For a long time, companion-planting advocates recommended planting marigolds with tomatoes as pest control. Gardeners knew anecdotally that tomatoes had fewer pest problems when marigolds were around, but the scientific support for the theory just wasn’t available.
If I had to grow only one thing for the rest of my life it would be big, juicy, heirloom tomatoes. There is just nothing like the taste of a homegrown tomato, and it’s literally something that you can’t buy.
Growing plants from seed is one of the most fulfilling activities we can do as gardeners. The diversity of varieties available is far greater than what is available by transplant at your local garden center. Learning how to start tomatoes by seed indoors is an important gardening skill to master because tomatoes don’t grow well when direct-seeded.
The votes are in! 2021 will mark the 2nd Annual Dallas Tomato Trials, a crowd-sourced test of heirloom tomato variety performance in North Texas. It also marks the first year that variety selection was made open to public voting. Many thanks to all those who participated in the voting process!
2020 marked the inaugural Dallas Tomato Trials, an informal but highly informative testing of 24 different heirloom or open-pollinated tomato varieties including 8 patio/container varieties. I also made these rare tomato varieties available for purchase as seedlings in March. I am very excited to announce that the tomato trials will be returning for 2021.
The “Dallas Tomato Trials” started as a way to justify an overzealous heirloom seed shopping spree. Six months and one pandemic later, the success of the trial can be measured in both newfound knowledge and newfound community. The trial started conversations, created shared experiences, and delivered a sense of purpose during uncertain, stressful times.
There are two things that let me know it’s summertime in Dallas: the smell of fresh cut grass and the taste of homegrown tomatoes. And…
What’s all the fuss about fall tomatoes in North Texas? When properly managed, fall tomatoes can even outperform the spring tomato crop. Here are the seven steps to growing fall tomatoes in your North Texas garden.
Late May and early June is the time to start seeds for fall tomatoes in North Texas. Here are some tips for getting started.
Craig LeHoullier, reknowned tomato expert and author of “Epic Tomatoes”, named the Cherokee Purple tomato in 1990 after receiving a surprise gift of seeds from a John D. Green in Tennesee. Green explained that the seeds came from his neighbor who claimed that the seeds were given to his family by Cherokee Indians a hundred years prior.
