[Arid_gardener] Growing Tomatoes

[Ellen Stobaugh]

Hello to all,

I live in Pinal County, 6 miles east of the town of
Queen Creek. My husband and I have successfully grown
tomatoes here for several years. We use to start our
plants inside in December and kept them going until
after the last frost, then put them out. Then we used
the walls of water. If the plant grew above the top of
it, it would get hurt if it frosted out, but the rest
of the plant was fine. 

This past year Jim built greenhouses with metal frames
and heavy duty green house plastic. He put thermostat
controlled fans in there to cool them off in the
summer. We put them up with the idea of taking them
down in the summer, which we did the first year. This
year we left them up all summer and got tomatoes until
we were well past the 100 degree mark. The plants did
poop out after awhile, but more from the bugs that got
in there than the heat. The only thing we had to do
was to make sure we shook the cages once in awhile to
help the pollination. I still have a plant in there
that has tomatoes on it and I'm hoping we get a few to
ripen before we have another frost. 

Our bell and hot pepper plants made it through the
summer and there was just a very short period that we
didn't have peppers. 

As far as the tomatoes, we have come across a few
varieties that we now grow every year, ones that seem
to do better with the heat. And, they're not all
cherry tomatoes, but they all are on the small side!

Just my two cents and experience worth. Keep playing
around. I really think the key is to get the plants
started early.

Take care and have a great day. Happy Holidays to all.

Ellen


 
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