Each year we get to the point where we have loads of beautiful seedlings, but it becomes clear that most of you have what you need....so it just becomes inefficient to spend full days at the market with little business.  And I need to get focused on completing my own garden!

So.....

Sale time!  And continued sales from our driveway time!

For the next few weeks, plant prices are reduced to 2.00 per pot - and we have so, so much beautiful stock remaining.  What you will need to do is send an email (as many of you gather, I am an email, rather than phone, person!  We no longer have a land line, and I often don't even know where my cell phone is!) to set up a time - I will then let you know my address, and you can come by and get what you need.

Email me at nctomatoman@gmail.com - let me know when - and if you want to specify varieties, I can have them set aside for you.

This means Mexico Midgets - I am about to transplant a few dozen of them tomorrow, and they should be ready in a week or so.  And plenty of Sungold and Cherokee Chocolate - and Red Brandywine, and some (not loads, but some) Cherokee Purple - and so many eggplant, tomatillo, hot and sweet peppers!

Hope to hear from you to set up a time to come and get em at a great price!

One more thing....BEETS!  I have dozens and dozens of beet plants in plugs - I can just pop them out into a bag for you and you can plop them into holes 3 inches apart in a row - and you will get great perfect beets (and beet greens, which are delicious).  I've got four types - Ruby Queen (standard dark purple red), Touchstone and Burpee Golden (two sweet, lovely yellow fleshed beets), and Chioggia (white with red rings, a true heirloom)...no charge - just ask - I need to find them homes!

It was a slow day - but that's Fridays for you, and I wasn't exactly in the pulse of the market.  But...that's where you will find me tomorrow as well - the long covered area to the right of the Seafood restaurant.  It is separated from the main produce/plant building I was in the last two weeks by two parking lots, and way off to the right!  I will get there at 8 or so (maybe a bit later - I am running a bit slow this morning) - as I said in yesterday's blog entry, I have special orders with me as noted there.

Tomorrow will be a tomato day, primarily - I have no way of judging how busy it will be....I have just one each of the various peppers and eggplant and a bit of this and that (lettuce, cukes, melons, basil) as well.  But the tomatoes look great - come and get 'em!

I am extremely sore and exhausted, following a non-stop day of lugging potting mix, bleaching and filling pots and planting indeterminate tomatoes for the driveway - as well as the row of basil. But I am very happy to have gotten some tomatoes in nearly one month earlier than last year!

First, though, about our seedlings sales at the market tomorrow and Saturday....as I posted on the 2011 From The Vine Seedling page, I found out that we will be in the Craft sales area to the right of the seafood restaurant...so you won't find us in the same building/same place as the last two weeks, unfortunately!  But we should have plenty of room and it should be pretty quiet up there (we've not sold in that area before, so we will all get to experience something new!).

See the From The Vine page for details on what I will have.  I will be there tomorrow from 8 AM until a bit past noon.  On Saturday, I will be there from 8 AM until mid afternoon - 3 or 4, depending upon activity and supplies.

Here are the special orders I will have Friday:  Caroline M, K. Brown, Devan, Miller and Nager.  

On Saturday, I will have orders for Steve, Cooper, Taylor, Elmore and Hampton.

Back to today's busy day in the garden......


Here is what I planted today (all in ten gallon pots):  Mexico Midget, Bisignano #2, Cherokee Green (97-10), Big Beef F1, Cherokee Purple Heart, Russian Queen, Brandywine (95-71), Lucky Cross (02-59), Yellow Prue, Sungold F1, Prue, Cherokee Purple (01-3), Mullens Mortgage Lifter (95-85), Cherokee Chocolate (96-3), Lucky Cross (02-55), Stump of the World, Surprise (97-14), Indian Stripe, Cherokee Chocolate (96-9), Lucky Cross (02-62), Little Lucky (03-26), Lucky Cross (02-57).  One large pot remains for Henderson Bicolor (still too small to plant).  This list represents several themes - the plants that resulted from my germination test of old seed, some old favorites, and a few new varieties/mysteries from other seed savers.

This year I've decided to plant the most advanced dwarf varieties in 5 gallon grow bags between the 10 gallon indeterminates.  That means that the eggplant, sweet and hot peppers will all be located in the center of the driveway.  As far as planting in the big garden, three each of the various basils I started are now growing there (Amethyst, Martino, deGenova, Genovese, Serata) - Queenette will go in once it is a bit bigger.

What's next?  In the big garden, squash, cukes and beans.  Then, more bleaching of grow bags and pots, rearranging the driveway, then planting of eggplant, hot and sweet peppers, and dwarf tomatoes.  There is certainly another 1-2 weeks of work to do - then it is all about maintenance.....can't wait for the first ripe Mexico Midget (always the first tomato to ripen!).

I think I am getting ahead of the seedling transplant game.  The frequent rain (no complaints, really!) is delaying the last garden planting - hoping tomorrow to get bush beans, squash, cukes and basil in the big garden.  

Then....I will get a big trash can of water and bleach ready and, wish brush in hand, scrub some big pots in preparation for tomato planting! Though I didn't manage to get them in as soon as I hoped, it will still be nearly a month sooner than last year.  This will be a pretty long process - it will take a few weeks to plant all of the indeterminate and dwarf tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, and eggplant in pots.  

Aside from that....we are nearly done with our pot-grown radishes (which were a great success).  Lettuce is really coming in now - giving us nightly salads for dinner.  And we can start cutting the Asian greens for stir fry and saute preparation.

I am leaning to being at the Farmers Market both Friday and Saturday - Friday for half a day (probably leaving for home a bit after noon), and Saturday into mid afternoon.  It is pretty certain we won't get the prime spots we've had the last two weekends - my bet is that we will be in the craft area, to the right of the seafood restaurant.  If that is the case, I will set up Friday morning rather than Thursday evening.

Seemed like a good time for another video update.

Enjoy!

It is odd to have an Easter when the dogwood and azaleas have come and gone - but then again it has been an unusual weather year.  Right now our front yard area is being dominated by the remarkable perfume of a fully blooming Miss Kim lilac.  I wonder if the snapdragon I started from seed will bloom before they melt in the coming heat (though the forecast has more than a few cool nights ahead).  The seed-grown pansies and marigolds just started blooming today.  

The driveway veggie seedlings are back in alphabetical order and well watered....I spent more than a few hours transplanting today as well, to fill in some of the emerging gaps.  (I updated the seedling supply status on the 2011 From The Vine page seedling list).  Supplies are holding up very well - and there doesn't seem to be many varieties that are being ignored.  

This coming week I hope to plant beans, basil, squash and cukes in the main garden - as well as start bleaching pots and filling them with tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.  (And, yes, more transplanting and preparation for the coming weekend).  It's been a good weekend, and a busy one - pretty tired here, so off to bed soon!

Oh yes - I guess it must be time for a new video clip, so I will do a yard walkaround/garden status update vid this week.

We really enjoyed our Friday and Saturday at the market seeing those of you who stopped by....thanks so much to our many returning customers, and we are delighted to have met all of our new annual tomato friends!

I will resume transplanting, gather a view on where things are, adjust supply notes in the list on the From The Vine seedlings page...and we will get ready to do it again next weekend.  As usual, our Fri/Sat location is a mystery until I go and set up on Thursday night.

I do know there are additional special orders waiting here - some will accompany me to the market this coming weekend, and others wait here for you to pick up.  

So...what's next?  I hope to finish getting my garden planted over the next few days - including some of my own tomatoes, peppers and eggplant!

Have a wonderful Easter, all!

We are located in stall 6 - just two down from where we were last week (and yes, in close proximity to those yummy Le Farm chocolate chip cookies!).  We are on the other side of some very nice apple and strawberry sellers - not against the wall like last week, but we like the spot even better.

I hope to get there at around 8 AM and Sue will join me at 8:30 or so. I am heading out to load up as much as I can to fill in the gaps left today....if it is big enough to sell, I will bring it....but there are plenty of things growing, lots to transplant still....so if you don't see it tomorrow, it will show up in the near future!

I expect to bring the following on Saturday:

B. Meacham, R. Fleck, Dee and Matt, B. Sadler, K. Brown, Justin, S. Bazemore, K FitzGerald, Dorney, Randy B and K Turnage (whew!  lots to keep track of....be easy on me if I mess a few up!) 

If your name is not on the list, let me know - I may be able to squeeze it in to my wife's car - it would arrive closer to 8:30, rather than 8.

Good news - full flat of Cherokee Purple and Sungold for tomorrow (18 of each)...also lots of nice Brandywines.  And many more of each of the three coming in future weeks.  (lots of everything, really - we have been transplanting like mad folks this week to fill in the gaps).

See you on Saturday....and it should be a much warmer, nicer day than Friday was!

In creating my selection of seedlings to offer each year, I have several things in mind...ensuring that you can choose from the very best tasting, most interesting varieties I've discovered in my years of gardening....expanding your experiences with respect to colors, sizes and flavors....and aiming for things that are best likely to succeed in this climate.

What I don't have a good sense of is feedback - aside from our brief conversations each season, as well as observing what sells and what doesn't.  So I decided it is a good time to start obtaining feedback and tracking your experiences, if you wish to share.  The information would then be used to further refine my list each year and hopefully better meet everyone's needs as much as possible.

So....I would love an email - any time, since many of you already know your favorites (and not-so-favorites) from past experience - with any of the following info you feel like providing to me.

1.  What 5-10 varieties are a must for you (you can do tomatoes, hot and sweet peppers, and eggplant - a list for each - if you wish) - these are the varieties that would cause great sadness if I didn't have them available each year.

2.  What 5-10 varieties have been underwhelming, and you would not lose any sleep if they vanished from my list.

3.  What is missing - what have you been dying to try, but can't find the seeds or plants and wish I could find it.  (a few examples - I carry Harmonie cuke, Thai Dragon hot pepper, and Great White tomato based on requests from a single customer).  I will be working on a request for Padron pepper for next season.

It's all about maintaining our "annual friendship" and helping to make your gardens as successful, interesting and fun as possible!  

If you could email what you wish to share to nctomatoman@gmail.com at any time - I will keep a running folder on your responses, and tally it all up prior to next gardening season.

thanks!

Though the weather on Friday doesn't look great, the plants will - and the selection will be very wide - this is it!  As usual, we will call on Thursday, go set up Thursday night, then let people know here in a blog post exactly where we are.  If you've asked for a special order held for Friday or Saturday, it will be there with us - please be sure to ask me (I don't boggle Sue's mind with the special order stuff - too complicated!).

As of now - Tuesday night - we are pretty much at capacity of what we can bring Friday or Saturday as set-aside orders.  Of course, you can email me and ask me to set aside particular varieties/plants, but it would have to be the next weekend, or at our house for pick up.

Cucumbers are really flying out of here - there will be more Diva on the way, but they are pretty much sold out at the moment - as well as Salt and Pepper.  There are a few more Poona Keera and Harmonie.  There may be a few other items in very short supply - we won't have Mexico Midget at the market again this week, because all plants big enough are reserved.....many more on the way, but it will take a few weeks.  Sungold, Cherokee Purple/Chocolate, Brandywine and Red Brandywine will be quite plentiful this coming weekend.

That's it for now!