Favorite Tomatoes

We are asked all the time what our favorite tomatoes are.  So here they are

Steve - Red Currant A So. American species, not a true tomato, ideal for salads & snacks. 15-20 ¼” sized fruit per cluster a crunchy, fruity flavor, sweet yet tart.  Sweet 100  Huge, multiple-branched clusters of 1/2 inch very sweet fruit with high vitamin C content. Mouth-watering flavor. Vigorous vines bear abundantly until frost and need staking for best results. Indeterminate

John - Bull’s Heart Italian heirloom colorful pink/red fruit, wonderful sweet flavor. Heart shaped fruit 2 pounds and up.  Sun Gold Very sweet, bright orange cherry variety. Grows in long clusters, a real taste treat, sweet, fruity and delicious.

Lori - Brandy Wine Very old Amish heirloom smooth texture, legendary rich, succulent flavor fruits up to 1 – 2 pounds.

Dorene - Brandy Wine Very old Amish heirloom smooth texture, legendary rich, succulent flavor fruits up to 1 – 2 pounds.  Bull’s Heart Italian heirloom colorful pink/red fruit, wonderful sweet flavor. Heart shaped fruit 2 pounds and up.  Black Krim Dark brown-red tomatoes are large, 10 to 12 ozs., and very richly flavored with just a hint of saltiness. Color is darker in hot weather, and fruit seems to set well even in the heat. Prone to cracking, but a very heavy producer. Heirloom from the Black Sea of Russia. Indeterminate.  Lemon Boy  The first lemon yellow, not golden, tomato variety, and still one of the best. Extremely vigorous plants produce large harvests of attractive fruit that weighs 8 ozs. or more. Flavor is outstanding, mild and sweet yet tangy and definitely not bland. This one is easy to grow and understandably one of our most popular yellow tomatoes.

As you can see there are a wide range what we like, but the fun is in growing and trying new varieties.  So try something new this year, who knows you may find a new favorite. 

Master Gardener Classes May 2010

Growing Orchids
Join Master Gardener Heidi Napier for her presentation on growing orchids and caring for them in El Dorado County.  Plan to bring any of your orchids that may need attention or repotting, and you'll receive hands-on help.

Saturday May 1, 2010 9 a.m. - noon
Government Center Hearing Room, Bldg. C - 2850 Fairlane Court, Placerville

The Herbal Garden
Master Gardener Virgina Feagans will give a presentation on ornamental and culinary herbs.  You will learn how to incorporate herbs into a landscape design, learn which herbs grow best in El Dorado County and how to care for them successfully.

Saturday May 8, 2010 9 a.m. - noon
Veterans Memorial Bldg. - 130 Placerville Drive, Placerville

Container Gardening
Do you want to add a splash of color around your front door?  Are there times that your perennial beds lack color and bloom?  Container gardening is a great way to add new elements of interest and beauty to your garden.  Master Gardener Julianne Melchor will help you create a container garden that suits your needs.

Saturday May 15, 2010 9 a.m. - noon
Veterans Memorial Bldg. - 130 Placerville Drive, Placerville

Beekeeping
Bees are a critical part of gardening and without them, we would not be able to enjoy many of our fruits and vegetables.  However, bees are under threat of greatly diminishing in population, or even disappearing altogether, because of inappropriate use of pesticides.  Join Master Gardener Sharlet Elms for her presentation on how to raise bees and handle them safely.

Saturday May 22, 2010 9 a.m. - noon
Veterans Memorial Bldg. - 130 Placerville Drive, Placerville

Camino Garden Center
3400 Carson Ct.
Camino, CA 95709
stevenlauder@hotmail.com

Contacting Camino Garden Center

To contact Camino Garden Center you can call us at 530-647-0910 or email me at stevenlauder@hotmail.com.  Please do not press reply on emails from the website, I do not get these emails.  In fact these emails end up at one of our fellow customers inbox, I think I have taken steps to prevent them from receiving your responses, but in any case they are not coming to me.  Thankyou in your help in this matter. 

Steven Lauder
Camino Garden Center
530-647-0910
3400 Carson Ct.
Camino, CA 95709

Tomato Planting Guide

Tomato Planting Guide

First lets understand some terminology, many have heard of indeterminate and determinate tomatoes. But do you know what that means? Determinate tomatoes varieties tend to reach a fixed height and ripen all their fruit in a very short time. Some examples include many of the paste varieties, “Ace”, “Celebrity”, and “Patio.”

Most of the tomato varieties grown in home gardens are indeterminate vining tomatoes. They will continue growing until they are killed by frost and keep setting fruit throughout the growing season. Some examples are “Beefsteak”, “Big Boy”, “Brandywine”, and “Early Girl”.

Heirloom and Hybrids are other words commonly spoken when discussing tomatoes and vegetables. Heirloom tomatoes are vegetables people had saved the seeds and replanted each spring continuing the line of the plant over many years. Heirlooms are openly pollinated vegetables, which means they can produce seeds that can produce the same tomato the following year. Openly pollinated also means they can cross breed with other tomatoes in the area making a different tomato from the resulting seed.

Plant breeders cross breed compatible types of plants in an effort to create a plant with the best features of both parents. These are called hybrids and many of our modern plants are the results of these crosses. In the agriculture industry farmers are looking for more disease resistance to protect their crops. As a result many hybrids are more disease resistant. But farmers are also looking for fruit that hold up better to shipping and look real good in the stores, at times this has come at the expense of taste. Ultimately the decision is yours.

Wait until Mother’s Day to plant your tomato plants outdoors. You can start your tomatoes indoors earlier, but resist the temptation to plant them outdoors earlier than Mother’s Day.

Plant your tomatoes in Gardner & Bloome Harvest Supreme, its 15% chicken manure and earth worm casting will provide enough fertilizer to get your plants off to a good start. After a month you will need to start a fertilizing routine. Tomatoes are hungry plants; use Gardner & Bloome Tomato Food for an organic choice. Now is a good time to add agricultural lime to your soil, this will help in preventing blossom end rot. Blossom end rot is the brown leathery spot on the bottom of the tomatoes that can form from lack of calcium.

Pick a very sunny location to plant your tomato. Pull or cut the leaves off the bottom 3rd of your tomato and plant it deep enough to bury that portion of the plant’s stalk.

Watering your tomatoes is very important and the amount of water will very based the plant’s location, weather temperature and humidity. If using a pot ensure there is plenty of drainage for your tomato. In the hottest weather you will most like have to water everyday. It is important to maintain a consistent soil moisture to prevent fruit problems. Consider adding a small deep watering stake to aid in putting water and fertilizer directly on the roots of the plant.

Consider planting marigolds around your vegetable garden to aid in keeping bugs off your plants. This technique will not stop all bugs, but it will add some visual interest to your vegetables.

Dogwoods are Here!!!!!

Cornus Florida Rubra
Pink Flowering Dogwood

Height 20’

Spread 20’
Fall Color: Red
Flowers: Pink

Cornus Florida Sunset
Cherokee Sunset Dogwood
Height 20’
Spread 20’
Foliage: Variegated yellow and green
Fall Color: Red
Flower: Deep Pink to light red



Cornus Kousa Satomi
Satomi Dogwood
Height 20’
Spread 20’
Fall Color: Red
Flower: Pink

Cornus Kousa Milky Way
Milky Way Dogwood
Height 20’
Spread 20’
Fall Color: Bright red
Flower: Large creamy white



Cornus Nutallii Goldspot
Goldspot Dogwood
Height 35’
Spread 20’
Foliage: Varigated green splashed with yellow
Fall Color: Red
Flower: Large white blooms twice