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Deb Babcock: Can we grow tomatoes here?

Deb Babcock

Online

Tomato seeds mentioned in this article can be found on the Web at sites including: victoryseeds.com, seedstrust.com, seedsofchange.com, henryfields.com and burpee.com.

If you go

What: Vegetable Gardening Basics class

When: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 20

Where: Steamboat Springs Community Center

Cost: $25

Call: Reserve a spot by calling

970-879-0825

On Feb. 20, the Routt County Cooperative Extension Office and its master gardener program will offer a repeat class on vegetable gardening. Last year, about 100 people attended to learn about which vegetables can be successfully grown here in the Yampa Valley.

Mostly those vegetables include cold season crops, such as salad greens and most root vegetables that have the added benefit of easy storage into the winter months.

But what about tomatoes, just about everyone’s favorite vegetable? (Scientifically, it’s really a fruit.)



Because our growing season is so short and tomatoes do not flourish in the cold soil and cool temperatures that we experience from September through May, they are not a prime crop for commercial production. Generally, tomatoes will not set fruit or ripen if temperatures dip below 55 degrees F.

However, individual gardeners in the Yampa Valley can and do grow tomatoes, usually in containers that can be moved to warm locations when temperatures drop. Many start their plants indoors or they plant seedlings with significant foliage already started in the nursery.



If you plan to grow tomatoes in a container this season, start with a container at least 12 inches across with drainage holes in the bottom. Plastic or glazed ceramic pots or wood barrels and baskets are better than clay pots since they won’t dry out as quickly. You can start your plants indoors now, if you like, and expect to transplant the seedlings or move the pot outdoors in June when the weather cooperates.

Be sure to harden off your seedlings before setting them out. This means set your pot outdoors for longer periods of time from several days to a full day and night before leaving them outdoors permanently for the summer. And as Eileen Grover warned at the classes we held, “you’ll need to be married to your tomatoes,” meaning she moves them indoors on cool nights and back outside the next morning, all summer long.

Use loose, well-drained soil with lots of organic matter mixed in for best results. Tomatoes thrive on fertile soil. Check daily to see if the soil needs watering and begin fertilizing in mid-summer.

For our short growing season, tomato varieties that we’ll have the best luck with are those with fast maturities. Here are some varieties to consider (listed by hybrid name and days to maturity):

■ Siberia: 50 days

■ Oregon Spring Bush:

60 days

■ German Queen: 55 to

70 days

■ Glacier: 55 days

■ Early Girl: 50 days

■ Sasha’s Altai (orange tomato): 59 days

■ Galina’s Cherry (yellow cherry tomato): 59 days

■ Extreme Bush (heirloom):

50 days

■ Fourth of July (cherry):

49 days

■ Marmande: 65 days

■ Matt’s Wild Cherry (heirloom cherry): 55 days

■ McGee: 55 days

■ Sweet 100 (cherry):

55 days

■ Tiny Tim (cherry): 45 days

■ Ida Gold (heirloom: orange) : 59 days

■ Stupice: 50 days

■ Azoychka (yellow):

60 days

■ Golden Bison (yellow):

59 days

■ Orange Banana (yellow): 52 days

If you’ve never had luck gro­wing tomatoes in Routt Cou­nty, give some of these shorter maturity varieties a try, or purchase plants already started. Some seed sources are listed in the box accompanying this article.

Deb Babcock is a Master Gardener through the CSU Extension Routt. If you have any quesitons, call 879-0825.


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