Hawaii Summer 2024

[Mark_Thompson]

Going for around 80 tomato plants this year, pretty even split of slicers and cherries. I don’t have enough lights or space to do all at once, so started mostly cherries and then will do the rest in a month.

I also have maybe 20 plants in the ground already including Green Zebra, Green Giant, Guido, Wooly Kate Yellow, and Honeycomb, then the wild crosses.

Will be participating in the giant contest, @MissS I got my seeds!

Then the usual beans, snap peas, corn, and a couple peppers.

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[bower]

Good to see you have the work force enlisted for such a big tomato grow! They look enthusiastic too!!

[Mark_Thompson]

@Cornelius_Gotchberg’s monster Guido, my 1/4 wild in a pot, Wooly Kate Yellow has been a disappointment but finally set a fruit, and got my first round of summer babies out in the sun and rain.

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[Mark_Thompson]

Cherries are almost ready to go in the dirt, started slicers and giants today, and some of my producers are continuing to produce produce

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[MissS]

That's a beautiful harvest. You have some nice starts too.

[Mark_Thompson]

Got cherries all planted, somewhere around forty plants. Had to clear out some old stuff to do it so might be making a batch of green tomato chutney here soon. Weather has been wet, planted my last twenty plants in a downpour.

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[Mark_Thompson]

Got my last tomato beds prepped and mostly planted, including the giants. Went a little crazy on the compost for the giant patch, goal this year is to exceed three pounds for the first time. For my slicers I’m totally out of cages so gonna be lower and lean or just single leader tied to T posts.

Got our first Roulette pepper, wifey approves of the flavor. Certainly is pretty. Still have a ton of work to do, but glad to at least be at this point, whew!

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[MissS]

Your soil is beautiful!

[Mark_Thompson]

Your soil is beautiful!

Thank you, I feel like I’m finally seeing the payoff for all the cover cropping, composting, and amending. The plot in the picture doesn’t have nut sedge either, hopefully I can keep it that way!

[JRinPA]

I'm rooting for the Sweet Ozark Orange. Did you try growing that before?

[Mark_Thompson]

@JRinPA I believe you sent me those seeds right? I’ve grown it I think three times, love it. I harvested two fruits today off of a winter SOO that’s about at the end of its lifespan. I actually planted two KBX and two SOO so I can compare them to each other this summer.

[JRinPA]

I had a big one, I think 2lber, that I kept seeds from and have been trying to spread them around. You sent me Amish Paste a few others. I'm growing AP and Mtr Delight again this year.

Has SOO been getting good size for you? Here they are often hitting 20-24 oz, but I haven't got a 2lber since. They grow big plants.

[Mark_Thompson]

Normal sized slicers for the most part. Definitely nothing approaching two pounds. I’ve got no complaints though. Excited to grow and eat it side by side with KBX this year.

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[karstopography]

This has always been a super interesting thread with the unique climate expressed on Maui, Hawaii. The nuances of the tropical world, high latitude tropical, equatorial tropical, marine tropical, 23° north to 23° south is an enormous chunk of the planet and to get a slice displayed from that world, thank you!

Gardening and tomato garden, where and when can it work, these are the questions being asked and answered here on TJ. I’m thankful for the time and sharing that we are lucky enough to have.