All About Tomatoes  

While the weather is still cool in the spring, use protection (such as Walls-of-Water, pictured below, or cloches) and your tomato plants will yield much better than your neighbors who didn't use any. You can find all the supplies needed for early starts, including grow-lights and heat mats at Magnolia Garden Center.  We can help you get set-up and started if you need.

There are two types of tomato plants, determinate and indeterminate. The difference between these two types is essentially size. Determinate tomatoes have a determined growth size, and after they have reached their full, predetermined size, they will stop growing. This is beneficial for gardeners who have limited space and can only fit a certain size plant into their garden bed or deck/patio. Their fruit will also ripen all at one time, which is beneficial in the case of sauce tomatoes, as you can get one large harvest at once.

Indeterminate tomatoes on the other hand, have no predetermined growth size, and will continue to grow unabated until the first frost. They can get quite large and unruly and definitely require robust staking and or tomato cages. Their fruit is produced continuously and so there will be a constant supply of ripe or ripening tomatoes to snack on or eat. If you are planning on container gardening, these plants require a large pot.

We  carry many varieties that grow well in Western Washington.  The following is a list of those varieties we carried in 2013.  Depending on grower availability we expect to carry many of the same varieties next year, as well as a few additional varieties.

Cherry Tomatoes (click for more info and available varieties)

Sauce/Plum Tomatoes (click for more info and available varieties)

Slicing Tomatoes   (click for more info and available varieties)           

(May 2016) - Lots of Tomatoes to choose from

It should be warm enough that you can plant now without protection on your tomatoes. You should be able to harvest those first tomatoes in late July or early August. To speed things up a bit or if you are still a little uncertain how much warmth there is going to be, use a wall-of-water around your early plantings to insure an early harvest. Stop by to check out these tomato protecting devices.

Free Burlap for P-Patch Users

All out for the season, Sorry!

Magnolia Garden Center currently has burlap bags previously used for coffee or chocolate beans.  These make a good mulch for the winter garden that is lying fallow.  If you could use some in your P-Patch please come by with your P-Patch card and we'll see that you get some burlap!