The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)
Posted: Feb 03, 2010 11:37 am
There have been threads like this in the past and I've never gotten involved (shame on me), but in the past three years, I've really gotten into gardening as a hobby during the spring, summer and fall. I just love it. So, I thought I'd start this thread for other fellow gardeners since planting season is just a few months away.
I guess I'll start off by saying that I have an unhealthy obsession with tomatoes. Which is funny because they're not something that I eat all that often, but I love growing them. There are so many different types and colors that are fun to experiment with that the vast majority of my gardens thus far have been dedicated to tomatoes.
As this is my first post, I figured I'd keep it somewhat reasonable and just talk about tomatoes for now, even though I grow a LOT of other veggies (and fruits!) besides that.
I also start my tomatoes from seed rather than plant because I get cabin fever in a serious way after Christmas that I can't wait to start growing things any longer. Yes... I have already started my tomato (and pepper) seedlings.
This year I'm growing...
Honeybunch Hybrid - This is a grape tomato that's your stereotypical grape tomato. Small, red, really sweet, great to eat right off the vine.
Italian Ice - Another grape tomato, but it's actually white. This is one of my favs because it tastes like candy.
Black Pearl - Another grape tomato thats... black. A new one for me this year, I don't know what it tastes like, but according to Burpee if you refrigerate this tomato, it tastes like a Concord Grape. Yum.
Red Lightning - A cherry tomato that has red and and yellow stripes on it. A new one on me. It looked cool so I had to try it.
Juliet Hybrid - My very favorite tomato EVER. If I could only grow one tomato plant a year, this would be it. The best description I can give it is that it's a small Roma that grows in bunches like a grape. I have canned these in the past and used them later to make spaghetti sauce. It's also the primary tomato I use in my awesome salsa. You can also eat them right off the vine as well... they're very good.
Tangerine Mama/Golden Mama - These are practically the same tomato except one is orange and one is yellow. These are most definitely a sauce tomato as they're not very juicy, though I've never used them that way before. I just put em in my salsa.
Razzle Dazzle - Introduced to me by Burpee as I'd NEVER heard of it before, this is a fantastic hamberger tomato. It's also a really unusual color... sort of a mauve rather than red.
Brandywine Pink - One of my first heirlooms. I didn't grow any of these personally last year, a co-worker of my husband's did (I gave him the plant... it was out of a variety seed packet), and it was AMAZING. Just a really, big, huge, awesome, pinkish tomato.
Black Krim - The second of my heirlooms. It's black/dark purple. A new one on me... hope it's good!
Burpee's Supersteak - The third of my heirlooms. Came in a variety packet so I had no choice but to test it out. This is probably the most stereotypical of my heirloom tomatoes.
Big Rainbow - The fourth heirloom. It's big, it's yellow, it's lumpy. Can't wait!
Aunt Ruby's German Green - The last heirloom. I just discovered this in a book last night... I'd never heard of it before so I ordered some seeds off of amazon to test em out. And... it's green. LOL
Alright, that's enough rambling from me for now, but I shall return later to discuss other things I like growing.
I guess I'll start off by saying that I have an unhealthy obsession with tomatoes. Which is funny because they're not something that I eat all that often, but I love growing them. There are so many different types and colors that are fun to experiment with that the vast majority of my gardens thus far have been dedicated to tomatoes.
As this is my first post, I figured I'd keep it somewhat reasonable and just talk about tomatoes for now, even though I grow a LOT of other veggies (and fruits!) besides that.
I also start my tomatoes from seed rather than plant because I get cabin fever in a serious way after Christmas that I can't wait to start growing things any longer. Yes... I have already started my tomato (and pepper) seedlings.
This year I'm growing...
Honeybunch Hybrid - This is a grape tomato that's your stereotypical grape tomato. Small, red, really sweet, great to eat right off the vine.
Italian Ice - Another grape tomato, but it's actually white. This is one of my favs because it tastes like candy.
Black Pearl - Another grape tomato thats... black. A new one for me this year, I don't know what it tastes like, but according to Burpee if you refrigerate this tomato, it tastes like a Concord Grape. Yum.
Red Lightning - A cherry tomato that has red and and yellow stripes on it. A new one on me. It looked cool so I had to try it.
Juliet Hybrid - My very favorite tomato EVER. If I could only grow one tomato plant a year, this would be it. The best description I can give it is that it's a small Roma that grows in bunches like a grape. I have canned these in the past and used them later to make spaghetti sauce. It's also the primary tomato I use in my awesome salsa. You can also eat them right off the vine as well... they're very good.
Tangerine Mama/Golden Mama - These are practically the same tomato except one is orange and one is yellow. These are most definitely a sauce tomato as they're not very juicy, though I've never used them that way before. I just put em in my salsa.
Razzle Dazzle - Introduced to me by Burpee as I'd NEVER heard of it before, this is a fantastic hamberger tomato. It's also a really unusual color... sort of a mauve rather than red.
Brandywine Pink - One of my first heirlooms. I didn't grow any of these personally last year, a co-worker of my husband's did (I gave him the plant... it was out of a variety seed packet), and it was AMAZING. Just a really, big, huge, awesome, pinkish tomato.
Black Krim - The second of my heirlooms. It's black/dark purple. A new one on me... hope it's good!
Burpee's Supersteak - The third of my heirlooms. Came in a variety packet so I had no choice but to test it out. This is probably the most stereotypical of my heirloom tomatoes.
Big Rainbow - The fourth heirloom. It's big, it's yellow, it's lumpy. Can't wait!
Aunt Ruby's German Green - The last heirloom. I just discovered this in a book last night... I'd never heard of it before so I ordered some seeds off of amazon to test em out. And... it's green. LOL
Alright, that's enough rambling from me for now, but I shall return later to discuss other things I like growing.