Bull Nose Sweet Pepper
Tiny Samoa Hot Chile Pepper
Farmer's Jalapeno Pepper
Manzano Pepper
Etiuda Pepper
Albanian Red Hot Pepper
Cowhorn Pepper
Syrian Three-Sided Pepper
Beaver Dam Pepper
Dino Eggs Tomato
Cascade Lava Tomato
Dark Galaxy Tomato
Indigo Apple Tomato
Indigo Cherry Tomato
Indigo Rose Tomato
Sinister Minister Tomato
Amethyst Cream Cherry Tomato
Kosovo Tomato
Rebel Yell Tomato
Bear Claw Tomato
Goose Creek Tomato
Pink Sunshine Tomato
German Lunchbox Tomato
Chocolate Lightning Tomato
Cow's Tit Tomato
Rebecca Sebastian's Bull Bag Tomato
Monkey Ass Tomato
Mule Team Tomato
Seattle's Blue Woolly Mammoth Tomato
Reisetomate Tomato
Isis Candy Tomato
Jersey Devil Tomato
Azoychka Tomato
Mark Twain Tomato
Pork Chop Tomato
Jesus Tomato
I had wanted to do several side-by-side comparisons. I have several strains of Brandywine, different types of cherry tomatoes, and multiple versions of pear tomatoes. This year I'm going to grow out and compare Pink Sunshine to German Lunchbox, I'm going to compare the different Indigo varieties I have, and I still plan to try to seed out the five or so versions of pear tomatoes I have, just to see what the kids like best. Next year maybe we will do the Brandywine and the cherry tomato comparisons.
Current forecast suggests we could get anywhere from 7-13 inches of snow between Friday and Saturday. They keep changing it. Tony said at one point he saw a weather alert announcing nearly two feet of snow anticipated, and after that it said 1-3 inches total, and now we're up to 7-13. I don't think the weather forecasters know what to expect anymore. All I know is that I have fruit trees and berry bushes ready to get planted, but every time we start to thaw out, we get more snow.
If nothing else, the birds enjoyed the warm day. It was in the mid 40's today which left puddles in the driveway and yard. The ducks, chickens, and guineas wandered the yard, playing in the puddles, nibbling grass, and stealing the seeds that fell under the bird feeders. Poor things are going to be disappointed when we get hit by a blizzard in a few days. On the plus side, the high temps for the forecast are all at or above freezing, so hopefully the snow won't stick around too long.
Our yard is largely clay soil, and I'm seeing the results of the thaws with giant puddles. Parts of the yard are completely under water. Great for the ducks, not so great for the kids who want to play outside. Short of filling the yard with gravel, or hauling in tons of soil - does anyone have any good tips on what we can do to help create a better draining soil? I've never had clay soil before, so this is all new to me. We are planning to do a layered garden system when the weather permits... Cardboard, compost, then possibly mulch (if we can afford it). That said, I certainly can't do that to the entire yard. There's got to be some other way. I wonder about using some of the flooded space to plant a fruit tree with lots of compost around it. Would that be a waste of a fruit tree? Or would it promote better soil health and help prevent future spring floods? We had some pretty heavy rains last summer, but the puddles always dried up pretty quick/ I think it's still frozen deeper down right now and it's preventing the yard from fully draining. Alas, the balance between happy ducks, and sopping children has yet to be reached.