....the blur that is my April

Though April has been a very busy month, I've not had much time to pause, reflect, blog (and rest!). This is not a complaint - it is actually a joy. Somehow, in parallel, I've had the privilege of participating in some thoroughly enjoyable events at some amazing venues.....had a really successful and interesting seed starting and transplanting experience.....met many old and some new friends in seedling transactions in my driveway. What I've yet to do is plant my own garden - but that starts today. Needless to say, work on my third book - focusing on our Dwarf Tomato Breeding project - is on the back burner. 

April has been workshops at the Well Fed Community Garden in Raleigh, Huntsville Botanical Garden, Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, and Moore Farms Botanical Garden, and this coming Saturday, at Atlantic Gardening Company (two free workshops on tomatoes - at 10 AM and 1 PM). It has been planting and transplanting and planning. It saw the beginning of annual seedling sales from my driveway (which will continue through mid May - email me for a list if you are close by!). I've had an interview or two, gardening phone calls, and asked to be on Mike Nowak's morning gardening radio show out of Chicago - and invited back to Niki Jabbour's radio show in May. It is planning for what lies ahead in May - workshops at the US Botanical Garden in Washington DC, in Baltimore, at White Flower Farm in Connecticut, and at the Raleigh History Museum.

I am just a few minutes from a visit from Joe Lamp'l (Growing a Greener World TV show) for a final chat before the airing of the episode on my tomato efforts - broadcast nationally (this Saturday from what I understand - watch for details on my Facebook page and Twitter feed and an update to this blog). 

April saw the flowering trees, shrubs and bulbs so confused by our unusual weather burst quickly into bloom - we watch our flower gardens daily to see our perennials begin to emerge and bud. The elephant and standard garlic are up and growing well, and we are enjoying the lettuce, chard, beets and arugula planted out last October. We had a wonderful visit from our Texas living daughter Caitlin, and our Seattle girl, Sara, heads home tomorrow. 

It has been an exciting, somewhat breathless, memorable month. Spring is my favorite season, and this has been one of my favorite springs. And so - on to more trips, planning, planting (finally!), delightful reunions with gardening friends. We've had some challenging gardening seasons, and there is no doubt the one to come will bring its own particular challenges.  Let's face them together and have a great year in our gardens.

Blogging from Pittsburgh - my most requested presentation slide - the "favorites" list!

I can't remember such a fun (or busy!) spring - zipping about here and there, my latest event - last evening at the Pittsburgh Botanical Garden - provided once again a wonderful opportunity to be inspired by and learn from a warm and welcoming audience of fellow tomato lovers.

"Who loves tomatoes?"

I like to vary my presentation so that it fits each location, each audience - working beforehand to understand the particular challenges faced by audience members.  It is really an enjoyable challenge, and builds my own capabilities and understanding of tomato success.

There is one slide that remains pretty constant, however - my current "favorite varieties" list. It therefore seemed a good time to simply post it in this blog - I will expand a bit to offer my reasons why.  OK - here goes...

• Cherokee Purple - combination of performance, flavor, beauty - and my luck in getting to name it!
• Lucky Cross (or Little Lucky – both great!) - the only big yellow/red bicolors I enjoy eating because they takes like its mother, Brandywine! This is also the first variety that I collaboratively created, starting from a surprise bee-made cross (Larry Bohs of NC was my partner in crime on these)
• Cherokee Chocolate - first mutation I found, equal to Cherokee Purple in every way except skin color (this one has yellow skin, Cherokee Purple clear). One of "tomorrow's heirlooms", born in 1995.
• Cherokee Green - another surprise - a flesh color flip out of Cherokee Chocolate, and so delicious. The amber skin is the ripeness/ready to pick indicator - born in 1997.
• Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom - One of my top 3 (along with Cherokee Purple and Sun Gold) - spectacular in every way - incomparable flavor.
• Green Giant - descends from Lillian's Yellow, sent to me by a German gardening friend - spectacular flavor - barely changes color when ripe. 
• Dester - a new favorite, first sampled in a Seed Savers Exchange tomato tasting a few years ago. Looks like German Johnson, tastes like Brandywine.
• Sun Gold - the only hybrid on my list, and one of my few "must grow every year" varieties.
• Brandywine - perhaps the most famous heirloom tomato of all, well known since the mid 1980s - finicky and variable season to season, but when it is great, it is superb - the single greatest large tomato I've eaten is Brandywine (this is the pink potato leaf Brandywine).
• Sweet Scarlet Dwarf - one of the very best flavored of our 70 new Dwarf Tomato Project releases - beautiful potato leaf plant, medium large scarlet red fruit that awaken your taste buds.
• Dwarf Sweet Sue - my favorite of all of the dwarfs - so I named it after my wife!  Medium sized, bright yellow, scrumptious.
• Dwarf Blazing Beauty - another of our dwarfs, this time rich orange juice hued, and unusual in its relatively low sugar level...this is one tart, zippy tomato.

The Dwarf varieties are found in an increasing number of seed catalogs.  Our foundation companies - those that offer the most and that we work with faithfully on releases - are Victory Seeds, Tatiana's TOMATObase, Sample Seed Shop and Heritage Seed Market.  Recently, Restoration Seeds and Fruition Seeds are jumping in big time....and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and Sow True Seeds are ramping things up as well.

My other favorite trusted seed sources for great tomato varieties (in addition to those above) are Johnny's Selected Seeds, the Seed Savers Exchange commercial catalog, and the Tomato Growers Supply Company.  There are many great seed companies, but it is the ones noted here with whom I've developed a long time trust and friendship. Lack of a mention does not mean lack of respect or quality.

Cut samples of some of our new dwarf varieties.  Big tomatoes, big flavor, lovely colors on 3-4 foot tall plants!

....so about those seedlings. Lightning quick blog today

Seedlings April 10

It's show time - the tomatoes are ready - the peppers and eggplant very soon. Email me for a list  and also to set up a pick up time - all details are on a Word doc I will send to you. My dates are spotty so we will have to look ahead over the next month to agree the times.

A few things about communications - email is far preferable for me.  I only answer the phone if it is someone I know and a call is expected - again, use email.  Texts are OK if I know who you are - I am getting some pics attached to phone numbers that I don't have in my contact list - so they are mysteries! Facebook messenger and Twitter messenger are scanned intermittently but not regularly.  So - yup - email!  nctomatoman@gmail.com

Looking forward to seeing some of you soon!

As the weather settles, the juggling begins... the bright yellow-green pine pollen blog

Try as I might, my goal of near-daily blogs seems to end up being around two per month. Oh well - better late than never! I will try to make this more to the point and include more pictures. And - yes, there is brightly colored pine pollen everywhere!

Garden and seedling news:  Our yard is in its "blooming arboretum" phase - cherry, forsythia, daffodils, some perennials (hellebore, celendine polly, Jacob's Ladder, oxalis), spirea, red bud and AZALEAS!). It is going to go fast - but it brings Sue and I such joy to look out just about any window, or sit on the deck. What an amazing and inspiring time of year this is.

I am transplanting away - those who are interested in seedlings should drop an email to me at nctomatoman@gmail.com - mid April to mid May is going to be prime time.

Progress - as of March 28.  Labeling is underway

Events news: Sue and I just returned from a memorable trip to Norfolk Virginia, at which I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Peggy Cornett, Curator of Plants at Monticello. We were wonderfully hosted by members of the Hampton Road Master Gardeners. Many new tomato friends were made.

Up next - a workshop at the Well Fed Garden in Raleigh, followed quickly by a trip to Huntsville, Alabama to participate in the annual Spring Plant Sale at the botanical garden. I will be there all day Thursday and Friday taking questions and rubbing shoulders with garden visitors, then presenting on Saturday. After that, it is Pittsburgh - then Moore Farm in South Carolina, with much more to follow. All information can be found here on my events page.

Sponsorship: I feel so fortunate to be the recipient of donations of packets of wonderful varieties of tomatoes from Seed Savers Exchange and Victory Seeds (many new dwarf varieties!), as well as some dwarf varieties I will be packaging myself and bringing to events from Fruition Seeds , Heritage Seed Market and Sample Seed Shop. It is my goal that everyone who attends my workshops and lectures leaves with a packet of seeds.  Thanks to Mike, Tom, Petra, Steve and Remy, this is now a reality.

My own garden: I am just not sure yet! Garlic planted last fall is thriving, and we are eating salads from pot-grown lettuce and arugula also planted at that time. There will be some straw bales, some containers, and I am excited to have the opportunity to test out a new container growing system from Gardeners Supply Company - I will be documenting my experience here, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

Happily growing garlic

One thing is certain - the garden will be smaller, more focused - a few of our favorite indeterminate tomatoes, some dwarf tomato project work, and a few eggplants and peppers. I just won't have the time that I typically have - and at some point, vacation will beckon!

Long range forecasts never work! On the cusp of transplanting....and a bit about my weekend in Asheville NC.

Perhaps it was a month ago, lulled into that false sense of security that unexpectedly warm February days create....as well as the sheer excitement that spring brings to gardeners. I jinxed it with a Facebook post saying something like "there are no more frosts in the forecast - this warm weather is going to hold".

Well, was I wrong. From the snow and cold experienced in Asheville, the dusting of white stuff on the kayaks sitting in our back yard (room being made in the garage for soon-to-be transplanted seedlings), the three bone chilling days and nights - it is clear that we had quite a false start. I worry for the fruit growers, because apple, blueberry, strawberry and peach tree blossoms will not do well with the night temperatures we've had. Spring color will now be muted; already our fully resplendent red azalea in our front yard is now a tired brownish color. I guess I will be tempting fate to say that a look ahead that the end of night time frosts may be near....but won't bet on it.

Though the thermometer says mid 40s and there is still a biting breeze, having veggie seedlings hunkered down in the dark garage for too many days makes for unhappy plants. Since the sun is shining brightly, everything is out in the driveway on tables catching the rays. It isn't yet very comfortable in the garage for standing and transplanting, so that will begin tomorrow. Everything looks good, and I suspect the mid April target date for many of the varieties to be ready to be planted or leave home is still on.

Seedlings ready for transplant, back in the sun on March 16

My quick weekend trip to Asheville NC was great fun. It was an honor to be asked to teach some workshops at the Organic Growers School that took place this past Friday through Sunday. Saturday and Sunday mornings were spent sharing my tomato stories with wonderful audiences, and in the afternoons I discussed straw bale and container gardening. The venue was wonderful, the school staff helpful, the fellow gardeners and teachers all quite wonderful. It was energizing, exciting - and a bit exhausting (I lost my voice....which Sue thinks is just fine, at least for a couple of days!). I want to express my sincere thanks to all of those who attended my workshops, purchased a book, and enlarged my universe of gardening friends. I particularly enjoyed chats with old friends Pam Dawling, Jeannine Davis... and Ira Wallace of one of my favorite seed companies, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, discussing collaborative possibilities with Carol Koury and Chris Smith of the fine company Sow True Seeds, and finally meeting Richard Boylan, an "internet" friend for years.  Last but not least - it was wonderful to be interviewed by Peter Kent and Ashley Epling about Cherokee Purple and my tomato obsession...seems that Cherokee Purple was the variety chosen to be highlighted by the Heritage Food Project of Slow Food Asheville.  What an honor!

My gathering tomato audience, Organic Growers School, Saturday morning March 11, UNC Asheville

This coming Saturday, at 10 AM, I will be bringing my tomato talk to SuperSod in Cary, NC. Sadly, it is too early for tomato seedlings to accompany me, but you will leave with a packet or two of seeds, and can purchase a signed copy of my books. I want to thank Shannon Hathaway for the opportunity, and really look forward to Saturday (a warmer day, according to the forecast!).

The following weekend, Sue and I are heading for Norfolk, Virginia for an event there.  Things will be coming at me fast and furious from this point on. My future speaking schedule has been adjusted - a few things came off, a new event went on - please check it out here.

That's about it for now - it is transplanting time, gardening time, writing time, speaking event time...keep warm (and keep your seedlings warm), all - see you around!

UNC Asheville campus Sunday morning March 12 just as the sun is rising.

Slow down....things are blooming and growing too fast! Things are getting busy...

My last blog was February 19 - there is a picture of seedlings in my office, basking in the sunlight streaming onto them through the window. As I type this, only 12 days has elapsed. Those baby seedlings have been outdoors - completely skipping the grow light-in-the-garage part of the process. They are showing true leaves, in most cases. It is time to transplant....but though they may be ready, I am not!

Seedlings sunning themselves on March 3, hardened off, full sun, showing true leaves.

Quick inventory of what is blooming:  daffodils, azalea, spirea, flowering cherry tree, hellebores, forsythia, quince....all four of our indoor "Christmas" cacti (yeah, right...Christmas!). Confused? The plants are.  And, I suspect, we gardeners are as well.

The trip to Michigan and event at Dow Botanical Garden (the Know and Grow seminar, at which I got to share the stage with Barbara Damrosch and Bill Shores) was wonderful in every way imaginable. I am now getting ready for the avalanche of events to come, with the Organic Growers School at UNC Asheville NC up next. I've booked flights to Pittsburgh, Huntsville, and Hartford. Power Point will be my friend for many evenings to come. Please find details for all of my upcoming events here. 

A few of my wonderful hosts at Dow

Audience professing their love of tomatoes just before my morning workshop

I hope to get a newsletter out in the next week or so, where I will spend a bit more time detailing my upcoming events and progress on my next book, as well as initial plans for my garden this year. Lots and lots of seed packets went into the mail over the last month, as our Dwarf Breeding Project continues.

As for what is next for the seedlings....we are due for a few frosty nights, so in they will come (it is much easier to move 4 flats of seedlings than dozens and dozens of trays of transplants, hence my decision to delay transplanting until next week). I can't wait to separate out some of the dwarf project mysteries, seeking some of the leaf shape or color combinations hoped for.

Three main flats of tomato seedlings getting sun, but out of a stiff, chilly breeze on March 3

Next up - Dow Botanical Gardens this coming weekend. And - planting strategy part 3. Tomatoes!

I can't wait until the weekend - the Know and Grow seminar at Dow Botanical Gardens in Midland Michigan. Speaking topics for me at the event will be tomatoes (title - "Achieving the Holy Grail - Epic Tomatoes from Your Garden....stories and tips for success), and straw bale and container gardening (talk title "Great Vegetables from Straw Bales and Containers - taking your garden to where the sun shines"). It will be quick - flying to Midland on Friday, speaking on Saturday and heading home....breakfast with Sue here Sunday morning. This is going to be a really fast year.

Now - on to tomatoes. Up and growing are the following indeterminate (tall growing) varieties: Aker's West Virginia, Brandywine, Caitlin's Lucky Stripe, Cherokee Chocolate, Cherokee Green, Cherokee Purple, Coyote, Dester, Egg Yolk, Everglades, Hege German Pink, Green Giant, Large Lucky Red, Lillian's Yellow Heirloom, Little Lucky, Lucky Cross, Mexico Midget, Red Brandywine, Speckled Roman, Swokla's Heart, and Sun Gold.  That's 21 varieties (significantly reduced from previous seasons) - but in my opinion, some of the cream of the crop of great tasting, reliably performing varieties.

As for dwarf tomatoes - Dwarf Beryl Beauty, Dwarf Emerald Giant, Rosella Purple, Dwarf Mr. Snow, Dwarf Wild Fred, Dwarf Kelly Green, Dwarf Sweet Sue, Rosella Crimson, Wherokowhai, Dwarf Blazing Beauty, Dwarf Pink Passion, Chocolate Lightning, Uluru Ochre, Sweet Scarlet Dwarf, Fred's Tie Dye, Dwarf Purple Heart, Summer Sweet Gold, Sarandipity, Adelaide Festival, Dwarf Russian Swirl, Dwarf Scarlet Heart, Dwarf Orange Cream, Dwarf Golden Gypsy, Tennessee Suited, Tanunda Red, TastyWine, Dwarf Wild Spudleaf, Loxton Lass, Dwarf Crimson Sockeye, Dwarf Caitydid, Dwarf Firebird Sweet, Dwarf Beauty King, Willa's Cariboo Rose, Loxton Lad, Kookaburra Cackle, Dwarf Lucky Swirl, Sturt Desert Pea, Sean's Yellow Dwarf, Boronia, BrandyFred, Sleeping Lady, and Summer Sunrise - 42 varieties - twice as many as the indeterminate types. You can see what I am particularly proud of!

Oh yes - last but not least, I am germinating seeds of ground cherry Goldie. 

There will also be odds and ends - particularly of dwarf project works in progress (cherries, pastes), for those that are interested.

In future blogs, I will break down the big lists above - some descriptions, rationale for growing, etc. The big question - what I can fit into my garden this year. It will be far smaller. Some of my gardening will have to be vicariously; seeing how others are doing with my seedlings, I am sure!

For details on seedling availability and any questions you may have, please send me an email - nctomatoman@gmail.com 

Thanks to my hosts and audience in Williamston! and...the 2017 season - planting time part 2. Peppers

In my last blog, I talked about my eggplant choices for 2017.  Now I will discuss my strategy for peppers this year.

But before I do, I want to say a few words about my first speaking event of the year - the Sustainability Action Institute, which took place yesterday in Williamston, North Carolina. Thanks so much to Wes Gray for the invitation to speak at the event, and to Dawn Morriston for the great communications during the lead up to the day. Each opportunity to share my tomato stories with farmers and gardeners is special; the first of the year - particularly being in the state where we live - makes it doubly so. Another bonus is that my two best friends, Allen and Bob, made this a road trip - having them there - as well as Allen's brother Doward - was very special indeed. (lunch at the Cypress Grill was icing on the cake!)

OK - on to peppers. Sweet peppers were chosen to further some more dehybridization efforts; Blue Jay, and Chocolate Bell.  Hot peppers focused on some super hots grown fairly recently from plants given to me by a gardening friend.

Here is the list of peppers that were planted on February 11:  Amethyst, Fire Opal, Candy Corn, White Gold, Royal Purple (the 5 named varieties I selected from Blue Jay over the past decade), and an open pollinated green ripening to brown selection from the hybrid Chocolate Bell (originally from Stokes many years ago).

The super hot peppers are Billy Goat, Brown Moruga, Ghost, Trinidad Scorpion Butch T, Seven Pot Brain Strain, Bhut Jokolia, Jamaican Hot Chocolate, Chocolate Habanero and Red Habanero. Additional hot peppers planted are Fish, Padron, Malu Miris, Gemstone and Bouquet. I've also planted a few so-called "seasoning" peppers that look like Habs, have the unique fruity flavors, but no heat; these are Trinidad Perfume, Trinidad, Seasoning, Tobago Seasoning, and Habanero Dulce.

As of today - February 18 (which is day 7), 7 cells of eggplants (out of 19), and 8 cells of peppers (out of 31) show life. This is not unexpected, as germination time for eggplant and peppers is longer than tomatoes, and often quite variable.

I will discuss plant availability and timing once I get through my tomato list - probably within the next week.

Eggplant seedlings emerging

Gardening in 2017 - smaller, less, complex, interesting - and underway! Choices part 1 - Eggplant

Time continues to race from me. My goal is to blog about something every week; however, at this point, once a month seems to be the rule. I hope to remedy that - with lots of seeds planted and speaking events about to begin (as in tomorrow, in Williamston NC), it is time to return to weekly blogging.  Don't hold me to it...but let's be optimistic.

I am in the family room, banging away at my laptop on our sofa, flanked by two of our cats (Sam never shows up until later on), Sue knitting in the corner chair, the TED radio hour playing on our Echo. Upstairs, in my office on heat mats in front of one of the windows are four flats of seeds. When seeds are planted, the garden has officially begun.

Seed flats of eggplants, peppers and tomatoes, Work done between Feb 11-15

Here begins discussions about my 2017 strategy; I will share the contents of each of those seedling flats, by crop, as well as the reasons for the choices, in a series of blogs. 

The seedling flat planted on February 11 represents my eggplant and pepper choices for the year. There is always a method to my madness. In the case of eggplants, my goal is to try to finish off the development of a set of varieties obtained by dehybridizing the early fruiting hybrid Orient Express, and a chance cross of a variety called Casper.

From Orient Express, I've identified three distinct varieties; Midnight Lightning (dark green purple foliage, long slender black purple fruit), Twilight Lightning (deep green leaves with purple veins, long slender medium purple fruit with a slight brownish cast due to the pale green under-color), and Skinny Twilight (medium green leaves, pale veins, long very slender white fruit with a strong lavender over-wash). 

I planted 6 different selections of Midnight Lightning, 5 of Twilight Lightning, and 6 of Skinny Twilight. Depending upon germination and foliage characteristics, I may grow no more than 2 from each category.

From the creative work of bees on a white variety called Casper, all sorts of interesting colors arose over the last few years. One particularly caught my eye due to its unique and attractive coloring - pale green tear-drop shape with a distinct pale purple over-wash. I've called it Mardi Gras (the color reminds me of a string of Mardi  Gras beads), and am growing the best two leads from last year.

Next blog - the peppers!

How about a bit of unexpectedly early spring color - captured at Raulston Arboretum last week on a warm winter day....and some of our daffodils.

Happy Very Belated New Year....thoughts about 2017 from the Driveway

Here we go again! The snow and ice is melted, the catalogs are arriving, plans are being made. As all gardeners know, the year (for us) isn't a straight line with clear beginnings and endings.  It isn't a circle, either - though we revisit the various activities and tasks, each calendar year feels so completely different. Gardening is a hobby that we integrate into our lives, and there is always something to think about or attend to, always something new to keep it fresh and exciting.

It looks very mid-January outside. Our big side garden, now mostly a place for flowering shrubs, is pretty bare looking except for the silvery green of the butterfly bushes, and the front rows of fall-planted garlic. The driveway holds pots of lettuce, arugula, chard and beets which fared quite well even in our rather harsh recent conditions (one morning showed 9 degrees F). The double layer of floating row cover helped keep everything alive; the reason for the cover was actually a very stubborn and hungry rabbit. 

Mid January is a time to plan for all of the activity to come. I've been sending seeds to fulfill some requests, and pondering what the Dwarf Tomato project will be in 2017. I've begun a book on the project that I feel is dying to be written, and hope to complete this year. It is time to get serious about what to plant, and when (stepping into my office and looking at seedling packets brings that home big time - see a few pics below). Workshops start pretty soon, so I will become very familiar with Power Point again before long.

I'll end this first blog for 2017 with a few bullet points and news items.

• I am really excited about my speaking schedule for the coming year, and hope to see lots of you while I am on the road. Be sure to bring your questions, and to introduce yourself.  My first is local - Williamston NC - the next is at Dow Gardens in Midland Michigan.
• As to my rather erratic newsletter (a few times per year), no decision has been made yet on whether to continue, since so much is shared in this blog and on Facebook.  I'll have a chat with my daughter about it (she provides great support for my various communication endeavors).  Breaking news - Yes, the newsletters will continue - watch for one in the next few weeks (thanks Sara for our brief consulting session)
• Will there be seedlings available in 2017? Most likely...but which, and how many, and when all need to be determined. The best way to find out is to send me an email - nctomatoman@gmail.com . The focus would be on best flavored varieties (and most successful for this area), and our new dwarfs. 
• We've added more dwarf tomatoes to our releases - and I am delighted to announce that Fruition Seeds has joined Victory Seeds, Tatiana's TOMATObase, Heritage Seed Market and Sample Seed Shop as companies that are featuring them in a big way. 
• Patrina Nuske Small (my Dwarf project co-lead) and I are working to make sure our Dwarf Tomato project releases are pledged as Open Source varieties (OSSI). Please click the link and read all about it. 
• It will be a much smaller garden this year (more room for cars in the driveway, perhaps...) - too much travel, writing...and life to bite off anything too significant (probably my smallest endeavor in many years). I hope to define what will be the focus soon, but without a doubt there will be continuing work on our Dwarf tomato varieties in development.
• More breaking news - just thought of this a few minutes ago. There is so much more interesting work to do in the Dwarf Breeding project and I will be looking for additional volunteers to help - our focus is turning to dwarf cherry and paste tomatoes.  Whether locally or distant, please express your possible interest in helping out via email (see a bullet above for my email address). 

Here's wishing you all a Happy New Year and your best gardens - and tomato harvests - ever!