The Texas BBQ Forum

Cukes and squash!

Ok ya'll. Got a question for you Tomato experts.
Ive have failed miserably before on trying to grow them. Just about the time they would get close to ripening our weather would turn cold and wet and they get blight.

This is my last try at them. I tried the upside down trick in 5 gallon buckets before with no luck.
I planted them a month earlier this year and got them in a wagon on the deck so I can keep them in direct sunlight all day and I can wheel them under our 3ft roof overhangs if it looks like rain.
Question....do you snip off the suckers and if so when do you start snipping.

Bill, my wife is an expert at growing tomatoes. What I have observed is this
She propagates from seeds from chosen tomatoes from the previous year ones that are sweet and juicy, she does this 3 months before the start of summer, we keep them in a hot water cylinder cupboard. When they are growing they are planted on a shelf undercover out side then left to harden up before transplanting outside. She also covers her bets by buying a few for planter boxes like you have, she put tomatoe fertiliser on them . She daily picks crops and while doing so picks buds off. Best day last season was 3 kg in one day. We made 40 litres of tomatoe sauce and 15 kgs of tomato relish. Not to mention about 8 litres of tomatoe pasta sauce from her tomatoes, we made that with oregano and basil also from her garden. We use everything up,over the winter which is due next week. Hope this helps, my wife's a really good gardener, she's still picking chillies from her green houses.

Russ

We also tried the upside down hanging baskets that showed a picture of massive tomatoes hanging from them. Fake news fake advertising, complete nil results. Won't be going down that road again.

Russ

Very nice Amigo. Had a huge garden when we lived in Mississippi. It was so productive that you could hear stuff growing - it would keep me up at night.

Bondo, I hear completely opposite opinions about suckers. Some say get rid of them, others say it makes no difference. We've tried it both ways, and now we don't bother.

Are the tomatoes getting enough calcium? Ours are prone to blossom end rot when they are calcium-deprived. We just buy calcium pills at a dollar store.

PS: Those two plants look really nice! And when we got rid of suckers, we'd just pinch them off by hand.

On BondoBill's " Spring" thread , Russ asked what's growing in the picture below. I have 19 tomato plants; 6 of Brandywine, 6 Big Boys, and 6 Homestead. I have 6 Yellow Crookneck Squash, 12 Burpless Cucumbers, 6 Green Bell Peppers, 6 Hot Large TAMU Jalapeno's, and 6 Cayenne Pepper plants. I'm going to post some pictures of the Cayenne's because I'm going to venture to say there might be Folks here that have never seen it straight from the garden.

Oh, and a row of Sweet, 215 onions

Good ol East Texas Fertility Pic - - - been a while but I still miss the experience and my little tiller that I used to play with.

OldUsedParts wrote:Good ol East Texas Fertility Pic - - - been a while but I still miss the experience and my little tiller that I used to play with.

LOL, I hear'ya Brother When we bought this place, 56 acres, I had 3 separate spots, Each about 1 acre. Then it dropped to 2 spots, then one big spot, and alas now, my little 5 row, 1/8th of an acre spot

To me there's no better green beans than those you have "just picked" from your garden. The same goes with squashes, ,okra and those often lost new taters. Add a little cream sauce and watch out.

I’ve grown all that in the past; after messing with the potatoes for several years I determined it was much easier to go to the farmers market and get what I want. The one thing you can’t hardly find are fresh Pintos, totally different than The dried Pintos you buy at the store

Do they grow and shell like Purple Hull Peas
I raised some Pinkeye Purple Hulls one year that were almost addictive but I haven't ever seen them in the markets.

Nice set-up, Rambo!

OldUsedParts wrote:Do they grow and shell like Purple Hull Peas
I raised some Pinkeye Purple Hulls one year that were almost addictive but I haven't ever seen them in the markets.

Yes, exactly. they are just bigger than a purple Hull