JD Special C-Tex – my first tomato of the season!

I have a confession to make. I’m obsessed with tomatoes. Every winter, I get all the tomato seed catalogs together and just drool over every variety, dreaming about how good they would taste. I’m also a member of Tomatoville, an online community of like-minded, tomato-mad folks who talk, share seeds, and even get together to celebrate their obsession. I don’t buy tomato seedlings from nurseries or hardware stores (they never have any interesting varieties anyway!) I get all my seeds from fellow Tomatovillians and start them at home.

My tomato madness was so bad that, a few years back, I tried to grow over 50 tomato varieties in my very small urban backyard! I want to say though that the obsession has “matured” and I am not as crazy as I used to be; this year, I am growing only 32 varieties. Yes, it is a really great sacrifice on my part, I know.

Back in April, Nate took us to the Spring at Guadalupe Gardens event, where Cynthia from Love Apple Farm was giving a talk on tomato growing. At that event, she had a booth where she was selling some tomato starts. That’s where I saw JD. Continue reading Love (Apple) At First Bite →

First of all, let me say, “hello” to all of you whom Annie and I met at the Kumar garden on the Going Native Garden Tour! It was a real pleasure talking with you about one of my other passions, California native plants. I hope the experience was as educational and enjoyable for you as it was for me!

Spring is a wonderful time of year for gardeners. The weather begins to warm up, the sun stays up later, and new life springs forth. All over, the stores are starting to sell vegetable starts to people who have been dreaming of garden-fresh summer vegetables all winter long. And what is the top selling plant? It has got to be the tomato.

So, you’ve come home with one or two (or ten!) small tomato plants. Now what? How do you ensure you will have a bumper crop of tasty tomatoes? Continue reading Annie’s Top Five Tomato Growing Tips →