The Volunteer Has A Tomato On It!

Today's harvest: 4 Snow White, Cherokee Purple.

The harvest didn't really happen this morning. By the time I was ready to harvest it was 10:30 in the morning. The sun was too high and I risked sunburn so I passed on a full harvest.

Yesterday I took out Beaverlodge Plum, the front yard Garden Peach, the front yard Paul Robeson and Cherokee Purple.

Cherokee Purple had a small mature tomato on it so I kept it. I took the cage for Cherokee Purple, flattened it and slipped it underneath some of the Snow White branches. This will help a tiny bit in keeping some of the branches off the ground. When I picked up the branches I found four mature tomatoes.

I completed watering the front yard tomato plants.

The big news is that the volunteer has a tomato on it! The plant has recently had a growth spurt and is now showing a tiny tomato! I'll have to adjust the spreadsheet to reflect this new tomato. I believe it to be Old Ivory Egg but I'll just add it as “Volunteer” for now.

Since I need to adjust the on line spreadsheet, I'll change Super Snow White to Snow White(2).

Harvested Over 7500 Tomatoes For The Year!

Today's harvest includes 21 Snow White, 10 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 8 front yard Husky Cherry Red, 7 Yellow Perfection, 5 Black Cherry, 5 Red Currant, 5 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 5 Super Snow White, 4 Jaune Flamme, 2 Italian Ice, 2 SunSugar, 2 Plum Tigris, 2 Green Zebra(2), 2 White Currant, 2 back yard Garden Peach(2), a back yard Green Grape, a front yard Green Grape, a back yard Paul Robeson, Sweet 100, a tiny Red Grape and Babywine for a total of 88 tomatoes.

Last night my wife and I went to the Dodgers game. The last time we went, Russell Martin and Andre Ethier hit home runs. At this game, Russell Martin hit a grand slam and the Dodgers won 7 – 2. I predicted the intentional walk to James Loney to get to Russell Martin, but my wife predicted a grand slam from Russell. We were both right!

We've now reached over 7500 harvested tomatoes for the year (7557).

The cool mornings are retarding the maturity of existing tomatoes but is great for new blooms. It'll take a couple of weeks before the new blooms set fruit so let's hope there's no 100 degree heat wave in the next couple of weeks to wipe out these new blooms.

I don't see any new blooms on Black Cherry, however. The plant is exhausted. Let's hope it has enough strength to get a second wind, like Yellow Perfection.

Cool August Weather

Today's harvest includes 14 Snow White, 13 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 12 Super Snow White, 7 Italian Ice, 6 Black Cherry, 5 Yellow Perfection, 5 White Currant, 5 Red Currant, 4 front yard Husky Cherry Red, 3 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 3 Babywine, 3 Jaune Flamme, 2 Sweet 100, 2 SunSugar, a back yard Green Grape, German Orange Strawberry, a back yard Garden Peach(2), Green Zebra(1), White Zebra, Japanese Black Trifele, Cherokee Purple, Oaxacan Jewel(2), Red Grape and Husky Gold for a total of 94 tomatoes.

Our last harvest of less than 100 tomatoes occurred on July 12.

The last few days have been cool in the morning and today it was actually a bit damp from the fog. This is unusually cool for an August morning. I guess I didn't feel motivated to root out all of the hidden and maturing Snow White tomatoes.

Due to the temperate weather, I'm seeing new blooms on several of the tomato plants. Whether this results in new tomatoes remains to be seen.

We've harvested over 2500 tomatoes for August (2583). Also, we've reached over 200 harvested tomatoes for the back yard Husky Cherry Red (210).

My wife watered the back yard tomato plants yesterday.

Harvested Over 1000 Front Yard Tomatoes For August!

And today's harvest includes 32 Snow White, 14 Black Cherry, 12 front yard Husky Cherry Red, 10 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 6 Red Currant, 4 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 4 Super Snow White, 4 Red Grape, 3 Plum Tigris, 3 Jaune Flamme, 3 Babywine, 2 Sweet 100, 2 White Currant, 2 Green Zebra(1), 2 back yard Green Grape, Turkish Striped Monastery, a (clean!) back yard Speckled Roman, Yellow Perfection, Japanese Black Trifele, White Zebra, Green Zebra(2), SunSugar, Italian Ice, Husky Gold and Dr. Wyche's Yellow (8.5 ounces) for a total of 113 tomatoes.

On Wednesday my wife completed watering the front yard and the back yard container plants. Yesterday she completed the watering of the back yard tomatoes. Also she pulled Patio and Sweet Olive. Sweet Olive actually had one more tomato to ripen before I told my wife to pull it but that's okay.

Last night my wife and I tried the find the caterpillar(s) causing the damage to the back yard Husky Cherry Red. We couldn't find it. This morning there's droppings underneath Snow White. I did a cursory search but found no life.

Babywine is completely draped over the front yard Husky Cherry Red.

We've now picked over 1000 front yard tomatoes for August.

We've now picked over 800 Snow White tomatoes (805) for the year.

Seeing Signs of Caterpillars

Today's harvest includes 26 Snow White, 16 Black Cherry, 15 Red Currant, 11 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 10 front yard Husky Cherry Red, 6 Jaune Flamme, 5 Super Snow White, 3 front yard Green Grape, 3 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 3 Green Zebra(1), 3 Green Zebra(2), 3 White Zebra, 3 Sweet 100, 3 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Red Grape, 2 White Currant, 2 Babywine, 2 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, a front yard Speckled Roman, Mong, a front yard Garden Peach, Italian Ice, a back yard Mexico (20 ounces), a back yard Green Grape, Paul Robeson and Tiger Paw for a total of 126 tomatoes.

The Mexico was a bit of a surprise – it was the most ripe of any back yard Mexico harvested to date.

The front yard Husky Cherry Red reached over 100 tomatoes (101). The back yard Green Grape reached 100 yesterday and is now at 101. White Currant has tied the highest harvest prior to this year at 315 harvested tomatoes.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to harvest the front yard Green Grape and the Jaune Coeur de Pigeon. The Snow White is so big that it completely drapes the Green Grape and is starting to drape Jaune Coeur de Pigeon. Because the tomato plants are old, picking up the branches (to look underneath) causes them to crack. In spite of the numbers it's actually becoming more difficult to harvest Snow White as well. I can't get underneath the plant without causing damage.

I'm also seeing more caterpillar droppings around the plants. The latest pile I saw is on the south end of the back yard Husky Cherry Red plant. I also saw a bit of plant damage as there are a few leaves eaten. However, I have yet to see a caterpillar this year. It's just tangential damage compared to the natural aging of the tomato plants, but still I don't want caterpillars on my tomato plants!

Harvest Numbers Finally Drop

Today's harvest included 32 Snow White, 14 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 11 Black Cherry, 9 Super Snow White, 9 Red Currant, 5 Babywine, 4 front yard Husky Cherry Red, 4 Red Grape, 4 Sweet 100, 4 front yard Green Grape, 3 Plum Tigris, 3 back yard Garden Peach(2), 3 Green Zebra(2), 3 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 3 Jaune Flamme, 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 back yard Green Grape, Turkish Striped Monastery, Green Zebra(1), White Zebra, White Currant, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Mong and Oaxacan Jewel(2) for a total of 122 tomatoes.

That breaks the streak of 6 days of increasing harvest totals.

My wife did more watering in the front yard.

I've added fertilizer to the back yard container plants, Marz Round Green and the volunteer after today's morning harvest. I'm hoping my wife waters it in to the ground later today.

We've reached over 1700 tomatoes for the month (1702) leaving less than 1000 tomatoes over 18 days to reach my estimate of 2700 tomatoes. It looks like the estimate was too conservative but I'll wait a few days before estimating again.

We've now harvested over 1200 Red Currant (1201) and over 500 Black Cherry (504) for 2009.

Harvest Totals Increase For Five Consecutive Days

And today's harvest includes 18 Black Cherry, 17 Super Snow White, 17 Snow White, 16 Red Currant, 9 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 9 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 8 front yard Husky Cherry Red, 5 Green Zebra(2), 4 White Currant, 4 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 4 Red Grape, 4 Babywine, 3 Jaune Flamme, 3 front yard Garden Peach, 3 Sweet 100, 3 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 White Zebra, 2 back yard Garden Peach(2), Dr. Wyche's Yellow (14.5 ounces), Silvery Fir Tree, a front yard Green Grape, a back yard Green Grape, Black Krim, a back yard (clean!) Speckled Roman, Yellow Perfection, Berkeley Tie Dye, Plum Tigris, Green Zebra(1), Sweet Olive and Italian Ice for a total of 143 tomatoes.

After having the tomato harvest totals fall dramatically last week, the totals have increased five days in a row. Super Snow White (which I really think is another Snow White tomato plant) is in full harvest mode while several of the other plants have gotten their second wind.

Fun At The Loteria Grill!

Today's harvest included 25 Black Cherry, 13 Super Snow White, 13 Snow White, 11 Babywine, 11 Red Currant, 6 White Zebra (one 6 ounces), 5 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 5 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 4 Japanese Black Trifele, 3 Husky Gold, 3 White Currant, 3 back yard Garden Peach(2), 2 Berkeley Tie Dye (6 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 2 Green Zebra(2), 2 Plum Tigris, 2 Sweet 100, 2 Red Grape, 2 SunSugar, 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 2 front yard Husky Cherry Red, Mong, Silvery Fir Tree, a front yard Garden Peach, Amazon Chocolate (6 ounces), Paul Robeson and Italian Ice for a total of 126 tomatoes.

I got up early to harvest. No time to blog or put in the figures. I got my wife up and we got ready to head to the Loteria Grill for a morning tomato tasting. We had this event last year and it was a lot of fun.

We brought along 3 White Zebras, a handful of Black Cherries, 4 Japanese Black Trifeles and 2 Mexico tomatoes for the tomato tasting. We rushed to the event, getting there about 8:40 AM and helped prepare the event for the 10 AM tasting.

The event was just as fun as ever though I remember even more tomato varieties this year. We liked Old German, Toni's Round and Green Giant.

The story of who brought in Green Giant is interesting. I am a software developer by trade, and growing tomatoes is a fun hobby. Two years ago one of my best friends (the best man at my wedding) and I went in to visit a guy who needed an upgrade of their old data entry system. I did a little work on their system only to realize I had none of their data files. I can't run it. There was some correspondence between my friend and this person...but nothing happened and it faded away.

You should know where this is leading. My wife pulled out the tomato of a sack and handed it to me and I did what I do to prepare it. My wife pulled out a card that said “Green Giant”, turned it over and hey, that's the business card from the two year old potential client! My wife pointed him out...hey, that's him!

So we talked to him for a while. He's a pleasant guy, fun to talk to. He says he still wants to upgrade his system but also said he was gravely concerned about losing his business late last year. I don't hold out much hope to upgrade to their data entry system but talk about serendipity...

I tested our Mexico tomato and it was pretty good. I tried the Japanese Black Trifele and the taste was excellent. The Black Cherry and White Zebra were all gone so I don't know how they tasted.

A group of us went to Umami Burger after the event to discuss the tasting and possible future events.

We got home and immediately took a nap.

Harvested 3000 Back Yard Tomatoes In 2009!

And today's harvest includes 13 Black Cherry, 11 Snow White, 9 back yard Garden Peach(2), 8 Babywine, 8 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 7 Super Snow White, 6 Red Currant, 5 front yard Green Grape, 4 Green Zebra(2), 4 Red Grape, 3 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 3 Pierce's Pride (one 8.5 ounces), 3 Plum Tigris, 3 White Currant, 3 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 2 Silvery Fir Tree, 2 front yard Husky Cherry Red, Black Krim, Yellow Perfection, Amazon Chocolate, Sweet 100, SunSugar, Husky Gold, Italian Ice, Japanese Black Trifele, a back yard Paul Robeson, White Zebra (6.5 ounces), a back yard Speckled Roman (no end rot!) and a back yard Green Grape for a total of 106 tomatoes.

I forgot to mention that the blooms from our volunteer tomato plant look like Old Ivory Egg. That is consistent, since Old Ivory Egg was the only tomato plant in “Alongi Row” last year.

I specifically remember harvesting 4 Sweet 100s this morning. But by the time I counted them in the kitchen I only had one. I looked around a bit outside for the missing three tomatoes but couldn't find them. Oh well.

The tomatoes from Super Snow White look exactly like Snow White.

As of today we've picked over 400 Black Cherry tomatoes (402).

We've picked over 3000 tomatoes in the back yard this year (3001) and over 2800 in the front yard (2802).

Volunteer Tomato Plant Is A Foot Tall

Today's harvest includes 14 Black Cherry, 10 Babywine, 8 Red Currant, 7 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 6 Snow White, 6 Red Grape, 4 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 3 front yard Garden Peach, 3 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 3 Super Snow White, 3 front yard Green Grape, 3 back yard Green Grape, 3 Plum Tigris, 3 Italian Ice, 3 back yard Paul Robeson, 3 Pierce's Pride, 2 Green Zebra(1), 2 back yard Garden Peach(2), 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Black From Tula, 2 Sweet 100, 2 SunSugar, 2 Black Krim (one 6 ounces), Oaxacan Jewel(1) (6 ounces), Mong, White Currant, Jaune Flamme, White Zebra (6 ounces), Yellow Perfection, a back yard Mexico (13 ounces) and Big Yellow Zebra (14 ounces) for a total of 104 tomatoes.

Wow, just four days ago we harvested over double the amount we harvested today.

I was distracted for a couple of reasons – we had a relative in Los Angeles on business get ill and have to be admitted to the hospital. All looks like it will end well.

And this morning a tree trimmer from the city came by while I was harvesting in the front yard. They trimmed a few branches from our pine tree in the back yard.

Our volunteer is about a foot tall and actually has a couple of blooms on it. Marz Round Green is about 2.5 feet tall with a few blooms as well. However, it has gotten hot again and I expect these blooms to go sterile.

The Tomato Plants Are Tired

Today's harvest includes 24 Black Cherry, 17 Snow White, 12 Red Currant, 9 Babywine, 8 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 7 Sweet 100, 5 Tiger Paw, 5 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 4 White Currant, 4 White Zebra, 3 Italian Ice, 3 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 3 Paul Robeson, 3 Super Snow White, 3 front yard Green Grape, 2 Pierce's Pride, 2 back yard Garden Peach(2), 2 Berkeley Tie Dye (8.5 ounces, 15 ounces), 2 Yellow Perfection, 2 Plum Tigris, 2 Green Zebra(2), 2 Patio, 2 Red Grape, 2 Vintage Wine, 2 front yard Garden Peach, a front yard Husky Cherry Red, a front yard Mexico, Black Krim, SunSugar, Amazon Chocolate, a back yard Green Grape, Black From Tula (8.5 ounces), a back yard Mexico (24.5 ounces), Japanese Black Trifele and Aunt Ruby's German Green for a total of 140 tomatoes.

My wife watered the front yard yesterday. It was still damp in the front yard from it. Technically that's a no-no, but the plants are old and the air is dry so there's really no harm to occur. In general – water in the morning.

Almost all the tomato plants are leaning over or are doubled over.

I didn't notice until yesterday that we picked more tomatoes in July 2009 than in all of 2008.

Harvested 257 Tomatoes, One 27.5 Ounces!

Yesterday's harvest was the biggest to date but today's harvest is bigger.

The harvest includes 55 Snow White, 35 Red Currant, 21 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 17 front yard Garden Peach, 17 Black Cherry, 14 White Currant, 14 Yellow Perfection, 9 Tiger Paw, 9 Oaxacan Jewel(2) (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 8 Babywine (one 6 ounces), 7 Oaxacan Jewel(1) (11.5 ounces, 8 ounces, 13 ounces, 10 ounces, 7 ounces, 8 ounces), 5 Berkeley Tie Dye (18.5 ounces, 6 ounces, 10 ounces), 5 Super Snow White, 4 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 4 back yard Green Grape, 3 Orange Blossom (one 6 ounces), 3 Red Grape, 2 Silvery Fir Tree, 2 Vintage Wine, 2 Sweet Olive, 2 back yard Garden Peach(1), 2 Pierce's Pride (8.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Cuor de Bue, 2 Italian Ice, 2 back yard Mexico (New! 27.5 ounces, 20.5 ounces), Black Krim, Big Yellow Zebra (12 ounces), Sweet 100, a back yard Speckled Roman (with end rot), a back yard Garden Peach(2), Turkish Striped Monastery, Japanese Black Trifele, Husky Gold, Paul Robeson, Black From Tula (8 ounces) and Dr. Wyche's Yellow (New! 12 ounces) for a total of 257 tomatoes!

The technique mentioned yesterday – trying to also harvest from the top looking down as opposed to exclusively harvest from the bottom looking up has brought dividends. The high numbers for Snow White, the front yard Garden Peach, Jaune Coeur de Pigeon and even Yellow Perfection are a direct result from this additional technique. Today's total might be artificially bumped up because of this but time will tell.

Today was the most harvested number to date (257 tomatoes) and by far the most harvested in the front yard (163 tomatoes) as well as by far the heaviest front yard harvest. It is probably the heaviest in the back yard as well but some hefty tomatoes were picked the night before and added to today's totals.

The back yard Mexico tomato, harvested by my wife last night, is the heaviest tomato we've ever harvested. The 27.5 ounces isn't a misprint (for what it's worth I round to the nearest half an ounce because I'm using a postal scale), we weighed it twice. Two years ago I harvested a 25 ounce Jeff Davis. It makes the other back yard Mexico harvested this morning (20.5 ounces) look downright mundane.

My wife and I harvested some Berkeley Tie Dyes for a sauce she was making using just this tomato. One of the tomatoes had a bit of rot which was broken off before taking it inside. The rest of the tomato weighed 15 ounces so I estimated the weight of the original tomato at 18.5 ounces. I am impressed with this plant!

Another impressive showing was the 16 harvested Oaxacan Jewel tomatoes among the two plants.

About 10 days ago I readjusted my estimate for the month downward from 4000 tomatoes to above 3000 tomatoes. Since then our numbers have rocketed upward. We just passed the 3000 total for the month and the original 4000 tomato estimate is looking to be right on target.

The harvested Dr. Wyche's Yellow is a pale orange color.

My wife sliced up a bunch of Black Cherry tomatoes in half and roasted them overnight. She did the same thing with some of the yellow tomatoes.

Some Early Annie tomatoes are beginning to mature.

Harvested Pierce's Pride And Berkeley Tie Dye!

Today's harvest includes 33 Red Currant, 26 Snow White, 19 Black Cherry, 10 White Currant, 9 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 8 Yellow Perfection, 7 Babywine, 6 Tiger Paw, 5 front yard Garden Peach, 4 Super Snow White, 4 Japanese Black Trifele, 3 Oaxacan Jewel(1) (10 ounces, 6 ounces, 7 ounces), 3 Amazon Chocolate (8 ounces, 8 ounces), 3 Sweet Olive, 3 back yard Paul Robeson, 3 back yard Garden Peach(2), 3 Turkish Striped Monastery, 3 back yard Green Grape, 3 Orange Blossom (6.5 ounces, 8 ounces, 7 ounces), 3 Black From Tula (12.5 ounces, 10 ounces, 10.5 ounces), 2 front yard Mexico (one 7 ounces), 2 Oaxacan Jewel(2) (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Black Krim (10.5 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Red Grape, 2 Italian Ice, 2 Plum Tigris, 2 Berkeley Tie Dye (New! 10.5 ounces, 16 ounces), 2 Cuor de Bue (9 ounces, 11 ounces), Sweet 100, German Orange Strawberry, SunSugar, a back yard Husky Cherry Red, a front yard Husky Cherry Red, Silvery Fir Tree, Mong and Pierce's Pride (New! 8.5 ounces) for a total of 182 tomatoes from 36 tomato plants.

Again, today we had the largest front yard harvest for 2009 (96 tomatoes). Yesterday's front yard total was 86 tomatoes, not 81 as posted.

I think the number of tomato plants harvested in a day (36) is the most for 2009.

Based on the feel of the harvest basket, today's harvest was the heaviest to date. There's some beautiful and large tomatoes in today's harvest. Also, there's a good amount of 4 and 5 ounce tomatoes in today's harvest – for instance, Japanese Black Trifele normally weighs that much – that isn't recorded.

We've now harvested over 1400 tomatoes from the back yard this month and over 2500 tomatoes overall for the month of July.

My wife noticed that the Berkeley Tie Dye tomatoes were a little of the soft side. She's right. I noticed it when I picked them.

I harvested Pierce's Pride before Berkeley Tie Dye today. But Berkeley Tie Dye started to mature before Pierce's Pride, so I felt the ripening Berkeley Tie Dye tomatoes. They probably should have been picked yesterday. I was thrown by the color. I thought it would be more red when mature. It turns out that when mature it's green with reddish striping, not red with green striping.

The one pound Berkeley Tie Dye is our heaviest harvested tomato this year.

I noticed that Black Zebra is gone so I assume it was pulled out by my wife yesterday.

Harvested Super Snow White; Largest Harvest For 2009

Today's bountiful harvest includes 36 Red Currant, 21 White Currant, 21 Snow White, 16 Yellow Perfection, 14 Black Cherry, 9 back yard Green Grape, 8 back yard Garden Peach(1), 7 Tiger Paw, 6 Red Grape, 5 Italian Ice, 5 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 4 Black Krim (one 7. 5 ounces), 4 Babywine, 3 Sweet Olive, 3 Sweet 100, 3 Turkish Striped Monastery, 2 back yard Garden Peach(2), 2 Japanese Black Trifele (one 6 ounces), 2 back yard Paul Robeson, 2 SunSugar, 2 Mong (one 8 ounces), 2 back yard Speckled Roman, 2 front yard Garden Peach, 2 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green (one 8 ounces), 2 Super Snow White (New!), Silvery Fir Tree, Plum Tigris, Amazon Chocolate (12.5 ounces), German Orange Strawberry (7 ounces), Cuor de Bue, a front yard Husky Cherry Red, a back yard Husky Cherry Red and a front yard Speckled Roman for a total of 193 tomatoes from 34 different tomato plants!

Today was our largest harvest total of the year (193), largest front yard total (80) and largest back yard total (113). We've now harvested over 2000 tomatoes for the month of July.

If we continue at this pace for the rest of the month, we will hit the estimate of 4000 harvested tomatoes.

So much for our totals leveling off.

I "harvested" a big back yard Mexico but it had too much rot so I discarded it and didn't count it.

Actually, the container plants mentioned are leveling off. But the other tomato plants that were still reaching their peak harvest were pushed forward by the hot weather over the last couple days. Yesterday it got up to 104 at Pierce College, about a mile away from us. And that's why plants like Black Cherry, Snow White, (the container plant) White Currant and Green Grape had a lot of tomatoes suddenly become ripe.

My wife made a lot of tomato sauce last night. She even made a green sauce from all the Aunt Ruby's German Green tomatoes. We're out of room in our freezer. We'll be bringing some frozen tomato sauce to store in the freezer of our “seed lady”.

Harvested 2 Tomatoes; 4 More Plants With Tomatoes

I came home for lunch and after lunch, I checked out the tomato plants.

Jeff Davis isn't looking as it did last week. It's starting to turn grayish and some of the leaves are actually turning brown. We think that this plant is more sensitive to a lack of sun and also may be watered too much.

My wife picked 2 Sweet Olives. We also noted that some Patio and Beaverlodge Plum tomatoes are beginning to ripen.

Four plants have new tomatoes: White Zebra, the second Green Zebra, Big Yellow Zebra and Super Snow White all have tomatoes.

Plants Without Growing Tomatoes

Here's the list of tomato plants without tomatoes on them, and the date they were planted.

Front Yard

Silvery Fir Tree – May 6, 2009

Green Grape – May 17, 2009

Black Zebra – May 17, 2009

Super Snow White – May 17, 2009

Back Yard

Early Annie – May 17, 2009

Husky Cherry Red – May 5, 2009

Green Zebra – May 5, 2009

White Zebra – May 5, 2009

Green Zebra – May 5, 2009

Big Yellow Zebra – May 3, 2009

The point here is that there are no “laggards” in the bunch. The remaining tomato plants were all planted in May, which is completely normal to lack growing tomatoes at such an early juncture.

This also means that we have 48 tomato plants with growing tomatoes on them. Wow!

Five New Plants With Tomatoes; Four More Planted

Geez, another busy weekend.

My wife did water all the tomatoes on Friday. And in potentially good news, our vandalism problem may start to fade away with the auctioning and sale of a house across the street. And in bad news, we decided that three tomato plants in the "koi pond" had stopped growing and are turning gray. We believe these may have also been damaged when Green Zebra, Black Zebra and Japanese Black Trifele were damaged in the “corner office”. Since then these three (Green Grape, Gardener's Delight and Nyagous) have simply stopped growing.

On Saturday we bought four tomato plants, three to replace the bad ones in the “koi pond” and an additional one for a space that opened up in the back yard. Also, we began to build a wire fence around the “koi pond” using a fence my wife purchased years ago. We put it up but it did not quite make it around the “koi pond”, so we purchased some additional wire fencing. The fence is in place to keep the stray cat from using it as his personal litter box, but it also prevents the plants from being kicked by others.

New tomatoes were spotted on Red Grape, Plum Tigris, Speckled Roman (back yard), Garden Peach (back yard) and Japanese Black Trifele. All five new tomatoes are in the back yard.

On Sunday I planted Early Annie in the area where Evan's Italian Plum was planted last year. Green Grape replaced the damaged Green Grape, Black Zebra replaced Gardener's Delight and Super Snow White replaced Nyagous. We finished the fence around the “koi pond” but it got too hot to start on the fence around the “corner office”.

Our friends Liz and Ricardo came over to help work on the patio cover. We spent most of the afternoon on it. But during the afternoon, Jaune Coeur de Pigeon was drooping so badly I began to wonder if it will make it. My wife landscaped the area around the plant and we watered it. It looked slightly better in the late evening.

It appears that a Sweet Olive tomato may be ripening!

I watered all the tomato plants this morning. The back yard plants look wonderful. The front yard plants are struggling against all the vandalism and late starts. It's no surprise that the five new tomatoes have shown up on the back yard plants.