Here’s the very first tomato seedling to emerge and spread its seed leaves: a Striped German (a big, bi-color heirloom, one of my top 3-4 favorites over the last couple of years). This is six days after seeding. I don’t usually keep track THIS closely of the seedling action, but with the unusually slow, uneven emergence of most of the peppers and eggplant—new ones are still just breaking out, two weeks after seeding?I’m watching every little move right now with the toms as well. And there’s that fine MACRO feature on the new camera, always happy to take notes…
I was surprised at how quickly the tomatoes came up compared to the peppers (almost 2 weeks) and the eggplant (entering week 2). I think it was just under a week. Exciting!
Stacy- yep the eseatr eggers are a mean bunch. grumpy chicks. Oh, and glad you new baby is laying!Inder- Thanks! Aspen def. looooves me then. She practically swoons when I come out and nearly purrs when I carry her around.Green Bean- seriously huh? It was nasty, nasty, nasty. I can’t believe she didn’t die. I was running around with a bleeding beat up chicken trying to explain to our 3 yr old what was going on and not freak her out. It was yuck. Then smearing the no peck stuff all over her head once she healed up some b/c anytime anyone even bumped her she’d bleed and the pecking would start. Ugh! She was so sweet before that….now she is standoffish, skittish and a loner. Don’t blame her.
Awesome!
jealousy, jealousy!
I’m still slipping around in a sea of mud, 2-10mm rain a day here. No digging, weeding, mowing or anything really. Still once it starts warming up everything will grow quickly.
Still can’t get over how good the pictures are either or the fact that even seeing other peoples seeds emerging I find wondrous.
Hooray tomatoes! I’m going to have to try Striped German sometime. My tomato seedlings came up last week and now I’m waiting and waiting for their true leaves.
Mike,
I tried “Big Rainbow” and what I thought was “Striped German” last year but they both turned out to be almost the same. Enormous yellow tomatoes with red stripes right through the flesh. Pretty cool looking, but I found the taste lacking. They were very mild and watery. Did you find that was the taste of the Striped German? I’m looking for a yellowish tomato with a bit more flavour.
Chris
Hi Mike – isn’t macro just great?!:)
I hope that my seeds do something that quickly. My fiance and I are newbies so positive reinforcement is always good. But I’ve found that checking out other people’s seedlings is almost as cool as hovering over my own.
Chris: I’ve tried Big Rainbow as well, it was OK, but didn’t produce well in my sprawling, semi-supported tomato plot conditions. I may try a few again this year. As for a yellow tomato with a bit more flavor, well, Striped German would be my recommendation so far, exactly for that. I’ve found that, true to the common rule, yellow toms are generally milder tasting and less tart (acidic). I can’t think of any non-cherry toms of the several yellows I’ve grown that didn’t fit that description. But I find they do have a lot of flavor, just more subtle. I haven’t run across any really bold-tasting yellows so far (except for cherries).
I know what you mean by “mild and watery,” I’ve had some tomatoes, not just yellow, in a particular season, that seemed fine to feel and cut, but didn’t have great eating texture and just not much taste. I think that may be in good part due to weather conditions, and not so much the inherent “tastelessness” of a particular variety. Definitely, taste can even change quite a bit with fruit from the same plant over the course of the season.
One yellow I grow every year, produces well, nice (subtle) taste, is Tangerine (it can go almost pumpkin orange). I’ve also tried and liked Persimmon (also goes orange). They’re both big heirlooms. I also grow a few Lemon Boy every year, a smaller (8oz) round yellow hybrid (also, similar, is Golden Girl): modern, uniform and…yellow.
Lemme know if you find anything you like this season!