Welcome and Introduce Yourself!

[Arjan vD]

Welcome!

http://jandlgardens.com/xencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=625

The weight in Gold above bred by Lee Goodwin at J and L gardens in New Mexico? I need to try growing it again. My 2020 plant didn't make fruit to save seed from. I only planted a few seeds. One or the problems with having so many segregating populations of tomatoes is its hard to give other people's tomatoes a decent trial.

Yes it was the weight in gold from jandlgardens.
Unfortunately I don't have much experience with the pure weight in gold, it was sown really late and I managed to ripen only one fruit in late november and that was the fruit that was pollinated with dwarf champion so it was used for seed collection.
I tried growing it again this year but the late blight was really bad this year and it got infected even though it was growing in my greenhouse so it got removed.

[Arjan vD]

Hi Arjan,
         I'm new here too! ... Thankfully December is a good time for reading and dreaming!! There is a HUGE amount of fascinating reading available on this forum.

         In your cut flower past do you have any experience with Freesias? I've been messing about with dwarf Freesias for a while. (Tho' as with all things horticultural, Brexit has somewhat clipped my horizons!)

Tim DH
     

Hi,
Yes this forum is very interesting for breeding. I was nice reading al this information the past year now it is time to contribute myself.
No experience with freesia's. We grow cutflowers outdoors and I believe freesia is mainly grown in greenhouses in our country

[Richard Watson]

A warm welcome to Arjan, Tim and Ryan. Good to have some new fella's on board

[Nicolas]

Welcome all ! Have a good time reading, sowing, breeding !

[Tim DH]

Further to my initial introductory post. ....

I was looking at Tomatoville again this evening. .... I don't know what made me try it, but I asked the computer to log me in (The computer remembers these things. ... I don't!)

Tomatoville is now accepting the second ID I created, back in October. .... I'm a bit nervous about also trying the first one!!!!

Anyway. ... Although I originally joined here as a ''Tomatoville substitute'' I'll definitely be staying since I've had so much engaging fun discussing a whole lot more things than just tomatoes..

Thanks for your hospitality. .....

Tim DH

[Randy Simmons]

Hi.  I'm Randy here and on Permies.  My name is Oliver on Tomatoville.  I started gardening 5 years ago when we lived in a rental house and have been gardening on my own property since 2019.  It was tough to decide between the schools of thought around me: some swear by hybrids from the farm store and others by heirlooms.  Reading Joseph's posts on Tomatoville lead me to Permies.  There I saw William S.'s posts which lead me here.  This forum pointed me in a direction I didn't even know existed a year ago and now I lurk here to absorb wisdom from it's members.  Anyway, thank you all from Randy in South Dakota.

[Steph S]

Welcome Randy.   I lurk and read at Permies because my searches often end up there.  It seems like a good place. 

[William Schlegel]

I mostly just lurk at permies now. I don't feel like I have enough control of the content I produce there. I sometimes beg them to let me fix an old post though and they do let me. Also if someone asks me a quesion on an old post of mine there I do answer and every now and then I post. Mostly I'm just here though. Tomatoville may have missed out on my fellowship. I used to be able to log in but not post and now I can't even do that. Not terribly inclined to rejoin.

Welcome Randy, well met and good to have you on board.

[AndrewB]

Further to my initial introductory post. ....

I was looking at Tomatoville again this evening. .... I don't know what made me try it, but I asked the computer to log me in (The computer remembers these things. ... I don't!)

Tomatoville is now accepting the second ID I created, back in October. .... I'm a bit nervous about also trying the first one!!!!

Anyway. ... Although I originally joined here as a ''Tomatoville substitute'' I'll definitely be staying since I've had so much engaging fun discussing a whole lot more things than just tomatoes..

Thanks for your hospitality. .....

Tim DH

Welcome Tim,

Though this forum is not dedicated solely to tomatoes as some other forums have been in the past, I really think you will find more friendly people here. It seems the toxic atmosphere at tomatoville has gotten worse. I was surprised my account still worked, so I just posted and asked them to close my account today. I honestly haven't been comfortable over there for some time as the owner is known for being less than friendly, to put it kindly.

Anyway, please don't let my sour attitude dismay you from using this or any other forum that you would like to participate in. A forum is only as good as the number of people who use it and contribute content. I understand lots of people lurk on this and other gardening forums because they don't think they have anything to contribute, but that is very wrong. Questions are very welcome. Pictures of everyone's garden is always nice too!

[Richard Watson]

Hello Randy and Tim and welcome

[Tim DH]

Tomatoville is a very oddly run site. It recognises me as a member I've just checked and at the moment there is one member (me!) and 14 guests looking at it. Although it calls me a member I am not allowed to post! I'm not allowed to look at the photos AND I can't access the 'Members Only' threads!!

I would have thought that without properly admitting new blood the forum will eventually expire. There was a thread a few weeks ago, started by the administrator, hinting at the imminent demise of the site. Lots of people chimed in with offers of support. I don't know what the outcome was, because after a while that thread got moved to a 'Members Only' section!!

Anyway. .... Since landing here I've been very happy (not to say tempted!) by the broader range of topics. SO many things I'd like to join in with. Apart from the Toms, my beans and maize are both benefiting from the additional input.

Tim DH

[whwoz]

Welcome Tim, yes TV has always been run by one individual, largely set up to assist another, whom has since passed away.  Do not know the full story behind setup, but the owner is not the same since the loss of friend and has had several dummy spits.  One lead to the formation of an alternative site, Tomato Junction, where most keen former TV members have migrated to.

There is no need to dig around for the reasons behind the formation of TJ, but things got very ugly for a little while. It may have been better if the alternative plan that was initially adopted by the owner of TV was followed through. 

Enough said.

[Steph S]

Yea, we were all dismayed when it was announced Tville would close, and our friend Rajun took the initiative to start Tomato Junction as a lifeboat for the evacuees of the Titanic - it's a great spot and you're welcome to join there.  Lots of tomato expertise if not the vast text that Tville had amassed.  It's closer to the 'water cooler chat' for gardeners of everything, and a friendly user-driven place for that, with a nice group as well of amateur breeders.  Not dedicated to breeding as this site is.
TJ is a community driven and supported site.  The rules were voted and agreed by members, moderators are volunteers from the community and there are a few ads to pay the rent.  So it is a very different thing from Tville, being more of a private club, although the core membership were friends at TV and then made the move.
I still miss some of our old friends at the 'ville though. Some are still there, but others have just gone... still hope to see them around another bend.

[Diane Whitehead]

There is also Tomato Talk    https://www.tomato-talk.com

[Cathy A]

Hello everyone,

I have been involved in gardening off and on since growing up in a rural area many years ago.  Now that I live in Vermont, I have been learning how to garden in zone 4, with long winters, short warm seasons, standing water with poor drainage, and very poor soil. It has been an interesting learning experience.

My home is located on 2 acres of heavy clay, rated USDA class 6w. It does well for apple trees and crabapples, and raspberries, but not for much else. Most of my garden is grown in raised beds of highly enriched soil, based on Mel Bartels' soil combinations for Square Foot Gardening. I also have a couple of cold frames that extend the season, and need to build more. After almost 10 years here, I have a pretty good garden established.

I have only started to experiment with seed saving the past couple of years, and have not done any breeding experiments yet. I have read Sue Ashworth's _Seed to Seed_ and Carol Deppe's _Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties_, along with various other gardening books.

My core crops are potatoes, peas, beans, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, mustard, and strawberries, plus some spinach and herbs. (I really struggle growing herbs from seed.)

There are several things I would like to accomplish through some combination of identifying and trialing existing varieties and breeding new ones.

- Peas that will produce a good crop in the fall before winter kills them. I get good results from spring-sown peas, but only one year out of about four was I able to get a halfway decent fall pea crop.

- Tomatoes that will produce through as much of the year as possible, that will set fruit even when nights fall below 50F and will survive a light frost without protection.

- Multiplier onions that produce bulbs larger than my current shallots and potato onions.

- Beans that can produce both green beans and shellies (not necessarily from the same variety) in as long as possible of a season.

I look forward to participating on these forums!

Thank you,

Cathy