After slogging through the intense summer heat tending to empty beds, cover crops and lots of weeds, we are feeling the excitement – Fall is (almost) here! We’re getting started with lots of seedlings in trays, in anticipation of planting in our beds after the rain gods of September and early October are done with us.
TOMATOES
Lots of different tomato seedlings will be started in flats over the next few months. Our first wave has already been potted up into four-inch pots which will be ready to plant in the garden soon.
Day-old tomato sprout – the new season begins!
Growing…
Potted up at one month old
We love so many different kinds of tomatoes that we only have space to plant one or two of each variety. Wanna know our top ten favorites, and their sources? (FYI – We neither ask for nor get anything for these endorsements, just love the tomatoes!)
University of Florida: Info on ordering seeds here: https://hos.ifas.ufl.edu/kleelab/new-garden-cultivars/
- Garden Ruby – a knockout performer; our only determinate variety
- Improved Garden Gem (prolific; shape resembles a san marzano)
Johnny’s Seeds: http://johnnyseeds.com
- Clementine (great large golden cherry)
- Cherry Bomb (name speaks for itself!)
- Blush (so delicious!)
- White Cherry
Baker’s Creek Heirloom Seeds: (free shipping!) http://rareseeds.com
- Barry’s Crazy Cherry (truly crazy clusters of yummy cherry tomatoes)
- Green Zebra
- Sunrise Bumble Bee
- Black Cherry
So those are our top fan favorites. It’s a great time to get started with your tomato seedlings, or to watch your favorite plant nursery for October offerings. As you know, it will be months away before you harvest, and well worth the wait to bite into into a REAL tomato! Wouldn’t you agree?
Last season’s cherry bombs – awesome!
You might want to check out our page “The Year of the Tomato” for more info on tomato gardening.
Here’s a note about an experiment we are trying this season. We have the notorious (and very-common-to-Florida) “bad” nematodes in our garden beds, and so our tomato crops suffer each year. They produce nicely, but eventually are overtaken by the root-knot nematodes choking off the root system and causing the plants to wither away. So we tried planting one tomato in a large grow bag at the end of last season; not only did it produce there were no nematodes on the roots. We actually got this idea from a farm in South Central Florida, where all their crops are in grow bags due to the well-established nematodes in their soil. So this season we will try grow bags with a variety of tomatoes and see what the results are. Stay tuned!
Happy Gardening to you all!
We are a small group of South Floridians who share a love of organic gardening, cooking and leading a healthy lifestyle. We garden together in Miami on a weekly basis year round, and enjoy the labor, harvest and feeling of community that this provides us. We are learning together what it means to grow food in South Florida, with our unique climate and seasons, which are so different than the rest of the country. This website is a venture in sharing information and resources relevant to gardening (and enjoying the harvest) in our South Florida environment. We hope you will find it useful!
