Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Growing Strawberries from Seed 🍓 Why from seed? Plants grown from seed are generally much more vigorous, healthier, and completely virus-free compared to plants grown from runners. 📅 Timing: Start indoors in January/February if you have grow lights (12-14 hours a day), or wait until late February/March if you are relying … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Strawberry Clipper Weevil Control 🐛 The Pest: The Strawberry Blossom Weevil (closely related to the North American Strawberry Clipper Weevil) is a tiny black/brown beetle about 3 mm (1/8 inch) long. 🥀 The Damage: If you see small holes in your strawberry leaves or notice unopened flower buds hanging by a … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Pruning Strawberry Leaves After Harvest ✂️ The Debate: Should you cut off all strawberry leaves after the summer harvest? The short answer: you can get great yields whether you do a full prune, a partial prune, or no prune at all. It depends entirely on the health of the plants. 🔴 … Read more
🌿 In Loving Memory of Stas (Forum Pioneer) Stas was one of the founding pillars of our gardening community. A true innovator, he was building custom LED grow lights and experimenting with light spectrums years before it became mainstream. Though he lived a quiet and solitary life, he generously shared his brilliant DIY mind and … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Winterizing Roses & Climate Shifts 🌹 Winterizing Roses: Growers debate the best time to cover roses and other tender perennials for winter. Some prefer getting it done early in mid-October, while others wait for a hard frost in November to naturally kill off pests like whiteflies before covering. 🧅 Checking on … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Storing Harvests Without a Root Cellar 🥕 No Basement? No Problem: Growers discuss creative ways to store root vegetables (carrots, beets, radishes) and potatoes through the winter when you don’t have a traditional root cellar (погреб). 🥫 Canning is Key: When cold storage space is limited, canning vegetables into ready-made soup … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): End of Season & Brussels Sprouts 🥦 Late Brassica Harvests: Growers share their early November harvests. Crops like broccoli, kohlrabi, kale, and daikon radishes can survive light frosts and stay in the garden quite late into the season. 🌱 Brussels Sprouts Debate: Is it worth growing Brussels sprouts? Some growers feel … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Fall Planting Onion Sets 🧅 Size Matters for Fall Planting: A great discussion on planting overwintering onion sets (севок). Pro Tip: For fall planting, it’s always best to use the absolute smallest onion sets (under 1 cm / 0.4 inches in diameter). Larger sets are much more likely to bolt (go … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Early Planting & Disease Risks 🥶 The Cold Soil Trap: Growers share real-life experiments of transplanting tomatoes into unheated greenhouses too early (mid-April in Zone 4). The result? Stunted growth, delayed fruit set, and tomatoes ripening weeks later than plants set out in warmer soil. 🌱 The Seedling Stress Connection: A … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Onions & Late Fall Flowers 🧅 Fall-Planted Onion Sets: A detailed guide on planting winter onions (like the Radar variety). Key tips: plant 3 weeks before hard frosts, mulch heavily, and choose a spot where winter snow lingers to insulate the bulbs. 🌱 Starting Onion Seeds (Advanced Trick): A fantastic method … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Fighting Tomato Leaf Mold 🌍 The Problem: Leaf Mold (Cladosporium fulvum / Passalora fulva) is a massive issue for greenhouse and hoophouse growers. In this thread, veteran growers discuss why some greenhouses get devastated while others stay clean. 🧪 Organic & Biological Controls: Several growers had great success using Trichoderma (a … Read more
Quick Summary of the Discussion 🚨 The Problem: A grower faces a common late-summer disaster: a massive harvest of heirloom tomatoes that are all splitting and cracking on the vine, forcing immediate processing into juice and sauces. 🍅 The Heirloom Dilemma: While heirloom varieties are beloved for their rich, juicy flavors, their thin skins make … Read more