Yay, tomatoes!

I love tomato plants. They smell so good. I think I possibly like the plants even more than I like the tomato fruits themselves.

Yeah, the smell of the plants reminds me of my dad. The combined smells of tomato plants, sweat, and Miller High Life really take me back to when I was 5 years old. Happy memories.

Yum, tomatoes. Yours sound lovely mudpupie. I need to order an heirloom tomato or two! I grow a couple cherry tomato bushes, a grape tomato, and a beefsteak called Better Boy.

Tomato plants do have a very distinct smell. I also like the smell.

I looked up the scarlet runner bean. They're a cool weather bean and don't do well in the South. That's probably why I haven't heard of them. The only vegetables I grow are tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and herbs. I couldn't handle anything else, it would all be dead.

Also mudpuppie, while we're on the subject. Do you use chemical control on your tomato plants or some sort of organic pest control? I've used a soap spray with good success, but last year I was battling the bugs. I don't care if they munch a few leaves, but with 5 or 6 lush tomato plants together the bugs go crazy. I wonder if I could use Neem on the plants. Probably should give it a try before I resort to anything else.

You're quite the gardener mudpuppie. You should take some pics.

Lori, I know ikkyu2 has been researching companion gardening as a way to keep the garden organic -- you basically plant other things that either repel the bugs or attract the bugs more to keep them off the vegetables.

I know very little about it, but a bunch of stuff turns up on google. And I think he's using petunias around the tomatoes, because apparently tomato worms will eat the petunias first. Or else don't like the petunias and go away. I can't remember.

That said, the bugs in San Francisco are not exactly the same as the bugs in Florida, so I don't know how well all of this translates geographically.

Also, I would like to say that I like being a vicarious gardener. I can sit at my desk, which looks out over the garden, and it's very nice.

Thanks occhiblu, I will try companion planting. I've read a little about the subject also, but haven't given it a serious effort. If I'm remembering correctly, marigold is a good companion plant to ward off pests. I could be wrong. I'll try planting a few petunias. Sounds easy enough.

Lori, our summers here are very hot (many days over 100), and my scarlet runners have always come through the summer in good health. In fact, they do much better in the heat than many of my other plants. I grow them on the chicken coop, and they only finally die when the rainy season comes and I cover the chicken coop up with a tarp.

You should try them -- I bet they'd grow just fine. I don't know how resistant they are to mildews, though. That's probably the problem you'd face with them, since it's so humid there. A lot of the F1 hybrid beans are bred for mildew resistance, but the scarlet runners are heirlooms. (Still, you're supposed to be able to control mildews organically. I think it's a baking soda/water spray that works, but I could be misremembering.)

As for pest control on my tomatoes -- I've never really had a problem here. In Austin, I had spider mites, but we don't seem to have them here. What kind of bugs were you battling last year? Homemade insecticidal soap (basically fragrance- and antibiotic-free liquid soap + water + a tiny bit of oil for stickage) works well, when combined with vigilance. I don't like using pesticides on my plants, but I also have a lot of beneficials running around, so I usually don't need any chemical control.

(This time of year, I do battle with the slugs using iron phosphate. But once it warms up, they die or go dormant or something, so they're never really a threat to my tomatoes.)

Another thing that works really well: Compost tea! You have to have the right kind of compost to do it (the kind that got hot when it was decomposing, not the kind that sat around for years and years. I make my own compost, and with the chicken manure in there it gets hot overnight.) Anyway, you put some compost in a nylon, put the nylon in a bucket, and fill the bucket with water. Add a tablespoon of molasses (for the wee bacteria to snack on!). Aerate the mixture with a small, cheap aquarium pump for 3 days. I know it sounds kind of mad-scientist, but I swear to god -- the stuff is like plant steroids. And it's totally organic. I use it as a foliar feed, and you can almost watch the tomatoes grow in real time after you apply it.

I'm a skeptic on companion gardening, occhiblu, but I look forward to hearing ikkyu's reports.

Like, I said, I know nothing about it. But it does seem like the petunias are getting nibbled and the tomatoes are not.

But the only other time I've watched someone do much gardening was in Atlanta, where the Japanese beetles pretty much eat everything in sight, so it all seems pretty bug-free here to me.

And I love the molasses compost sprayer idea.

mudpuppie, we have a beetle and a leaf hopper that does damage, as well as spider mites. Your soap spray sounds exactly what I do. And you're right, diligence and vigilance is key.

Thanks for the compost tea recipe. I'm forever reading about these compost teas! I will definitely give it a try this season. I do have a lot of concoctions I like to use. A lot of them contain fish emulsion, but I've never made a compost tea.

I'm with you mudpuppie, I don't like to use chemicals on my plants. Half the reason I grow a few veggies is so I can grow them organically. The only chemical we use is on the lawn. It's a necessity unfortunately. These damn suburban lawns! Everything else I have doesn't require chemicals, even the roses.

I'll try the petunias regardless. I had better get a move on though. Petunias don't do well in this heat, but they'll be fine for another month or so.

You guys make me miss gardening.
And composting.

Mudpuppie you are late! My tomatoes have been in for a month! I am betting on global warming! That means, warming of the globe!

I've been reading about this red plastic "mulch" that you put over the ground in your tomato patch. Supposedly it reflects important far-red wavelengths and increases tomato yields 12%. I am skeptical, but considering the possibilities. Does anyone know about this?

I have 2 Early Girls, 3 San Francisco Fogs, 3 Caspian Pinks, and 2 Super Steaks. I have the highest hope for the Early Girls - the Fogs are teeny little tomatoes at the best of times, and I do not suppose the Super Steaks will set any fruit at all, unless the weather rolls natural 7s for the next 4 months without crapping out.

I put petunias around the tomatoes. Apparently they repel the hornworms. I do have some marigolds; they repel various thrips and aphids, but they also kill nematodes, both the harmful and the beneficial kind. Since I am considering releasing some beneficial nematodes in my tomato patch I decided not to put any marigolds there.

Since I put the petunias in, whatever beastie was completely stripping the leaves off the tomato plants has stood down. The Super Steaks are two foot tall and quite splendiferous now. I have high hopes!

I did, however plant garlic chives under the old rosebush, because aphids hate alliums. The biosphere is tricky business and when you are meddling with it you cannot exercise enough care, restraint and knowledge! It is a good hobby for a thoughtful person.

Good thing you're in Texas. This is about the end of the best window in MA to start seeds for tomatoes indoors. I'll be buying my plants in late April for planting on Memorial Day (last frost).

I usually put in Big Boys (love, love LOVE the flavor). I also usually put in Jet Star (which I'm very fond of) and an experimental variety. I've done Brandywine in the past, and the flavor was not very good and there was a blight that year that killed them outright after they started producing.

Ikkyu, I am actually a bit early! The nighttime temps here have been in the upper 30s and low 40s! Tomatoes get pouty if they're put out before nighttime temps average 50! I should really wait a couple more weeks, but the bug bit me!

Also, I think it's wonderful and hilarious that there's tomato variety called "San Francisco Fog." And, you get extra points for working a craps reference into the gardening post!

I do not know of red plastic. Is it supposed to work because it reflects red wavelengths, and that helps the foliage? Or does blocking red wavelengths supposedly help the soil? My guess is that it just increases the soil temperature, which tomatoes like.

I found two praying mantis egg casings in my garden today. Woot! I am worried that the chickens will eat them when they hatch, though.

(And plinth, I'm assuming that you were referring to me being in Texas. I'm not! I'm in California! Yay!)

Which part of CA?

I'll be doing tomatoes this year, but that's about it. And it's another month before I'm supposed to plant them. I think I'll hold off another week or two and give it a try.

Plinth: The good part.

We can't even set seeds for another 20 days! But I'm excited to plant heirloom tomatoes! I too like the smell of the greens! Tomatoes are related to deadly nightshades!

Woot, deadly nightshades!

I want preying mantises! They are the coolest!

I meant praying mantis! Really I did!

Ah, clearly not Silicon Valley then.

I want preying mantises [sic]! They are the coolest!

You can buy praying mantis eggs at the nursery! And then you can make a little cage for them out of a cardboard box and window screen and wait for them to hatch! And then you can set them loose in the garden! I do this every year!

I know! I just told ikkyu to order some! But I don't think he will!

Wait, why are we all so exclamatory?!?!

Red Mulch!

Mantis egg case!

I do not wish to have a bunch of mantises about because they eat beneficial insects like honeybees and ladybugs.

Wait, why are we all so exclamatory?!?!

Because it's fucking tomato day!!!

Sheesh.

FUCKING TOMATOES!!!

Yes, fucking tomatoes!

Except the parthenocarps.