Gardening Thread - Show me your gardens!

I was reading up on, Why tomatoes upset stomach.

I may have a tomatoes intolerance, Tomatoes allergy, Bacteria from tomatoes not being pre-wash right.

 

Are you sure its the tomatoes and not a potassium overdose? I ask because I know that to be a thing, tomatoes contain a lot of potassium and likewise potassium is used as a stool softener/ waste exiting enhancer.

 

To be honest, Don't know.

I eat one average sized tomatoes a day, with onions, green peppers, sauteed. In a egg white omelette with tuna. It may sound weird but it's good and high in protein.

 

Does it happen after eating eggs?
Try duck eggs for omelets (health food stores, farms). Chicken eggs are acidic, duck eggs are alkaline, human body is alkaline. At one point in my life I had 3 dozen ducks. I had less stomach issues when I cooked with duck eggs.

 

Nothing after eating eggs. Then again I'm only eating the whites.

I'm going to look today for duck eggs. The only Whole Food Store local to me closed.

My neighbor eat Quail eggs.

 

Tomato harvest canned sauce style.

 

Out of luck. No market has duck eggs.

I even tried the local farm. Only chicken eggs. I think, because of the salmonella poisoning outbreak.

 

Just came across this thread and thought I would share. We never had luck growing tomatoes and many other things due to short summers of the Pacific NW. We put up a 20'x40' hoop-house last year and it's been awesome. We've been overflowing with all sorts of fruits and veggies that I can't keep up with canning, freezing, drying and eating. Great investment.

 

Who has the pumpkin for Halloween?

Any carvers?

 

How do you feel about produce grown in a greenhouse versus outside in natural sunlight?

Does one grow better than the other?

 

Here is a link which explains some of the benefits of a hoop-house or greenhouse: https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/20-benefits-of-a-hoophouse-zbcz1805/

Crops definitely thrive in a greenhouse or hoop-house. The light is the same inside or outside...the plastic absorbs/reflects a negligible spectrum but the hoop-house retains heat better than the outside. The extra heat in the hoop-house (about 15ºF hotter) benefits the plants and extends the growing season. It can actually get too hot so we place a shade cloth during the hottest days over the top which reduces the light by half (you can buy shade cloths that cut light by whatever percent you want). Here is a photo from inside and you can the shade cloth draped over the top of the hoop-house:



We picked the last of the crops a couple of days ago on Oct 30 which would have been unheard of outside a hoop-house in our rainy, cool Pacific Northwest fall:



Also, the plants stay dry from rain and dew so leaves don't develop any fungus or diseases. We do all watering via drip irrigation on a timer (I installed a frost-free hydrant inside the hoop-house:

 

The plastic is opaque. Does this effect anything? I thought the plants needs full sun to develop and achieve full ripe color.

When I was younger we use plastic over the seeded grass yo grow quicker but had to remove so mold doesn't grow and to water it. The grass did grow quicker.

 

The plastic is not opaque. It's clear (or slightly hazy). Opaque means "not transparent or you can't see through it". This plastic is transparent and you can see through it and plants are getting nearly full sun (again, some of the spectrum is reflected/absorbed but not enough to impact growth and development).

We tried for years to grow tomatoes outside in our climate (zone 8a) and we could only get cherry tomatoes to ripen with the occasional Early Girl but mostly we ended up with green tomatoes. Now in the hoop-house, even through the translucent plastic, tomatoes ripen quickly...we even had a couple by late June.

 

Here is a screenshot of some hoop-house plastic specifications. It allows 90% of light through and diffuses it by 20% while blocking most of the UV. There are other plastics that will let more or less light in and provide different diffusion rates and UV blocking depending on needs but most of these plastics let in most of the light.

 

I don't know why I always think opaque is semi transparent.




In this picture the greenhouse looks like semi transparent with the sun protector cover on the top.

This is why I thought it wasn't fully see through blocking some sunlight.

Is it due to your daylight hours, temperature for the tomatoes not to grow good?

Is green tomatoes sour?

The pics of the tomatoes doesn't look that red. Is it due to greenhouse planting or climate? Here, are tomatoes get red but have to be gather quick. Weather can change quick at any time.

 

The greenhouse I gave ideas to hard panels installed. These panels had about 90% light transmittance. I'm not sure about the UV blocking percentage. I think they went with clear at first, then change the panels. The plants colors were getting damage. It was like the panels was magnifying the sun's UV rays. It was a learning game at a large scale. Which was hard at first but it was a learning experience that paid off. They got winter planting down to a science. Now they want to grow produce indoors throughout the winter. Which led to be difficult in my climate but it's not stopping them from trying.

You have a great greenhouse setup.

 

Growing tomatoes outside in our climate is difficult mostly to the short growing season and not enough heat during the day and cool nights and dew on the leaves contributing to fungus issues.

Green tomatoes are tart and acidic but can be fried up and cooked in various ways but they are no substitute for the juiciness and flavor of a ripe tomato.

Not all tomatoes are red. We grow many varieties that are light red, pink, purple, yellow, orange and many variegated varieties.

Here is a photo of some Brandywine (a traditional "red" tomato) along with some Brad's Atomic Grape Tomatoes (green/purple) and some cherry tomatoes.



If you want to see a small portion of the many varieties of tomatoes, visit Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds to get an idea of what's available (this where we purchase many of our seeds). Below is a list of the tomato catagories on their site where each category has dozens of varieties available.



There are over 10,000 varieties of tomatoes: https://homegardenveg.com/how-many-varieties-of-heirloom-tomatoes-are-there/

 

You generally want to use plastic that blocks certain portions of the UV spectrum. Most plastics will block only a small portion of UV-A and most of the UV-B and UV-C spectrum. Some plants do need UV for proper growth and bees also need UV light navigate (if you are relying on bees for pollination) so you need to make sure you use the appropriate materials. Below are some links that may be useful:

https://patioleum.com/does-greenhouse-block-uv-rays/

https://gardenprojectsadvice.com/outbuildings/greenhouse/do-greenhouses-block-uv-ray/

 

Are your winters brutal? With cooler summers the winters got to be rough.

When you fried green tomatoes, Does it change the taste?

Green tomatoes isn't sold here anymore. Just wasn't popular.

Mostly red, orange, yellow tomatoes are sold here with the red being the top seller. The full sizes tomatoes are the best followed by cherry, plum tomatoes.

I came across this tomatoes in a Google search.



What variety of tomatoes is this one?

 

The greenhouse that I helped out didn't realize how the sun's UV rays plays a big role in the growing of the plants. The position of the greenhouse was in the sun's path of travel. No break from the sun's rays. They decided on a greenhouse cover (As you mentioned before) But the heat was killing the plants. They added fans and vents. It was their first greenhouse at that size. They learned a lot. Then built 5 more with my ideas in mind. The one greenhouse with all my ideas, The plants are doing the best.