planted one tomato

[redbird]

I have put one (1) tomato plant in a container, and watered the previously transplanted cucumbers and tomatoes.

I was going to transplant three tomato plants, and maybe a couple of cucumbers, but instead of the full bag of potting/garden soil I thought I had, found a partly empty bag of soil that I know isn't the one I bought.

I will probably pull out the non-lettuce salad greens, which are working on being ornamental (flowers!) and use those containers for other two tomato plants. The tomatoes arrived significantly late, which seems to miss the point of pre-ordering seedlings. And then I was sick enough that I wasn't even going outside.

The tomato I transplanted is an heirloom strain, Paul Robeson, which I discovered at a farmers market when we lived in Washington. It's said to need a longer growing season than average, which means putting it in the ground halfway through June, in Massachusetts, may be cutting things close. (What puzzles me about this is that it's a Russian variety, supposedly bred for that climate.)

Sometimes choosing things because you like the name works.

Also, the lettuces are still small, and tasty (not bitter), and I saw a flower on one of the cucumber plants.

Comments

[adrian_turtle]

What puzzles me about this is that it's a Russian variety, supposedly bred for that climate.

Are you puzzled because "Russia" doesn't imply "long growing season" to you any more than it does to me? I would expect parts of Russia to have climate like ours, though. And I know Robeson traveled in the USSR after WW2, and he and Russia were impressed with one another.

[redbird]

The Robeson-Russia connection is straightforward. What's puzzling is the idea of a Russian variety needing a longer growing season than the varieties that I see at the farmers market here and/or did in New York.

[coyotegoth]

There’s a tomato strain called Paul Robeson? Must investigate.