Our annual plant handout is tomorrow, Sunday May 6, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., at MITCH Charter School in Tualatin. The entrance will be at the back of the building because we’ll be having the handout in the gymnasium.
Don’t be intimidated – most of us are novice gardeners that are learning and sharing our experiences and our produce. Our only “ask” is that gardeners donate 20% of the produce from the plants and seeds they take. We’ll sign up new members the day of the event. So please recruit friends that are willing to grow wonderful produce for a great cause and bring them with you.
Our plants and selection get better each year. This year we have the best looking plants we have ever had, thanks to the hard working students at MITCH Charter School and the senior residents at Brookdale River Valley Tualatin. Here are some of the plant varieties that we will have available.
- Black plum tomato (great heirloom sauce tomato without the blossom end rot, very prolific)
- Nebraska wedding tomato (an orange heirloom tomato great for slicing)
- Sungold tomato (delicious orange-yellow cherry)
- Cuore di Bue tomato (very early red tomato)
- Black cherry tomato (very prolific and delicious reddish clack heirloom cherry, high in nutrition)
- Paul Robeson tomato (reddish brown heirloom with an award winning flavor)
- Cherokee Purple tomato (delicious heirloom, very nutritious, great slicer for those BLTs)
- Caitlin's Lucky Stripe tomato (an heirloom with stripes!)
- Ancho Gigantea pepper (large poblano pepper, low heat)
- Beaver Dam pepper (large red Hungarian pepper, medium heat)
- Toll's Sweet Italian pepper (large, sweet pepper, no heat)
- Early Jalapeño (small hot pepper)
You probably won't find most of these at your local nursery. We choose plants that grow well in the area, and are also high in nutritional content. As you can see, we'll have something for everyone!
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Tomatoes like to be warm
Tomatoes grow best in warmer weather. If you plant them now, use dark mulch or black plastic around the base to absorb heat during the day and raise the ground temperature. Or, keep your plants indoors until June and plant them when the weather is warmer.
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Plant Deep for More Tomatoes
Dig a large planting hole and use an organic, slow release fertilizer. Plant the bottom of the stem - and if the plant is leggy, lay the stem in the ground as shown in the photo here. Tomatoes will root along any part of the stem that is touching the ground, and a larger root system will produce more tomatoes!
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Neighbors Nourishing Communities (NNC) is an organization of neighbors gardening to raise fresh produce for local families in need of food support. We provide plants, seeds, instruction and site consultations in exchange for 20% of the produce raised. For more information visit our website at http://www.NeighborsNC.org
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