No really, I want to grow tomatoes

The flat of lettuce that turkey tipped over isn't doing very well. It's kinda scraggly and spotty, so i might have to plant another plug tray.


The other plants are in riotous good health. In the center is the "green towers" romain lettuce starts; they're maybe 5" tall, and they're surrounded by 700 tomato plants of various sorts. I do the starts under a grow light. It's really nice to have the green lush growing plants, but it's kinda risky to have grow lights in Seattle.

When I started growing stuff I wanted to be able to stretch the season, so I've got a small greenhouse, and will probably set up a big greenhouse this year. Plastic greenhouses are considered temporary buildings, so I think i can put up a limited amount of them without county problems.

"No, really, I want to grow tomatoes"

I'm about as straight a guy as you're going to run across. I don't smoke, i don't really drink, I'm pretty boring. I have a couple of vices, soda pop being one, but nothing that is illegal or even frowned upon. I'm pretty straight. So when I started to think about farming, I wanted to buy a set of grow lights so that I could do stuff like this. Start tomato plants and grow peppers and so on. My house isn't really able to get any sunshine because of the huge apartment buildings on all sides (it's a little like living in the bottom of a well) and so off I went to a local grow light vendor.

So I walk in, and I say that I want to buy a grow light. "How many plants are you going to grow?" um, maybe 20 or 30 tomato plants. "hmm... you'll need 3 lights then". No, I'm just doing tomato plants, I think one will do. "No, when they bud you'll have to have at least 3 lights for that many plants" But these are tomato plants, and I'll probably start them indoors and then move them outside to grow... "oh, you don't want to do that. Airplane patrols will spot them..." no, really, it's tomato plants. Seriously. Vegetables. "I know what you want. You'll need 3 lights and a carousel so that you can put the plants right up to the lights for best production". tomato plants? "yes, so that you'll get the most buds" Look. this is tomato plants. I'm not growing anything else but veges. "why do you need a light then? "

grrr.

Ok, look, I need a 1,000 watt bulb and a ballast, how much? "$300". Fine. you take credit cards? "um... no. cash only. if we keep credit card numbers it creates a honeypot and it's too tempting to be seized. " ok, how about a check? "no. cash. you need a loan?"

Look, I'm growing tomato plants. RED TOMATO PLANTS. "sure buddy. Thanks for the money, here's your light -- you want a CO2 release system with an odor scrubbing system and an electrical panel bypass? " NO. Thank you. Goodbye.

Farming calendar; planning the kitchen garden

We're going through the seed catalogs tonight, looking at what to plant, and ordering seeds. The growing season here is pretty short; our last frost-free day is in April, and it doesn't really get warm until July, and stays warm until the 2nd week of august.

To get a head-start on the growing season I order all of the seeds now, and then working with a calendar I figure out when to start each type of plant.

So for Juliette tomatoes, they're listed as 60 days. (We plant a lot of cherry tomatoes because they ripen quicker). So if we want the plant to be in place the first week of July, we've got to plant that tomato in the first week of may or so. To get the best yield, we use a variety of methods to raise the soil temperature. Hoop house, raised beds, mulching, cold frames and so on. I do this sort of planning for each planting.

My current favorite seed vendor is harris seeds; they have a wide selection of interesting vegetables, and provide commercial quantities for those items that I want to grow in bulk. I'm going to order a bunch of mint seeds and plant a half acre in mint to see what sort of honey it produces.

My second favorite is burpee, which i like for their variety of seeds, but the quantities are smaller, and the prices higher.

Here's my garden list from the harris / burpee catalog

Tomatoes
Juliet 60 days
Tumbling tom 65 days
Pony express 72 days

Carrots
Nantindo 70 days
Scarlet nantes 68 days

Sweet Corn
Applause 75 days
delectable 80 days

Cucumbers
Patio pickle 49 days
Raider 52 days

Herbs
Basil / serata
Basil / sweet
spearmint - from burpee
Rosemary
Catnip
Parsley

Green Beans
Crockett 60 days
Kentucky 63 days

Root vegetables
Leeks
Potatoes - red - local source
Potatoes - russet - local source
Potatoes - white - local source

Peas
Super sugar snap, 63 days
Oregon sugar, 65 days
Little marvel, 63 days

Melons
Watermelon sugar baby 85 days

Squash
pumpkin Magic lantern, 115
pumpkin Cinderella, 115
summer squash; peter pan and sunbirst, 50 days
zuchini, zuchini elite, 48 days
acorn squash, 100 days

Salad
spinach whale 37 days
spinach olympia 46 days
romaine green towers, 74 days
leaf lettuce, ithaca, 72 days
Cabbage, blue lagoon, 68 days
Brussel sprouts, oliver, 90 days

Whimsy
Marigolds - from burpee
Sunflowers - seed type, from burpee
Peanuts, 120 days - from burpee