I feel like I am in High School again- I have no idea what I am doing, man do I enjoy doing it. 😊
My first year/ season. I have some Hilly Billy, Ace, German Pear, Roma and Cherry.
Found this invader and after a Google search determined he had to be relocated. 😡🪲
Couple of fun, I hope, questions for just general information gathering. I am expecting to have about 10 plants this year. I see all these postings of several flats, and I don’t understand what are people doing with the produce of 20, 30, 40+ plants?!?
Family of three, just producing enough for our consumption, giving some to the neighbors. No canning, freezing, preservation.
What’s the suggested right amount of plants ?
How would you approach the timing to spread out production ?
What’s your favorite variety ?
What’s been a variety that has been annoying or frustrating ?
What tip would go back and tell yourself your first season ?
by MoxNixnd901
3 Comments
I tip I’d tell myself is to consider where the person is from before you take too much stock in their advice. YouTubers in California do things differently from Canada. I keep trying new varieties but I lose track of the names by the time they’re ready. Ponderosa Pink has been a favourite though.
Right amount depends on your space and variety. Your seed packets should have good suggestions for the space they need and timings. When to put them outside and in their permanent home is mostly about temperature, after the last frost and the soil temp where you plan to put the root should be min 60F.
I wish I could tell you “grow X plants and you’ll have the right amount” but weather, soil quality, fertilizer, watering, and (imo especially) the plants’ sun situations make everything so variable. With 10-20 plants a year, I have had years of plenty and years of scarcity. I’ve had a few weeks here and there where I had enough to give some away. I mostly just make big batches of salsa, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, slicers for sandwiches and cherries for salads. My little family eats it all.
If you grow multiple varieties and include indeterminates, they’ll probably space themselves out. I live in a place with a pretty long growing season (8a) and I get tomatoes from July to October. In good years, early August can be a little bonkers.
I love Brandywines, yellow pears for cherries. Cherokees of all kinds have been so prone to bruising/splitting that even though they’re delicious I always kinda regret them (am growing Purple Cherokees for the fifth year in a row, so here I go again).
Your last question, I can answer that one for sure. My advice would be to buy grow lights that are long (bar lights) that emit white light, dont mess with those purple’ish light ones that clip on. Most importantly, the grow light needs to be like an inch away from the soil, then the sprout. That light needs to be super close for 16 hours. 🤔😊🌱💚