Winter Tomatoes Anyone?

I am attempting to grow some tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and greens indoors over the winter.  Has anyone else experimented in growing things indoors or outdoors under cover over the winter?  I have two LED grow lights for the tomatoes and peppers (600W and 1000W) with some lower power LED and fluorescent lights for the greens and herbs.  This is just in my unfinished basement, so it's not very warm.

End of Season Results

Bob and Farmer McGregor found some big tomatoes lurking in their tomato vine jungles.

Bob had a new personal best 1.71#:

This would have been good enough for 3rd place, but Greg promptly went over the top with this 2 lb tomato.

Note that's it's not 2 lbs and change, or almost 2 lbs, but 2.000 pounds. Huh. I wasn't present for the official weigh-in, and there wasn't a photo showing the presence or lack of a thumb on the scale ;-)

With the cold snap that we just had, I assume that the contest is officially over. Let me know if you  have a contender still on the vine that you somehow managed to keep alive. Otherwise, this is the final leaderboard:

The payout was 4x/2x/1x for 1st/2nd/3rd, rounded to the nearest dollar, which comes to $26/$13/$6. Thanks everyone for playing, and start getting your tomato patch ready for 2019!

Harvest Time

All but one of my contenders ripened over the weekend.

The three Big Zacs in the foreground were all grown on the same vine. I didn't have the courage to pick a winner, so my results were diluted. Almost 6 lbs of tomatoes combined, and a reminder that I need to be harsh with the pruning shears.

1.56#

1.81#

2.38#

The last and biggest one of the bunch is a Domingo from my 2015 champ.

3.44#

I've got one more tomato in the 2 lb range that's just starting to turn color. Unless we get an Indian summer that lasts til November, I'm done for the season.

Improved standing

I was thinking that next year maybe there should be a rule that the minimum size to claim a spot on the podium would be 1 pound. No more cherry tomatoes or fractions of a pound. Admittedly, that would mean that Fred would never enjoy a spot on the podium, but podium spots should be well deserved. Blissfully, we don't have to worry about such a rule this year, as Aaron has improved his 3rd place standing with this nice tomato. Variety unknown, but it looks suspiciously like a Gary'O Sena.

New WR

Grown earlier this year, the tomato world record is now 9.43#. The variety is Domingo, not Big Zac! A 10 lb tomato once seemed like a pipe dream, but it's within reach now.

Fine lookin' tomato you got there

Never tell somebody that their baby is ugly. That's a, err, um, nice tomato! More importantly, we have a new leader! 3rd place is still wide open, btw.

New Leader

My son asked me this morning, "Daddy, why did you grow such a big tomato? It looks like a pumpkin." I had to think about that one a bit. Eternal glory, son.

At 2 lbs, this Big Zac is in first place for the moment, but there's plenty of room for competition.

This tomato had 12 sepals, but it doesn't look like one of the fused halves did anything. So this was essentially a big single.

Getting in the sling of things

My babies are all in their bassinets.

This one is barely starting to turn color, from dark green to a light green. I think that means it's done growing and ready to turn red in few days. I've kind of forgotten what a red tomato looks like, so I could be wrong.

This one I was barely able to support, because it was right at the top of the stake. I had to wrap the sling several times, and untie the vine supports to let the vine slide down. Good looking tomato, though. Domingo from the 2015 champ!

One last picture. Check out this gnarly megabloom with 20-ish sepals. It almost looks like the individual tomatoes aren't joined at all. Maybe they aren't?

Sabotage

This past weekend, Fred and Aaron paid a visit to the Johnston Family Farm. Yesterday, I found 4 giant hornworm caterpillars ravaging my plants. Coincidence?

Check out this new Champ

Check out the size of this monster tomato!  Over 3lbs.  I guess this moves me to the number 1 spot on the charts.  Unfortunately it was also a perfect looking tomato and I couldn't keep my family away from it...it was devoured before I could bring it in.   Therefore, you will just have to take my word for it.

For additional proof of the size, I took a picture of it next to an "average" size tomato.

Clearly this was a monster tomato...peltonator! peltonator! peltonator!

Beefy

Tim brought in this nice Beefmaster, ostensibly to weigh it, but we know he's really just rubbing it in that he has big, ripe tomatoes while everybody else has nothing. It would have been good enough for 3rd place, but the rules say that you can only occupy one spot on the podium.

Chomp chomp

I found another one of these guys wreaking havoc in my garden.

My son decided to name him Quinston and take him to school for show and tell. The good news is he got spared the treatment between two rocks. The bad news is he gets to meet an entire class of pre-K students. I'm not sure which sentencing would be more humane.

Culled Big Zac

For maximum size, there should be only one tomato on a plant at a time. This large greenie didn't make the cut (or maybe it did make the cut?) so it's larger sibling could have a shot at eternal glory. Good enough for 3rd place!

BTW, Aaron fessed up to being the owner of yesterday's mystery mater.

Anonymous tomato

Somebody brought in a tomato and left it by the scale. By the looks of it, it's a dark variety like Cherokee Purple or Gary'O Sena. Does anybody want to claim ownership of the current second-place tomato?

Something's been eating my tomatoes

I went out this morning to check on my eating tomatoes. Somebody had beaten me to it.

Huh?

Aaack!

Turds on the ground.

 

I searched for 15 minutes and couldn't find the offending critter. When I got home, I went out for another look. Aha!

 

In years past, I would have ended this hornworm's dinner by splattering him between 2 rocks. But now that I know more about the Sphinx moths that they turn into, I give them a fighting chance. This guy got released in a shady field near my house, with 3 of the tomatoes that he had partially munched on, and a couple of tomato suckers.

 

 

 



Suddenly have free space in your garden?

   Given the recent tragedy that befell our compatriot in NE Longmont, I thought I'd share what we have done with our extra garden space. Our open space is not from a hail storm but is rather the leftover beds from finished cold weather crops.

   One thing I find disappointing every year is that once the spinach and lettuce have bolted, once the peas are done and the carrots are picked, you have this empty hole in your garden (and in your heart) that used to be filled by your beloved cold weather plants. What can one do?

 

In my household we have decided to pick up the pieces, do a little work, and reopen our hearts.

We added a turtle.

 

Her name is Blastoise and she is a western box turtle. We cleared out that old winter stuff and made her a home. For now she lives among the chard and some left over herbs. Next spring she will be frolicking amongst spinach, lettuce, and carrots. I will also probably make it so she can explore the whole garden.

She will live outside for about 7 months out of the year. In winter she will come inside to hibernate. She eats mostly fruit.

So farmer Tim, once your grief abates, I recommend getting a turtle. A turtle will help you recover from your tragedy and will once again plant seeds of hope in your heart.

--Aaron

Goodnight Sweet Prince - What the Hail Just Happened

This will most likely be my final post for this year.  I was too late getting home from work to save anything.  Northeast Longmont was just hit with nickel size hail and it destroyed 90% of everything I had growing (kale is fine).  I am not sure how much of anything might come back, but I am guessing none of it will before first frost.  Devastated.  I will harvest what I can and start some winter greens to at least use the space.

Hope you all get some large tomatoes.  I will have to put my faith in my early 1.5 pounder.