CONTAINER GROWN, Slicing Tomato, Silvery Fir Tree The Science & Art of Growing Tomatoes in Containers THE SEEDS DISCUSSED IN THIS NEWSLETTER ARE AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE AT THIS LINK WE HAVE 2 YOUTUBE VIDEOS ON TOMATOES. THEY ARE: PLANTING TOMATOES IN CONTAINERS AND PLANTING TOMATOES Why is This Specific Newsletter So Special? I have been growing tomatoes for 64 years. I began when I was 5 years old growing tomatoes in a tiny backyard garden in a rowhouse community in Baltimore, MD. Those first tomato gardens consisted of 5 plants in an 18 inch by 10 foot space. Eventually, I expanded to large gardens with 20-40 plants and since 2004 my colleagues and I have been working on a research project growing approximately 40 different tomato plants each year in containers. Over the years we
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Canterbury Bells For An Extraordinary 2020 Garden - 7 Flowers That Must Be Planted In August 2019 Spring is definitely not the only season for planting flowers, vegetables and herbs. The months of August - November present numerous opportunities for planting flowers, vegetables and herbs, FROM SEED, that will mature throughout the fall or during the spring and summer of the following year. In fact, I have consistently found that mid-season and fall planting is easier, with higher rewards than spring planting. In this newsletter we will discuss seven flowers that can and should be planted from seed in August or the months from September to November. Hollyhock Indian Spring Hollyhocks are a very, very old cultivated flower which probably originated in Turkey or parts of Asia and was introduced into Great Britain in
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Heirloom Squash Variety From the Prehistoric Americans to the Native Americans to the Immigrant Americans - The Vegetable That Nourished A Nation Squash have been a staple of the American diet since the first prehistoric peoples entered North America via the land bridge from Asia. Squash and pumpkins are native to many parts of the North American, Central American and South American regions. They were a significant part of the 3 sisters trinity – beans, corn and squash. The Native Americans used squash in all aspects of their lives and culture. The vegetable was made into soups, breads, desserts, stuffings, storage containers, musical instruments, utensils, etc. The Native Americans shared their knowledge of this vegetable with the Europeans who adopted many of the culinary practices they were taught. Today, squash
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The Heirloom Scarlet Runner Pole Beans in Thomas Jefferson’s Hanging Gardens at Monticello Pole Beans Belong in Every Vegetable Garden- Here are 6 of the Greatest Visit THE LEESBURG FLOWER & GARDEN FESTIVAL site for details Visit THE SHEEP & WOOL site for details Beans, corn and squash are the quintessential American crops – the trinity of vegetables – The Three Sisters. Of these three sisters, perhaps beans, are now the most pervasive crop originally exported from the New World to Europe, Africa Asia and Australia. There are many types of beans: bush, pole, runner, half runner, wax, shell, cowpeas, etc., but in today’s America maybe the most relevant type of bean is the pole bean. For more than a century now, pole beans have been scorned by commercial and home gardeners because
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Heirloom Hot Peppers To Purchase Heirloom Hot Pepper Seed click this link The 6 Most Beloved Hot Peppers of All Time Sweet and hot peppers are indigenous to Central and South America. They have been cultivated since prehistoric times. Archaeologists have found chili peppers at sites dating to 7000 BC. The Aztecs, Incans and Mayans all cultivated peppers. The Aztecs had at least seven different words for hot peppers. We derive the term chili pepper from some of the Aztec words for hot pepper. The Incas used peppers as a form of currency. Columbus named the peppers he saw growing in the West Indies, pimiento, because he thought they were the pimienta, spice pepper, grown in the East Indies. He was painfully surprised to find out that the West Indian
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The Paste/Plum Tomato To Purchase Heirloom Paste/Plum Tomato Seed click this link The Paste/Plum Tomatoes- Good for Everything! Of the three morphological classes of tomato – cherry, slicing/sandwich and paste/plum – the paste/plum tomatoes are the least popular. This is unfortunate because paste/plum tomatoes are, literally, good for everything. Cherry tomatoes are too small for making sandwiches and roasting and too much work to put in sauces, but they are great in salads and for popping in your mouth straight from the vine. Sandwich/slicing tomatoes are great for sandwiches, but they are usually too watery for sauces and salads. Paste/plum tomatoes have it all. Like cherry tomatoes they are small enough and firm enough to be eaten in salads and right off the vine. Like sandwich/slicing tomatoes they are just
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Dinnerplate Dahlias Dinnerplate Dahlia Emory Paul To Purchase Emory Paul Dahlias click this link It is the middle of February and many of us have had a horrible winter and are longing for spring. This newsletter is dedicated to each of you. For those of you who routinely read this newsletter, you will note that there are many, many more photos than usual. This newsletter is designed to stimulate your imaginations for the gardens you will have this upcoming season and engage your memories of your beloved gardens from the past. Dinnerplate Dahlias are large plants which produce the biggest blossoms. The plants grow to at least 36 inches high, but more commonly 48-60 inches. The very first blossom each season will be the largest, and it is often
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The Heirloom Eggplant To Purchase Heirloom Eggplant Seed click this link The 4 Greatest Heirloom Eggplants of All Time Eggplants originated in China and India and have been cultivated there for thousands of years. The Spanish Moors introduced the eggplant into southern and Eastern Europe where it became very popular. The early explorers of the New World introduced eggplant into the Americas in the 1500s, but the plant never caught on. For many years, Americans were suspicious of the plant because it belonged to the Nightshade family, of Deadly Nightshade fame. Eggplants, tomatoes and potatoes all belong to this family and many Americans thought the vegetables were poisonous. In a mid-1800 American seed catalog, two varieties were listed Large Purple and Early Purple. At that time, egg plant or melongena
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