I know the wind chill is below zero and your garden is covered in a few inches of snow, but in just a few scant months we’ll be ready to get soil under our fingernails again as we fill those beds with seeds and plants for the 2010 harvest! Right now is the time to start planning ahead for your spring and summer garden and it just might make these bitter cold days go by a little bit faster.
This past year was a tough one for most of us…yields were low due to the cool and wet weather, but most gardeners had enough tomatoes and peppers to make all the effort worthwhile and some had bountiful harvests despite Mother Nature. Fortunately the weather was perfect for our Tomato Tasting event in August and my plans are to definitely have this event again next summer!
I’m in the process of making my seed orders now and need some suggestions on plants you would like to have again this year or perhaps some new varieties you’d like to try. As of now, I plan on growing at least 20 varieties of heirloom tomato plants again this year and will have several pepper plant types and Thai eggplant plants as well. I’ll always have plenty of the favorites available; Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, and Beam’s Yellow Pear. I’ll also definiteley grow KBX, Black Cherry, Opalka, and Stupice.
If you have any favorites you grew last year or in the past and would like to have them in your garden this year, please leave a comment with the names of your varieties and I’ll do my best to find quality seeds and have plants ready for you this Spring. If you’ve read about some great heirloom in a book or on an online forum, let me know that as well. I’m going to try and get some JD’s Special C-Tex (A suped up Cherokee Purple) and some Aunt Gertie’s German Green (A green when ripe tomato!).
Due to a lot of customers wanting to grow tomatoes in containers, I am also going to grow some dwarf varieties this year so you can fill your back porches and decks with tomatoes within easy reach of your kitchen this summer!
As a reader of my blog and a valued customer and tomato growing friend, you’ll not only have the opportunity to request varieties you’d like to grow, but you’ll be able to pre-order your plants and I’ll set your order aside in my greenhouse so you’ll be sure to get the varieties you want and pick them up when you’re ready to get your garden in. I’ll begin taking pre-orders sometime in March when I have my plants started and know for sure how many I’ll have available.
I’m looking forward to your suggestions and ideas for making 2010 another great year for gardening in Kansas City! Until then…enjoy these pics from last summer:
James
The Tomatoman
KC Tomato Times Blog 