karstop, Your soil and photos look mightyfine.

I added a layer of cotton burr compost as a mulch today. I don’t want the soil to bounce up on the leaves. Live oak leaves are in short supply. That’s my usual mulch. Not sure what’s up with the oaks.

My five tomato plants are going into the ground tomorrow. Today I pulled out all the weeds from the tomato bed. Hundreds of tiny little weeds that always appear in early spring. After planting, I'll put down mulch.

My seedlings are transitioning to the outdoors in this stretch of perfect weather here in central Texas. They didn't like the cheap shop light I bought. Had yellowing leaves and I suspect some edema. But they have responded quickly to potting-up and real sunlight. Delivery of a SF600 light for next year is expected any day.

This is my first time to grow from seed applying all that I've learned over the last year from this forum and Craig LeHoullier's material. What fun I'm having!

I'm impressed. They look great! You have studied well and even know what edema is in your first year of seed starting.

And so it begins...

My five tomato plants went into the ground this morning.

My February 12th transplants dug up on the 19th and replanted on the 26th look surprisingly healthy and no worse for all the disruptions. I was certain to lose them to the freeze on the 20th and had prematurely given away some of my reserves so I thought what is to lose, anything is better than a certain and immediate death due to a freeze.

Finally got my leaf mulch in place for the tomatoes. This year, there’s about a 3” layer of cotton burr debris and then a similar layer of the oak leaves, pine needles and cypress over the cotton burr.

The tomatoes are I think something like 7-10 days behind last season in spite of starting the seeds two weeks ahead of last season. I know I kept the tomatoes in much colder conditions this year. I also transplanted, dug them up and then transplanted them again.

They are growing and about to bloom in some cases.

The first baby tomato of the 2025 season goes to "Sugary" grape tomato. All the rest of the plants have flowers.

Looks like Ashleigh is going to be the first tomato of 2025. Victory seeds list it at 89 DTM. Go figure.

Pruden’s Purple, both plants, are right on Ashleigh’s heels along with Vorlon, Cleota Pink, and Red Barn.

Twelve plants in the ground in Austin, Texas. Almost 90-degrees in the shade on Sunday, March 23, 2025.

Yea, nothing like that here close to the gulf. 77°

Perfect tomato weather for the foreseeable future.

Looked back at 2024 and in spite of starting my tomatoes 10 days earlier this year than in 2024, my tomato plants are something like one to two feet shorter this year. Sart Roloise was over 4’ on March 24, 2024. My tallest today is Pruden’s Purple at just over 2’. Most are right at 2’. I kept the tomato seedlings cooler this year and it has been cooler overall since I transplanted them this year as compared to 2024. Really just an observation, the tomatoes this season look great and are growing normally. I don’t expect any ripe fruit until mid May this season, April is a challenge to get any ripe fruit with the mid or late season tomatoes I tend to prefer.

Ashleigh has something heart shaped tomato going on. The leaves are more serrated and thinner than Red Barn or Dester. The new fruit on Ashleigh don’t look all that flattened beefsteak like at this early stage.

At this point, they all kind of look the same, lol.

Carmello

Sugary grape

Cherokee Purple

Cherokee Carbon

Champion

I was absent from the garden for about a week. Looks like the tomatoes grew a foot or more while I was gone. The weather was very warm. We got 1.5” of rain. Recipe for growth.

Ashleigh and Vorlon with little tomatoes. Others have some smaller fruit.

All but three tomato plants have tomatoes on them as of this morning. Current leader is Red Barn with fifteen tomatoes. Knock on wood, I should be covered up in ripe tomatoes by Mid May barring any unforeseen catastrophe.

The three laggards all had either wind/mystery mechanical damage in the case of Pineapple and Lucky Cross and some unknown issue that blunted the growth tip with Huevos del Toro. Lucky Cross looks to be a lost cause, the other two should eventually produce some fruit. A friend I gave five tomato transplants to has an extra Juliet transplant about ready to plug into the space where Lucky Cross is.

Cool weather ahead. The tomatoes could use a governor to slow them down a bit.

Red Barn keeps on setting fruit. Such a prolific bloom and many of the flowers end up setting. Some of the early ones have “complicated” blossom scars.

Red Barn was my most productive tomato last season and this year it is safe to say it is well ahead of the rest of the pack. There are currently three stems each with their own flowering and fruiting trusses

Stocky indeterminate with blue tinted foliage, same exact growth pattern as last season. About a foot shorter than Pruden’s Purple next to it and roughly the same height as Brandywine Cowlick’s on the other side.

One thing I have noticed is that each variety looks very consistent year to year and the timing of blooms and growth is consistent. Pruden’s Purple is a rabbit and Brandywine Cowlick’s is the tortoise. Red Barn is a blend of each, with an additional dose of steroids.

First two losses of tomatoes yesterday and today, yesterday, a pruden’s purple tomato to BER and today, an Ashleigh to I think a bird pecking.

It happens. Can’t win them all.

We’ve had truly outstanding tomato weather. The tomatoes are responding. Ashleigh is impressing me with its potential productivity. Many of the little fruit that have formed have a blunt heart shape.

Fun to have a tomato that isn’t widely grown and is performing so well at this stage. I hope these will be tasty.
Getting excited about the season. Still likely about four weeks out from tasting any tomatoes.

I know @karstopography, I can’t wait either. I ran somewhat wild at Delectation of Tomatoes so have lots of newbies this year.