The Planning of the Planting

Do you know what you'll be growing in your garden plot this year? It's always a good idea to plan well ahead, especially if you're growing everything from seed and will need to start them indoors. Check out this Vegetable Growing Guide for a timeline on when best to start your seedlings. To follow this timeline you will need an estimate of when the last frost will be for your area from the Canada Frost Dates. Gardener's Web also has some great resources for planting guidelines where you can choose where you're located, the vegetables you want to grow and etc.

For some different vegetable ideas check out Lee Valley's article on trending veggies.

Choosing Tomato Variety Seeds

“Which tomato seed varieties should I start?” is is a very common question, and choosing the wrong varieties in Calgary will mean lots of green tomatoes in the fall. Calgary’s Zone 3a climate is not tomato friendly, so the list of genuine options here is quite a bit shorter than it is in other locations. Tomatoes are tropical vines, so our short season, very dry climate and cool nights are not to their liking! So we have to be selective. Each summer I grow 50 varieties in open beds, and to be quite honest, I can easily provide a short list of varieties which always do well for me. I grow both hybrid and open pollenated varieties, so am not aligned on either side of that debate.

So here are my Calgary stars, where you can most easily find them, and a short blurb about each. I do not have a greenhouse, so my list is directed to gardeners in the same circumstance. Let’s start with cherry tomatoes where the clear winner is SunGold F1. In my community sampling bed last year (11 cherry tomato varieties), not a single person said any of the other 10 varieties were tastier than SunGold. Case closed. Seeds are available in Calgary from Garden Retreat.  My two favourite small earlies are Stupice and Early Treat F1. Stupice seed can be found at Garden Retreat, and Early Treat F1 is a Burpee seed available in their displays at Greengate, SuperStore etc. A bigger early which always does well for me is Moskvitch. Unfortunately I have not seen this seed in Calgary but it can be purchased from EBay seller (and Calgary master gardener), aprilshowers2010. My most successful determinate variety is Arctic Fire, from Alberta based Bow Seeds, available at Sunnyside. Moving to midseason varieties the three I recommend are Big Beef F1, Early Girl F1 and Caspian Pink. Big Beef F1 is sold by McKenzie Seeds and available in their big box displays. I have not seen Early Girl F1 or Caspian Pink seeds in town this year, but aforementioned Calgary master gardener aprilshowers2010 lists both inexpensively on E-Bay. Late season varieties? I don’t have any to recommend since our climate does not reliably support them. Are there others? Of course there are – my list is based on 
what has reliably done well for me. Good luck!

 Sun Gold F1 - Season: Early, Type: Cherry, Size: ⅖oz, Colour: Orange, Taste: Intense, Origin: Japan, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Hybrid, Leaf: Regular, Height: 60-72". It has become the most popular cherry tomato of all time. The sweet-tart intense fruity flavour is amazing, developing early, so it is great a week before full maturity, when it becomes very sweet and delicious.

Stupice - Type: Salad, Season: Early, Size: 1-3oz, Colour: Red, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Open pollinated, Leaf: Potato, Height: 48-60". This Czech tomato from the 1950s is valued for its early maturity and sweet taste. The yield per plant is extraordinarily high. This potato-leaf heirloom is a very cold-tolerant tomato that bears an abundance of deep red fruit.

Early Treat F1 - Type: Salad, Season: Early, Size: 2-4oz, Colour: Red, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Hybrid, Leaf: Regular, Height: 48-60". An early Burpee hybrid similar to, but not identical to Fourth of July. The germplasm for these two varieties is different, but the resulting flavour of Early Treat is very much like the Fourth of July variety – which is average, but very reasonable for an early variety.

Moskvich - Type: Beefsteak, Season: Early, Size: 6-9oz, Colour: Red, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Open pollinated, Leaf: Regular, Height: 48-60". An appealing extra-early tomato with fruit which are smooth, deep red with a fine rich flavour. Moskvich is a cold tolerant heirloom variety from Russia which produces good yields.

Arctic Fire - Season: Midseason , Type: Slicer (Medium), Size: 4-6oz, Colour: Red, Taste: Mild, Origin: Canada, Plant: Determinate, Breed: Open pollinated, Leaf: Regular, Height: 30-36". Arctic Fire is a large, early tomato. Almost seedless, having solid red flesh with fine flavour. They do not need pollination, therefore can set fruit well through cold weather.  Plants stay compact and fit well within a tomato cage.

Big Beef F1 - Season: Midseason, Type: Slicer (Large), Size: 10-12oz, Colour: Red, Taste: Balanced, Origin: USA, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Hybrid, Leaf: Regular, Height: 40-48". One of the finest hybrids for home gardeners. Impressive yields of extra-large, smooth tomatoes with real old-time flavour. Its virtues include great disease resistance, early midseason harvests and enormous fruit until the end of the season.

Early Girl F1 - Type: Slicer, Season: Midseason, Size: 4-6oz, Colour: Red, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Hybrid, Leaf: Regular, Height: 48-60". Early Girl produces bright red, meaty tomatoes with good flavour and aroma. Its globe-shaped fruit are perfect for slicing on sandwiches and for salads. This variety starts bearing fruit earlier and produces for longer than other medium-sized tomatoes.

Caspian Pink - Type: Beefsteak, Season: Midseason, Size: 6-16oz, Colour: Pink, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Open pollinated, Leaf: Regular, Height: 40-48". An heirloom tomato that originated in Russia's Black Sea region, this variety yields large, finely flavoured pink tomatoes on vigorous vines. One of the best tasting tomatoes on the market.

From 2014 Season:

1. Big Beef F1

2. Steak Sandwich F1 (not discussed)

3. Moskvich

4. Early Girl F1

5. Early Treat F1

6. Stupice

7. Arctic Fire

Thank you to Richard for submitting this post.

Simply The Best Edibles

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Starting your 2015 tomato seeds

Starting your 2015 tomato seeds“When is the right time to plant my tomato seeds?” The basic rule is 6-8 weeks before you want to plant them out in your garden. So when is this? In Calgary our average last frost date (ALFD) is May 23^rd, but don’t consider this our planting date since on average, there is a 50% chance of a frost after that. I like to set my tomatoes out a week or two after the ALFD, most typically the first week in June. So, if we want to plant our tomatoes this year on June 6^th, our seed starting date should fall somewhere between April 11^th and 25^th. Can you start them sooner? Sure, but there is limited benefit in setting out plants just a bit older than the recommended age. Hang in there, there are still a few weeks to go for tomatoes! If you just have to plant something right now then consider pepper, gazania, impatiens or snapdragons. These all take 8 to 10+ weeks so now is the right time to get them started.