So, I am a proud mother of over 50 tomato plants this spring. They are currently housed in the greenhouses at our Conservation District office out in Puyallup. Before the District lived here, the property was used as the well known ‘tropical plants nursery’ and is complete with thousands and thousands of square feet of greenhouse space. Very cool. Nowadays, we lease these greenhouses to community growers, role models actually, like Andy of Sunshine Flower Farm (who actually built this place back in the ’70s and also sells at the Puyallup Farmers Market), Terry and Dick Carkner of Terry’s Berries (Puyallup and Tacoma Market regulars), and YMCA Friends and Servants (Puyallup Market sellers as well).
Last year I decided to join in the greenhouse fun (like a little girl who shuffles around in her mom’s high heels) by growing my own tomato starts. It worked out fairly well, everyone lived… me, other office workers, and of course, the tomatoes. I kept 16 out of 30 plants for my tiny rental house garden. They produced literally hundreds of awesomely delicious fruits, feeding myself, my extended family, my neighbors on all sides, my freezer, and even my brother’s hens when they were beyond their prime.
This year though, I’m a little behind due to work and weather. After scoping the competition at farmers markets and taking a quick peak of office greenhouses, I’ll admit, I should probably be hauled in for plant neglect. My plants are teeny tiny, minuscule little stems. Meanwhile market tomatoes are thriving, some ealmost as tall as me! Please see attached pictures. (Mine are the twigs in the little pink pots, but well loved twigs at that.) I attribute my shorties to lower temps and lack of fertilizer and TLC…. but they are on the up and up…. and I predict they’ll come around, fruits blazing, in a short while… especially with good fertilizer (I’m using my homegrown worm compost tea and then will hit them with some compost from the farm aka mom’s ‘ewe doo’). Oh, and my varieties are mostly heirloom this year including – Black, Koralik, Gold Medal, Manitoba, and Tiger-like. You can check out pics of these and other cool heirloom varieties on the Territorial Seed website.
At this point in the season, would it might be best to say, just go buy some sturdy starts at the farmers market or nursery? But next year or for other seeds to plant directly in the dirt, definitely check out Territorial Seed.
I am sharing this tidbit of info because I don’t want any false impressions that I’m a pro at the grow! And yes, you should question gardening advice from me, I’ve put that in a ‘disclaimer’ already. Yet, my little stalks of green goodness are diamonds in the rough and I’m expecting success. Long story short, anyone can grow, and we all have our own ways and times of cultivating the seeds.
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