The Generosity of Fellow Gardeners.

Hi all,
I am continuously amazed at how willing many of my fellow gardeners are to share seeds with other gardeners.I have been both very grateful and thankful for this.I have made some very good friends over the last few years and am very thankful for that. It is my hope and prayer that despite what is happening in our world these days we will remain true friends and continue to share our love of gardening,farming and nature.For all concerned lets be at peace with one another sharing our joys and sorrows. To me it is like having a lot of extended family members and despite our personal beliefs we remain family and friends.

God bless you all,

Kevin

Harvesting and reflections.

One thing is for sure my tomato harvest has been pretty good so far. We have some new stars in the garden. # most notable are Rose with fruits which easily exceed a pound.Black from Tula which not only produced some great tasting tomatoes but also is a producing machine and Campari OP which has also produced lots of tasty fruits. Black Krim also did well but is done for the season. I have several other I am still waiting on.But I am getting concerned about the weather right now as our lows are dipping down to the upper 40's to mid 50's with day temps in the 70's. My keeper list is as follows.Any of them with a question mark is a debatable return.

Black Krim

Black from Tula

Giant Italian Paste

Mariana's Peace

Rose

Earl's Faux

Big Zac F9

Spudakee

Vorlon?

Siletz?

Note this list is not complete as some have not gotten ripe yet.

Cucumbers where outstanding this year with over 100 cukes harvested. Gonna have to plant extras next year. Kabocha squash where a great producer this year too with 15 squash harvested. Pumpkins where not so good.Not because of weather or anything I did or did not do but because of Squash Vine borer. But I still managed to get two perfect Jack O Lanterns (Howden FM) and still growing is my rather large but not earth shattering Atlantic Giant which looks to be about 100 pounds.

Peppers: While I have gotten some nice ones production could have been better and am still waiting on some more to be ready for harvest.

Kevin

Garden looking good.

Sorry I don't have any pics yet.I just gotta do a wee bit of bragging. My tomatoes have started to bloom and some have set fruit.The ones that have are Black Krim,Black from Tula,Rose,Vorlon,Cowlicks Brandywine,Cherokee Purple and Mariana's Peace.Should be a great tomato year. The rest should bloom and set fruit soon.

Also it looks like the Great Pumpkin is smiling on my patch. Slowly but surely I am getting blooms and fruit set.The ones setting fruit are my Atlantic Giants,Kabocha and Howden FM. The rest are putting on lots of new growth and should bloom soon.

Cucumbers are doing very good with a combined two hill fruit set of thirteen that should be ready in about a week.And the vines are going crazy.

Sugar Baby Watermelon are also growing like crazy and looks like we have fruit set with three little melons so far.

Bell peppers and Jalapeno should be blooming soon. All these plants are looking good and putting on new growth.

Amish Cantaloupe: Got a late start with these but are putting on new growth and are looking good. Most likely will not have any til the end of August beginning of September.

When all is said and done I am proud of what I was able to plant this year.Considering having to dig by hand and my health.I have more variety with my tomatoes and pumpkins than I have ever had in forty years of gardening.I know my Mom and Dad and several of my late gardening relatives would be happy to see it too.

God Bless and good gardening to all.

Kevin

Day Dreaming About Tillers.

Been daydreaming or some might call it window shopping ( since I can't afford to do any other type of shopping) both the Troy Built and BCS sites. These two companies represent the best of the best and if I had the money I would go to ether company. So what ones am I drooling over? Check it out.Note My family had an 8 Horse Troy Bilt which I always used in the garden back in my home state California. And it worked out really well for several years. A good solid tiller.
What I know of BCS is word of mouth from garden friends.And they have said many good things about it.One garden friend has a BCS that is 18 years old.This speaks volumes about how solid this tiller is.I would be proud to have ether tillers. One big reason I am thinking of tillers right now is because I have been working our garden by hand which takes a long time. But all the longer because of my heart problems. Living with family and having no income while I fight to get disability I have no way to get one one of these fine machines.And nether does my family.
So I gotta do what I can to get the job done. But to anyone in the market for a tiller give ether Troy Built or BCS a try you won't be sorry.

http://www.bcsshop.com/hercules.htm

http://www.troybilt.com/webapp/wcs/s...91388_54971_-1



Kevin

Potting up Maters and Peppers

Well potting time has arrived! Several varieties of tomatoes have been potted up including,Abe Lincoln , Costoluto Genovese and Fiorentino,Rosalita,Guido,Campari, Uncle Charlie's Giant Italian Paste,Gildo Pietroboni, OSU Blue and Rouge D' Irak.

Peppers include,Sweet Boy (bell), Sweet Bell and Aji Cyrstal. Gonna be potting up loads more over the next few days so stay tuned. Also have last minute additions witch have come up. These tomatoes are coming up.Big Zac F9,Paul Robeson,Black Krim,Black fromTula.Neve's Azorean Red , Siletz and Olive Hill and Goat Bag have not germinated yet. But all in all I still have a great line-up this year.


Kevin

Growout projects and other ramblings.

As many of you know I have several grow out projects I will be working on. This will be a first for me and will put my garden skills to the test. As you know also I secured seeds from both the seed banks in Gatersleben Germany and CGN in the Netherlands.I will be growing several tomatoes and peppers as well as winter squash and pumpkins. These varieties are ether known here or are totally new to gardeners here in the States.Some have been setting and waiting to be rediscovered.

I think it is very important to have diversity available to gardeners and farmers to assure our food supply does not falter.Some seeds I have this year are very well known in the garden community and also to some farmers. Such as three French heirloom pumpkins that I will grow this year. A good deal of these different varieties are very new to me and we will discover together how well they will do here in my corner of Michigan. You all know about my tomatoes and hot peppers list but I now have several varieties of bell peppers thanks to garden friends and the good folks at CGN. Also I now have some 19 varieties of pumpkin which originated ether in the US,Canada and France.

I will certainly have other garden favorites too like green beans and cucumbers and melons. And for the first time a special patch for herbs. I am very determined to get everything growing this year. A lot of varieties I will grow will have a small number of plants so I can get everything in the garden. Then as harvest begins I can start to determine which ones I will keep to increase production in 2011 and which ones will not return.

I really have my work cut out for me but I think it will be worth it and that hard work will be rewarded. This years garden will be very special as it will be the first time I will have varieties that originated in so many different countries.Wish me luck.

Kevin

New additions and special grow outs.

Hi everyone,

Been a while since I last posted so I thought I would let everyone know some of what will be going on for the 2010 garden. I have three additions to add. They are Mariana's Peace,Uncle Charlie’s Giant Italian Pear and Berkly Tye Dye ( what can I say being a native of Cali). Lord knows it will be lots of work getting all these great maters out but will be fun too. The tomato list has bloomed to nearly 50 varieties which do not include some special grow outs.

Gonna have some additions to the pepper list too! My niece is getting into the act and a forum friend is sending her several peppers to grow.When I find out all the ones she is getting I will let you know. But one is a special request by me and that one is Manzano. This is the oldest domesticated pepper and is reported to be very good.

Anyway here is my new almost finalized tomato list.

1 Thessaloniki:Grew this great Greek mater last year.About the size of Celebrity and IMO it has just as good production.And more flavor.

2 Big Rainbow: Last year was to be the first year for this one but as you know I landed in the hospital about the time you are supposed to have the garden all worked up.Oh well .Take two!!!

3 Vorlon: Been looking forward to trying this one

4 Costoluto Fiorentino

5 Costoluto Genovese

6 Stump of the World

7 Cherokee Purple

8 Abe Lincoln

9 Wisconsin 55 Gold

10 Cowlick Brandywine: This was one of the best of five maters I grew last year.And some where huge !!!

11 Watermelon Beefsteak

12 Persimmon

13 Ananas Noir

14 Purple Calabash

15 Marglobe

16 Matina

17 Goose Creek

18 Orlov Yellow

19 Gigantesque

20 Giant Belgium

21 Hazelfield Farm

22 Earl's Faux

23Delicious

24Rosalita

25 Clementine

26 Rutgers

27 Guemsey Pink Blush

28 Brandywine Sudduth Strain

29 Rouge D'Irak

30 Carbon

31 Vilina

32 Guido
.
33 Giant Italian Paste

34Triumphant

35 PALMIRA

36 JOIE DE LA TABLE

37 Red Rock

38 Goat Bag

39 GUILDO PETROBONI

40 GARY O'SENA

41 GROSSE PLATE DU PORTUGAL

42 Cosmonaut Volkov

43 Zapotec

44 Mariana's Peace

45 Uncle Charlie’s Giant Italian Pear

46 Berkly Tye Dye


As you can see I will have a very busy time planting everything. Harvesting should be just as interesting. As you know there will be other garden goodies other than peppers and maters this year.I think everyone will enjoy seeing the results. And if the weather is kinder this year I will have lots of seeds to share as I will be saving seeds. Remember it is just about time to start seeds. Tropical peppers should be started by the end of January to give them time to germinate and grow so you can get a good harvest.


Happy Garden Planing,


Kevin