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All You Need to Know to Grow Amazing Tomatoes (and a garden) in North Carolina
To help you grow the most amazing tomatoes, we’ll discuss a concept called Sister Regions. Just as human sisters can often wear the same pants, Sister Regions can happily grow the same plants. But if your rainy region isn’t akin to where a plant—like tomatoes—evolved, then they may struggle to do well, no matter how much effort you put into it. We’ll dig into the origins of the first tomato plants and their circuitous route to becoming the most valued vegetable (or is it a fruit?). Expect these mysteries to be unravelled, as Frank Hyman—author of Ripe Tomato Revolution—also throws in a few of his revolutionary tomato growing techniques that aren’t found in other books or blogs: a Tomato House? a straw bale patio? a compost bin on wheels? Expect your tomato growing to be radicalized.
Meet the Instructor: Frank Hyman
Few garden designers have Frank’s breadth of education or experience: he studied horticulture under the late JC Raulston, namesake of NCSU’s arboretum and learned design from Tracy Traer, Denis Wood and Will Hooker, who has had several installations at the NC Museum of Art. Frank is also a stonemason, carpenter and sculptor; he learned stonemasonry from the late Arch Haithcock of Blue Ridge Stone, learned carpentry from Green builder Mark Marcoplos and apprenticed with Raleigh’s first organic landscaper, Bob Mulder.
In his youth Frank farmed organic vegetables in Granville County, picked oranges in Spain and worked as an IPM scout for tomato farmers in SC. He restricts his garden design/plant/build business, called Cottage Garden Landscaping, to what he calls the “bungalow neighborhoods” of inner city Durham and yet manages to stay booked up as much as 6 months in advance. He uses his knowledge to create innovative and beautiful gardens that don’t need babying. Frank has written about gardening for since 1990 in the N&O, Herald-Sun, Independent Weekly, Carolina Gardener, Backyard Poultry, Horticulture and many other magazines. He gardens with his wife, Chris Crochetiere, at Bayleaf Cottage, their home in Durham.
Additional Workshop Information:
This workshop is eligible for use with a season pass.
Youth under 18 may attend free with an adult registered for the same workshop (1 youth per adult).
