Pixie Hybrid II Tomatoes
Off-season vegetables are always a treat and a conversation stimulator, and one of the best is Burpee's 'Pixie Hybrid II'. This tomato is blissfully happy indoors, in pots and window boxes. It is a fast-growing variety and tops out at an average height of 18 inches. Crown outdoors in the summer. 'Pixie Hybrid li ripens in just over 50 days from the time seedlings are planted indoor growth takes somewhat longer. Careful planning, per the chart below, can keep you in tasty, bright-scarlet...
Season Extenders
Sooner or later every backyard gardener will look for ways of extending the growing season. This is usually done by protecting the plants before and after the last spring frost and after the first frost in the fall. Devices such as cloches, hotkaps. grow tunnels, and cold frames all help you get an early start on your crops. The general purpose of all of these devices is to improve the climate right in your garden by trapping the warmth of the sun during the day and holding it around the plant...
Tomato Cages
This is my favorite method of staking tomatoes. Cages are easy to store and last indefinitely. You can buy tomato cages 40 inches tall or make them with reinforced galvanized wire mesh 51 2 linear feet of 6-inch-square mesh 40 or more inches wide will make an 18-inch-diameter cylinder of good height. Secure cages to stakes to prevent toppling over. Place each cage around a single plant the shoots will grow and enlarge within the cage. As the plants grow taller, a second cage can easily be...
Starting Seeds Indoors
By sowing Bibb lettuce or cucumbers indoors even though they can be direct sown in the garden , you can enjoy your crop weeks earlier and weeks longer, stretching the season. Some plants take a long time to mature. In most climates, tomatoes. peppers, and eggplants direct sown outdoors after the weather has warmed enough may not have time to produce ripened fruit before the fall frost. If you are a northern gardener, indoor sowing or purchase of bedding plants for some varieties is a necessity...
Hybrid and Openpollinated Seeds
At Burpee we are frequently asked why some seeds are more expensive than others. The answer is that hybrid seeds are more expensive to produce than open-pollinated varieties. Hybrid varieties are particularly easy to grow and harvest, and there are many wonderful varieties available at good prices. Hybrid seeds are produced by crossing two different parents, and will grow only one generation of plants. The offspring from a hybrid revert to resemble the parentage, so saving seed from hybrids is...
