Tomato Analysis For May

Since we're at the end of the month, let's do a comparison to last year's May totals.

I picked 7 more Red Currants to bring the May month total for 2008 to 60. Last May, we picked 98 tomatoes.

Last May, 3 tomato plants out of 34 harvested tomatoes (8.8%) while this May, 4 tomato plants out of 52 harvested tomatoes (7.7%).

The first tomato picked last May was on May 2 while this year the first tomato picked was on May 16. Last year the first tomato picked was SunGold, which also turned out to be the most productive. This year the first tomato picked was Red Currant, which looks like it will be the most productive.

I'd say that most of these differences are negligible with the exception of the last paragraph. This year's crop “feels” like it's about two weeks behind last year's crop. That may not prove to be true in the long run, but we'll see.

Last year, the highest harvest total occurred in mid-July (July 13 and 14, to be exact). In 2006, the heaviest harvest dates were in early July. This year, I'll estimate the heaviest harvest date will be around July 22 or 23 based on what we know so far.

All the plants look healthy, some better than others, but all appear healthy.

More Tomatoes!

There are lots of new tomatoes noted this morning. All of them were quite small, but they were tomatoes nonetheless. In the order they were found, Kimberly, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Lime Green Salad and Red Yellow Cap have tomatoes.

For point of reference we have two Lime Green Salad tomato plants in the front yard, one near the curb and one in the “koi pond” (our signature area). The one with the tiny tomato is the one near the curb. In my internal front yard tomato document this is the first one listed. Thus, the one near the curb will be Lime Green Salad (1) and the one in the “koi pond” will be Lime Green Salad (2).

A Micro Tom tomato looked as if it may be slightly darkening. Next to it is Red Robin, which looks very happy in the container. It has another branch of tomatoes and now numbers at least a half dozen.

The only “koi pond” plants without tomatoes are Lime Green Salad (2) (understandable, it was planted April 26) and Snow White Cherry. I was a tiny bit worried about Snow White Cherry about a week ago. But since then the growth on this plant has taken off for the better. Also, I remember tomatoes arriving late last year for this plant but it ended up the second most productive tomato plant in the garden. In other words, no worries.

More of the same...

Not too much to say as there wasn't much time to look at the tomato plants.

I harvested three more Red Currants. A Patio tomato looks like it's turning, meaning it's darkening, meaning it's turning red in a few days. A Taxi is turning, too.

A few random notes: The frontyard Zhezha in a container has a second tomato growing on it. Thessaloniki has six tomatoes on it. White Bush has a third tomato on it.

Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter, Piccolo Have Tomatoes!

I have a new adapter for my laptop, so the posts should pick up.

I spent a good amount of time training the front yard tomato plants after work. Unfortunately I did break a few branches in the process but it shouldn't cause much of an issue.

I harvested as well, picking 8 Red Currants, 2 Husky Cherry Reds and a Taxi tomato.

While adjusting the branches (training), I noticed a tomato on Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter! And to my mild surprise, I counted four tomatoes on Piccolo. Piccolo was planted on April 27, 33 days ago.

While I was in the backyard throwing away the broken tomato branches in the recyclable trash can, I took another look at Sioux. Within two seconds I noticed a tomato on it, so that clears up the minor issue in the last post.

We added all the tomatoes to the salad for dinner. All of them were quite good. The Patio tomato picked yesterday was the best.

The Trickle Continues...

Last night I harvested three more Red Currants after working out at the gym.

The mature Taxi tomato is bright yellow, unlike the two previously harvested Taxi tomatoes. It'll probably be harvested tonight in time for dinner.

This morning I found some time to train the backyard tomato plants. Salisaw Cafe has several tomatoes on it and looks very healthy. I couldn't find the tomato on Sioux this morning, for whatever reason.

Husky Cherry Red, Patio Harvested

Updates have been slow lately because my laptop adapter is on the fritz. I ordered a new one off of eBay and it shipped last Thursday...but I haven't received it yet. Since I ordered it the adapter is completely dead. Until I receive that adapter, updates will be spotty.

We were busy this past Memorial Day Weekend. On Sunday we went to Downtown Disney in Anaheim and saw the new Indiana Jones movie (it was okay) with my wife's parents. They brought Boomer, our poodle, and we brought him back home. When we got home I assembled a couple of storage racks for the garage.

Monday was spent taking out most everything in the garage and putting in the storage racks. We had room for a third storage rack, so I went out, bought it and assembled it at home. By that time, my wife and our seed lady (who just happened to be visiting) had already packed most everything back into the garage in an orderly and organized fashion. The seed lady was a godsend!

While reorganizing things in the garage, we discovered some fish emulsion bought last year for the tomato plants, but never used. I'll need to research this to see how it is used. Our seed lady told us that dogs and cats love this stuff, so it may be difficult to use appropriately with our dogs in the back and the feral cat in the front. We'll see.

I showed the seed lady around the front yard tomatoes. On her own, she noted that Garden Peach looked a bit odd.

I've been picking Red Currants every day, mostly in amounts of two or three. Yesterday we picked our first Husky Cherry Red. This morning, my wife picked our first Patio tomato. We have another Taxi that is close to maturity.

On Saturday I did cut off the lower branches that were hitting the ground on all the tomato plants. I made more paper mulch but never distributed it. I did put worm castings on a few plants, including Garden Peach and fertilized the container plants again. I think I gave some fertilizer to Garden Peach as well.

I watered the front yard tomato plants last night and the back yard tomato plants this morning.

I haven't noticed any new tomatoes but I haven't been looking too closely.