SAVING YOUR TOMATO SEEDS

If you’re thinking about starting your own tomato plants from seed, you’ll be glad to know that it’s easy to save the seeds from heirlooms and other ‘open-pollinated’ tomatoes.  One reason for this is that tomatoes are self-pollinating.  This means that each flower is ‘perfect’, containing both male and female parts, and the arrangement of those parts is such that the female part (the stigma) is rarely exposed to the outside world before having been thoroughly ‘impregnated’ by the surrounding pollen-bearing anthers. Bees and other insects don’t really figure into the pollination of tomatoes. There are some older varieties derived from wild tomato that may be more vulnerable to cross-pollination, but don’t worry about that now.  Do not bother to save seeds from hybrid varieties – only about 25% of them will resemble the plant from which you saved seeds.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

Clear cups, small jars or glasses

Small fine strainer

Paper towels

Adhesive tape

Permanent marking pen

Non-chlorinated water (filtered, spring, etc.)

• Choose the best, fully ripe tomato(es) from the most vigorous, disease-free, productive plants.  Just to be on the safe side, choose fruits from the center of the plant where they are farthest away from other varieties. Do not save seeds from tomatoes you think might be disease-infected.
• Label a clear glass with a piece of tape with the variety name and the date.
• Cut a tomato horizontally across the middle.  This exposes the seed cavities.
• Gently squeeze out the jelly-like substance that contains the seeds into the glass.
• Add an inch or two of non-chlorinated water and stir.
• Optional: Cover loosely with plastic wrap or waxed paper if you wish (if you are sensitive to mold spores, you may wish to include this step).
• Place on a warm (60–75 degrees F) shelf or counter where you won’t forget about it.
• Optional: stir once a day.
• Check after 3 or 4 days.  A thin layer of whitish film (fungus) will have formed on the surface. It eats through the gelatinous coat surrounding each seed that inhibits germination.  The fungus also produces antibodies that help control seed-borne diseases like bacterial spot and canker.
• Add warm water to the glass.  Let the contents settle and begin carefully pouring off water along with pieces of pulp and any floating seeds (any seeds that float are immature and will not germinate).  Repeat until the water being poured out is almost clear, with clean seeds resting at the bottom of the glass.
• Pour the seeds and water into a small, fine strainer (the spaces in the mesh must be smaller than your seeds).
• Tap the strainer to eliminate excess water, and invert the seeds onto a piece of folded paper towel.  Try to spread the seeds into a single layer, but don’t fuss over it.
• Immediately label the paper towel with the name of the tomato variety.
• Allow the seeds to dry thoroughly- usually a day, sometimes more or less. Break up any clumps of seeds stuck to one another.
• Label a paper envelope with the variety name and the year, seal and store in a cool, dark, dry location.  Some seed-savers like to keep seed envelopes in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
• Tomato seeds should remain viable for at least 3 or 4 years when properly stored.  Dryness is the most important factor.

Winter Watering Reminder!

The weather’s looking to be mild for the holidays, but a bit DRY!  All this sun and wind, with just a little snow, is stressful to our plants, so don’t forget to give your plants some water.

This is especially true for new plantings, evergreens, and roses and most any plant that was planted in September or October. These plants are especially vulnerable and are more likely to suffer or die from dehydration than from cold.

[Read More]

With this week’s unseasonably warm weather, there’s more time this fall to be out in the garden than usual.

DON’T BE TEMPTED TO CLEAN EVERTHING UP!

It’s important to leave many of those leaves and plants alone to support our insect, bird, animal and soils! It might be the most sustainable thing you can do this season.

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Are mosquitoes bugging you?

Mosquitoes are a problem this year. “Mosquito Man” Bob Hancock at Metro State University of Denver stated recently “We are not only breeding crazy numbers of mosquitoes here in Colorado with our rainy year, but we are keeping the ones that we’re breeding alive because it’s not getting as hot as it usually does.” Mosquitoes can be vectors for various diseases including West Nile Disease. Be proactive!

[Read More]

Colorado gardeners know that the first hard frost date here varies wildly from year to year, and from the valleys to the high elevations. Here in the Boulder Valley we are expecting the temperature to make its first dip into the frigid zone tonight, with a prediction of 29 degrees, just one degree above ‘hard frost’. And our first snow is predicted for Thursday. This may translate into a lot of flower, fruit, and vegetable crops cut short, and a lot of work protecting vulnerable plants, harvesting, and preserving. How many of you spent the weekend making pesto, tomato sauce, pickles, jam, and flower bouquets? Here are our recommendations for cold weather and snow preparations.

COOL SEASON VEGGIES – To minimize damage, harvest leaves from your kale, chard, spinach, etc., then cover the remaining in-ground plants with a couple layers of Ensulate Row Cover fabric. Avoid using plastic sheeting directly on plants as it transfers cold to the foliage and fruit. Secure the Ensulate fabric with rocks, bricks, sandbags, and clothespins, especially on the windward side, to prevent the cold wind from getting underneath. Large over-turned plant pots, lined with bubble-wrap will suffice as well. especially for smaller
plants. In either case, the snow on top of the fabric and/or pots will also help to insulate the plant.

TOMATOES & WARM SEASON CROPS – Harvest tender annual/warm season veggies such as tomato, pepper, eggplant, tomatillo, basil, summer squash, bean, cucumber, etc. Unripened tomatoes can be placed on a windowsill to mature – so long as the tomato is showing at least some lightening of the green skin to pale green or white, it will likely ripen. Another option for tomato plants still bearing fruits: Pull the tomato plant and its roots out of the ground and hang it upside-down in a frost-free place such as a heated garage, where much of the fruit should continue to ripen.

WINTER SQUASH – If still on the stem, the fruits of winter squash and pumpkins should be fine through a frost but not a hard freeze; cover with Ensulate fabric and secure fabric edges with clothespins to prevent wind from opening the draping. If necessary, utilize hoops or poles to aid in draping over bulky plant material. Any curing squash and pumpkins should be moved to inside a hoop house, cold-frame, or garage.

ONIONS – Pull onions whose tops have fallen over and are pushing up through the soil. As with the squash, bring curing onions inside.

PERENNIALS – Harvest remaining flowers to enjoy indoors.  Recent plantings that are not yet established and small perennials such as cyclamen can be covered with an overturned pot as shown above, or drape Ensulate fabric over a tomato cage to protect perennials or potted annuals.

SHRUBS & TREES – These in-leaf plants are the most vulnerable to damage as the wet and heavy snow can break their branches.  To help prevent this, knock the snow off the plant periodically by pushing on the under-side of the limb with a light-weight rake rather than striking downward on the branch or plant. For small trees and large shrubs, you can grasp the trunk and gently shake the plant to remove a good portion of the snow. (Wearing a hood and looking down before the snow plummets are key to ensuring your comfort!)

SMALL SHRUBS – Valuable, young woody perennials and shrubs, such as Daphne, can be protected by covering with over-turned plant pots to help protect their branches from breaking. If a big pot is not available, a folding table can be erected over the plant that needs protection, or a sawhorse with a tarp over it to make a ‘tent’ with edges secured to the ground with rocks, bricks or pipes.

As Colorado gardeners, we’ve come to expect snow in October (last year it was October 10). It looks like this weekend might give us our first real freeze and chance for snow (the earliest recorded area snowfall was in 1961 when Denver received over 4″ of snow on Labor Day).

This translates into a lot of flower, fruit, and vegetable crops that are still productive that you might want to protect, harvest, and preserve. [Read More]

There is so much to look at when you visit Harlequin’s Gardens, it isn’t easy to take it all in!

Today we’re highlighting Special Products that may have escaped your notice, but which will greatly assist your gardening efforts.

[Read More]

As Colorado gardeners, we’ve come to expect snow in October. But on September 9, 2020 we saw a temperature swing of more than 60 degrees, going from record-breaking heat to one of the earliest recorded snow falls in the state.

This translates into a lot of flower, fruit, and vegetable crops cut short, and a lot of unanticipated work protecting vulnerable plants, harvesting, and preserving. There are measures you can take now to be prepared to protect your gardens from cold weather and snow when they arrive, suddenly or not. The following tools, techniques, and ‘props’ can make the difference between life and untimely death of your plants during inclement weather.

[Read More]