We're Planted!

On Friday my wife planted SunSugar and Marianna's Peace. Barring any surprises, we have completed planting our tomatoes for 2015.

On Saturday I put cages on the uncaged tomatoes and moved a few of them around. Hungarian Heart continues to look great, while Black From Tula doesn't look good at all.

My wife continues to water the tomatoes as necessary.

Time permitting, I'll get the on line spreadsheet together.

We're behind on just about everything in 2015 but we plow ahead as best we can. Let's hope for a good tomato year! 

Eight More Seedlings Planted

On Tuesday my wife surprised me by planting four tomato plants -- Blue Boar Berries, Black From Tula, Snow White and Kentucky Beefsteak.

However, I wasn't able to dig any holes for the rest of the week -- I was just too busy with other priorities in the evening.

On Saturday I dug four more holes in the back yard. Yesterday I prepped the dirt and in the evening my wife planted four more tomato plants -- Nyagous, Yellow Perfection, German Orange Strawberry and Pineapple.

Tonight I managed to dig a couple more holes in the back yard and moved around some more compost.

Our seedlings are getting quite large and should have been planted weeks ago. We'll simply do the best we can and leave it at that. 

Blush is Crushed; Two More Plants With Growing Tomatoes

I've been too busy with life to give as much attention to the tomatoes that they need. Fortunately, my wife has filled in admirably.

My wife watered all the tomatoes over the last several days.

On Wednesday we pulled out the dead Black From Tula and my wife transplanted Volunteer(4) -- the volunteer tomato plant that came up through a cinder block. Earlier in the day she had purchased Purple Bumble Bee. We pulled out Red Pear Piriform and replaced it with the newly purchased Purple Bumble Bee.

Today my wife noticed that the stem for Blush was broken. I thought a lemon could have directly landed on it but my wife thinks that one of our dogs broke it by biting it.

Yesterday I noticed that Indigo Rose has a growing tomato and today I noticed Earl of Edgecombe has a growing tomato as well.

Stupice has maturing tomatoes! Two or three are darkening and one tomato is a light red. 

Another Heat Wave; Four More Plants With Growing Tomatoes

Yesterday my wife watered the back yard tomato plants and this morning I watered the front yard tomato plants in preparation of this record breaking heat wave. I also got in some tomato training.

I found four more plants with tomatoes. These are Janet's Jacinthe Jewel, Cherokee Purple, Odoriko and Husky Cherry Red(2). I am particularly happy with Cherokee Purple having a tomato. A few weeks ago this plant looked like we could lose it. Now it has a growing tomato and appears healthy.

We did lose Black From Tula. It's dead. We haven't had the time to transfer the latest tomato volunteer into the hole because we were out of town over the weekend and now it's simply too hot and windy. Also, Red Pear Piriform is whiter than before, has some leaf curl and looks stiff. Not good. 

Two More Front Yard Tomato Plants With Tomatoes

This evening I watered the front yard tomato plants. I double watered the "corner office" plants but the sun set before I could double water the tomato plants in the "koi pond".

While watering I noticed that Adrianna's Grande and Hungarian Heart have growing tomatoes.

We've decided to replace Black From Tula with the new volunteer tomato and we planned to do it this evening...but we couldn't get to it. 

Three More Plants With Growing Tomatoes

The back yard tomato plants in containers and raised beds got some tomato fertilizer today. Then I watered all of the back yard tomato plants.

During the watering I noticed that Evan's Purple Pear had a growing tomato.

Last evening my wife noticed that Black From Tula looked like it had gone into shock for some reason. She watered it but it looked no better this morning. I watered it as well and later watered in some fertilizer but I'm afraid we're going to lose this plant. My wife had a good suggestion -- transplant Volunteer(4) (the one growing through the cinder block and destined to be pulled) into the spot where Black From Tula is located. I just want to wait a day or so to see if Black From Tula recovers.

Our best guess is that a fig beetle larvae chomped on it. We see no obvious points of stress above ground that would cause the plant to go into shock.

I looked at the front yard tomatoes as well and discovered that Earliana and Bread and Salt have growing tomatoes. 

Catching Up On Some Back Yard Plantings(2)

Here's the second half of this week's plantings...

Yesterday I dug the holes and my wife planted Neves Azorean Red, Snow White, Matt's Wild Cherry, Pierce's Pride, Black Krim and SunGold. I pulled out about a gallon and 3/4 of rocks and asphalt.

Today's plantings include Black Sea Man, Indigo Rose, Jaune Flamme, Black From Tula and Brad's Black Heart. A lot of dark tomatoes were planted today! I pulled out over 2 gallons of rock and asphalt.

My wife also started pulling out the grass in the area that I said we didn't have enough time to pull it all out. If we want to plant all our tomatoes, we'll need this area. We'll see how it goes...after all, this area didn't get the compost like the rest of the backyard planting area did. Still, it's better than nothing. 

Harvested Over 10,500 Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 13 Black Cherry(1), 7 Snow White(1), 5 Indigo Rose, 4 SunGold, 4 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 3 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Oaxacan Jewel, 2 Carmello, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 2 Amana Orange (6 ounces), 2 Speckled Roman(3), 2 Indigo Apple(2), German Orange Strawberry, Black Cherry(2), Marianna's Peace (7.5 ounces), Neves Azorean Red (6 ounces), Gypsy, Black From Tula, Big Bite, Yellow Perfection, Oaxacan Pink, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Red Currant, Marmara, Jaune Flamme(1) and Porkchop(1) for a total of 64 tomatoes.

I'm not sure why we harvested one less tomato than we did yesterday. Yesterday covered two days. I guess I didn't do as good a job of harvesting the ripe tomatoes toward in the "Far East", the far side of our back yard tomato plants.

My wife made sauce out of our harvested tomatoes, mixed it with Italian sausage and served it with ravioli. Good stuff!

We've now harvested over 10,500 tomatoes for the year (10529)! We're plugging along... 

Pulled Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) and Pineapple(1) Tomato Plants

Today's harvest includes 7 Snow White(1), 5 Thessaloniki, 4 Black Cherry(1), 4 Black Cherry(2), 3 SunGold, 3 Red Currant, 3 Husky Cherry Red(2), 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Snow White(2), 2 Oaxacan Jewel, 2 Yellow Perfection, Japanese Black Trifele, Big Bite, Black From Tula, Oaxacan Pink, Carmello, Black and Brown Boar(1), Noire Charbonneuse(2), Indigo Apple(2), Marmara, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Indigo Rose, Red Boar(2) and SunSugar for a total of 50 tomatoes.

The gardeners came about noon on Saturday and removed Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) and Pineapple(1). Pineapple(1) always looked a little funny and the half of the Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) that was nearest the Pineapple(1) started to get the "fungusy" look. The plants on the far side of the back yard (the "Far East") are all getting a similar look.

No milestones today... 

Harvested Over 2400 SunGold Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 36 Black Cherry(1), 35 SunGold, 14 Snow White(1), 14 Snow White(2), 7 Husky Cherry Red(2), 6 Black Cherry(2), 5 Sweet Million, 5 Husky Cherry Red(1), 4 Red Currant, 4 SunSugar, 3 Redfield Beauty, 2 Nyagous(1), 2 Black From Tula (6.5 ounces), 2 White Zebra, 2 Sweet 100, 2 Indigo Apple(2), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Neves Azorean Red (14, ounces, 10 ounces), 2 Green Grape, 2 Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Vorlon, Speckled Roman(2), Pierce's Pride(2), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1), Yellow Perfection, Thessaloniki, German Orange Strawberry (9 ounces), Black and Brown Boar(2), Amazon Chocolate, Noire Charbonneuse(2), Marmara, Red Boar(1), Ramapo, Indigo Rose, Red Boar(2), Jaune Flamme(2), Porkchop(2) and Tolstoi for a total of 169 tomatoes.

Yesterday's high was 107.8. Need I say more?

I was going to mention that while most of the cherry tomatoes are thinning out, Black Cherry(1) still had a fair amount to tomatoes to mature. As you see but the sudden increase, some of them matured yesterday!

Today's harvested Neves Azorean Red tomatoes look quite nice.

Black Krim(2), Sweet Baby Girl and Creme Brulee were pulled. I told my wife that three more in the front yard could also be pulled.

We've now harvested over 5500 back yard tomatoes this year (5502). Also we've harvested over 2400 SunGold tomatoes (2415), over 500 Black Cherry(1) tomatoes (502) and over 250 Snow White(1) tomatoes (251). 

Harvested Giant Syrian, Black Krim and Black From Tula!

Today's harvest includes 29 SunGold, 19 Husky Cherry Red(1), 11 Husky Cherry Red(2), 8 Nyagous(1), 6 Sweet Million, 5 Matt's Wild Cherry, 5 Red Currant, 5 Yellow Perfection, 4 SunSugar, 3 Crimson Cushion (8 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Speckled Roman(2) (6 ounces, 6.5 ounces), 2 Sweet Baby Girl, 2 Sweet 100, 2 Carmello, Black Krim (new) (9.5 ounces), Black From Tula (new), Giant Syrian (new) (15 ounces), Dr. Wyche's Yellow (19.5 ounces), Yellow Currant, Black Cherry(1), Thessaloniki, Jaune Flamme(2), Tolstoi and Green Grape for a total of 113 tomatoes.

The Black Krim would look gorgeous if there wasn't a gash out of it. The gash doesn't look like birds, but something got it. The tomato was laying on the ground as it was maturing. Yesterday my wife took off a leaking, maturing tomato off the vine about a foot off the ground from this plant and threw it away.

We have more images to post when the time permits.

Sweet Baby Girl may be picked clean. I've only looked casually, but I don't see any tomato on the plant.

The maturing tomato list includes Brad's Black Heart, Indigo Apple(1) (!), Berkeley Tie-Dye(!), Black and Brown Boar(1), Oaxacan Jewel, Big Bite, Garden Peach and probably others. The tide gets heavier! 

Hay Laid Down, Tomato Cages Assembled

Today's harvest: 2 Husky Cherry Red(2) tomatoes.

Yesterday my wife watered the front yard tomatoes and the container plants in the back yard. She also spread hay across the ground around our front yard tomato plants and in the south garden in the back yard. I don't know if I mentioned it previously but she had completed spreading hay in the back yard cutout and the "Far East" last week.

Also, she installed the three cages we finished yesterday.

When I arrived home from work we completed assembling the five cut pieces into tomato cages.

More plants with growing tomatoes include Tolstoi, Pink Furry Boar, Brad's Black Heart, Pineapple(1), Big Bite and Black From Tula. 

Planted Black From Tula; Husky Cherry Red(2) Has A Tomato!

In my first hole tonight I planted Black From Tula in an area that abuts the backyard cutout. There wasn't much in the way in rocks or asphalt. The lack of both led me to believe I had cleared a part of this hole previously.

I tried to make a couple of holes next to Black From Tula. The first hole hit a sprinkler line while the second hole hit a wooden divider separating the backyard cutout from the dirt area east of the lemon tree. No go.

So I tried a hole in the "Far East". This area is near our backyard fence opposite our back door to the east. It's known for being quite rocky and containing a lot of asphalt. And this hole didn't disappoint -- I hit a lot of both. I got down about two feet when the sun got too low. I had worked on this hole for over a half hour. I left the shovel in the hole and called it a night. At least I'll have a jump on tomorrow.

The other item of note is that Husky Cherry Red(2) has a 3/4 inch tomato growing on it! 

Harvested Four New Tomatoes; Planted SunGold(2)

Saturday's harvest: 3 Creme Brulee, 3 SunGold(1), 3 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 SunSugar, Black Krim(2) (new) Japenese Black Trifele (new), Husky Cherry Red(1), Golden Mama and Jaune Coeur de Pigeon for a total of 16 tomatoes.

Today's harvest: 7 SunSugar, 6 Creme Brulee, 4 Stupice (new), 2 SunGold(1), Green Grape (new), Jaune Flamme, Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, Japanese Black Trifele, Husky Cherry Red(1), Matt's Wild Cherry, Volunteer(1) and Honkin' Big Black Cherry for a total of 27 tomatoes.

Yesterday we picked up another SunGold to place in the spot formerly occupied by Nyagous. We got it planted this morning.

I've been doing a fair amount of staking, training and taping on Friday and Saturday. A couple plants are already approaching six feet tall.

Several more plants have tomatoes that are maturing. I don't think I can list them all but here are what I remember off the top of my head: Vorlon, Australian Giant Oxheart and Oaxacan Jewel.

We tried Creme Brulee this morning and we both liked it a lot. A mild, sweet flavor with the tomato taste coming at the end. Two thumbs up! I tried our Jaune Coeur de Pigeon and it was only okay. The tomato is normally good, but this plant is not. We both tried the Volunteer(1) and liked it, but we don't recognize the flavor.

Our Manchester Terrier picked off a ripening Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe last night and ate it.

This afternoon we put a small cage on the second volunteer. It has buds on it. I will be including it on our online spreadsheet shortly.

Black From Tula has a growing tomato on it! We are now down to only two plants without tomatoes. On wait, we just planted another SunGold, so we still have three plants without tomatoes.

Harvested Matt's Wild Cherry

Today's harvest: 2 SunGold, Matt's Wild Cherry

There are more Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes maturing. Within a couple of days we should be harvesting this tomato every day for some time to come. Several Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe tomatoes are maturing as well.

Last evening I checked with my wife regarding the container plant with a new tomato on it. I thought it was Aunt Ruby's German Green(1) and she verified it.

I had to use a stake this morning on one of the plants underneath the lemon tree. I'm already constricted in my manuevering through these plants because they are simply thriving. I can only imagine trying to navigate my way through this area 60 days from now.

Every plant in the "corner office" has growing tomatoes. I believe every container plant has growing tomatoes. Every plant in the "Middle East" (the area around our eastern fence which traditionally has not done well for tomatoes, where we harvest asphalt and rocks when planting) has tomatoes. Every plant in the south garden has tomatoes.

The "koi pond" has two plants without tomatoes. The area by the lemon tree in the back yard has one plant without a tomato. The three plants look healthy and it's just a matter of time before they show tomatoes.

Three of the four plants in the backyard cutout appear to be too weak to support tomatoes. The fourth -- Black From Tula -- was planted on May 15. It's too early to tell if it will get tomatoes but it is a good sign that I do see a bloom on it.

Planted Black From Tula and Black Zebra

On Saturday I put together a shed and fixed the fence surrounding the “koi pond”. My wife deep watered the front yard tomatoes. Some in the back yard were deep watered as well. 

I noticed Patio had more than one tomato.

Today we gave up on the Berkeley Tie Dye I damaged in April. We still have a Berkeley Tie Dye grown from seed in the same space but it has not grown significantly in quite some time. We put a Black From Tula in the same place. We also planted a Black Zebra in an area near some beets. Plants (not tomatoes) in pots were moved all over the place on the patio.

My wife continued to deep water the back yard tomatoes.

The Tide Is Slowly Retreating...

No harvest done yesterday.

Today's harvest includes 11 Snow White (front yard) 8 Babywine, 5 SunGold, 2 Stupice, 2 Violet Jasper, 2 Large Pink Anna, 2 Topaz, 2 Green Grape, 2 Gajo de Melon, 2 Paul Robeson, Snow White (back yard), Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Black From Tula, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Weeping Charlie, Green Zebra, Brown Berry, Red Currant(1), Plum Tigris, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye and SunSugar for a total of 49 tomatoes.

My wife watered the back yard tomatoes and I added fertilizer to the container plants. Other than that not much is happening.

Harvested Over 400 Violet Jasper Tomatoes!

And today's harvest includes 8 Violet Jasper, 5 SunGold, 4 Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, 3 Stupice, 2 Sweet Tangerine, 2 Dr. Wyches's Yellow(2), 2 Marianna's Peace, 2 Enchantment, 2 Gajo de Melon, 2 Red Grape, Babywine, Persimmon, Brown Berry, Yellow Pear, Weeping Charlie, Pineapple, Black From Tula, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart and Sara Black (7 ounces) for a total of 41 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 400 Violet Jasper tomatoes (403)! Today's Violet Jasper tomatoes are about half the size (or smaller) compared to the ones harvested two months ago but the plant still has a fair amount of growing tomatoes.

My wife watered the back yard tomato plants yesterday and the front yard tomato plants the day before.

I pulled out three more tomato plants, all in the front yard: Michael Pollan, Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge and Black Krim.

The new volunteer tomato plant died in last week's heat wave. And the caterpillar has disappeared as well.

Harvested Back Yard Aunt Ruby's German Green Today!

Today's harvest includes 15 Snow White (front yard), 9 Principe Borghese, 6 SunGold, 4 Violet Jasper, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Pierce's Pride (one 7.5 ounces), 2 Black From Tula, 2 Yellow Perfection, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green (back yard) (new), Japanese Black Trifele, Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), Aunt Ruby's German Green(2), Babywine, Black Krim, SunSugar, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1), Weeping Charlie, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Black Zebra, Snow White (back yard), Thessaloniki and Toni's Round for a total of 59 tomatoes.

Almost for certain this will be the only day this year in which we harvest from all three Aunt Ruby's German Green tomato plants.

We've now harvested over 3500 tomato plants from the front yard (3520).

I've been soaking our compost pile over the last couple of days. It's working – I see the pile has fallen a few inches.

I watered the front yard tomato plants this morning. I watered the back yard tomato plants and fertilized the container plants a couple days ago.

Oooh, I forgot to mention that when I watered the back yard, I discovered another tomato volunteer!

There won't be another update for a few days as I will be out of town until Sunday.

Harvested Over 6500 Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 17 Snow White (front yard), 9 Principe Borghese, 3 Violet Jasper, 3 SunGold, 3 Yellow Perfection, 2 Black From Tula, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Black Krim (8.5 ounces), Patio, SunSugar, Miss Elliotte Black, Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, Japanese Black Trifele, Red Currant(1), Big Pink, Green Zebra, Weeping Charlie, Black Oxheart, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1), Marianna's Peace, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Jaune Flamme(2), Thessaloniki, Azoychka/not Azoychka and Paul Robeson for a total of 58 tomatoes.

Several milestones were reached today. We've now harvested over 6500 tomatoes for the year (6508). And we've now harvested over 3000 tomatoes in the back yard (3021). And we've harvested over 400 front yard Snow White tomatoes (414).

But if you live in SoCal you know what what made yesterday memorable. It was hot! At Pierce College it got up to 109.6 degrees at 3:20 PM. It was over 109 at 2:30 in the afternoon, over 100 at noon. Need I say more?

And let me wish a happy birthday to my wonderful wife. Enjoy!