Hello from an Oregon transplant!

[Torquill]

Hey folks! I've been growing tomatoes for a good 20 years or so, but I just moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Coast Range in Oregon, and I'll tell you, nothing makes you feel like a gardening newbie again like a totally different soil and climate. I never know what to expect.

This summer, with luck, I'll be taking over a five-acre homestead that's been in my family for 50 years. It needs a lot of repairs and improvements, and the garden is no exception. But I'm starting small, and leaning on several reference books and guides, and last year's trial garden worked better than I feared. I've also been put in charge of the town's community garden (never raise your hand unless you're ready to lead, lol) and I'm hoping to make that half-abandoned plot into something good.

I used to have a tomato seed library of nearly a thousand varieties, but a new bacterial tomato disease crippled my garden in California, and I discovered too late that it was seedborne. So I'm in the painful position of throwing out all saved seed from 2013 or later, and hoping that some of the older seed will still grow. As the climate here is so different, I would need a new set of varieties anyway, so I'm taking this as an opportunity to try tomatoes I would never have looked at otherwise. I'm hoping this forum might help me do that.

Here's to new adventures!
--Sam

[LindaJean]

Hi Sam, Welcome to a great wealth of collective garden wisdom. With your own 20 years of valuable tomato growing experience to add, you will fit right in . I'd like to hear how it goes with progress on your place , the homestead sounds like the chance of a lifetime, even if it does take a lot of work.
I've only been here a couple days, reading all the topics as fast as I can. I think you will be seed richer than before.
After I grow my tomatoes this summer, I'll report on the outstanding ones that survive my first tomato growing attempt.

[Whwoz]

Welcome to the Junction from Down Under @Torquill. Certainly sounds like you will fit right in. I am sure @Tormato will get your seed stocks recover with the next MMMM. Always good for a change of scenery to refresh. Much difference in climate with the move? Lots of info and friendly people here.

[GoDawgs]

Welcome to the Junction from down here in the sunny South! You need to read up on the MMMM seed swap. You will be amazed at the outcome.

mmmm-swap.html

[bower]

Welcome to the forum, Torquil! Sounds like you're in for an awesome summer Nothing better than some huge gardening projects LOL. We'd love to hear all about it, so please post and tell all when you have a moment.
Meanwhile you'll find people from your new region here who can steer you toward the best performers in that climate, and lots of opportunity to replenish your seed stash and try some new ones.

[Paulf]

Welcome! As a kid spending time growing up in Forest Grove, just a ways north, I watched and listened to my gardener father struggle with the Pacific Northwest conditions. He was used to his Iowa gardening skills and in the four years he finally figured things out. Besides being a great place to live, once you get used to the new climate you will be amazed at what can be grown there. Good luck with your new endeavor. After 60 years of leaving the area and moving back to the mid-west, I still get homesick for Oregon.

[mikestuff49]

Welcome, Sam!

[Torquill]

Thanks for all the warm greetings! I've been spotting at least a few names from ye olde GardenWeb days, and it's a nice feeling.

The climate is definitely not the same, especially this spring. Much more humidity, real snow (that stays on the ground), frozen ground(!), showers every two weeks for most of the summer, shorter days, a shorter season, and an abundance of water, both above and below ground. The homestead is called Three Creeks, and they run all year, in a little tiny valley at 1300 feet. It's almost a 180 from the mild winters, long days, and dry baking heat I'm accustomed to. Add in the two soils we have -- deep silty acidic loam from an ancient beaver dam where the house is, and decomposed ash on the slopes above the house -- and it's been a learning experience.

I need to fix the place up some more (*cough*fences) before I can bring in sheep to improve the pastures, and the chickenhouse needs to be rebuilt, but after that I'll have some very nice fertilizer to work with. Not to mention hot frames... My secret goal is to have tomatoes and sweet corn by the Fourth of July, with a bonus if I have enough to sell at the farmer's market. Nobody else here is that early.

I'm looking forward to the seed swap, and in the meantime I'll see what I can do with store-bought plants. My light rack is coming up with the rest of my stuff later this month, and I should have some new lights by the end of the year. Then the sky's the limit!

[Tormahto]

Welcome Torquill.

5 acres sounds like you have a lot to play with. If fruit trees are in your future, now is the time to start planning.

[Torquill]

Check out https://threecreeks.substack.com for the rundown. The first post has a link to the Google photo album I started a couple of years ago. If you want to subscribe, it will always be free, or you can read it there on the blog.

And yes, Tormato, fruit trees are in my future. I have Plans, and that's one of them. We have apples, and I'll add pears, plums, pluots, nectarines, apricots, and cherries, if it all works out. Citrus too, though those have to be in containers so I can put them under shelter in the winter.

Did you know there are avocado varieties that will grow in this climate? muhahahaha

[MissS]

Hello and Welcome! It sounds as if you have already fit in nicely here and will have lots and lots of things to share.

[pepperhead212]

Welcome to the forum!

[Shule]

@Torquill
Welcome to TomatoJunction! It's great to have you.

[Simmran1]

Welcome to Tomato Junction.
I'm in Iowa, but our youngest son is in western Oregon.
Anyway he grows mostly hybrids because of foggy mornings, and this year he's growing Steller F1.
Not sure where he bought the seeds but he usually buys from Holmes. I hope you have a great year.