Today's harvest includes 10 Sweet 100, 8 Black Cherry, 8 Blue Beauty, 3 German Orange Strawberry, 3 Husky Cherry Red, 3 SunGold(2), 2 SunGold(1), 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Supersweet 100, Isis Candy, Porkchop, Jersey Giant and Piement for a total of 45 tomatoes.
We've now harvested over 3500 tomatoes this year (3511)! Still it's been a lousy year, production-wise. Also, we've harvested over 350 Sweet 100 tomatoes this year (353).
Showing posts with label Jersey Giant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jersey Giant. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Harvested Over 500 Tomatoes This Month
Today's harvest includes 18 Supersweet 100, 9 Sweet 100, 8 Black Cherry, 3 SunGold(1), 3 Snow White, 3 Garden Peach, 2 Cuor de Bue (6.5 ounces), 2 SunGold(2), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Blue Beauty, 2 Isis Candy, 2 Piement, Yellow Perfection, Husky Cherry Red, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (14 ounces), Jersey Giant, Shah/Mikado, Missouri Pink Love Apple, Japanese Black Trifele, Grande (13 ounces), "Rosella Purple" (Aunt Ruby's German Green) and Juliet for a total of 66 tomatoes.
We've now harvested over 500 tomatoes for August (556)! Our harvesting pace is ahead of July's numbers but July's numbers were rising while August numbers should slowly fall.
The Grande and "Something Orange" tomatoes are fine looking tomatoes.
Last night I went to a neighbor of our dear friend that passed away seven weeks ago to pick up a couple of boards and chicken manure (seriously). I gave them yesterday's harvest plus a bunch of other tomatoes. We reminisced for about an hour or so.
I was sad to see their former house, sitting silently.
We've now harvested over 500 tomatoes for August (556)! Our harvesting pace is ahead of July's numbers but July's numbers were rising while August numbers should slowly fall.
The Grande and "Something Orange" tomatoes are fine looking tomatoes.
Last night I went to a neighbor of our dear friend that passed away seven weeks ago to pick up a couple of boards and chicken manure (seriously). I gave them yesterday's harvest plus a bunch of other tomatoes. We reminisced for about an hour or so.
I was sad to see their former house, sitting silently.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Harvested Over 450 Black Cherry Tomatoes!
Today's harvest includes 20 Supersweet 100, 15 Black Cherry, 10 Sweet 100, 5 Juliet, 4 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Isis Candy, 3 SunGold(2), 3 Piement, 2 Green Grape, 2 Jersey Giant, SunGold(1), Paul Robeson, Indigo Rose, Blue Beauty, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Snow White, "Something Orange" and Cuor de Bue for a total of 75 tomatoes.
We've now harvested over 450 Black Cherry tomatoes this year (461)! Also, we've harvested over 150 Supersweet 100 tomatoes (168), 50 Indigo Rose tomatoes and 50 Jersey Giant tomatoes.
No tomato was 6 ounces or above today.
We've now harvested over 450 Black Cherry tomatoes this year (461)! Also, we've harvested over 150 Supersweet 100 tomatoes (168), 50 Indigo Rose tomatoes and 50 Jersey Giant tomatoes.
No tomato was 6 ounces or above today.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
July 2013 Tomato Analysis
In July 2013 we harvested 1970 tomatoes, of which 770 were in the front yard and 1200 in the back yard.
Let's compare this year with prior harvests...
2013 -- 1970 -- Sixth
2012 -- 6068 -- Second
2011 -- 3863 -- Fifth
2010 -- 4108 -- Fourth
2009 -- 4576 -- Third
2008 -- 1629 -- Seventh
2007 -- 6154 -- First
This year barely beats out the worst harvest month, 2008. Bleah.
As you can see it's not a good year. Why?
I don't think the seedlings were as solid as other years. I simply think the plants were weaker and that's the main issue. What I've been keeping an eye on is beware of windstorms within a week or two of when you purchase your seedlings. I believe that occurred this year. The plants start strong and get to a reasonable height. Up to this point there appears to be nothing wrong with the seedlings. The plant starts to produce fruit and then "hits the wall". The plant starts to turn a grayish color and the fruit stays seriously underdeveloped.
There's so many tomato seedlings like this I can't list them all. Pierce's Pride, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(1), Green Zebra, Blue Beauty, Berkeley Tie Dye, Pineapple, Stupice, Nyagous, Jersey Giant...all produced severely undersized tomatoes. Or in the case of Green Zebra, no edible ripe fruit at all.
The second thing that possibly affected the seedlings are that we took to long to actually put them in the ground. In some cases I think it took us over two weeks before we acquired the seedling and actually put it in the ground. That's too long. I'll think about digging some holes before we acquire seedlings next year.
I believe we fertilized pretty well in preparation for this year. One can always do more but I thought we were well prepared. Speaking of which, we still have some hay bales acquired about a month ago that we still need to spread on the ground.
The third thing was that we got hot early. No, we didn't hit 110 like we did in June of 2008 but there were several early heat waves.
So two out of three items we really didn't have control but we'll work on the third for next year.
August may not turn out so bad. We've had some relatively mild weather for the past week or so. I expect some of the remaining plants to recover somewhat and have a second wind. Let's see what happens.
Let's compare this year with prior harvests...
2013 -- 1970 -- Sixth
2012 -- 6068 -- Second
2011 -- 3863 -- Fifth
2010 -- 4108 -- Fourth
2009 -- 4576 -- Third
2008 -- 1629 -- Seventh
2007 -- 6154 -- First
This year barely beats out the worst harvest month, 2008. Bleah.
As you can see it's not a good year. Why?
I don't think the seedlings were as solid as other years. I simply think the plants were weaker and that's the main issue. What I've been keeping an eye on is beware of windstorms within a week or two of when you purchase your seedlings. I believe that occurred this year. The plants start strong and get to a reasonable height. Up to this point there appears to be nothing wrong with the seedlings. The plant starts to produce fruit and then "hits the wall". The plant starts to turn a grayish color and the fruit stays seriously underdeveloped.
There's so many tomato seedlings like this I can't list them all. Pierce's Pride, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(1), Green Zebra, Blue Beauty, Berkeley Tie Dye, Pineapple, Stupice, Nyagous, Jersey Giant...all produced severely undersized tomatoes. Or in the case of Green Zebra, no edible ripe fruit at all.
The second thing that possibly affected the seedlings are that we took to long to actually put them in the ground. In some cases I think it took us over two weeks before we acquired the seedling and actually put it in the ground. That's too long. I'll think about digging some holes before we acquire seedlings next year.
I believe we fertilized pretty well in preparation for this year. One can always do more but I thought we were well prepared. Speaking of which, we still have some hay bales acquired about a month ago that we still need to spread on the ground.
The third thing was that we got hot early. No, we didn't hit 110 like we did in June of 2008 but there were several early heat waves.
So two out of three items we really didn't have control but we'll work on the third for next year.
August may not turn out so bad. We've had some relatively mild weather for the past week or so. I expect some of the remaining plants to recover somewhat and have a second wind. Let's see what happens.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Harvested Gold Medal!
Saturday's harvest includes 19 Black Cherry, 7 Supersweet 100, 3 Blue Beauty, 3 Missouri Pink Love Apple, 3 Speckled Roman(1), 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Shah/Mikado, 2 Jaune Flamme, Gold Medal (new), Black and Brown Boar, SunGold(1), Green Grape, Kellogg's Breakfast (13 ounces), Hungarian Heart (7 ounces), Porkchop, Yellow Perfection, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (11 ounces), Jersey Giant, German Orange Strawberry, Speckled Roman(2), Grande (15 ounces), Garden Peach, Ananas Noire (12 ounces), Cuor de Bue, Kentucky Beefsteak (8.5 ounces), Juliet and Isis Candy for a total of 64 tomatoes.
The gardeners came again today and pulled out Stupice, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(1), Berkeley Tie Dye and Kentucky Beefsteak. The gardeners also removed some of the sunflowers in the front yard. My wife cleaned up the remaining Michael Pollan tomatoes on the ground and tossed them out.
The new Gold Medal tomato is not impressive. Like many other plants this year, the fruit is undersized.
My wife watered the front yard tomatoes.
Sunday's harvest includes 23 Black Cherry, 7 Supersweet 100, 6 Shah/Mikado, 5 Blue Beauty, 5 Garden Peach, 4 Isis Candy, 4 Ananas Noire (8.5 ounces, 10.5 ounces, 13 ounces), 4 Speckled Roman(1), 4 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Jaune Flamme, 3 German Orange Strawberry (8 ounces), 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Black and Brown Boar, 2 Juliet, 2 Sweet 100, 2 Missouri Pink Love Apple, Hungarian Heart, Porkchop, Yellow Perfection, Pineapple, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Gold Medal, Crynkovic (6 ounces), Japanese Black Trifele, Speckled Roman(2) and "Something Orange" (15 ounces) for a total of 88 tomatoes.
The Ananas Noire tomatoes are beauties! More importantly they taste good. I have not been a fan of Ananas Noire in the past. I didn't get it. When we grew it in the past they were relatively small and not great tasting. These Ananas Noire tomatoes are crisp, juicy and delicious.
There was no harvest on Monday.
Today's harvest includes 29 Black Cherry, 10 Jaune Flamme, 9 Garden Peach, 8 Husky Cherry Red, 6 Indigo Rose, 6 Blue Beauty, 6 Shah/Mikado, 5 Green Grape, 4 Japanese Black Trifele, 4 Supersweet 100, 4 Speckled Roman(1), 4 Jersey Giant, 3 Yellow Perfection, 3 Isis Candy, 2 Juliet, 2 Sweet 100, 2 SunGold(2), 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Grande (17.5 ounces, 9.5 ounces), 2 Missouri Pink Love Apple, 2 German Orange Strawberry, 2 Ananas Noire (12.5 ounces, 11.5 ounces), 2 "Something Orange" (11 ounces, 9 ounces), 2 Cuor de Bue, 2 Pineapple Pig (6.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Piement, Porkchop, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Gold Medal, Black and Brown Boar, Kellogg's Breakfast, Crynkovic and Husky Red(1) for a total of 132 tomatoes.
We tried Grande last night. Good looking, meaty interior. My wife absolutely loved it. I was less high on it than my wife was but I wasn't really in a tomato mood and I think I hit a mealy part of the tomato. It looked great and I will definitely give it a second try.
My wife watered most if not all of the back yard tomato plants last night.
"Something Orange" looks like Dr. Wyche's Yellow to me. My wife made a compelling argument that the mystery tomato is Kellogg's Breakfast. But today's tomatoes look like Dr. Wyche's Yellow -- slightly more white and pink compared to Kellogg's Breakfast. We'll try it at some point and the taste will help clarify the situation.
Today's harvest covered a lot of the counter space. The larger tomatoes that are currently being harvested look quite nice.
The gardeners came again today and pulled out Stupice, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(1), Berkeley Tie Dye and Kentucky Beefsteak. The gardeners also removed some of the sunflowers in the front yard. My wife cleaned up the remaining Michael Pollan tomatoes on the ground and tossed them out.
The new Gold Medal tomato is not impressive. Like many other plants this year, the fruit is undersized.
My wife watered the front yard tomatoes.
Sunday's harvest includes 23 Black Cherry, 7 Supersweet 100, 6 Shah/Mikado, 5 Blue Beauty, 5 Garden Peach, 4 Isis Candy, 4 Ananas Noire (8.5 ounces, 10.5 ounces, 13 ounces), 4 Speckled Roman(1), 4 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Jaune Flamme, 3 German Orange Strawberry (8 ounces), 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Black and Brown Boar, 2 Juliet, 2 Sweet 100, 2 Missouri Pink Love Apple, Hungarian Heart, Porkchop, Yellow Perfection, Pineapple, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Gold Medal, Crynkovic (6 ounces), Japanese Black Trifele, Speckled Roman(2) and "Something Orange" (15 ounces) for a total of 88 tomatoes.
The Ananas Noire tomatoes are beauties! More importantly they taste good. I have not been a fan of Ananas Noire in the past. I didn't get it. When we grew it in the past they were relatively small and not great tasting. These Ananas Noire tomatoes are crisp, juicy and delicious.
There was no harvest on Monday.
Today's harvest includes 29 Black Cherry, 10 Jaune Flamme, 9 Garden Peach, 8 Husky Cherry Red, 6 Indigo Rose, 6 Blue Beauty, 6 Shah/Mikado, 5 Green Grape, 4 Japanese Black Trifele, 4 Supersweet 100, 4 Speckled Roman(1), 4 Jersey Giant, 3 Yellow Perfection, 3 Isis Candy, 2 Juliet, 2 Sweet 100, 2 SunGold(2), 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Grande (17.5 ounces, 9.5 ounces), 2 Missouri Pink Love Apple, 2 German Orange Strawberry, 2 Ananas Noire (12.5 ounces, 11.5 ounces), 2 "Something Orange" (11 ounces, 9 ounces), 2 Cuor de Bue, 2 Pineapple Pig (6.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Piement, Porkchop, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Gold Medal, Black and Brown Boar, Kellogg's Breakfast, Crynkovic and Husky Red(1) for a total of 132 tomatoes.
We tried Grande last night. Good looking, meaty interior. My wife absolutely loved it. I was less high on it than my wife was but I wasn't really in a tomato mood and I think I hit a mealy part of the tomato. It looked great and I will definitely give it a second try.
My wife watered most if not all of the back yard tomato plants last night.
"Something Orange" looks like Dr. Wyche's Yellow to me. My wife made a compelling argument that the mystery tomato is Kellogg's Breakfast. But today's tomatoes look like Dr. Wyche's Yellow -- slightly more white and pink compared to Kellogg's Breakfast. We'll try it at some point and the taste will help clarify the situation.
Today's harvest covered a lot of the counter space. The larger tomatoes that are currently being harvested look quite nice.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Harvested Three New Tomatoes and a 30 Ounce Dr. Wyche's Yellow!
Today's harvest includes 18 Black Cherry, 7 Supersweet 100, 6 Indigo Rose, 4 Blue Beauty, 3 Jersey Giant, 3 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Pineapple Pig (13 ounces, 8 ounces), 3 Missouri Pink Love Apple, 2 Garden Peach, 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Isis Candy, 2 Shah/Mikado, SunGold(2) (new), Cuor de Bue (8.5 ounces, new), "Something Orange" (11 ounces, new), Hungarian Heart (6 ounces), Porkchop, Yellow Perfection, Black Krim, Speckled Roman(1), Dr. Wyche's Yellow (30 ounces), Speckled Roman(2), Sweet 100 and Husky Red(1) for a total of 69 tomatoes.
The Dr. Wyche's Yellow tomato was a big, big surprise. The tomato was buried in the middle of the plant. I had no idea we had a tomato that big. This ties the 30 ounce Mexico tomato I harvested a few years back.
I use a child's bowl as the receptacle for holding tomatoes. I needed two hands to harvest this tomato so I set the bowl with the Black Cherry and Speckled Roman(1) tomatoes down on the ground. When I pulled off the Dr. Wyche's Yellow tomato, the tomato fell out of my hands and caught the lip of the bowl. That put an ugly gash in the Dr. Wyche's Yellow tomato and sent the harvested tomatoes in the bowl scattering everywhere. I'm still not sure I found them all.
The new Cuor de Bue tomato looks nice but it still needs a day or two to fully mature.
The "Something Orange" tomato looks nice but we don't know what it is. On the online spreadsheet I labeled it as Orange Paruche?. The tomato is orange, I'll grant you that but it sure isn't Orange Paruche. Orange Paruche is a cherry tomato and this 11 ounce tomato isn't a cherry tomato. My best guess right now is that it's another Kellogg's Breakfast. But for now it's a mystery.
All in all it was a pretty good haul today.
The Dr. Wyche's Yellow tomato was a big, big surprise. The tomato was buried in the middle of the plant. I had no idea we had a tomato that big. This ties the 30 ounce Mexico tomato I harvested a few years back.
I use a child's bowl as the receptacle for holding tomatoes. I needed two hands to harvest this tomato so I set the bowl with the Black Cherry and Speckled Roman(1) tomatoes down on the ground. When I pulled off the Dr. Wyche's Yellow tomato, the tomato fell out of my hands and caught the lip of the bowl. That put an ugly gash in the Dr. Wyche's Yellow tomato and sent the harvested tomatoes in the bowl scattering everywhere. I'm still not sure I found them all.
The new Cuor de Bue tomato looks nice but it still needs a day or two to fully mature.
The "Something Orange" tomato looks nice but we don't know what it is. On the online spreadsheet I labeled it as Orange Paruche?. The tomato is orange, I'll grant you that but it sure isn't Orange Paruche. Orange Paruche is a cherry tomato and this 11 ounce tomato isn't a cherry tomato. My best guess right now is that it's another Kellogg's Breakfast. But for now it's a mystery.
All in all it was a pretty good haul today.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Harvested Kentucky Beefsteak!
Tuesday's harvest includes 13 Black Cherry, 6 Snow White, 5 Sweet 100, 5 Supersweet 100, 3 Husky Red(1), 2 Speckled Roman(1), 2 Isis Candy, 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (14.5 ounces), 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Blue Beauty, 2 Piement, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 SunGold(1), 2 Porkchop, Hungarian Heart (7 ounces), Jersey Giant, Missouri Pink Love Apple, Green Grape, Speckled Roman(2), Amos Coli (8 ounces), Ananas Noire (16 ounces) and Juliet for a total of 58 tomatoes.
Most if not all of today's harvest was brought to my in-laws later in the day.
Wednesday's harvest includes 7 Garden Peach, 6 Black Cherry, 4 Shah/Mikado, 3 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Supersweet 100, 3 Blue Beauty, 2 Missouri Pink Love Apple, 2 Black and Brown Boar, 2 Green Grape, 2 Berkeley Tie Dye, 2 Crynkovic (7 ounces), 2 Isis Candy, 2 Juliet, 2 Sweet 100, 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Speckled Roman(1), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (13 ounces, 9.5 ounces), 2 Stupice, Hungarian Heart, Vorlon, Jersey Giant and Pineapple Pig for a total of 54 tomatoes.
We've now harvested over 1000 tomatoes for July! Some of Wednesday's harvest was brought to a barista in Tarzana.
Today's harvest includes 15 Black Cherry, 8 Shah/Mikado, 6 Sweet 100, 6 Supersweet 100, 5 Isis Candy, 5 Garden Peach, 3 Snow White, 3 Juliet, 2 Missouri Pink Love Apple, 2 Blue Beauty, 2 Jaune Flamme, Kentucky Beefsteak (new), SunGold(1), Green Grape, Husky Cherry Red, Hungarian Heart, Porkchop, Yellow Perfection, Berkeley Tie Dye, Jersey Giant and German Orange Strawberry for a total of 67 tomatoes.
This ends a four day slide in the harvest numbers. But having noted that, it's clear it will not only be a bad year according to the numbers, it may be an atrocious year. Still, I've been pleased with the full sized tomatoes so far. But there's been a lot, and I mean a lot of tomatoes that are miniature-sized versions of their full sized brethren.
Most if not all of today's harvest was brought to my in-laws later in the day.
Wednesday's harvest includes 7 Garden Peach, 6 Black Cherry, 4 Shah/Mikado, 3 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Supersweet 100, 3 Blue Beauty, 2 Missouri Pink Love Apple, 2 Black and Brown Boar, 2 Green Grape, 2 Berkeley Tie Dye, 2 Crynkovic (7 ounces), 2 Isis Candy, 2 Juliet, 2 Sweet 100, 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Speckled Roman(1), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (13 ounces, 9.5 ounces), 2 Stupice, Hungarian Heart, Vorlon, Jersey Giant and Pineapple Pig for a total of 54 tomatoes.
We've now harvested over 1000 tomatoes for July! Some of Wednesday's harvest was brought to a barista in Tarzana.
Today's harvest includes 15 Black Cherry, 8 Shah/Mikado, 6 Sweet 100, 6 Supersweet 100, 5 Isis Candy, 5 Garden Peach, 3 Snow White, 3 Juliet, 2 Missouri Pink Love Apple, 2 Blue Beauty, 2 Jaune Flamme, Kentucky Beefsteak (new), SunGold(1), Green Grape, Husky Cherry Red, Hungarian Heart, Porkchop, Yellow Perfection, Berkeley Tie Dye, Jersey Giant and German Orange Strawberry for a total of 67 tomatoes.
This ends a four day slide in the harvest numbers. But having noted that, it's clear it will not only be a bad year according to the numbers, it may be an atrocious year. Still, I've been pleased with the full sized tomatoes so far. But there's been a lot, and I mean a lot of tomatoes that are miniature-sized versions of their full sized brethren.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Catching up...
Today's harvest includes 7 Sweet 100, 4 Husky Cherry Red, 4 Shah/Mikado, 3 Yellow Perfection, 3 Juliet, 2 Vorlon (7 ounces), 2 Supersweet 100, 2 Speckled Roman(1), 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Garden Peach, 2 Black Krim (8 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Blue Beauty, Kellogg's Breakfast (8 ounces, new), Anana's Noire (10.5 ounces, new), Isis Candy (new), Porkchop, Black Cherry, Paul Robeson (8 ounces), Jersey Giant, Missouri Pink Love Apple (7 ounces), Jaune Flamme, Indigo Rose and Snow White for a total of 46 tomatoes.
Our harvest total starting at June 27 are as follows: 22/29/38/26/26/43/35/58/54/53/53/62 followed by today's harvest of 46 tomatoes.
As noted previously, a dear friend passed away.
About six or eight weeks ago, our dear friends we told they had to move out of their rented house. The owners were going through a divorce. This caused a lot of heartache -- it's one thing to be forced to abandon their vegetable garden, but what about their animals? Where will they go? Things were grim.
But lo and behold, a place to rent was found in the Antelope Valley. It was nearly an acre in size and could be worked as farmland. The commute to work for the husband was nearly the same and the rent was cheaper. Great! One door closes and another one opens. A chicken coop was ordered along with some ducks and a goose in anticipation of a small working farm. The wife could quit her retail job to manage the small farm because of the significant rent savings. Boxes were packed. My wife made plans to visit the new place once a week.
I was recruited to help drive up some of their larger items in a van on July 4 and July 6 in front of a July 10 deadline for the old place.
Then in the late morning on June 27 my wife received the call: Her husband is dead. Heart attack.
We met in early April of 2004. I was brought in to an entertainment payroll company as a software developer and consultant on a "rescue mission" -- a project had gone haywire and supposedly I'm just the man to fix it. The team involved one developer and a project manager. The goal was to get rid of the current project manager, take over and see to it that the developed software is brought out to the commercial market.
I got in and took stock of the situation. My evaluation was this: Down was up and up was down. The project manager was a bit of a misfit for the position (or in Hollywood terms, was "slightly miscast") but was leading the project as best he could. The software developer was atrocious. And the manager above the project manager but between us and the client was in la-la land...but also the recruiter for the consultants. No time for analysis or determining project requirements. We're being billed out as hot shot, experienced consultants but in practice we were glorified typists! The recruiter designated himself as the project lead across multiple projects and the one person to report to the company. Not only does that violate labor laws, he was woefully inadequate for the task.
I wasn't going to fire the project manager. I needed him around to deal with management nonsense while I try to get my arms around this monstrosity.
And thus began our friendship.
But soon thereafter I got rear-ended in an auto accident and lost a few weeks due to some whiplash and soft tissue injuries. I could only work full time after a couple of months. By that time, panic had set in and there was no time to get my arms around it. But I admired our project manager for the ability to take "bullets" for things he had little or no control over. He was the designated punching bag.
I had double-jaw surgery in late March of 2005. We met at a bookstore 19 days after the surgery and he immediately gasped (There was *lots* of swelling). I think he took pity on me a bit.
At the time I was in my early 40's, still single, unattached and basically divorced from my family (I'm the designated punching bag -- sound familiar?). The project manager would invite me over for dinners during holidays and just because he could. Later on I got a girlfriend and the four of us would get together for things. But they moved to Miami.
We got married on September 15, 2007. The project manager flew out from Miami for our wedding.
About a year later they moved back to Southern California and took a job with a solar startup company in Burbank. Yay! And as time went on we slowly grew closer and closer, going out to dinner, sharing tomatoes, vegetables, canning recipes, you name it. They were good friends. It wasn't forced, it just happened. It was easy, it was natural.
They were packing for a new life in the Antelope Valley. The wife will have a new life but it won't be in the Antelope Valley. The day after her husband's death she was firm in that she was moving back to the east coast to be with her parents. And there was no flexibility in the exit date, she had to be out by July 10. So there's been a mad scramble the last 10 days to make that happen for them.
My wife and I took her and her son to LAX last night.
So tomatoes just haven't been much of a priority. The plants are beat up in the heat and I've stopped training them. My wife waters when she can but we're all too busy.
We're caught up for moment. However, I may be taking another break soon.
Our harvest total starting at June 27 are as follows: 22/29/38/26/26/43/35/58/54/53/53/62 followed by today's harvest of 46 tomatoes.
As noted previously, a dear friend passed away.
About six or eight weeks ago, our dear friends we told they had to move out of their rented house. The owners were going through a divorce. This caused a lot of heartache -- it's one thing to be forced to abandon their vegetable garden, but what about their animals? Where will they go? Things were grim.
But lo and behold, a place to rent was found in the Antelope Valley. It was nearly an acre in size and could be worked as farmland. The commute to work for the husband was nearly the same and the rent was cheaper. Great! One door closes and another one opens. A chicken coop was ordered along with some ducks and a goose in anticipation of a small working farm. The wife could quit her retail job to manage the small farm because of the significant rent savings. Boxes were packed. My wife made plans to visit the new place once a week.
I was recruited to help drive up some of their larger items in a van on July 4 and July 6 in front of a July 10 deadline for the old place.
Then in the late morning on June 27 my wife received the call: Her husband is dead. Heart attack.
We met in early April of 2004. I was brought in to an entertainment payroll company as a software developer and consultant on a "rescue mission" -- a project had gone haywire and supposedly I'm just the man to fix it. The team involved one developer and a project manager. The goal was to get rid of the current project manager, take over and see to it that the developed software is brought out to the commercial market.
I got in and took stock of the situation. My evaluation was this: Down was up and up was down. The project manager was a bit of a misfit for the position (or in Hollywood terms, was "slightly miscast") but was leading the project as best he could. The software developer was atrocious. And the manager above the project manager but between us and the client was in la-la land...but also the recruiter for the consultants. No time for analysis or determining project requirements. We're being billed out as hot shot, experienced consultants but in practice we were glorified typists! The recruiter designated himself as the project lead across multiple projects and the one person to report to the company. Not only does that violate labor laws, he was woefully inadequate for the task.
I wasn't going to fire the project manager. I needed him around to deal with management nonsense while I try to get my arms around this monstrosity.
And thus began our friendship.
But soon thereafter I got rear-ended in an auto accident and lost a few weeks due to some whiplash and soft tissue injuries. I could only work full time after a couple of months. By that time, panic had set in and there was no time to get my arms around it. But I admired our project manager for the ability to take "bullets" for things he had little or no control over. He was the designated punching bag.
I had double-jaw surgery in late March of 2005. We met at a bookstore 19 days after the surgery and he immediately gasped (There was *lots* of swelling). I think he took pity on me a bit.
At the time I was in my early 40's, still single, unattached and basically divorced from my family (I'm the designated punching bag -- sound familiar?). The project manager would invite me over for dinners during holidays and just because he could. Later on I got a girlfriend and the four of us would get together for things. But they moved to Miami.
We got married on September 15, 2007. The project manager flew out from Miami for our wedding.
About a year later they moved back to Southern California and took a job with a solar startup company in Burbank. Yay! And as time went on we slowly grew closer and closer, going out to dinner, sharing tomatoes, vegetables, canning recipes, you name it. They were good friends. It wasn't forced, it just happened. It was easy, it was natural.
They were packing for a new life in the Antelope Valley. The wife will have a new life but it won't be in the Antelope Valley. The day after her husband's death she was firm in that she was moving back to the east coast to be with her parents. And there was no flexibility in the exit date, she had to be out by July 10. So there's been a mad scramble the last 10 days to make that happen for them.
My wife and I took her and her son to LAX last night.
So tomatoes just haven't been much of a priority. The plants are beat up in the heat and I've stopped training them. My wife waters when she can but we're all too busy.
We're caught up for moment. However, I may be taking another break soon.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Grafted Tomato Plants In the South Garden
The grafted tomato plants in the "south garden" are doing particularly well.
Granted, plant size isn't the payoff window, it's the taste. But you can see there's a good, solid foundation to support a large harvest.
Does it look good to you?
The last image makes it look like one long hedge.
These plants are Black and Brown Boar, Gold Medal, Michael Pollan, Jersey Giant, Shah/Mikado and Missouri Pink Love Apple. These grafted plants are awfully high for mid-June!
 |
| South Garden Grafted Tomatoes |
Granted, plant size isn't the payoff window, it's the taste. But you can see there's a good, solid foundation to support a large harvest.
Does it look good to you?
The last image makes it look like one long hedge.
These plants are Black and Brown Boar, Gold Medal, Michael Pollan, Jersey Giant, Shah/Mikado and Missouri Pink Love Apple. These grafted plants are awfully high for mid-June!
Friday, June 7, 2013
Planted Two SunGold Tomatoes On Monday
Well, there's a lot to catch up on...
My wife and I planted two very leggy SunGold tomato plants in the back yard on Monday.
I had one hole dug out over a week ago but we never got around to planting one of the SunGolds. I had a hard time digging out the first hole and wasn't looking forward to duplicating the experience. I pushed it out of my mind. Monday night my wife reminded me about it. So we agreed to have her plant one SunGold and I'll start on the second hole. I started the second hole about three feet west of the first one. I was clearly hitting an area that wasn't previously dug but it was a breeze by comparison. I had a hole ready in about 20 minutes. So we planted both SunGolds.
While this was going on we added fertilizer to the back yard containers. Yesterday my wife watered all the back yard tomatoes, so the fertilizer got soaked in to the ground.
This is an incomplete list of new tomato plants with growing tomatoes, but here goes: Jersey Giant, Green Grape, Kellogg's Breakfast, Husky Red(1) and German Orange Strawberry.
I found out last week that the French tomato I thought was spelled "Prement" is really spelled "Piement" (like "pimiento"). The tomatoes on this plant look quite interesting. They remind me somewhat of string beans.
Why are we busy? Our house is being painted and we're getting a new water heater for starters. We bought a new air conditioner. I'm dealing with some family matters as well. I may have more news to share in the future but for now that is all...
My wife and I planted two very leggy SunGold tomato plants in the back yard on Monday.
I had one hole dug out over a week ago but we never got around to planting one of the SunGolds. I had a hard time digging out the first hole and wasn't looking forward to duplicating the experience. I pushed it out of my mind. Monday night my wife reminded me about it. So we agreed to have her plant one SunGold and I'll start on the second hole. I started the second hole about three feet west of the first one. I was clearly hitting an area that wasn't previously dug but it was a breeze by comparison. I had a hole ready in about 20 minutes. So we planted both SunGolds.
While this was going on we added fertilizer to the back yard containers. Yesterday my wife watered all the back yard tomatoes, so the fertilizer got soaked in to the ground.
This is an incomplete list of new tomato plants with growing tomatoes, but here goes: Jersey Giant, Green Grape, Kellogg's Breakfast, Husky Red(1) and German Orange Strawberry.
I found out last week that the French tomato I thought was spelled "Prement" is really spelled "Piement" (like "pimiento"). The tomatoes on this plant look quite interesting. They remind me somewhat of string beans.
Why are we busy? Our house is being painted and we're getting a new water heater for starters. We bought a new air conditioner. I'm dealing with some family matters as well. I may have more news to share in the future but for now that is all...
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Preparing The On-Line Tomato Spreadsheet
My wife watered some of the back yard tomatoes yesterday during another hot day -- it got up to 94.7 degrees at Pierce College nearby.
I've been training the tomatoes the past two mornings as well as putting together the on line tomato harvest spreadsheet for 2013. I think I have it ready to go. If you're interested in seeing the numbers, post your email as a comment to this post and I'll be sure to include you.
While putting things together, here's what I've noticed:
It appears we did not plant SunGold this year. Both my wife and I are really surprised by this, but there's no record of it this blog for this year nor in my documentation. We both think we had a SunGold plant but perhaps we gave it away at some point. Or the unknown plant that we're guessing is Orange Paruche is really SunGold. Or more likely, we don't have it. No volunteers have come up yet. My wife may go out and grab one if we can still find it.
We planted a tomato plant named Grande in the back yard that was not recorded in my blog. This was the second of two French tomatoes handed to us by a TomatoMania volunteer. For the spreadsheet I guessed at the planting date based on what was planted around it.
All the plants in the "corner office" have growing tomatoes.
All but three plants in the "koi pond" have tomatoes. The three that do not are Paul Robeson, Black Seaman and Dr. Wyche's Yellow. Only Paul Robeson is concerning me. The concern is that I have had poor luck with this tomato plant the last several years. I'm beginning to think the line is "polluted" somehow but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. The plant seems fine for now, just no tomatoes.
Four out of six plants in the south garden (in the back yard) have tomatoes. All six of these plants are grafts. As a group they look stronger and are a bit larger in size than the other plants. The ones missing tomatoes are Jersey Giant and Gold Medal. No concerns here, they look great.
In the main back yard area only Snow White and Green Zebra have tomatoes. This area was planted later than the rest, so no issues here.
Among the container plants Sweet 100 has growing tomatoes.
My guess is that we'll do about 5000 harvested tomatoes for 2013. Unofficially we planted 53 tomato plants this year, down significantly from last year. I'm also troubled by the early hot spells we've been having so far.
I've been training the tomatoes the past two mornings as well as putting together the on line tomato harvest spreadsheet for 2013. I think I have it ready to go. If you're interested in seeing the numbers, post your email as a comment to this post and I'll be sure to include you.
While putting things together, here's what I've noticed:
It appears we did not plant SunGold this year. Both my wife and I are really surprised by this, but there's no record of it this blog for this year nor in my documentation. We both think we had a SunGold plant but perhaps we gave it away at some point. Or the unknown plant that we're guessing is Orange Paruche is really SunGold. Or more likely, we don't have it. No volunteers have come up yet. My wife may go out and grab one if we can still find it.
We planted a tomato plant named Grande in the back yard that was not recorded in my blog. This was the second of two French tomatoes handed to us by a TomatoMania volunteer. For the spreadsheet I guessed at the planting date based on what was planted around it.
All the plants in the "corner office" have growing tomatoes.
All but three plants in the "koi pond" have tomatoes. The three that do not are Paul Robeson, Black Seaman and Dr. Wyche's Yellow. Only Paul Robeson is concerning me. The concern is that I have had poor luck with this tomato plant the last several years. I'm beginning to think the line is "polluted" somehow but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. The plant seems fine for now, just no tomatoes.
Four out of six plants in the south garden (in the back yard) have tomatoes. All six of these plants are grafts. As a group they look stronger and are a bit larger in size than the other plants. The ones missing tomatoes are Jersey Giant and Gold Medal. No concerns here, they look great.
In the main back yard area only Snow White and Green Zebra have tomatoes. This area was planted later than the rest, so no issues here.
Among the container plants Sweet 100 has growing tomatoes.
My guess is that we'll do about 5000 harvested tomatoes for 2013. Unofficially we planted 53 tomato plants this year, down significantly from last year. I'm also troubled by the early hot spells we've been having so far.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Planted Two Tomato Seedings In South Garden
No tomatoes planted Wednesday.
On Thursday my wife planted two tomatoes and prepared holes for three others in the "south garden" in the backyard. This area is a small strip of dirt running along the back yard fence to the south. The two planted tomatoes are Shah/Mikado and Jersey Giant. Both planted tomatoes are grafts. My wife plans to plant grafted tomatoes along the south wall.
I watered the planted front yard tomatoes this morning.
On Thursday my wife planted two tomatoes and prepared holes for three others in the "south garden" in the backyard. This area is a small strip of dirt running along the back yard fence to the south. The two planted tomatoes are Shah/Mikado and Jersey Giant. Both planted tomatoes are grafts. My wife plans to plant grafted tomatoes along the south wall.
I watered the planted front yard tomatoes this morning.
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