I live in the Lake Superior region, and grocery store hothouse tomatoes up here are inedible. If you want decent tomatoes, you must either buy in to a CSA, become friends with a generous gardener, or grow your own.
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What Plants Are You Growing?
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I live in the Lake Superior region, and grocery store hothouse tomatoes up here are inedible. If you want decent tomatoes, you must either buy in to a CSA, become friends with a generous gardener, or grow your own.
I'm afraid I can't answer that. But to be safe, you can read up on it and buy a plant of that variety. There's a handful of them. You're going to have to do the research yourself to be sure. From what I understand, it involves harvesting healthy flowers and thoroughly washing them, then patting them dry. Then you cook them in a preserving solution of sugar and water. Here's an example. I've also seen large flowers that were sliced open and candied that way.
http://www.fruitland.us/product/dried-hibiscus-flower/?v=7516fd43adaa
Taste wise, it's tart and sweet. Maybe with a hint of rose but that may be an added flavoring during the candying process. It's similar to dried cranberries but not the same. I have a few varieties of edible hibiscus, one of which is hibiscus rosa senesis, and I wash and dry the flowers for herbal tea.
In my apartment I cannot plant anything. With that said, for my two rascals, I'm going to get a couple of avocados and let them start growing. I'm hoping they will enjoy watching it sprout.
That's interesting because the greenhouse tomatoes I've eaten in Minnesota where good. I assume in the near future, if not already, those will be grown in the city in hydroponic warehouses where I assume those will get all the nutrients they need to taste good.
That's interesting because the greenhouse tomatoes I've eaten in Minnesota where good. I assume in the near future, if not already, those will be grown in the city in hydroponic warehouses where I assume those will get all the nutrients they need to taste good.
They're just never ripe. I've never tried to use the old paper bag trick to ripen them but that would probably help. The only properly ripe tomatoes I can get at the store are cherry tomatoes.
I agree except for the following, which seem like an exception to the rule. They are still not as good as home-grown, but they are much, much better than all other store-bought tomatoes I've tried:
I've never tried those tomatoes, and I'm hundreds of miles away from the nearest Trader Joes - but I'll be traveling near one this summer so perhaps I'll give them a shot.
The soil up here is very poor, but that's no excuse because one can always get bags of good topsoil. The short growing season is more of a challenge - I've been struggling to choose the right moment to start my seeds indoors.
Absolutely nothing to see here. Not growing nothing. I think that smell is carried by the wind from about 2 miles away. And no you can't see for yourself.
That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
What a beautiful, fascinating, endlessly engaging planet we are lucky enough to live on.
Horticulture (I prefer the simpler gardening) has to be humankind's oldest skill. And one that teaches us how to live in harmony with nature. She can be persuaded and encouraged, but she won't be controlled or rushed.
Horticulture (I prefer the simpler gardening) has to be humankind's oldest skill. And one that teaches us how to live in harmony with nature. She can be persuaded and encouraged, but she won't be controlled or rushed.
Yeah, I'm a tomato nut, been growing them a few years now. It's pretty tough because in the south you have root knot nematode in the soil and lots of diseases, pests and humidity that makes it much more challenging, so I tend to grow during cool weather. I grew almost 100 plants this year, next year I will grow less plants but more productive variety.
Some tomatoes photos, enjoy: https://goo.gl/SYmxIh
Some tomatoes photos, enjoy: https://goo.gl/SYmxIh
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I just noticed the 6th photo is a Devil Trumpet, not an Angel Trumpet.As Spring 2017 comes early to the Houston area, we've been replacing our plants killed by the dreaded freeze of 2016 starting in Early March.
First, the fatalities. Many of our Lantanas (the verbena family, Verbenaceae) croaked. Inexpensive, fast growing and easy to replace. I love their citrus smell.
Several of our Hibiscus also expired, but one is growing back from the roots. Those are abundantly available for purchase, inexpensive, fast going, and easy to replace. Our favorites are the double blooms, similar to:
Not as available are what have become one of my favorite yard plants, the Golden Shrimp Plant, (Pachystachys), it grows about a meter tall with conical blooms that look kinda like shrimp! According to the link, it's native to Peru. In the Houston area, bronze varieties are everywhere, however, we had to drive 20 miles to find the yellow variety. If you live in the Houston area, our favorite Nursery is Maas Nursery, in Seabrook, Texas. It's like visiting the jungle!
The Passion Flower (vine) I cultivated from the nearby woods expired, but I'm not sure it was due to the freeze. They survive freezes around here (in the woods). We replaced this with one from a nursery, but I could only find red and purple ones
Maas Nursery, Seabrook, Texas
Another favorite plant (also found at Maas Nursery, but not this time) is a purple Angel Trumpet plant (Brugmansia, Brugmansia arborea) that expired. We also have the yellow variety, that did survive. I was shocked to read in the link that this plant is classified as extinct in the wild parts of South America with tropical and more hearty varieties. I suppose either to habitat degradation or it being harvested for resale?
Also our Rangoon Creepers (Chinese Honeysuckle, Combretum indicum) may have been murdered by the cold, but this is uncertain. They have yet to be replaced.
On a brighter note, although our Geisha Girl srubs (Duranta erecta) , and Split Leaf Philodendron died back to the roots, both have resprouted!
