You sir have some of the most beautiful tomatoes I have ever seen and your garden beds are immaculate. Kudos to you as i know the hard work and hours involved in all that is your gardens
Sorry to be so off topic but does someone know a method to get back into an instagram account?? I was stupid lost the account password. I would love any help you can offer me
I love that he just remembers which tomatoes are planted in each spot by memory. Impressive. Good rundown of a lot of varieties. Plants look awesome. Barely any Septoria leaf spot.
Now THATS ⬆️ a tomato garden! Extremely impressed with the growth and vigor of your plants! This is something I aspire to. I have 16 tomato plants crammed in my little back yard as well with 60 pepper plants. We recently bought 40 acres and I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to do my garden beds, I really like your how your tomato beds are built. Once again really something to see and realize that tomatoes can grow this large and healthy.
Hi! They are extremely vigorous. Soil makes a incredible difference. I'm glad you enjoyed the video and best of luck with your new property. Thank you so much for watching/commenting! Happy Gardening! -Mark
The robustness of all those maters!!! 😍🤩 I’d love to see the insides of them too! A few things I’ve been learning about nutrients and organic ways of getting them. Just a suggestion share for anyone interested. Lime is a good soil additive for calcium, but the manure more than likely has a tremendous amount of nitrogen and the lime releases calcium slowly over time. A quick calcium fix is: 1) 1Tbs ground Eggshells (like in a coffee grinder. Really pulverize to a powdery type substance) 1Tbs distilled vinegar Combine, let bubble and foam til it dies down, about 30 min. The calcium counteracts the acid in the vinegar. The vinegar releases the calcium. Win win. Add to a gallon of water and it’s immediate bio available calcium to stop the end rot. 2) antacid tablet dissolved in water also provides immediate calcium. Water plants with it. There’s natural antacid tablets without all the colors and yuck you find in the flavored and colored tums types. Best to apply when flowers form but can apply once the deficiency becomes clear to prevent end rot before it hits any more! To enhance fruit flavor and keep leaves from getting those burnt edges with potassium!: Once fruit begins to form or you see burnt looking edges- combine 2Tbs molasses in a gallon of water. Water with it til ripe. About 1x per week. Gives the tomato incredible flavor and provides potassium. You can even spray on the leaves and they will uptake the potassium. Blessings to y’all!! 🙏🏻💞🙌🏻 Mark your a gem 💎! Honest, no frills content that is such a pleasure and a joy to watch. Thanks for sharing this amazing space and all your labor of love with us! 🤗 Truly incredible to see such a young guy using his talents brilliantly. BTW...The overalls and flip flops are awesome! 😁
This guy is not gardening on this planet. He is on some other garden planet without pests, disease, rot and failure to thrive. I want to move to his planet and crank out the awesomeness that he is producing.
Wow! Tomatoes look great! I live in the South and we have a short window for tomatoes. Plant seeds indoors January or February, plant in ground April or May. This year it was almost May. July and August plants stop producing and start dying from the heat. I mostly plant determinate tomatoes. I take cuttings off of those and root in water in June and pot plant those in the shade until September or October. They will last until the first frost kills the plants in December and I use all the Green tomatoes for fried tomatoes or relish and salsa. I called the fall season green tomato season. When temps start reaching 90s tomatoes slow down or stop producing and when temps hit 100s the plants start dying. I start hitting those temps in July.
Another excellent video Mark. I was incredibly impressed with your knowledge of each variety. Especially how you knew each variety by name! didn't notice the plant tags stapled to the raised beds until you got to the black tomatoes (specificly the Cherokee Purple). Which is another great idea by the way. I'm growing 17 of the varieties you're growing... and agree 100% with your comments. Sun Sugar, Pink Brandywine, Chefs Choice (orange) and Ananas Noir are personal favorites. The only variety I'm growing that you didn't mention is Black Beauty. It's the blackest tomato i grow, extreme anthocyanin expression. Excellent flavor. Again, great info.
Hey Doc! No, thank you! What a awesome thing to say! Thanks for watching and of course, taking the time to comment too! Spread the word if you would. I need all the help I can get! -Mark
Great land, great yard. You have nice two hills up there above the garden. Which are great for the speed of the wind. You could grow grapes there aswell. Im from croatia and we usually plant few lines of cucumbers near the garden of tomatoes, i dont know why, but all old people do it. My family also plants few bayleaf trees on the corners of the tomato garden aswell. We are also massive tomato addicts and fanatics, but we have completely different variations of them. Would be happy to get some of those seeds that are less acidic, it is good for our elders. Our southern european tomatoes are more acidic. Wish i lived little a bit norther, cuz my tomatoes are dried out in 3 months. Btw. it is great that there are americans that are still living like us, nourishing our farming heritage. News on TV are showing us totally different picture of america. Modern society trends greatly distanced alpha men from farming and self-sustained village life. Funny thing, i have no idea how ur video poped up to me haha, cuz i just literally planted 240 little plants 2 days ago for this summer. Wish you all the best, keep up the hard work, make others proud of you.
Thank you Jure! That's very nice of you, Americans come in all shapes and sizes... we are a very diverse country with very diverse beliefs. It can be a strength of ours and a challenge of ours at the same time. I consider myself very fortunate to have been born here. As far as the older ways of doing things, the passing down of knowledge to later generations... I do wish there was more of that... The internet has taken the place of much of that I suppose. I want you to know that I greatly appreciate your letter, and I wish you the best of luck! Thanks again -Mark
Hi Joseph! Thank you! Honestly, I just don't show the messy parts. lol I do work everyday at it and to tell you the truth, I truly love doing it. Thanks so much for watching and commenting! Happy Gardening! -Mark
Hey Buyerofsorts! I did enjoy that garden a lot last year. Thank you and keep giving me feedback good and bad if you would. As always, thanks for watching! -Mark
Virginia Sweets is my all-time favorite!! I live in the deep south of Mississippi and they are very difficult to grow here but I do it anyway even if I only get 1-2 tomatoes before the heat or disease kills them. That 1 or two tomatoes are totally worth the wait! You have a beautiful garden!
Thank you!!! Virginia Sweets are just wonderful. Yes, we're very fortunate here in Maryland... Our tomatoes seem to be pretty happy here. Thank you so much for watching!
Yes it would! For this year's upcoming tomato review, I'm going to plan it out a little better, I'll have them already picked, and then I'll slice them on cam like you say. This first tomato video was just sort of improvised. I'm actually very surprised it's reached so many people by now. Thank you so much for watching!
@@marksgardenlife5971 It was nice to have a walk around the garden anyway so a combination of both perhaps, on what your experience with the plant, production, any traits etc. Unless it is more or less the same then just the taste test part for this year.
Nice job with the video... Added to my growing list Sun Peach! Looking forward to your tomato season 2021. I only grow tomatos. I am in Vancouver, Washington
Kelly, thanks again! I was out west a few years ago for several weeks and really enjoyed it. I loved Seattle with it's Japanese Gardens and the airplane museum was great! We are putting a large Japanese Garden here on the farm, so I learned a lot visiting the two in Seattle and all the others heading south I visited too. The Olympic National Park was incredible and I actually had great weather while there! Enjoy the Sun Peach and again thank you! Take care, Mark Spread the word on my channel if you like it!
Amazing garden!! Would LOVE to see a video on your planting medium, how you plant these, why you use the square cages...basically, how we can replicate these tomato results in our own gardens!!
Hi Victoria! Thank you! I am getting ready to do a video on my planting medium, so keep an eye out for it. Also one is coming out this weekend on how I make the square tomato cages as well. Thanks for the suggestions! Thank you for watching my video too! Take care! -Mark
you sir obviously know your stuff.your tomato plants look great.super healthy you can see that by the color and production you have.kudo's to you.wish i could get plants looking like that.i do have what might be a record...2 pink brandywine plants produced 62 tomatoes on 1-plant and 69 tomatoes on the other plant.have not been able to come close to that production again though.plants were 8ft tall.
Such a beautiful garden, I plan to separate my rows and grass in the paths. Great video and only make me more interest in trying more. I did grow lights and seedlings for the first time and have 10 -12 type and a brandy Winesap and a hillbilly for my test year. Thanks
Hi Balaji! Yes, I do have some big ones! I like a neat and organized garden. That's such a kind thing to say! Thank you! Thank you so much for watching and of course complementing too! Spread the word of my channel if you would. Balaji, you have a wonderful day/evening! Best, -Mark
Awesome content! It doesn't look like you single stem any of your indeterminants, can you do something on the cages you are using and how you manage disease.
Wow. Blown away with your tomatoes. Excellent vigor and health amongst all. Have a bit of tomato envy and surprised u don't gave more subscribers. Anyway, I've just subscribed as your crop is so awesome, it inspires.
Hi Colin! It's interesting trying all the different varieties and believe it or not, there are huge differences in taste. Thank you so much for watching/commenting! Happy Gardening! -Mark
Hi there! I just came across your channel I enjoyed getting a glimpse of your tomato set up. I am also a fellow Marylander and look forward to learning from someone in the same area!
Hi Cyannmarie! Actually, I am going to have a few "tour the garden and meet and greet" days and if your interested, of course your welcome. There is also a few acres of greenhouses as well. Next year, I am going to hold a tomato festival at the farm too which you may be interested. Thanks for watching! Take care, Mark
Hi Dan! Any time! Glad you enjoyed! I'm getting ready to do a tour of the greenhouses today, so you may like that one as well. Thank you for watching! -Mark
Agree separate tomatoes by their uses. Also thy don't always peak the same day of the year, I'm ordering the chefs choice Orange and the Big hybrid of the wine family. Thank for showing many of a fire collection
I just found your channel today. Wow those are some immaculate tomato plants. How do you keep the blight away? Looking at your other videos, I see there's one about tomato cages. Those are some of the best tomato cages I've seen yet. Thank you.
Hi Tom! Playing catchup with getting back with comments. I'm sorry for the delay! I haven't had any problem with blight yet, but you never know. I have excellent air circulation where the garden is located and that probably helps. The tomato cages.....yes, I love them. They are very heavy and will last for years and the best thing is I can break them down and stack and store them for the winter. Tom, thanks so much for watching and I hope I keep it interesting enough for you to continue watching my channel. Thanks again! -Mark
Hi Sara! One of the sweetest tomatoes on the market. Typically, I can't walk past the Sun Sugars in the garden without grabbing a handful! Thanks so much for watching my video and I hope you enjoyed! Take care, Mark
FYI: Saving seeds from sun sugars have not produced the same results compared to the original hybrid. I have tried for years and have had nothing come close. I have grown sun sugars for years...they are the best!
I've added White Tomesol to my list... I was considering downsizing the tomato area this season, but I am already reconsidering... There are just so many new ones I'm dying to try. Thank You for the recommendation! -Mark
I tried out the dwarf variety Patio this spring and they were very productive from March/April-June. We had a heatwave where it was 110-118 degrees every day for weeks, I was sure the plants were toast considering how crispy they got but they've pulled through. They've even started producing again, I have 3 of them in a 17 gallon grow bag. I'm also trying out some dwarf Geranium Kiss tomatoes. I also decided to plant two arid cherry tomato varieties as well as some other cherry tomatoes. I planted multiple seeds in each grow bag and decided to see which ones would survive the desert heat. I started out with around 25 seedlings in early May when it was in the upper 90s/low 100s and only 5 survived the blast furnace and were flowering today when it was 106 degrees. Gardening in the low desert is a challenge.
Hi Kathryn! And I have been thinking it's hot here! Of course, we have horrible humidity along with the heat which you don't, but that's still so hot! 90f is considered hot here! I bet it is a challenge! Best of luck to you. Thank you for sharing that with us! Kathryn, you have a great weekend! Best, -Mark
@@marksgardenlife5971 June 30-September 15th is considered our rainy season. 110 F and 50% humidity is pretty miserable. We've had our third wettest summer on record. We've gotten almost 13 inches of rain between July 1st-August 31st. Most of us hide inside during the day in the summer, I tend to do most of my gardening after the sun goes down. Thankfully the weather is cooling down so it's supposed to be in the 90s with about 75% humidity thanks to the hurricanes in the gulf of Mexico and the gulf of Baja. It rained all day today, almost all of my plants definitely appreciate it. The one exception is my thyme plant which succumbed to a combination of too much water and dozens of cabbage loopers, tomato hornworms, and sphinx caterpillars.
Thank you! Yes, I was very pleased with the first years crop out of this garden... I'm really looking forward to this year! Thanks for watching! Best, -Mark
Nice video & lovely garden. I’m in Texas & have put in a wheat straw bale garden for the first time. I have more produce than ever before. I need a ladder to pick my tomatoes. I prune the tomato lower limbs as they age & turn yellow. It makes them leggy & I use ties to secure them to the trellis. It doesn’t appear that you prune at all perhaps your climate is better??? Wanted your opinion on pruning. I can highly recommend a variety called “lemon boy”. They & the Cherokee purple have been my favorite this year. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Susan! I would love to start a straw bale set up... Customers here at the nursery who have done this all seem to say great things about them. It's a bridge I just haven't crossed yet. Lemon Boy is a great variety... Nice round fruits. Lemon Boy and Golden Jubilee are kind of neck and neck for me. My Purple Cherokee isn't doing so well this year which makes me a little sad. Such a great tomato. I do have a pruning video on tomatoes... It's called: "Tomatoes- How to Prune/ Water/ Best Practices" It pretty much sums up how I feel about pruning. Thank you Susan for commenting, I apologize for the late reply. Best, -Mark
I believe the current record holder is a “Domingo” which weighed around 4.8kg/10lb 12oz 😁🍅 that would be one hell of a hefty mater! 🤣👌🏼 am trying the variety this year - I don’t expect anything quite that size in my UK greenhouse 🤣 great video - such an array of toms and that’s only what I’ve seen in this video! Will be perusing your channel 😊👍🏼
Hi there! Yes, I need to get Domingo into the Roster... I cant imagine what a 10lb tomato must look like! I really appreciate you watching... I hope you can write back and let me know how Domingo worked out for you!. I've got 20 something new varieties from a friend of mine that I am adding this year so please stay tuned! And please spread the word if you can! Best, -Mark
Mark's Garden Life thanks Mark! I most certainly will stay tuned! Looking forward to seeing what you have growing this year! 😊 Domingo is one for you for next year then! 👌🏼
Most of those varieties never seen before. Some of them looked like mini pumpkins! The size of the plants are big..its like you got a forest of tomatoes in your garden!
Unbelievably beautiful garden. I don't know where you find the time! Just the investment in your cages boggles my mind. What is your soil breakdown and amendments that you use?
Hi there! My soil breakdown is listed in one of the comments just below... Every year I will be adding more stuff though. Gotta keep feeding the soil and building the ecology. I think I will do an in depth look at soil in a video later this spring, so please stay tuned! Yes, there have been a lot of late nights haha... last night I didn't put the tools away until 10 lol. Thank you for watching! -Mark
Your plants look so healthy, and it looks like you don't even prune the bottom leaves off. Can you share your secrets to such healthy, full tomato plants?
Hi Sarah! It's totally in the soil. If you get a chance, watch my video on my garden soil. And no, I don't do any pruning at all. Sara, thanks for watching and also for taking the time to send a comment to me. Hope the soil video helps! -Mark
What an impressive garden! Your tour satisfied a night's worth of Pinterest garden photo binging for me What's the story with this place you're in? Is it a larger farm that you run and this is your personal garden?
Yes, blueberry and midnight snack were not amongst my favorites as far as flavor goes lol, but we all know everyone has different tastes. The plants themselves were beautiful though!!! I'm looking forward to trying some new tomato varieties this year. I'm glad you liked my video, Thanks so much for watching! -Mark
Maybe you are actually about 3 ft tall, and the Camera is fooling my eyes! LOL, I swear that big one you pulled gave you a bicep! ....I am leaving, right now! I cannot watch this! LOL Gorgeous!
I grew German Johnson this year. It is the only variety that got blight very early. I've been keeping it under control but very disappointing. All of the others were fine. There has been some spread to near by plants now.. Size of the tomatoes is good but I haven't had a chance to taste it yet, the critters beat me to it. I'll be taking care of that today!
Try adding Limestone... the calcium may help with skin health. That's something I neglected to add this past year and I did ok, but things would have been better for me if I had. Always make sure to wear a mask when handling ground limestone... It contains silica. Thank you for watching! -Mark
Your garden is AMAZING!! I have a small backyard garden in TN (about 10 tomato plants - Paul Robeson and Dr. Wyche). Grew my tomatoes from seed and they did great! ... right up until I transplanted. Something is eating the entire seedling all the way down to the soil :( ... any thoughts/suggestions?
Do you have much disease pressure where you are at? I dont see much if any disease,,,What do you use for disease? What do you use for fertilizer? Great looking plants man!
He lives in zone 7a which really doesn't get much disease pressure unless the the leaves touch the dirt where fungal disease gets on them which is the yellow crippled leaves on the bottom which usually doesn't affect the fruit either
Hi Kenan! Thanks for the kind words! Starting this coming season, you can purchase through a seed company I'm starting which will be on line this coming late fall. Thanks for watching! I'm glad you enjoyed. -Mark
I will do a series this year on tomato plants this year.. Following planting, to maintenance, to harvest... Please keep an eye out for it coming up. Best, -Mark
Hi Mark! Yes, literally lately! Was 100f here yesterday! Remember, beauty is only skin deep! Thanks for watching and commenting too! Spread the word! Mark, have a wonderful day/evening! Best, -Mark
Beautiful part of the world. Very idyllic! Who would have thought that one can get so many varieties! But also makes sense... very interesting. I learnt something! What do you do with all of your produce? [probably a stupid question]
Hi Stephen! Yes, it is a nice area. Actually, there are over 10,000 varieties of tomatoes! Isn't that something! The produce......it goes to people that help on the farm, friends, and gets donating to food pantries, shelters, etc. Thank you for watching/commenting! Stephen, you have a great labor day weekend! Take care, -Mark
@@marksgardenlife5971 - 10k! That IS something! Amazing actually. So appreciate the food-ethic! Like it very much. Talks to me as a person. Yes, have a great Labor day weekend. I live far away in South Africa! A world away but I can certainly appreciate your piece of heaven. 🙏😍
Beautiful garden! What is that mulch you are using? I have been growing Sunsugar for over a decade they are my favorite. Mortgage Lifter is a new favorite for the larger tomatoes.
Hi Patti! I thought I was going to be sick of tomatoes by the time the season was over last year but it never happened! I satiated my cravings with canned tomatoes that turned out awesome! Thanks for watching!! -Mark
lol For whatever reason, thank you for watching! I've never thought of myself as sexy so thanks for the very nice compliment also! And I hope you keep watching too! A new video is being posted today. Have a great day! Take care, --Mark
Do you do any pruning on your tomatoes or just cage them in? Also, when growing so many varieties do you collect seeds for saving and do they cross pollinate?. Really amazing garden!
Young man I must say you sure know how to grow maters lol. Looks like your tomatoes do incredible and you dont buy into all the pune to single stalk deal. Proof is in your puddin for sure! Looks like you plant them feed them and dont overthink it.
Hi there! I won't say I'm not guilty of overthinking things sometimes... I just try to just improve a little every year. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Thank you for watching! -Mark
These tomatoes are green!?? Is it permissible to use it for eating? It looks immature because it's green Or is this a difference in types? The farm is very nice and clean
Hi Saif! Actually, that particular variety is that color when ripe. I grew so many varieties last year, so a lot of diversity in colors when mature of course. The farm.......Not always, but thank you! Thank you for watching/commenting! Happy Gardening! -Mark
Have you considered doing what japan does and trimming extra fruits to increase the flavor and quality of the fruit? In japan a bunch (not even 2lb) of grapes sold for over $11,000usd because of how they focus on quality over quantity. A high quality mango can sell for over $80 in japan, a single strawberry for $20+ (if it's high enough quality), I've been considering doing this on a test bush.
Hi Vandius! That sounds like something fun to experiment with. I may just give that a try this season and if I do, I'll do a video on the results. Thanks for the suggestion! If you do and think about it, would you let me know of your results too? Thank you! -Mark
PS May I ask what is your latitude? The healthy foliage at tomato maturity is astonishing and I wonder whether you think not pruning has prevented fungal problems? This is such an enticing video to watch when dreaming of next year’s plantings here in the Southern Hemisphere.
Our Latitude is 39.5 degrees N. I doubt not pruning has prevented fungal problems, I think the best defense is the abundance of nutrients in the soil. I would prune the lower leaves if I pruned at all. Thank you so much for watching! Best, -Mark
I’m jealous but not of the tomatoes although I respect the work. I’m jealous that you can wear flip flops in the garden. Tried that until the fire ants introduced themselves to my wittle piggies 🤣 Aunt Ruby’s German Green & Cherokee Purple are two of my fav. I’m amazed at the monsters your pulling out and the bushiness of your plants. Other RU-vidrs really push trimming Toms. Do you trim yours at all?
Hi Kelly! OUCH! We are lucky, no fire ants this far north. Trimming.....No, I don't trim at all. To many plants! Kelly, thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed the video. Take care, -Mark
I find calcium and well drained soil are the best remedies for cracking... I didn't add calcium last season but definitely will go somewhat heavy on it this season... Thanks for watching! -Mark
My garden has excellent air circulation. I think that helps a great deal and mold is something I have not had to deal with yet. I hope you enjoyed and thanks for watching! -Mark
Yes, it's ironic you say that!.... I just sold those two varieties to someone looking for 2 "snacking tomato" plants at the nursery today. Excellent cherries! Thank you!
@@marksgardenlife5971 Your work and love of gardening is inspiring Mark! Off to plant more trees.......thank you very much for putting out content for us all to enjoy. 🌱👍🌻
Hi Ella! Too many plants I guess, If I had less, I would probably prune more, but they seem to do alright enough without it. Thanks for watching! -Mark
These are the healthiest tomato plants I’ve ever seen! It looks like the soils are very well drained and extremely fertile. How do you prepare your soil and what kind of mulch is on the tomatoes?
Hi Sulyn! I just posted a soil video where I explain some of these things in detail... Just go to my channel, or check out this link to the video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7n41v1D-3yM.html Thanks so much for watching! -Mark
Hi Dj C! No fertilizer at all. I'm going to do a video next week of what I did with my soil to improve it which was fairly poor to start with. If you are interested, keep an eye out for it. Thanks for watching. I really appreciate that. Take care, -Mark
Manure, Manure, Manure for the most part. I use cow manure from a neighboring organic dairy farm... Sooo much better than anything out of a bag. I'll be doing a video describing my soil in the near future so please stay tuned! Thanks for watching! -Mark
