I know summer's over, but some tomatoes are still producing inside the Growing Dome. I am a happy October gardener. How long they will last depends on the temps this winter, but a lady in Pecos had tomatoes up until a February deep freeze of -20 killed them. She covered the lettuce and other greens, though, and they survived just fine.
The tomatoes are called Black Cherry.
Most of the red cherry tomatoes were gone by the time these guys ripened in late August and I'm still picking about ten a day in October. That's not many, but I still have the Cherokee Purple ripening, too, with green ones still on the vines.
A word about Black Cherry plants: They grow gimormously and I should have done a better job helping them to climb. Instead, they slumped over the tallest tomato cage so I used another tomato cage to prop it up. Branches are crawling across the dome's floor. It's The Plant That Ate Guadalupita!
How do they taste? Black Cherrys taste sweet with little or no acid depending on how ripe they are when picked. When you bite into them there's a burst of fruit flavor. Some folks describe it as smoky, but I don't get that.
I bought my seeds from Tomato Fest.
Could you put a little space heater in your growing dome? It doesn't have to be warm... most plants like the 50s and 60s better than 80s and 90s. Love the odd plants.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Yes, I could put a little heater in there for those -22 nights if I really wanted to keep the tomatoes going. I don't have electricity, just solar panels, so it would have to be propane. The Growing Dome people mention somewhere on their site the name of a particular heater they like. But if I stick to cold hardy crops, I will probably not need a heater since it gets plenty warm in there most days and stays usually 20 degrees warmer than outside even at night.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful picture, and I love your growing dome! Sure could use that here, to protect from the cold and the wind! Thanks for the link to your seed source... will have to try them out.
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