...go listen to our DUer NewHendoLib on NPR's show - Science Friday....

[nebby70]

... it's about his project creating Dwarf Tomatoes ...
... not only is it a fascinating project: our DU family shows itself as a collection of wonderfully articulate and creative people ...
... thanks for the tip on the program earlier this week, and thanks for the lovely 11 minutes of my morning Craig ...

[NewHendoLib]

1. You are so kind!

[Celerity]

4. Cograts and I will listen soon!

[paleotn]

10. Congrats! Well done.

[JHB]

2. Link

https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/dwarf-tomato-project-volunteer/

[malaise]

3. Thanks

Will watch later

[blm]

7. Thanks for that.

I need to listen.

[mountain grammy]

11. Thank you for this link..

[GoodRaisin]

16. Thanks for the link. Amazing research.

Think we’ll be buying some of these seeds for next year. 👍

[Hortensis]

5. Love that we can now choose recordings of individual segments

or whole programs. NPR's our kitchen radio's default setting.

To see segments for the entire Science Friday program:
https://www.sciencefriday.com/episodes/june-2-2023/

[MerryBlooms]

6. r&k Excellent. ❤

[burrowowl]

8. Kick

[MLAA]

9. Yeah! Way to go, NewHendoLib

[PCIntern]

12. That's terrific!!!!

What a wonderful achievement and accomplishment!!!

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Very Cool!

I quit trying on tomatoes. We just don't get enough direct sun anywhere on our lot.
Tried every tip in the book. Last year, I potted 8 plants. Varieties that were supposed to be good in pots. Good soil, big pots.
Got 6 tomatoes. SIX! $5 per tomato.
Very cool that you have mastered it.

[BlackSkimmer]

18. I have great luck in pots.

But yes, they need lots of sun and water.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. I Even Tried...

...moving the pots into the sun every day.
But, our house faces east, and; our garage is in the basement so the back yard is at basement floor level. Now, add the 2 story house & the back yard barely gets sun until after noon.
Then, we've got a 45' tall sycamore, a 40' tall silver maple, and a 40' tall alder in the backyard.
It's a death trap for plants that need a lot of sun.

[BlackSkimmer]

21. Yes, that sounds challenging. Tomato plants are amazingly hardy though.

Years ago in Florida, while living in a sort of communal area, some well-meaning idiot cut the "weeds" around my wee apartment. The "weeds" were tomato plants.

He was clueless, so I reined in my rage, but amazingly they all rebounded like crazy. That was one of my best years in all the years I've planted, andI've been doing it for 40 years at least.

Maybe try some in the ground? In the sunniest...maybe afternoon sun...part of your yard. Using tomato food does help also. I don't know where you live, but I live in the south, which is an advantage. But my friends in Wales grow tomatoes too. Keep at it! Nothing like a mater samich!

Funny thing, because I feed them to my chickens, this spring I've got "volunteers", as my mom called them coming up all over my back yard, which is mostly shady. I can't fix the sun for them, but they do love water, and I'm going to hit them with some food as well..

One already has flowered, so it will be interesting. I stopped planting so many because it's only me, but now they're everywhere (having passed through the back end of a chicken lol). My whole neighborhood knows to stop by in the summer for free maters.

So I'm happy to grow them and share with my neighbors.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Did That

The pot idea was the "solution" to not enough sun.
There are ZERO areas of the ground soil that get more than 2 hours of sun per day.
Some areas get none.
I can't grow tomatoes! I feat I'm going to lose my Sicilian-American card!

[BlackSkimmer]

23. Oh dear. Frustrating. I have had bad years, so I understand.

I'm terrible with green beans, though my neighbors are great with them. I have a green thumb with most plants, but not with green beans, and I've been a failure with peas too. Sigh.

I never seem to do well with them. Plants are persnickety!

So frustrating. I do feel your pain.

An old quote: "If you are not killing plants, you are really not stretching yourself as a gardener." Not sure who said it, but someone sent that to me years ago during one of my bad planting years.

Never give up! Oh, and I talk to mine too.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. The Right Plants

We have plenty of things that work in the shade.
To whit, this is our backyard:

[BlackSkimmer]

25. Oh, that's lovely!

When I moved into my house it had only a couple beautiful live oaks in the back, which still give shade.

But the merciless NC summer sun had dominion over the front, and even much of the back. I set about planting, and now my yard is a veritable jungle. The front yard is wonderfully shaded now

The side yard, which faces south is where I still plant my sun lovers, but honestly, I'd love for the entire yard to be in shade.

Yours is an inspiration...I'd love to have a water feature of some sort. Not sure where to begin with that.

Your walkway is wonderful! Not sure I have the skills for that, though I'm good with bricks. I've got an pathway out on the side yard, but I really need to do that in the back.

My house sits on almost an acre, so it's a work in progress. Any hints you have, feel free to share!

Love your yard, gorgeous. Damn, we need a gardening emoji! Wielding a trowel with a big hat!

[ProfessorGAC]

26. I Did NONE Of The Brick Work

The terraces, sidewalk & hedges were our 25th anniversary present to ourselves.
That was 2005. If I had been working on that walk, it would still be under half done!
The design was mine, sort of. I told the guy I wanted as many curves as possible and NO right angles.
The chevron of boxwoods at the arbor was also my plan, but he suggested the wraparound behind the arbor. We are glad we listened to him.
The front yard is pretty elaborate, too.
We live on a corner & houses across the sidesteps actually face our house.
So, we thought we didn't really have a front yard & back yard. We had a front yard & the other front yard.
There's sprinkler system installed too, but we barely use it.

[BlackSkimmer]

27. I'm on a corner too. I've always loved bricks.

it's like an addiction. My friends joke that everywhere I've lived there's a path of bricks left behind. When I see them abandoned at a building site, I'll get out and pick them up, no matter how many. The last birthday before my mom died, she bought me a pallet. I was thrilled.

I always say I'm going to roll up the paths and take them with me, but of course it doesn't work that way. Getting older now and the work is more difficult, but I still love it.

Yes, I love the curves you have in the path...I try to do that as well, plus I like to let the bricks follow any little ups and downs.

The boxwoods are great, and I love what I can see of the little statuaries. You designed that yard beautifully.

I find statues at thrift stores, and sometimes in trash piles. But I have a namaste frog that I bought, a mermaid, a large stone turtle...I could spend all day in a garden catalog. Are you familiar with windandweather.com?

If not, do NOT check it out lol. Those catalogs are like crack to me! Don't do it.

[AmBlue]

14. Great job!!

This is fascinating... and such a worthy endeavor! I am going to order some seeds.

[Tumbulu]

15. Really great project and show!!!!

Thanks so much for letting us know!

I am going to try some of these in my garden now.

[MerryBlooms]

17. r&k Excellent. ❤

Just had a chance to listen. Wonderful interview!! Well done!!

[phrigndumass]

19. Cool beanz!

Love seeing DUers rockin' the creativity! Off to spend 11 minutes learning about dwarf tomatoes

[electric_blue68]

28. Interesting! You & your co-founder all these years. And volunteers. Quite a Project!

Up here in NYC we do have serious gardeners whether by containers, or small to medium back and side yards in the more single, double home areas in the outer Burroughs.

I'd been going to the Green Markets since '81? (way less in past 15 yrs) but it was late '80s, early '90's the general public through daily papers one or two Summers got clued in on Heirloom Tomatoes. And the farmers would bring more etc That's how I found out.

So you got to name the Mysterious Purple tomato - the Cherokee Purple? Wow! Small world.
One of my favorites, along w the Black Russian for that distinctive (I think) mix of tang and ... ? smokiness.
I like sweet ones, too, like Brandywine.

My one tomato story (I was trying to see if I could find a list that might have had the name) -
I was getting (among a variety of HLs) a small ?1/3 lb round, smooth yellow tomato called _______. Among a lot of them I found (and there was nothing else identified as something distinct, and separate from these) a couple with "peach fuzz". I'd done some self educating on organic gardening a few years earlier - so I was I like, "oh?".

Anyway gave them to the farmer who knew me per se as a pretty long time customer. Would give then to his wife so she could prep the seeds for planting, and see what came up. But it didn't happen for whatever reasons.

While I have seen tomato cages has anyone ever thought of using a curving trellis for these 8ft vines for some very prolific varieties? I had no idea they grew that long. Maybe even grow something else compatible with tomatoes?


Congratulations on your Sci Fri debut. 👍