Here is the wrong way to grow tomatoes. Think, oh, tomatoes, those are easy. Order some heirloom tomato plants. Don't read anything including the growing instructions that came with them. Put them in pots. Don't bother with cages... tomatoes are vines, right, so they can just wander, right? Put fertilizer in immediately. Water intermittently.
Sigh.
Here are some things that I really should have known if I'd just bothered to look.
1. Don't fertilize right away. Fertilize after the fruits have set or whatever it's called. Otherwise you will get TONS of foliage. Why is this a problem, you ask? Because tomatoes are heavy and at the same time the vines are remarkably brittle, and that leads me to point #2...
2. There's a reason why they sell tomato cages. Tomatoes need support. Remember those heavy foliage vines with the huge tomatoes that you've got because you fertilized too early and besides, it seems to be a great year for tomatoes? Well, they're going to split at the base or at the tips because you have given them no support, and you're going to drive yourself absolutely crazy trying to cage or stake something that is both really big and prone to breakage. All the while wondering if you're totally wasting your time because they're already kind of split. Also, if the fruit is on the ground, bugs are likely to eat it. And/or, it's not going to look very tasty.
3. Just accept the fact that you've got to water every day. Containers dry out fast, even if you fill them with that magical Miracle Gro stuff that retains water. Yeah, it would have been a good idea to mulch, too.
So.... I've got six mega-tomato plants with enormous but very green fruits on them and a serious weight problem. There's some kind of humor in this somewhere.
Next year, I want to do a full-scale garden with raised beds. Maybe I should actually READ something first rather than assuming that vegetables can't really be that complicated.
Oh, and one more tip. Make sure that you know where the sprinkler is relative to you before you turn it on...
Showing posts with label tomatoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tomatoes. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Busy Sunday
We've been scurrying around today trying to get a lot of things done... it's my favorite kind of day, really, when we start with a list and try to get everything done by the end of the day. It's not going to happen, but it's coming along.
The big thing I did today is plant tomatoes. We had tomatoes two years ago, and last year we had sort of a leftover "volunteer" tomato that sprouted on its own and actually generated quite a few cherry tomatoes. This year we thought we'd try some heirloom varieties... I have a dear friend who unfortunately lives too far away for garden overflow, but is greatly into heirlooms... but of course in my usual way I didn't think about this early enough to order from any of the places that he recommends. So I discovered that White Flower Farm has a heirloom package... six varieties of different sorts. Not cheap. I've drooled over their catalogs for years, but never actually ordered anything from them... their packaging is great but I can't say that I'm thrilled with the quality of the plants that arrived. Three of them were a little moldy on the leaves, and the leaves were also pretty sparse on two of them. But ... well, I've planted them in containers and we'll see how it goes. The big thing is that this requires me to actually have my act together for the whole summer and water them every day. This is hard. I am a great starter of things and then something goes wrong and I don't follow through. So I'm making my tomato pledge, here, in writing... I will tend to these things every day this summer. And we'll see how it goes. I mean, at some point in your life, you have to learn some follow-through, don't you? Not everything can be about the enthusiasm of the moment.
(And this "tending to them" is going to have to require putting them in the garage tonight, too... it's unexpectedly cool here at the moment, supposed to get down to 39 tonight.... not a frost, but I don't really want to take any chances.)
What's for dinner? Lamb marinated in garlic and fresh mint, grilled; zucchini sauteed in garlic, and a few lima beans.
The big thing I did today is plant tomatoes. We had tomatoes two years ago, and last year we had sort of a leftover "volunteer" tomato that sprouted on its own and actually generated quite a few cherry tomatoes. This year we thought we'd try some heirloom varieties... I have a dear friend who unfortunately lives too far away for garden overflow, but is greatly into heirlooms... but of course in my usual way I didn't think about this early enough to order from any of the places that he recommends. So I discovered that White Flower Farm has a heirloom package... six varieties of different sorts. Not cheap. I've drooled over their catalogs for years, but never actually ordered anything from them... their packaging is great but I can't say that I'm thrilled with the quality of the plants that arrived. Three of them were a little moldy on the leaves, and the leaves were also pretty sparse on two of them. But ... well, I've planted them in containers and we'll see how it goes. The big thing is that this requires me to actually have my act together for the whole summer and water them every day. This is hard. I am a great starter of things and then something goes wrong and I don't follow through. So I'm making my tomato pledge, here, in writing... I will tend to these things every day this summer. And we'll see how it goes. I mean, at some point in your life, you have to learn some follow-through, don't you? Not everything can be about the enthusiasm of the moment.
(And this "tending to them" is going to have to require putting them in the garage tonight, too... it's unexpectedly cool here at the moment, supposed to get down to 39 tonight.... not a frost, but I don't really want to take any chances.)
What's for dinner? Lamb marinated in garlic and fresh mint, grilled; zucchini sauteed in garlic, and a few lima beans.
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