Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: This thread dives into the ideal timeline for starting eggplant seeds indoors. While some growers prefer a 60-day head start to factor in transplant shock from up-potting, others find that starting them too early leads to massive, hard-to-move plants that become root-bound. The consensus is that strong grow lights and heavy feeding … Read more
📖 Diary Highlights: The conversation shifts to flower beds. Growers discuss the pros and cons of American dwarf cosmos versus the giant commercial varieties that take over the garden. They share a crucial tip about soil fertility (spoiler: rich soil ruins cosmos blooms). The thread also touches on the hardcore practice of starting dill seeds … Read more
📖 Diary Highlights: Spring seed starting is underway! While celebrating the first eggplant and petunia sprouts, growers dive into a discussion about the popular Double Zahara zinnia series. PanAmerican Seed lists them as 16-20 inches (40-50 cm) tall, sparking a panic for growers planning to use them as front-row border plants. However, experienced gardeners chime … Read more
📖 Diary Highlights: A first-time eggplant grower asks when to start seeds indoors for a Zone 4 climate. While some growers start them in mid-February, others warn that under strong grow lights, early-started eggplants will turn into unmanageable “palm trees” before planting out. The discussion covers essential tips for eggplants: washing the coating off treated … Read more
📖 Diary Highlights: A discussion about the best way to remove dandelions turns into a serious debate about the dangers of using herbicides like Roundup. Growers share natural eradication methods, photos of how broken taproots mutate into multi-headed “Hydras,” and a crucial warning about herbicide carryover—how using treated lawn clippings as mulch can accidentally destroy … Read more
📖 Diary Highlights: Ekaterina from Tomsk, Siberia (Zone 2/3) shares her incredible strategies for pushing the growing season to the absolute limit. To get ripe tomatoes by June in a harsh climate, she grows early determinate and dwarf varieties in large construction buckets inside her greenhouse. She also shares a clever hack for starting early … Read more
📖 Diary Highlights: Growers in Zone 4 discuss the tricky timing of harvesting greenhouse melons. If picked too early, they are bitter; if picked too late, the texture turns to mealy cotton. They cover how to check for the “slip” stage (when the stem detaches easily), relying on scent, and the unique harvesting challenges of … Read more
📖 Diary Highlights: A lively debate sparks when a grower doubts that greenhouse melons in northern climates (Zone 4) can ever match the sweet, sun-baked flavor of southern market melons. Several experienced northern growers chime in to defend modern short-season hybrids, sharing photos and stories of incredibly sweet, honey-like melons grown right in their own … Read more
🍅 Quick take: In this continuation of a Northern greenhouse grow diary, growers debate the best rootstocks for grafting watermelons and melons. While many beginners start with the classic Bottle Gourd (Lagenaria), experienced growers are switching to professional F1 interspecific squash hybrids like Ferro, Cobalt, and Root Power due to superior vigor and plant health. … Read more
🍅 Quick take: In this thread, Northern growers (USDA Zones 3-4) discuss the art of grafting greenhouse vegetables. While grafting tomatoes or cucumbers might not be worth the effort for some, the growers agree that grafting watermelons and melons onto vigorous rootstocks (like Lagenaria) is absolutely essential for a short-season climate. The discussion covers seed-starting … Read more
🍅 Quick take: In this thread, Radomila attempts the impossible: narrowing down her entire tomato grow list to just 6 essential varieties. The final shortlist is specifically tailored to withstand high humidity and massive day-to-night temperature swings, covering all needs from fresh eating to canning and freezing. The discussion also touches on whether the heirloom … Read more
Can You Grow Cucumbers and Tomatoes Together? | Forum Diary 🍅 Quick take: In this thread, growers debate one of the most controversial greenhouse topics: planting cucumbers and tomatoes together. While strict agronomy says they require entirely different microclimates (cucumbers love high humidity; tomatoes need dry drafts), backyard gardeners share how they successfully mix them … Read more