2008 Front Yard Tomatoes

So far in our front yard is:

Piccolo – Planted April 27, 2008.

Lime Green Salad – Planted April 27, 2008.

Aunt Ruby's German Green – Planted March 22, looks good and strong. Appears to have started to “take off”.

Green Grape – Planted March 27, good color but looks a little thin.

Blue Fruit – Planted April 3 from seed. This plant is the furthest behind but it looks like it'll make it. The question is, will it get large enough and fruit before the searing summer kicks in?

Gregori's Altai – Planted April 6 and already growing. Looks good.

Black Krim – Planted April 26, 2008.

Garden Peach – Planted March 1, looks good and taking off. If I looked closer I may see tomatoes on it.

Chocolate Stripes – Planted April 3 from seed. Looks better than Blue Fruit at this point but the same questions remain.

Husky Cherry Red – Planted March 1, looks good and strong. And as I found out this morning, there are tomatoes growing on it.

Red Currant – Planted March 1. Amazingly, this plant is about four feet tall and we're not even out of April. Dozens of tomatoes on it for sure (granted, it's a small tomato even for a cherry tomato). If I looked closer I'd probably say there's over a hundred on it. But for now, let's just say it's going like gangbusters.

Lime Green Salad – Planted April 26, 2008.

Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter – Planted March 29. The plant is starting to get some breadth, if not much height. Looks like it's about to take off.

Snow White Cherry – Planted April 6. See Radiator Charlie.

Red Yellow Cap – Planted April 6. My wife was very concerned about this one, noting damage at the stem. I'm happy to report that the plant appears just fine, and is growing.

Black From Tula – Planted April 6. Lots of breadth, if not height as of yet, but fully healthy.

Thessaloniki – Greek tomato plant put in the “koi pond” in honor of our neighbor across the street. In terms of height and breadth it may be marginally behind the others but still falls in to the strong, vigorous category.

Paul Robeson – Planted April 6 and looks good. See Snow White Cherry.

Big Rainbow – Planted March 15. It's about 18 to 24 inches tall, doing a slow rise, but looks good. Is it building to a crescendo or just slow? This plant takes a long time to mature. Time will tell.

Jaune Flamme – Planted April 6. Of the plants in the front planted on the sixth of April, this plant got the quickest start. Others have caught up to it in height and breadth but it's still a happy plant.

Zhezha (in a container) – Planted March 22 from seed. Looks good, but seems a bit slow if it's going to mature in 69 days. Seemed to have a bit of a growth spurt a couple of weeks ago, hope it continues.

Micro Tom (in a container) – Planted April 6. Novelty tomato. Looks like you need to feed it with an eyedropper. It has grown a tad to get it off of the ground and has a new bloom or two. Normally I'd take these off but this plant is so tiny (it can fit into the palm of your hand, it's about the size of an egg) I'll let it be.

Red Robin (in a container) – Planted April 6. Another novelty tomato but not as severely small as Micro Tom. Looks like it hasn't changed size at all since planting, but my wife noticed a tomato on it, so it must be doing well.

Prairie Fire (in a container) – Planted April 6. Looks good and healthy and has grown, but I'd like to see it less thin than it is. It's way to early to worry, just a note to keep an eye on it.

Taxi (in a container) – Planted March 15. Looks fabulous. Great green color in the leaves. Has five tomatoes on it and two of them are significant, maybe an inch in diameter.

Patio (in a container) – Planted February 26. Has a few tomatoes on it, with one of a significant size, about ¾ of an inch.

Last Sunday, my wife and I went to visit her mother. We planted their tomatoes in the 95 degree heat of San Juan Capistrano (very unusual weather for this time for this community). Trouble was, when we looked at Patio after we got home, it looked like it got fried in the direct sun.

We've moved it so it can “hide” behind Taxi in the heat of the late afternoon sun, gave it some extra fertilizer and some water. Later on, I used shredded paper as a mulch on this and other container tomatoes. The plant has recovered a bit, but I can't say it's fully recovered.