I'm glad that everybody liked my special squashbug counter! No joke....I really take it to the squashbugs, and I bet they shriek in horror when they see me coming to the garden with my size 15 flip flops. Hee Hee.
Ahem.....Now. Let's talk about tomatoes, and how blossom end rot really sucks! Ugh!
There's still a tiny bit present, but not enough to matter. Out of the 20 tomatoes developing right now, only 2 or 3 have it. I can live with that, I reckon. Here's some photos of the tomatoes right now.....
A little brandywine tomato, that will be pulled in the morning. Poor little feller.....
Photo below - here's one that I pulled the other day, and laid it on the mulch. There were tiny insects of some kind on it, so I launched it out into the woods.
Photo below - a little cherokee purple tomato that appears to be in the beginning stages of BER.
Now....that's enough gloom and doom pictures. Here's some happy pictures! Woo Hoo!Cherokee Purple tomatoes. Man, there's alot of them in that cluster. Oh boy....I can't wait!
Photo below - Brandywine tomato (in the background).
The foliage on the plants still looks awful! But hey....it's ok if tomatoes are harvested. I do have a slight concern about possible sunscald on the tomatoes higher up on the plants, though. (due to the lack of full, vibrant foliage to shade the tomatoes a little). Maybe it will be ok. Oh well.....in 4-6 weeks, I'm pulling all of the plants anyway. Suckers from the plants will be rooted, and a second (more well managed!) crop will be grown until mid October. Thank god for a climate that allows me to get in 2 completely different warm season crops. Whew!Take care, and happy gardening!
EG
11 comments:
Ew... the bug squished count is up to 10!
EG, what can you do about BER?
Looks like you have lots of tomatoes coming on!
I found some tomato blossoms on my indeterminates! Yeah!
Seems like I read someplace that pulling off the flower blossom if it doesn't fall off will help with the blossom end rot. I've never had it, but I've never grown heirlooms either.
Ah, so that's what BER looks like. Thanks and sorry, but those numbers sound reasonable.
Hmm, you could always use the window screen idea to shade them if you're concerned. just a thought.
Oh, and don't rub it in that you have two tomato seasons, hehe, I'm hoping for one this year (really didn't have one last year).
All of my toms in the containers have gotten BER. So far, knock on wood, things in the SFG are looking fine. Some of those suckers would be turning red when BER decided to take hold. Made me nuts.
Keep squishin' those bugs!
Did your brandywine have massive flowers? I swear mine has flowers five times or more larger then the average flower.
Good to see you only have a few BER victims. It gets really frustrating when you lose a whole plant. It looks like you will have more than enough good ones to make up for the losses.
Glad to hear things are looking up in the tomato patch!
I have to say, the one really nice thing about cherry tomatoes is they never seem to get BER. So I might have gone overboard with 9 cherry tomato plants and only 3 others.
Your Cherokee Purple plants look great. When do tomatoes usually start ripening for you?
That is some serious rot on that tomato, good thing it is only on a couple. I often find the heirlooms have a scabbyish bottom, weather it's cracking or blooms end rot I don't know. I just cut the bottom off before consuming. That is one nice cluster of Cherokee Purple's! They were the first late planted tomato to set fruit in my yard as well.
Oh, I don't envy the blossom-end rot, but I do envy those baby tomatoes coming on. Here in Maine, I JUST finally got mine in the ground (it's been wicked cold), and now they just seem to be shivering in the constant rain. We need some sunshine.
Thanks for sharing your ingenious garden!
Toni - if you have rainfall like we have had over the last few weeks...nothing can be done.
Cheryl - Judy mentioned that a while back, and I've been doing it ever since. Don't know if it helps, but it's worth a try.
Sinfonian - sorry for your short season. The house next door is still available!
ribbit - yeah, it sure sucks! Hopefully, it'll diminish...
waters_deep - no, the flowers were pretty much normal.
Chad and Brandy - yeah, luckily - i'll have several good ones very soon. Woo Hoo!
Thanks, Kelly!
Daphne - mine usually ripen around the first of July.
Dan - I can't wait to show one of the ripe cherokee purple tomatoes, and my Dad is getting pretty antsy!
June - Oh....I bet it has been cold in Maine! Hopefully, things will warm up a bit for you and your tomatoes.
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