House in the Woods Heirloom Tomato Plant Sale

SALE DATE--Saturday May 9th, 10am-4pm

This year we will have open sale dates instead of pre-orders. We have plenty of tomato seedlings in great varieties.

Our plants are certified organic and sustainably-grown. They are open-pollinated and heirloom (except for the honorable Sungold). Grown in our small-farm greenhouse in a healthy, homemade, all natural living soil (unsterilized) compost blend. These are "hand-grown" and cared for plants from seed to sale! When you plant, pour all the great soil in with the plant. All our plants are “indeterminate” which means they continually produce new fruit and vines throughout the season—this means an extended season of ripening tomatoes. It also means they continue to grow like a vine, so they can get tall. Stake them well.

What are Heirloom Tomatoes? Heirlooms are…old, pure varieties known for their unique colors and wonderful flavor. More than hundreds of these family-heirloom varieties exist, seeds passed down and treasured for generations. Hybrid tomatoes were developed by industry in the fifties for red color and thick skin for transport to grocery stores. You won't find tomatoes this good in the grocery store, and you won't find these seedlings at a megastore garden shop.

Variety list will be on our website within the week. See our website for photos of many of the tomatoes at http://www.houseinthewoods.com/.

Sale is at House in the Woods Farm, 2104 Mt. Ephraim Rd, Adamstown, MD 21710. Please bring a box to take home your seedlings. Pay by cash or personal check.

Return the pots--We would love to reuse the pots we sell to you. Hang a plastic bag of our pots from our mailbox after you plant, and we'll use them again next year. (We don't make much use of other miscellaneous sized pots, so we don't need others).

Thank you for supporting our farm! Please send this post to friends who might be interested in plants.

~~~~~~~~Planting timing and tips~~~~~~~~

When to plant? Plan to plant your tomatoes between May 5-20. The old wisdom of planting tomatoes and flowers Mother’s Day weekend is a good one. Some people plant early (with some extra risk of frost damage) and some wait until early June. We have risk of a night frost through May, so watch the forecast if you plant early. You can even rig up a sheet or row cover over some t-posts, chairs or tomato cages for a cold night!

Transition time-- Your plants would benefit from a couple days of protection before you plant, if you can offer it. You can keep them in the pots on the sunny side of the porch for a couple days, bringing them in on colder nights. Next to your house, they will have some wind protection.

How to plant? Dig a hole deep enough to bury the lowest leaves. You can even bury a couple sets of leaves if the stem is that long. Tomatoes like it that way. They are really vines and will grow quite tall. Put the compost from your pot, and extra if you have it, into the hole too, or pour it around the plant. Pour a couple cups of water around the stem area, to melt the soil around the plant. Sometimes the leaves look sad for a couple days but then they perk up. In a week the leaves will deepen green and be happy. Put a sturdy tomato cage over each plant, right away or within a week before the plants get too big.

Return the pots--We would love to reuse the pots we sell to you. Hang a plastic bag of our pots from our mailbox after you plant, and we'll use them again next year. (We don't make much use of other miscellaneous sized pots, so we don't need others).

Ilene and Phil Freedman
2104 Mt. Ephraim Rd
Adamstown, MD 21710
301-607-4048
blog.houseinthewoods.com
http://www.houseinthewoods.com/
ilene@houseinthewoods.com