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.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Thursday, May 8, 2014
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Tomatoes Trimmed; Three More Plants With Growing Tomatoes
Because I live in the west San Fernando Valley I let the tomato plants grow as much as they want. That way, the branches and leaves provide a canopy over some of the fruit. There's plently of sun to provide energy to the plant. I don't need to prune branches or suckers to provide more energy to the rest of the plant.
But I do make one exception. Scott Daigre said during a tomato 101 classes at CSUN struck home. He stated "Tomato plant diseases tend to come from the soil. So trim the low branches that are in the dirt." That made sense to me.
Yesterday I trimmed (most) all the lower branches from the all the tomato plants. That took a while but I'm glad it got done. Not only are there no dragging branches but the plants themselves look better without all the low growth. Well, today I noticed a few more I could have cut but they look a lot better.
During yesterday's cutting I noticed that Jaune Flamme has growing tomatoes.
Today I noticed that Sugar Snack and Green Grape have growing tomatoes.
I should mention that there was a pretty heavy heat wave last week. It got into the mid 90's for several days. Also, several days were quite windy. Paradoxically, non-damaging wind storms tend to make tomato plant trunks more sturdy in the future.
But I do make one exception. Scott Daigre said during a tomato 101 classes at CSUN struck home. He stated "Tomato plant diseases tend to come from the soil. So trim the low branches that are in the dirt." That made sense to me.
Yesterday I trimmed (most) all the lower branches from the all the tomato plants. That took a while but I'm glad it got done. Not only are there no dragging branches but the plants themselves look better without all the low growth. Well, today I noticed a few more I could have cut but they look a lot better.
During yesterday's cutting I noticed that Jaune Flamme has growing tomatoes.
Today I noticed that Sugar Snack and Green Grape have growing tomatoes.
I should mention that there was a pretty heavy heat wave last week. It got into the mid 90's for several days. Also, several days were quite windy. Paradoxically, non-damaging wind storms tend to make tomato plant trunks more sturdy in the future.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Four More Plants With Growing Tomatoes!
Yesterday the back yard tomatoes were watered. Today the front yard tomatoes were watered. I did some training on the tomato branches.
I did notice four more plants with growing tomatoes! The list includes SunGold, Orange Paruche, Yellow Perfection and Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red. Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red was a little bit of a surprise because the plant isn't that tall yet and planted only three weeks ago.
The three or four tomato plants that didn't look so good a week or two ago look all right now.
There was a fourth volunteer found next to Volunteer(2), growing in the cinder blocks. However, my wife indicated that she wished to pull it.
I did notice four more plants with growing tomatoes! The list includes SunGold, Orange Paruche, Yellow Perfection and Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red. Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red was a little bit of a surprise because the plant isn't that tall yet and planted only three weeks ago.
The three or four tomato plants that didn't look so good a week or two ago look all right now.
There was a fourth volunteer found next to Volunteer(2), growing in the cinder blocks. However, my wife indicated that she wished to pull it.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
"Koi Pond" Image
Here's a picture of our "koi pond" in the front yard. I believe this was taken on Tuesday.
The first plant to the left is Sunchocola, with growing tomatoes. The first on the right is Yellow Perfection.
The plants are going crazy mostly because of the heat but the prep work with compost and the seedless hay is obviously helping...
The first plant to the left is Sunchocola, with growing tomatoes. The first on the right is Yellow Perfection.
The plants are going crazy mostly because of the heat but the prep work with compost and the seedless hay is obviously helping...
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Sunchocola Has Growing Tomatoes!
Yesterday the back yard tomato plants in the ground were double watered. Today, the container plants were watered and the front yard tomato plants were double watered. Some minor plant training was done as well.
The heat wave has already kicked in...
I noticed that Sunchocola has several growing tomatoes! And the fun continues...
The heat wave has already kicked in...
I noticed that Sunchocola has several growing tomatoes! And the fun continues...
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Finished Tomato Planting for 2014
During the week I did a little bit of training and a little bit of watering.
On Thursday we planted in more of our containers. We planted Green Zebra, Golden Rave and Japanese Black Trifele.
On Saturday our lemon tree was finally trimmed. I made four holes underneath the lemon tree and my wife planted Blush, Great White, Blue Gold (Siberian Tiger) and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1). The Pink Berkeley Tie Dye grown from seed is now a keeper and will be designated as Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2).
My wife had tested the bottom of the pulp pot containing Green Zebra. Unfortunately, it gave. However, we had an extra pulp pot container so this evening we transferred Green Zebra into the new unused container.
This may be it for the tomato planting this year (Famous last words). My wife has the seedling count at 64 but I'll defer to my on line spreadsheet after it's fully updated.
Just about all the tomato plants look terrific. I'll list the ones that aren't. These include Paul Robeson and Black Cherry in the back yard. Both aren't growing as rapidly as the others, they have leaf curl and the color isn't as healthy as I would like. Both of these plants appear to have come from the same grower. Hmmm.... In the front yard, Vorlon has very good color but isn't growing as rapidly as the other plants in the "koi pond".
Other than that, we're off to the races!
It's my understanding that we're getting a big heat wave in the middle of the week, so we'll try to get all the tomato plants watered before then.
On Thursday we planted in more of our containers. We planted Green Zebra, Golden Rave and Japanese Black Trifele.
On Saturday our lemon tree was finally trimmed. I made four holes underneath the lemon tree and my wife planted Blush, Great White, Blue Gold (Siberian Tiger) and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1). The Pink Berkeley Tie Dye grown from seed is now a keeper and will be designated as Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2).
My wife had tested the bottom of the pulp pot containing Green Zebra. Unfortunately, it gave. However, we had an extra pulp pot container so this evening we transferred Green Zebra into the new unused container.
This may be it for the tomato planting this year (Famous last words). My wife has the seedling count at 64 but I'll defer to my on line spreadsheet after it's fully updated.
Just about all the tomato plants look terrific. I'll list the ones that aren't. These include Paul Robeson and Black Cherry in the back yard. Both aren't growing as rapidly as the others, they have leaf curl and the color isn't as healthy as I would like. Both of these plants appear to have come from the same grower. Hmmm.... In the front yard, Vorlon has very good color but isn't growing as rapidly as the other plants in the "koi pond".
Other than that, we're off to the races!
It's my understanding that we're getting a big heat wave in the middle of the week, so we'll try to get all the tomato plants watered before then.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Stupice and Volunteer(2) Have Growing Tomatoes!
On Thursday we planted Sugar Snack, Captain Lucky and Michael Pollan in containers.
Before we planted, we dumped the dirt in two of the containers onto the concrete patio. I carefully went through the dirt and picked out what I had previously thought were cutworms. We had found out earlier in the day that they were fig beetle larvae.
Today I pulled the grass out of the remaining cutout area that I said we weren't planting. That took a couple of hours. It went faster than I expected. I used a claw-like tool to separate the grass from the dirt. Then I turned over the top layer of dirt with a shovel and picked out more grass.
We replaced the dead Dark Galaxy seedling with Ananas Noire. In the newly grass cleared area we planted Blue Beauty and Pineapple.
On Thursday I noticed that Stupice has a growing tomato! I checked again today and Stupice has at least four growing tomatoes. Volunteer(2) in the third raised bed has two growing tomatoes as well. Volunteer(2) is the best looking tomato plant of them all right now.
The "koi pond" tomatoes look terrific. Sunchocola looks the best but there is no clunker in the area. They all look good.
Before we planted, we dumped the dirt in two of the containers onto the concrete patio. I carefully went through the dirt and picked out what I had previously thought were cutworms. We had found out earlier in the day that they were fig beetle larvae.
Today I pulled the grass out of the remaining cutout area that I said we weren't planting. That took a couple of hours. It went faster than I expected. I used a claw-like tool to separate the grass from the dirt. Then I turned over the top layer of dirt with a shovel and picked out more grass.
We replaced the dead Dark Galaxy seedling with Ananas Noire. In the newly grass cleared area we planted Blue Beauty and Pineapple.
On Thursday I noticed that Stupice has a growing tomato! I checked again today and Stupice has at least four growing tomatoes. Volunteer(2) in the third raised bed has two growing tomatoes as well. Volunteer(2) is the best looking tomato plant of them all right now.
The "koi pond" tomatoes look terrific. Sunchocola looks the best but there is no clunker in the area. They all look good.
Monday, April 14, 2014
More Plantings...
On Thursday we planted Speckled Roman(2) and Dark Galaxy in the cleared out area that I had said earlier we wouldn't plant in this year (ha ha). We planted Green Grape and Husky Cherry Red(1) in the fourth raised bed.
On Saturday (after working TomatoMania in Fillmore) we planted Bloody Butcher, Indigo Apple and Indian Stripe in the "corner office". However, something whacked Dark Galaxy overnight and it doesn't look very healthy. We'll monitor this closely and replace with a different seedling if it doesn't recover.
Today my wife planted Speckled Roman(1), Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red and Porkchop in the "corner office". Dark Galaxy looks the same...
Pulling out the grass and digging the holes for the new area was a chore. We're only about halfway through pulling out the grass but it did create enough room to plant the two tomatoes mentioned above. I pulled out about three gallons of rocks and asphalt before planting Speckled Roman(2) and over two gallons planting Dark Galaxy. These "virgin" areas have a lot of asphalt.
Almost all of the other tomato plants have taken off and look great.
On Saturday (after working TomatoMania in Fillmore) we planted Bloody Butcher, Indigo Apple and Indian Stripe in the "corner office". However, something whacked Dark Galaxy overnight and it doesn't look very healthy. We'll monitor this closely and replace with a different seedling if it doesn't recover.
Today my wife planted Speckled Roman(1), Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red and Porkchop in the "corner office". Dark Galaxy looks the same...
Pulling out the grass and digging the holes for the new area was a chore. We're only about halfway through pulling out the grass but it did create enough room to plant the two tomatoes mentioned above. I pulled out about three gallons of rocks and asphalt before planting Speckled Roman(2) and over two gallons planting Dark Galaxy. These "virgin" areas have a lot of asphalt.
Almost all of the other tomato plants have taken off and look great.
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