I’ve been watching long term forecasts and plotting out when my first tomatoes are going into the beds. It’s hard to see a scenario where any get planted in their final home prior to Valentine’s day, but I can see where the sets might be ready even if the weather isn’t. Three weeks away or so, though. Some will very likely go in sometime in the latter half of February. Anticipation is coming on strong.

This morning I added manure/humus to my small tomato bed area. I'm aiming for a plant out date the first week of March, weather permitting. Today was cold and overcast.

This morning Walmart had some tomato plants, pepper plants, and a few herbs for sale. About a month too early for my area.

SpookyShoe wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:20 am This morning Walmart had some tomato plants, pepper plants, and a few herbs for sale. About a month too early for my area.

Yes, Reifels feed store had quite a few tomato and pepper sets about a week ago. They were pretty small overall. But, they had some heirloom along with Celebrity plus and several other newer hybrids.

My friend recently went to the Galveston county tomato class taught by one of the master gardeners, Ira Gervais. February 20th was the date to put tomatoes into the garden for Kemah. For Galveston Island itself, the plant out date was much earlier.

I got the summary from my friend on the 2.5 hour class, but the idea is to get the tomatoes in as soon as possible and get them growing before the warm nights above 74° shut them down on fruit setting.

The instructor creates little plastic wrapping tents around the tomato cages on the sets to keep them warmer early in the season.

I got the feeling from my friend’s synopsis of the class there was a lot of atom splitting , minutiae, going on to ensure ever step was taken to maximize every move made.

I don't care what the Master Gardener said. I'm not putting out my tomato plants on February the 20th.

SpookyShoe wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 9:31 pm I don't care what the Master Gardener said. I'm not putting out my tomato plants on February the 20th.

I get it. Is it really worth the added stress or increased chance of freeze damage for putting the tomato sets out 8-10 days earlier?

I’m still trying to figure out when I’ll put any tomato sets in. I have enough extras to replace frozen plants, should that happen. I’ll probably stagger my plantings with some going in the second half of February and the rest in March.

My friend in Kemah planted his tomatoes today. I hope it pays off In extended production.

Meanwhile, my sets got some time out in the sun. Some will likely go in around two weeks from today.

karstopography wrote: ↑Thu Feb 02, 2023 7:51 am

SpookyShoe wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 9:31 pm I don't care what the Master Gardener said. I'm not putting out my tomato plants on February the 20th.

I get it. Is it really worth the added stress or increased chance of freeze damage for putting the tomato sets out 8-10 days earlier?

I’m still trying to figure out when I’ll put any tomato sets in. I have enough extras to replace frozen plants, should that happen. I’ll probably stagger my plantings with some going in the second half of February and the rest in March.

I have 2 tomatoes (Blush and Indian Stripe) that are about 1 foot tall and starting to bloom. I'm going plant them in large pots tomorrow. If it looks like it may freeze, I'll just brings the plants inside. My goal is to start having some production 1 April. The intense heat comes so dang early here you need to put big plants out as early as possible to have a decently long harvest. I'll try to post some pictures if I can.

The sets have been outside day and night for several days. Everyone looks happy about that.

@karstopography, not seeing eggplant, just peppers and tomatoes. Did I miss them?

PlainJane wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 12:39 pm @karstopography, not seeing eggplant, just peppers and tomatoes. Did I miss them?

We’ve decided we really only like Black Beauty Eggplant and two or three plants for those are more than sufficient for our needs. Reifels always has the 4” sets of Black Beauty so I just get them there. I’ve tried various other long and thin type varieties, but no one besides me will eat them.

Black beauty eggplant seems to thrive here all summer long and I end up cutting still bearing fig tree sized plants in the fall.

One of those vegetables for us that isn’t broke so why try and fix it type of deals.

However, I still like to explore the different pepper and tomato varieties and flavors and varieties likely not available at the garden places.

Taking advantage of relatively mild weather to water and feed my children.

Looks like the first tomato sets will get planted February 18th or 19th, barring anything unfavorable showing up in the long term forecast.

@karstopography you are way braver than me. No planting out until March.

PlainJane wrote: ↑Sun Feb 12, 2023 4:46 pm @karstopography you are way braver than me. No planting out until March.

It’s not yet a done deal on the next weekend planting out. But, if I do and a late February frost gets them I have enough back up sets to compensate. I’m not going to plant more than a dozen or so at any rate if I do. Weather forecasts currently have the nights staying above 50° after February 18th. I’ll take some soil temperature readings to see where those are.

Frosts are possible, unlikely, but still a possibility up to April. I won’t garden based on remote chances of disaster, especially since the tomatoes need to be big enough to be really blooming in April and May for the prime fruit set period. If I wait too long to plant, I lose the heart of the prime fruit set time. My old neighbor used to wait until April to set out his tomatoes and he typically only got a brief flush of production before things shut down in the heat.

There’s always some risks in gardening.

February 19th looking more and more like a solid choice for getting some of the sets settled into the beds. Soil temperature is around 60°if not a notch or two higher. The biggest tomato sets are closing in on 12” tall. They are outside basking in sunshine and windy warmth.

Go for it karstopography.

I'm still going to hold out until March 1st. So far I've collected six plants. I'm looking for two more (I'm looking for a Carmello and a Cherokee Purple, which surprisingly I have not seen yet) and then I'll be done.

Here are my store-bought plants, which I've potted up,
The styrofoam cups are for those gargantuan jumbo drinks that my husband gets at the convenience store everyday, enjoying natural light on the front porch, although right this very minute it's cloudy. Sunrise Bumblebee, Black Cherry, two Cherokee Carbons, Black Prince, and Black Krim. (In no particular order).

@SpookyShoe those look great. I’ve also got black cherry and black Krim. I’m not growing Carmello this year. My kemah buddy is bringing me an extra Park’s whopper he grew. I’m not really sure which ones I’ll plant this coming Sunday. Whatever are the biggest and most robust. Pruden’s Purple, Aussie, among others look extra robust.

He said his tomato plants in the beds are doing well. He planted into the beds February 4th. I figure his plants are about 3 weeks ahead of mine. We’ll see if that translates to earlier fruit.

My tomato sets are about to outgrow their containers. I think I’ll move up the set out into the beds date to Saturday, February 18th. Saturday night and Sunday morning look to be around 48-50° for the low. These plants have been hardened off for weeks now.

Whatever sets are left over after setting some of the mix into the beds, I’ll up size their containers. It’s a plan that seems workable.

Got 19 planted today. Mulched as well. Felt great!

I keep checking the extended 2 week forecast and now I see no more frost threats. The the lowest night time temp is forecast to be 49 degrees a week from now. Tomorrow, the plants I started around Thanksgiving will go into pots outside (Indian Stripe, Blush, Supersweet 100, and Sun Gold) while my peppers (2 Big Jim, 3 Red Narconi, 2 Cubanelle, 2 Momma Mia) will be going in a raised bed. I'm holding off on planting the rest of my tomatoes since they haven't outgrown their indoor containers yet.

BTW the official first day of spring arrived today (at least for me)!!!!. My Titan Blueberry bush is covered in blooms - yeah!