About Catalogs | Bill Simpson | Bessemer Bend Stocks
Peppers - Squash |Tomato - Watermelon
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About Catalogs | Bill Simpson | Bessemer Bend Stocks |
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Peppers - Squash |Tomato - Watermelon |
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| This page: 2009 Planting Guide, When to Start Seed, When to Set Out | ||
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Wyogrow...where the tough get growing, by Fred Jacquot | |
| I have been an active adult gardener in the Casper area now for over 30 years. Back when I first started no one could tell a beginner what kind of carrots or tomatoes grew best here. Because I have been taking notes all these years, you can find out what plants do best in Wyoming on the 'vegetable varieties' pages, whose links are above. | ||
| Along with my partners Mark McAtee and Paul Combe I have done a lot of experimenting and research. You can find the results of this activity on these many pages. Please click on the links and start viewing our work. I think you will find that there is a huge amount of information available here for you. Enjoy! | ||
Below are a few links to some nice garden sites.
July 3, 2007
I am just about done with all the replanting I will be doing this season. July is here and we still have time to get many vegetables up and grown if we get them up soon. We are harvesting lettuce and broccoli now. The cauliflower and carrots look particularly strong this year.
Regular readers know that I keep a degree-day chart each year. I have chosen the base temperature of 50 degrees (F.) because I don't think plants do much growing below that temperature.
Degree days are the cumulative average temperatures above the set base (50 in this case). I always begin counting degree days on May 25, Casper's last average day of frost. If on May 25 the average temperature was 62 degrees, that would be 12 degrees above 50 and the cumulative total would be 12. If on May 26 the average temperature was 64 degrees, that is 14 degrees above 50 . I add that 14 to the 12 I already have, and the degree days for May 26 would be 26. Adding the degrees above the base together is what makes degree-days cumulative.
Here is the 2009 degree-day chart.
| MAY | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | JUNE 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| HIGH | 69 | 70 | 68 | 68 | 54 | 64 | 73 | 79 | 81 | 80 | 77 | 74 | 54 | 63 | 72 | 71 | 68 | 48 | 61 |
| LOW | 48 | 39 | 50 | 50 | 48 | 41 | 40 | 44 | 47 | 42 | 51 | 50 | 44 | 42 | 46 | 45 | 44 | 39 | 36 |
| AVER. 2009 | 58.5 | 54.5 | 59 | 59 | 51 | 52.5 | 56.5 | 61.5 | 64 | 61 | 64 | 62 | 49 | 52.5 | 59 | 56 | 56 | 43.5 | 48.5 |
| DD (50) | 1 | 3.5 | 10 | 11.5 | 25.5 | 36.5 | 50.5 | 62.5 | 61.5 | 64 | 73 | 79 | 85 | 78.5 | 77 |
| JUNE | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| HIGH | 68 | 49 | 55 | 63 | 74 | 72 | 72 | 75 | 68 | 69 | 71 | 82 | 75 | 78 | 77 | 88 | 92 |
| LOW | 45 | 43 | 45 | 46 | 44 | 43 | 49 | 46 | 50 | 54 | 47 | 46 | 54 | 48 | 44 | 51 | 45 |
| AVER. 2009 | 56.5 | 46 | 50 | 54.5 | 59 | 57.5 | 60.5 | 60.5 | 59 | 61.5 | 59 | 64 | 64.5 | 63 | 60.5 | 69.5 | 68.5 |
| DD (50) | 83.5 | 79.5 | 79.5 | 85 | 94 | 101.5 | 112 | 122.5 | 131.5 | 145 | 154 | 168 | 182.5 | 195.5 | 206 | 225.5 | 244 |
| JUNE | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | JULY1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| HIGH | 75 | 77 | 86 | 87 | 91 | 95 | 82 | |||||||||
| LOW | 61 | 50 | 43 | 51 | 45 | 60 | 52 | |||||||||
| AVER. 2009 | 68 | 63.5 | 64.5 | 69 | 68 | 77.5 | 67 | |||||||||
| DD (50) | 262 | 275.5 | 290 | 309 | 327 | 354.5 | 371.5 |
- - This year's Degree Days compared to past years - -
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June 22, 2007
I am doing replanting now: beans, peas, pumpkin, squash, cucumber. We are now eating lettuce from the garden. We have heads forming on the broccoli. The corn looks good, as do the cabbage and chinese cabbage. The carrots will need to be thinned soon.
June 8, 2007
It has been cool and wet lately. That makes it hard for our squash, pumpkin, and cucumber to germinate. Corn is up just fine. Peas have had spotty germination. Beans are popping up. The rain has brought up the missing lettuce and carrots to fill in the rows. Chard and beets are up, as is the first planting of radish. We did not get the tomatoes set out until the 4th. As far as heat goes, we look to be ahead of where we were last year at this time, according to my Degree Days Chart.
May 31, 2007
The month of May had been shaping up to be the driest on record. Then last week we finally got some rain. The weather has been warm lately. The Spirea is in full bloom. So if you have tomatoes, get them in the ground yesterday! It never frosts once the Spirea does its thing.
The gardening partners of Mark McAtee, Paul Combe, and me, Fred Jacquot, announce that we have a new partner this year: Linda Gillum. She hails from New Mexico and is big on herbs. Linda has many years of gardening experience. We think she will be an asset to the team.
Birds
Long time Casper residents will know what I mean when I say that our climate has always been in flux. The birds who live here are a good example of what I mean. When I was a kid I never saw a Cormorant. Now they are common on the river and we have a lot fewer Blue Heron. This year we have a pair of Ring Necked Doves (Turtle Doves) living in the neighborhood and I have never seen them before. A friend across town has Asian Doves living in his neighborhood for the first year. And for the first time in my life I am seeing a Kingfisher. Things are changing, and the new birds are telling us this with their presence.
Gardening in the Future
It has occurred to me that in the future younger generations will be naming the new varieties. It has to come, we all know that. So here is a glimpse.
Totally Tomatoes will announce its new series of vegetables to follow its 'Goliath' series. This new series will be called the 'Dude' series. Here is a list.
The 'Red Dude' will actually be a series of tomatoes that are numbered one, two, three, etc. Numbers will still be popular in the future, and counting will still be in vogue. This will largely be because no one will have figured out yet how to point a computer at a group of objects and have the computer count them.
May 3, 2007
We are getting a small amount of rain this weekend. Last weekend produced the second snow on the daffodils. We are still waiting for the third snow. Here is a note from my gardening partner Mark McAtee.
I am not sure about some of the new varieties' hardyness. The plantlings have had some direct sun in an attempt to use what little true spring weather we have had. Some of the new varieties have demonstrated a tendancy to burn from direct sun as seedlings. Older varieties do not display the same. Heirlooms, as expected, seem very hardy as seedlings to early direct sun.
I tried a new starting medium. It seems that peat pelllets have been under fire as depleting future coal sources (no wonder...in 3 million years, peat turns into coal). Menard's, the next best greatest version of Home Depot, has been promoting "peatless" potting trays. Bought some. When hydrated, they smell something like a cross between aspirin and creosote treated railroad ties. The box says that it is a coconut fiber product and it will prolong the life of threatened peat bogs....whatever. Seems to work. I just wonder about the amount of essential elements. I never have seen any other growth around decomposed coconuts. I composted most of the fall leaves and detritus from the lawn at Roosevelt High School in my classroom over the winter to assist in seedling nutrification. This was kind of a neat experiment that worked. That provided plenty of fruit flies for the room over the winter.....and a kind of earthy background smell. I will be using it when I replant into recycled milk cartons. The composted leaves by themselves, seem to work great as a starting medium. This was tested by my classes using some non-public seed sources.
Mark "
April 20, 2007
Bill Simpson wrote me a note that I thought I would pass along.
Just got back from Thermopolis with this years seed potatoes. Yes! I had to go all the way to Thermopolis. Just North of the McDonalds on the main street is Blair's Market. They had Red LaSoda, Pontiac, Viking, Norland, White, and Yukon seed potatoes for sale in the produce section. Any and all types are $0.59 a pound.
I went in with a friend on Zero Rd and we got a total of 150lbs of the Reds. We got a little price break buying them in the 50lb sacks, and YES they were certified seed potatoes. We did have to order the potatoes ahead of time since we were getting that much. In dealing with the places that sell seed potatoes in Casper, I have found that they don't know what they're getting and when. Plus, the price is around $1.00 a pound and they might not be certified.
Laurie at Blair's Market was very nice to deal with and kept the taters in the cooler till I got up there to pick them up. If you're driving all the way to Thermopolis for potatoes I'd call ahead first. Last year they were sold out when I found out that Blair's was the place to go.
Later, Bill"
April 16, 2007
Ok, now that we officially have daffodil blossoms, today's storm counts as the first snow on the daffodils. We have at least two more snows to go before Spring.
March 30, 2007
Cool Days
I have gone back through data on temperatures during the last seven growing seasons (2002-2008). It seems that on some days it is much more likely to be cool than on others. I define a cool day as that when the lows get down into the 30s (F.). Here is a Cool Day chart.
| DAY: | May 23 |
24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | June 1 |
2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| ODDS: | 2/7 | 3/7 | 4/7 | 2/7 | 2/7 | 0/7 | 3/7 | 4/7 | 3/7 | 2/7 | 3/7 | 1/7 | 0/7 | 1/7 | 1/7 | 3/7 | 4/7 | 0/7 | 2/7 |
| DAY: | June 11 |
12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | |||||||
| ODDS: | 2/7 | 2/7 | 2/7 | 4/7 | 0/7 | 0/7 | 0/7 | 1/7 | 2/7 | 0/7 | 0/7 | 1/7 | |||||||
March 26, 2007
A reader writes this note that I thought I would share:
I live [in Casper] at 5500' elevation. For the last two years I have had great success growing tomatoes in Earth Boxes mounted on a flat garden wagon (from Sutherlands). This allows me to roll the wagon and plants in and out of the garage early and also late in the season. They can get maximum warm sun in April and May but be protected from frost and snow on cold days in the Spring and Fall. They finally froze even in the garage about the middle of October 2008; so I pulled up the plants, hung them upside down in my attached greenhouse and just ate the last ripe tomato from the 2008 crop two weeks ago.
My little wagon holds three Earth Boxes and three-to-four tomato plants per box. I start seeds about the end of February or first part of March and plant the seedlings to the Earth Boxes in early April. We have a resident deer herd of about ten deer; so I have a portable fence made of left-over reinforcing wire (similar to your support cages) from our driveway. It is about eight feet in diameter, and I can easily move it around, first on the driveway right next to the house and then, during the summer, out in the open where the tomatoes get good sun all day long. My best luck has been with Early Girl and Oregon Spring from Territorial Seeds, but I am trying some new really early varieties this year. I am going to try your idea of tubular protection around the newly set-out plants but will try using one-gallon orange juice jugs with the tops and bottoms cut out instead of 6" PVC.
Thanks for all of your great Casper-tested ideas."
March 1, 2007
Now is the time of year that is perhaps the hardest ... the waiting. Our seeds are all ordered and they are trickling in. We will do some starts about the middle of the month. But we are a long way out from actually putting something into the garden. The last average day of frost for Casper is May 25...and that is an average...some years a frost comes later than that.
We have had two special visitors in our back yard lately: turtledoves. Two friends have also had them in their back yards in other parts of Casper. Last week I saw a flock of waxwings drinking from Garden Creek. So some signs of spring are present.
But remember the rule for spring: It isn't really spring yet until the daffodils have been snowed on at least three times.
February 23, 2007
I made a major survey of corn this winter. I went through all fifteen of my catalogs that I get each season and took notes on every corn they offered. After last year (a cold one) I concluded that I wanted a corn that had 'good cold soil vigor'. I came to that conclusion after I read in the Pine Tree catalog for the corn we grew in 2008 (Incredible). Pine Tree states that it does not do well in cool soil conditions. After the 2008 season, I could not agree more. One thing gardening does is that it gives you a chance to fix the errors of the past, it gives you a chance to get it right.
The results of my corn efforts can be seen on the Cauliflower - Corn pages. The corn we will be trying for 2009 will be Bodacious.
2009 Trials
Tomatoes:
We have discovered that the Lady Godiva pumpkin/squash is available again this year and we will be planting it.
January 18, 2007
The case in favor of Wasps
If you don't like wasps, I'd like to pursuade you to give them a second chance, and to urge all gardeners to prepare a place for them in the garden and yard.
When we were first married, we lived on upper Odell street in Casper. We had three big lilac bushes across the back yard. One day my wife was back there trying to cut dead wood out of them. Unbeknownst to her, she was also disturbing the nest of a large colony of wasps who had built their home in the roots of one of the lilac bushes. They attacked her. Not only that, for the rest of the summer, they kept her ten feet away from that bush. I could stroll around it all I wanted. But they remembered her scent and went into alert mode whenever she came out the back door. Further, the next summer, the next generation of wasps also considered my wife an enemy and would swarm her in the same manner that their parents did. It took two more years before the wasps would let her near that bush again.
My wife, understandably, was not crazy about wasps when we moved into our present house. She set out wasp traps on the back patio. Almost as soon as she did that though, an infestation of aphids began to wipe out the flower plants in the beds along the patio. So we took in the wasp traps, and immediately noticed a difference in the aphid infestation. The wasps were all over the aphids. We were so grateful that we made sure there was plenty of water for the wasps all summer long. Now we have a watercourse back there that the wasps adore. We never have an infestation that lasts more than two days. Wasps are voracious carnivors. If they sense you are a friend they will never sting you. They sense that my wife and I are responsible for the water flowing and if it is not on, they will fly right into our chests to 'remind' us to turn it on. But they do not sting. They are strongly attracted to sweets and to meat. They can smell either from over a mile away. If you grow strawberries, you may have to put netting over the plants to keep the wasps off, like we do.
Our wasps are strongly attracted to the 'warm' colors: red, orange, yellow. They also like to build nests in metal objects like the electric meter or the barbeque. You might consider building a high rise for them out of black steel pipe. They will love it. Keep water around and they will stick around and eat those pests that are destroying your garden.
January 5, 2007
Tomatoes are the most popular vegatable grown in America's home gardens. They are THE big sales item for any greenhouse, and for any seed catalog. Flip open a catalog, and I guarantee that the biggest section will be the tomato section.
We gardening partners have been on a quest for the past umpteen years to increase our tomato production. With the discovery of Applause Tomato in 2008, we now feel confident that we can achieve our desired level of production. We grew 5 Applause Tomato plants in 2008. For 2009 we will grow between 28 and 33 Applause plants. We gave 3 plants to Bill Simpson in 2008 and he is also very impressed with Applause.
Starting two seasons ago, and now intensifying, is our search for tomatoes that offer superior taste. Right now we rate the tomatoes we grow by taste in the following descending order:
Black Krim
Black Plum
Red Lightning
Applause
Goliath
As I cruise through the 2009 catalogs, my focus is on getting tomatoes with superior taste. Readers should also note that while we plan to use Applause Tomato for production, it still rates pretty high on the taste scale. When you click to go to our Tomato-Watermelon page now you will discover some of these delicious tomato varieties that we are considering trialing in 2009.
December 17, 2007
I recently received some photos from Barry Franck. His place is the Westside Nursery on Coates Road, just south of Paradise Valley. This site has long recommended Park's Whopper Tomato. My partners and I trialed Whoppers years ago. Barry grows them in a big way. He starts and sells around a thousand of them each season. He also grows them pretty large there at his place. Here are some photos of Barry's Whopper Tomatoes, which are pretty convincing evidence that Whoppers are top notch tomatoes for Wyoming.
 May 31, 2008 Looking West |
 May 31, 2008 Looking North |
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 May 31, 2008 Looking East |
Note that Barry is planting in stacked truck tires. | |
 July 4, 2008 Looking West |
Some of Barry's Whoppers got over 6 feet tall. | |
 July 30, 2008 Looking East | >
 July 30, 2008 Looking North |
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 Sept. 6, 2008 Looking East |
 Sept. 6, 2008 Looking North |
December 21, 2007
When my mother, who is now 93, was growing up in Casper, one of the girls she played with had a mother who had emigrated from Holland. In the course of the years my mother obtained the recipe for a cake that Mrs. Ballard made. The recipe shows all signs of being much older than a hundred years. We have been making it for at least 70 years. The cake is egg-less and is never frosted. It is very dense and moist. Here is that recipe.
Ballard/Jacquot Dutch Apple Cake
Boil the following for 3 minutes:
Pieces from two regular apples: peeled, cored, quartered, cut into thirds the
long way and each third cut into five pieces.
2 cups of Raisins
2 cups of sugar
3 cups of Water
3/4 cup of Crisco or Lard
1 teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of Cloves
1/2 teaspoon of Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of Salt
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Let Cool until the mixture is comfortable on the inside skin of your wrist.
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Add 2 teaspoons of Baking Soda, mix in well
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Then add 3 cups of flour. Mix well and pour into a 12 inch
cake pan that has been greased and floured. Bake 45 minutes at 350 Degrees
Farenheit. Do not overbake.
I have modified the recipe to make it more acceptable for diabetics.
'Sugarless' Dutch Apple Cake
Boil the following for 3 minutes:
Pieces from two regular apples: peeled, cored, quartered, cut into thirds the
long way and each third cut into five pieces.
2 cups of Raisins
3 cups of Water
3/4 cup of Crisco or Lard
1 teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of Cloves
1/2 teaspoon of Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of Salt
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Let Cool until the mixture is comfortable on the inside skin of your wrist.
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Add 2 teaspoons of Baking Soda, mix in well
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Then add 1 1/2 cups of Whole Wheat Flour, 1 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 2 cups of Splenda and 2 eggs. Mix well and pour into a 12 inch cake pan that has been greased and floured. Bake 45 minutes at 350 Degrees
Farenheit. Do not overbake.
December 16, 2007
Here is a link to 'Vertical Farming', by Bryan Walsh in the most recent issue of Time Magazine. I quote it below.
December 9, 2007
When I was growing up in the 1950s my mom made this incredible fudge during the holidays. Now I make it. Here is the recipe.
Million Dollar Fudge
Bring the following to a boil over medium heat and keep boiling until it reaches soft-ball stage.
1 can (12 oz.) of evaporated milk
4 1/2 cups of sugar
1 stick of butter (1/4 pound)
Soft ball is when you dribble some into a glass filled with cold water. With the water removed take the mixture onto you finger. If you can roll it up into a soft ball, it is ready. One other way to tell is that the mixture turns from white to a buttery color. At softball stage it will also have a different consistency as it boils. Instead of hundreds of tiny bubbles it will look more like the rippled surface of a brain.
At softball stage reduce heat to simmer. Then add:
1 pound of milk chocolate
1 pound of semi sweet chocolate
2 small jars (or one big one) of marshmallow cream
1 pound of nuts (optional)
Turn heat off. Stir well until fudge begins to hold shape. Pour out onto wax paper and let cool.
December 5, 2007
One tomato that we tried in 2008, which may have slipped under the radar of our faithful readers of these pages is Red Lightning. We tried it and liked it so much that we are going to let it replace the pear tomatoes that we normally grow each season. It has good looks and great flavor, with just the right amount of acid to give it that 'tomatoey' flavor. But it is small, with 2 to 3 times the size of a large pear tomato.
What the catalog does not say is very important.
We are in the catalog season. I have received some already, and will get a lot more in the next 4 weeks. I have found that catalogs have to be read very carefully. Let me give you an example. Here is the description of Big Bertha Pepper from the Totally Tomatoes Catalog:
We grew this pepper for a lot of years. So I can say with authority that everything in the above quote is accurate. But beware. The problem we always had with Big Bertha is that is has very thin walls. There is not much pepper in that pepper. A quick re-read of the description will reveal that Totally Tomatoes never said it did have thick walls. If you want thick walls on your pepper, you had better read the descriptions very carefully to make sure your seed supplier says the pepper has thick walls.
I love it when a description for a vegetable says that it is a 'vigorous grower'. If it does not mention how many fruit it produces, all you may get is a wonderful plant with not much fruit on it. You have to read carefully. The seed catalog will not lie, but it may omit.
December 2, 2007
What is AAS?
The All America Selection committee sends out seeds from hopefuls to all the growing sites across the country that have been selected to test the AAS award candidates. Each site tests all the seeds (knowing them only as AA1, AA2, AA3, etc.) and rates them after a growing season. The winners, and there need not be one in each catagory, are then announced and the suppliers of those seed get bragging rights for the next years.
But there is more to it than that. Any developer of seeds, like Burpee's or Johnny's or outfits that supply seeds to them like Peto, can enter the AAS competition. But there is a catch. If they do enter, then they have to agree to supply to all the other seed companies as much of the new variety as those folks want, at a predetermined rate.
This begs the question then: what if you, a seed company, have a new development that is so good that you don't want to share it with the other seed catalog outfits. In that case, you do not enter the competition with the new variety. You keep it, and the rights to it, to yourself. This is exactly what I think happened to Goliath Tomato. It was developed by Totally Tomatoes, which is owned by Jung (Jung also owns Vermont Bean Seed, and Shumway). I think Goliath would easily have won the AAS. But because Totally Tomatoes did not enter it, the only way you can get the seed now is to order it from one of the Jung-owned companies.
December 1, 2007
My partner Mark McAtee sends along this link to Mother Earth News.
Holiday Hint
Those round tomato cages you have can serve a second purpose. Turn one upside down, make sure it has four legs and not three. Tie the legs together with some wire. Now you have a wire 'Christmas Tree'. Go to a mega mart store and buy a 100-light string and spiral it up the wire tree. Your cost should be less than $3.00.
November 25, 2007
The One Third Rule...
If you live in the Rocky Mountains, or at high elevations, and you are reading a seed catalog or the back of a seed packet, apply the One Third Rule to what you read.
Here is how that would work.
Let's say that Tomato 'X' information says that those tomatoes get to be 9 ounces. If you live at high elevation apply the one third rule, and you can expect to get 6 ounce tomatoes. If Tomato 'Y' information says that those tomatoes get to be 12 ounces, you will get 8 ounce tomatoes at high elevations.
Let's say you are looking at Tomato 'X' and the information says it is '70' days to maturity. That makes the real days to maturity, here at high elevation, about 93 days. I calculate that here in Casper our season is about 114 days. If you can get the average tomato from that seed packet to mature in 93 days, you have a winner.
If you are looking at Tomato 'Y' and the information says it is '90' days to maturity. That makes the real days to maturity, here at high elevation, about 120 days. I calculate that here in Casper our season is about 114 days. The average tomato from that seed packet is not going to be ripe when the season is over. Most tomatoes from that seed packet will not even be fully sized when the season ends. Tomato 'Y' is a loser.
The top line of the chart below are the days given by the seed supplier. The second line shows the approximate days here in Casper. The third line shows the weight given by the seed supplier. The fourth line shows the approximate weight here in Casper.
| Days Given: | 60 | 63 | 66 | 69 | 72 | 75 | 78 | 80 | 85 | 90 | 95 | 100 | 105 | 110 | 115 | 120 |
| Casper Days: | 80 | 84 | 88 | 92 | 96 | 100 | 104 | 107 | 113 | 120 | 127 | 133 | 140 | 147 | 153 | 160 |
| Weight Given: | 2 oz | 4 oz | 6 oz | 8 oz | 10 oz | 12 oz | 14 oz | 1 lb | 2 lb | 3 lb | 4 lb | 5 lb | 10 lb |
| Casper Weight | 1.3 oz | 2.7 oz | 4 oz | 5.3 oz | 6.7 oz | 8 oz | 9.3 oz | 0.67 lb | 1.3 lb | 2 lb | 2.7 lb | 3.3 lb | 6.7 lb |
I figure that the absolute maximum days, given on a seed packet or in a catalog for a tomato variety, that will work is 80 days, and that is pushing things too far in a cool season. 80 day tomatoes will only yeild in very hot seasons. Try to stick with tomato varieties that are 75 days or less. That is what the chart above implies. This rule applies to most other vegetables with the exception of squash and pumpkin. The one third rule applies to them in a different way. Instead of taking more days to produce fruit, or producing smaller fruit, squash and pumpkin seem to produce at least 1/3 less numbers of fruit.
November 17, 2007
For the 2008 Notes, please click here.
We are between seasons now. I paid Bill Simpson a visit today. We are agreed that we will have trials for new Tomatoes in the 2009 season and we will continue testing new Watermelon varieties.
Bill also sent me these two photos.
2009 Planting Guide
2008/2009
Type
Variety ...those in yellow are varieties we are trialing
Seed Vigor
Plants/Area
Weeks to Set Out
Start Dates
Set Out/Sow
Tomatoes:
LargeRegular Goliath - Hybrid - Indeterminate 4/4
High
4 plants
10
Mar 16
May 25
Black Krim
High
4 plants
10
Mar 30*
May 25
Tomande - Hybrid - Indeterminate 4/5
Medium
4 plants
10
Mar 16
May 25
Rose - Heirloom - Indeterminate 0/2
Medium
2 plants
10
Mar 16
May 25
First Light - Hybrid - Indeterminate 0/2
Medium
2 plants
10
Mar 16
May 25
Brandy Boy - Hybrid - Indeterminate 0/2
Medium
2 plants
10
Mar 16
May 25
Buckbee's 50 Day - Heirloom - Indeterminate 0/2
Medium
2 plants
10
Mar 16
May 25
Applause Hybrid - Hybrid - Determinate 5/28
Medium
28 plants
10
Mar 16
May 25
Jung's Wayahead - Heirloom - Determinate 0/5
Medium
5 plants
10
Mar 16
May 25
Small tomatoes:
IndeterminateRed Lightning - Hybrid 0/3
Medium
2 plants
10
Mar 16
May 25
Black Plum
High
2 plants
10
Mar 16
May 25
Garden Huckleberry
Chichiquelite
High
9 sq ft
10
Mar 16
May 25
Pepper
Fat 'N Sassy - 18/18
High
18 plants
9
Mar 23
May 25
Cherry Bomb - 9/9
High
9 plants
9
Mar 23
May 25
Mucho Nacho Jalapeno - 5/5
High
5-10 plants
9
Mar 23
May 25
Thai Hot Bird
High
3 plants
9
Mar 23
May 25
Bulgarian Carrot Chile - 5/5
High
5-10 plants
10
Mar 23
May 25
Cauliflower
Fremont - 22/20
High
20 plants
7
Apr 6
May 25
Cabbage
Savoy Express
High
? plants
6
Apr 13
May 25
Chinese Cabbage
Minuet - 0/6
Medium
6 plants
6
Apr 13
May 25
Baby Bok Choi - 0/6
Medium
6 plants
6
Apr 13
May 25
Pea
Super Sugar Snap - 9/9
Medium
9 Sq. Ft.
direct sow
May 11
May 11
Cucumber
Cool Breeze
Medium
27 sq ft
3
May 11
May 25
Sweet Success - 18/18
Medium
18 sq ft
3
May 11
May 25
Marketmore 76 - 0/9
Medium
9 sq ft
3
May 11
May 25
Pumpkin
Autumn Gold - 6/6
Medium
6 plants
3
May 11
May 25
Lady Godiva
Low
6 plants
3
May 11
May 25
Bush Spirit - 0/6
High
6 plants
3
May 11
May 25
Sorcerer - 12/12
Medium
12 plants
3
May 11
May 25
Summer Squash
Sunburst Pattypan - 4/4
Medium
6 plants
3
May 11
May 25
? Zucchini - 2/5
Medium
2 plants
3
May 11
May 25
Goldrush Zuc - 3/6
Medium
5 plants
3
May 11
May 25
Winter Squash
Heart of Gold - 6/12
Medium
12 plants
3
May 11
May 25
Sweet Mama - Kabocha - 0/12
Medium
0 plants
3
May 11
May 25
Table Ace Acorn - 12/12
Medium
12 plants
3
May 11
May 25
Sunshine - 12/12
Medium
12 plants
3
May 11
May 25
Lakota
Medium
12 plants
3
May 11
May 25
Watermelon
Crimson Sweet -0/1
Medium
1 tire
4
May 11
June 1
Stone Mountain - 0/1
Medium
1 tire
4
May 11
June 1
Melitopolski
Medium
1 tire
4
May 11
June 1
Musk Melon
Sweet N Early -0/1
Medium
1 tire
4
May 11
June 1
Athena -0/1
Medium
1 tire
4
May 11
June 1
Bush Bean
Roma II - 18/18
Medium
18 square feet
Direct Sow
NA
May 1 - 18
Rocdor Yellow - 0/18
Medium
18 square feet
Direct Sow
NA
May 1 - 18
Espada - 0/18
Medium
36 square feet
Direct Sow
NA
May 1 - 18
Broccoli
Packman - buy plants locally - 12/12
High
12 plants
NA
NA
May 1 - 18
Carrot
Danvers
High
9 square feet
direct sow
NA
May 1
Tendersweet - 9/9
High
9 square feet
direct sow
NA
May 1
Sweetness II - 9/9
High
9 square feet
direct sow
NA
May 1
Celery
Buy Plants Locally - 4/4
NA
4 plants
NA
Mar 16
June 2
Chard - 6/6
Bright Lights - 6/6
Medium
6 square feet
direct sow
NA
May 25
Corn
Bodacious - 0/188
Medium
0 square feet
direct sow
NA
May 11-15
Leaf Lettuce
Simpson Elite - 6/3
Medium
3 square feet
direct sow
NA
May 1
Green Ice - 3/3
Medium
3 square feet
direct sow
NA
May 1
Red Sails - 3/3
Medium
3 square feet
direct sow
NA
May 1
Head Lettuce
Summertime - 0/9
Medium
9 square feet
direct sow
NA
May 1
Nevada - 0/9
Medium
9 square feet
direct sow
NA
May 1
Buttercrunch - 0/9
Medium
9 square feet
direct sow
NA
May 1
Onion
SuperStar Plants - 5/5
Dixon Dale FarmsNA
5 tires
direct sow
NA
May 1
Leek
Lancelot Plants - 5/5
Dixon Dale FarmsNA
5 tires
direct sow
NA
May 1
Beet
Red Ace - 0/9
NA
5 tires
direct sow
NA
May 1 - 18
Radish
White Icicle - ?
NA
?
May 1 - 18
Salad Rose - ?
NA
?
May 1 - 18
Long Red - ?
NA
?
May 1 - 18
German Giant - ?
NA
?
May 1 - 18
Herb
Basil - Summerlong - ?
NA
?
Basil - Greek - ?
NA
?
Basil - Spicy Saber - ?
NA
?
Chives - Common - ?
NA
?
Cilantro - ?
NA
?
Fennel - ?
NA
?
Marjaram, Sweet - ?
NA
?
Oregano, Greek - ?
NA
?
Parseley - Extra Curled Dwarf - ?
NA
?
Rosemary - ?
NA
?
Sage, Common - ?
NA
?
Thyme, Common - ?
NA
?
Tarragon if possible - ?
NA
?
Lavender if possible - ?
NA
?
Gourd
Big Birdhouse - ?
NA
?
Little Birdhouse - ?
NA
?
Easter Eggs - ?
NA
?
Flowers
?
NA
2 tires
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