tomatoes, fennel, It's About Thyme

irrigation techniques for raised bed gardens. Expect a Sunday pm
lecture on this later in the spring.
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No shortage of dandelions in our landscapes these days. Rather than
weeding your lawn and throwing them on the compost heap - how about
making a dandelion salad or, better yet - Dr. Lehman's DandelionWine.
Details at the Old Fashioned Living website:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/dandelion.html
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'Fennel is the glamour girl of the cool-season kitchen garden' wrote
Renee Studebaker in an excellent story in Wednesday's Austin American
Statesman. "With its creamy white, curvy base that gradually tapers into
slender green stalks tipped with frilly fronds, fennel lends an airy and aromatic
presence to an otherwise earthy(and dare I say frumpy?) garden of beets,
turnips and cabbages." Click fennel for complete story.
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Questions About Tomatoes

by Chris Winslow

This has been a week of frequently asked questions about tomatoes.

Gardeners are anxious to get started, but as we know from this week's
snowy Tuesday, Mr. Winter hasn’t released his grip quite yet.

When is it safe to plant tomatoes?

The simple answer is: when the last of the freezes and frosts is behind us.
The average last freeze date for the Travis / Hays county areas is the first
week of March. The last frost date: around March 15.

It’s important to remember that these dates are averages. Last spring my
tomatoes in my northern Hays county garden were toasted by a very late
frost on April 7.

Opinions differ. Some farmers say the day after Easter Sunday (if Easter is
early). Others plant when the mesquite trees budded out. Another said the

safest indicator is the pecans. After their leaves come out… it never frosts.

Over at Finca Pura Vida Farm in Fayettville, Edgar Chaves has already

confidently put in his first crop. He gets this early start by surrounding
his plants with cages and covering them with protective row cover if frost
is in the forecast.

Why so early? Edgar likes to take advantage of the cooler weather because
tomatoes don’t set as well when the temperatures climb in the nineties.

What varieties of tomatoes will I have the most success with?

The most popular is the suitably named Celebrity. Gardeners grow this
tomato 10 to 1, and everyone loves the taste.

Other popular varieties: Merced, Big Boy, Better Boy, BHN 444, Carnival,
Valley Girl, and Amelia.

Most gardeners concur that cherry tomatoes are bullet proof and will
continue to produce even in the hottest of summers.

The most popular cherry tomatoes: Sweet One Hundred, Big Cherry
Large, Sweet One Million, Small Fry, and Yellow Pear.

My two favorites are Juliet and Sun Gold. They produce handfuls daily…
and these rarely make it to the kitchen because they were so sweet.

Are there any new tomatoes being released this year?

Yes! Phoenix tomato has all the buzz right now. This tomato had its debut
at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, and was presented to the public
on Feb. 4by the San Antonio Master Gardeners.

Phoenix has a mid-size fruit that’s highly adapted to hot conditions. It’s a
vigorous plant with good leaf cover and will set fruit in hot and dry conditions.

(We have 6-packs of Phoenix for $3.29; $1.99 for 4.5" round pot.)

Fellow gardeners, I can’t wait to trial this new variety as well as the 30 others
I’ll plant in my 16’ by 32’ garden. I’m going to do many trials at the nursery
as well. Come see! Happy gardening everyone.