Greetings gardening friends —                                                                                                            10 May 2023

We are pleased to be back this Spring 2023 with a broad catalog of heirloom tomato, pepper, eggplant, and herb seedlings as well as greens and some dyer plants.  The website catalog is fully updated: it has old standards and many new offerings (including eight varieties of Dwarf Tomatoes – container friendly plants with full size fruit).  It is oxymoronic to badge these heirloom varieties and crosses as “New 2023”, but if new to our inventory, they are so badged.  

This early warm weather had us all guessing what was to come.  We started selling greens a couple of weeks ago, and will now hold in-person yard sales on May 13 and May 20!  Please remember that the nightshade family (tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers) are of tropical origin. Planting too early in the season or without protection can irreparably harm nightshades when temperatures dip under 50 degrees (particularly true for tomatoes). Nightshades thrive in warm/hot weather and grow quickly once they are planted in the right conditions and can produce until the first fall frost. Historically, in our area, this means planting in early May around Mother’s Day when night time temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees.

Here are a few thoughts about soil health and productivity.  Optimizing soil can involve soil testing for nutrients and amendments—shredded leaves, compost, cover cops, and green manure.  Successfully managing soil in pots requires some additional care.  We had good outcomes with our potted tomatoes last year with the following important additions — dehydrated cow manure to each pot, application of micro-biologically rich compost tea to support plant AND soil health, some fish emulsion feedings, and some small herbs and greens planted around the base of the tomatoes to shade the roots and reduce soil moisture evaporation.

Our Velvet Red cherry tomato in a container was beautiful and prolific last year.  We planted the tomato seedling deep to promote extra root growth (about 6 inches below the soil line with the extra leaves along the stem removed) in a 15-gallon pot with 2-year-old solarized potting soil-less mix.  Re-using potting mix on its own is not optimal–and soil should not be used again if last year’s plant had a soil-born disease.  However, we were able to re-energize this soil by adding ½ bag of dehydrated cow manure to enrich the soil.  Craig LeHoullier—author of Epic Tomatoes—recommends the following soil mixture for potted tomatoes–25 lbs of dehydrated cow manure to each 2.5 cu ft of soil less mix for 25-gallons of enriched soil.  Other smaller plants—herbs and greens–were arranged around the Velvet Red tomato to shade the soil.  The tomato received two applications of compost tea and regular feedings of fish emulsion.  This Velvet Red cherry tomato plant grew to a robust and beautiful 10-feet tall producing a bounty of cherry tomatoes well into November with minimal plant disease issues.  Please give some extra consideration to your soil health this season.  The soil should be as alive as the seedlings you are planting in it.  Feed your plants and your soil so that you receive a bounty of produce this year from your healthy plants.

Best regards,

Lori & Jim

Please note:  We have suspended online sales.  Our Seedling Sale is strictly local.    We are in the Brookland neighborhood of NE Washington DC.  If you have any questions please go to our contact page.