly smaller and simpler, as I am happy to garden vicariously through the efforts of others, recipients of so many seed samples over the last few months.

My ideal present and future will have less obligations, less dates in the calendar, more freedom for Sue and I do drop what we are doing and go for a hike, or a day trip. I am really lucky - I’ve never regretted any endeavor I’ve taken on (post my less than wonderful 25 years in the corporate world!). In fact, everything associated with gardening throughout my life has been an absolute delight, and I expect that to continue, because it will be highly targeted for particular objectives. For me, it has always been about learning, teaching, and sharing. It always will be.

I’ve begun thinking about what I want to grow this coming gardening season. There will be straw bales with summer squash and bush snap beans. There will be straw bales with tomatoes, and perhaps, bell peppers and eggplants - but less than in previous years. There will be less containers, less plants to keep track of. Each plant will have a reason behind growing it that I will make clear in this year’s blogs and Instagram posts. It’ll be lots of fun - we’ll have a blast!

Jan 17 AM view off the back deck - flower garden is under a snow blanket