Re: Tomato Tuesday Thread (N&C Midwest)..

[unmadecastle]

These 2 tomatos are my beefmasters. They have really grown this past week.




These are 2 of my 4 better boys. They are smaller then the beefmasters but they have also grown well this week.




Here are my first 2 baby tomatos. They are on my cherry tomato plant which is a Sweet 100

[BackyardBirdGardner]

Haven't been doing as much cutting due to the heat. It's just down right oppressive this week. The mower is an "air cooled" engine and doesn't cool off much with 95° heat blowing on it. It also doesn't get a break when parked in the sun as I work. What doesn't get done by the time the temps hit 95, doesn't really get done until the next day. And, we could use the rain......didn't think I'd be saying that so soon a few weeks ago. However, that's the midwest for ya!

Tomatoes starting to bloom...big flowers = big fruit. These are my beefsteaks coming along nicely.


Now, the cherries/grapes...


Broccoli needs to go, but is a great reference point since you've seen it in every tomato shot. But, the tomatoes are about as tall/big as the broccoli plants now...


One more angle...


Happy Gardening!

[Goosegirl]

Well, my tiny seedlings (too small to really be put outside but I did anyway) survived the 104*, but most did not survive the 40+ mph winds. My determinates (Banana Legs and Manitoba) are hanging in there but I lost most of the indies. The upside is that I have so many volunteers from last year that are actually bigger than my indoor starts (because this was round 2 of starts - got overconfident with my seedlings) that I dug up the volunteers and put them in the proper squares. I have no idea what is growing where, but I do know that they are all varieties that I purposely planted last year. I may have some crosses, which will be interesting to see what grows, but I am all for experimentation in the garden! If it works well, I may just bury tomatoes that I like at the end of the year and let them come up on their own next year!

GG

[Goosegirl]

Whooooo Hooooooo! Just did my early morning after 6 am walk weeding, and outside one of my boxes I found 5 (yes FIVE!) volunteer tomato seedlings amongst the weeds. Where they are growing they have to be either Purple Russians or Russian Big Romas - with probable cross-pollination, but WHO CARES!!!!! They are strong, healthy 5 inch tall seedlings which are now in my boxes and in the fall will be in my tomato sauce!

I just checked my tiny Banana Legs and Manitoba and they are doing great and sprouting the next set of leaves. Not bad considering the abuse my poor seedlings have taken this year.....

GG

[Furbalsmom]

Congratulations on some strong seedlings.

Sounds like those volunteers will save you as far as tomatoes this year.

[Hyzleyes]

GG, That's awesome about the volunteers! Is that common? I'd love to find some like that next year. How fun!

Just joining the weekly updates. Between all my littles (both plants & little guys) I don't find much time online, but love reading up when I get a chance. I'll try my best to keep up with the weekly updates.

First year SFGer and not too much gardening experience otherwise. All advice extremely welcome! Across the back row, left to right, I have Better Boy, Early Girl, Better Boy, Early Girl. Then in the far space of the second row I have a Supersweet 100 cherry tomato.



Wondering why the first Better Boy's lower branches are hanging down. Are they supposed to do that? Or is there something I should be doing different?

Was debating if I should plant any more tomatoes this year when I ran into half price plants at the nursery... So I have 4 more to put in tonight, all golden: a Kentucky Beefsteak & three Lemon Boy. Looks like some people put them a few rows deep. I was wondering if they get enough sun that way. I’ll either fill in the second row from the back, right next to the tomatoes I already have planted or I’ll skip that row and put them in the second row from the front. Any thoughts?

[Hyzleyes]

Forgot to mention... I'm seeing blossoms on all of the plants that are in the ground, but no actual tomatoes yet.

BBG, Never thought about pinching off the early blossoms. Is that to better time the fruit or to encourage more of it further on the vine? Will it blossom again later in the same places?

[Hyzleyes]

And here's a shot of the whole bed so you can get an idea of what else is in there (marigolds, zucchini, a bell pepper, a banana pepper and a very sad little cucumber that is not going to make it.) Also a good shot of my plans for supporting the tomato plants with the horizontal netting.

[boog1]

[quote]GG, That's awesome about the volunteers! Is that common? I'd love to find some like that next year.

heres a suggestion this happened to me year before last. was purly an acedent freak of nature call it what you will, but the "other half" droped few maters on the ground they didnt get buryed or anything jus rotted on top of the soil last spring we hada tomato "BUSH" was like 7-8 plants all togather you could try that or bury one in a square and see if anything comes up next spring. wouldnt hurt ta see was gonna try it again this year with one of the yellow maters she bought jus save on buying seeds or transplants.

boog

[MasonGarden]

My first time posting to this thread. I have a mix of tomatoes transplanted and directly sown on May 21.

Box #5 (Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers, Sweet Yummy Peppers, Basil, and Radishes)


Yellow Pear (sown)


Cherokee Purple (transplant - obviously! )


San Marzano (camera battery ran out, I'll get a picture later)

Beefsteak (transplant)


I didn't have any blossoms yet on the transplants (maybe too soon), and my seedlings are just under 2" high. I realized today though that I should have sown the seeds in the squares that we not getting too much shade from the nearby basil and more mature tomato plants, and that they may not have quite enough for growth. So, I went out and bought some more 8"+ transplants today (with blossoms!): Celebrity, Yellow Pear, Totem, San Marzano. Hoping that they'll play nicely with the current line-up!

I also may need to do a feeding, because a number of the plants in this box are looking a bit on the "yellow" side and this is one of the boxes that seemed to be most affected by the heavy rain and the loss of MM out of the bottom (on a slight slope). Sigh! I'm hoping that they need just a bit more TLC!

[Goosegirl]

[quote="boog1"]

GG, That's awesome about the volunteers! Is that common? I'd love to find some like that next year.

heres a suggestion this happened to me year before last. was purly an acedent freak of nature call it what you will, but the "other half" droped few maters on the ground they didnt get buryed or anything jus rotted on top of the soil last spring we hada tomato "BUSH" was like 7-8 plants all togather you could try that or bury one in a square and see if anything comes up next spring. wouldnt hurt ta see was gonna try it again this year with one of the yellow maters she bought jus save on buying seeds or transplants.

boog

Boog - That is exactly where these volunteers came from! They are from last year's trimmings when something cracked badly, or a bird got it, or whatever. I just snipped and dropped for it to be added as compost since I had been doing sheet composting up until this year. Last year I had a wonderful bunch of Roma and Lemon Boy volunteers (well, not true Lemon Boys, but they grew from a composted Lemon Boy and were wonderful yellows)! If these volunteers produce well I am going to do your experiment and pick squares and let one rot right there for the next season. Can't hurt considering what I did to all my seedlings this year. Last year I was much more diligent with them and had great starts. This year, well, .....

[BackyardBirdGardner]

Another Tuesday, another update...

First, Murphy is at it again, apparently. This time he dug up my carrots and beans!


Now, the tomatoes...


And, cucumbers with the tomatoes...


Finally, I'll toss in a sunflower from my patch. This patch has about 8 sunflower plants in it. And, it was planted by the birds from my feeders this spring. I have never had sunflowers in my yard make it to bloom. Apparently, the birds have greener thumbs than I do...lol.

[MasonGarden]

Really nice growth BBG, and a beautiful sunflower!

[Goosegirl]

Love the sunflower BBG! Mine have just been reseeding themselves every year - they grow better when I don't try to do anything to them. I think we are seeing a theme with my garden.....

GG

[unmadecastle]

OK! That is a beautiful sunflower. Makes me wish we had planted some.

[Hyzleyes]

OK! That is a beautiful sunflower. Makes me wish we had planted some.

Me too!

[HieronRemade]

11:50...just barely made it!

My tomatoes seem to be doing great. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but I can't believe how fast things grow in my SFG! Idk if it's the MM or the raised beds or all of the above, but wow! Anyway, here are some of my Romas with the cage/trellis things I made for them:

All the Romas are blooming! I'm hoping to start seeing some fruit growing here in a week or so.

We talked about this in another thread, but before I go cutting my plants I just wanted to be sure - This is a sucker on my Nonna's Prize right? And I can let suckers go on the Romas, correct?

Anyway that's all the update I got on tomatoes for now...take it easy all. xD

EDIT: Wow sorry that pic of my Romas is so bad...you can barely see them against the lawn. I'll take a better one tomorrow and put it up in my personal garden thread when I post update pics there.

[laurainwinona]

Wow, I actually made in Tuesday for a change!

Last week I finally bought a tomato plant from the local nursery to replace the Cherokee Purple that died. This one is a Better Boy (or was it Big Boy? Don't remember). It seems to be doing OK, but seems wilted a lot. It perks up after getting some water. I find this odd, since it hasn't been that hot here this week (70s, and actually a few days in the 50s and 60s), and I water lightly every day. Hmmm. Well, I hope that this will actually produce. My garden in general has had very mixed results this year.

Glad to see so many with beautiful tomatoes....and sunflowers! I have a sunflower, too, but it's not blooming yet, it's only about a foot tall.

[HieronRemade]

[quote="laurainwinona"] It seems to be doing OK, but seems wilted a lot. [/quote

Hey Laurain - You may be more experienced in this sort of thing than I, but I read just recently that in general you want to water deeply and infrequently unless you have a specific reason not to (like if you have a cold-weather crop in hot weather and you want to keep the soil temp down w/ frequent watering). Maybe if you give your new plant a good soak it can catch up on water and stop wilting?

[busygirl]

Whoo hoo!! When I realized I had used some old pics at first (b/c I didn't erase my memory card) I got to comparing with the new and it looks like my babies have averaged about a full square's growth since last week!!


Wide shot of my first tomato box starting with M. Romas in the front and working through Caspian Pinks, Koralik Cherries and to the Black Krims in the back. The blooms are on the K. Cherries. The bags are to prevent cross pollination so I can save seeds.



Close up of the K. Cherry blooms



The Brandywines going CRAZY. Thessolonikis in the foreground



My spares in containers look kind of leggy since the tree filled in and they are getting shade for part of the afternoon now, but the last pic shows they are still willing to bloom.

[nancy]

I didn't make it down to the garden yesterday, so no pics of those toms. I took a few of the Ananas Noire in the backyard, though. This little garden right outside my back door is not in any way a sfg. I have ammended the soil every year for the past 5 years, so I know it's fairly good soil. It's normally my annual bed. But we ran out of room for all of the tomatoes at the garden, so we put this one here. Her leaves are curling. I added some epson salt and crushed egg shells over the weekend, but she hasn't perked up as quickly as I had hoped. This weekend I am going to make Sharon Lovejoy's plant food and see if that helps. I see no sign of pests.

Here is a closeup of the blossoms and a tightly curled leaf:



Here is a wider shot of the whole plant:



Maybe she's just lonely. Although she has some lovely dahlias and lantanas to keep her company. She still seems to be growing and producing; she just doesn't seem happy about it.

[busygirl]

If you look close, you can see my leaves are curled a bit, too. Are they that way in the heat of the day? Mine aren't like that in the afternoon so I am telling myself that it is the cool nights we've been having. They go from curled before work to perfect after work, to curled again the next morning, so temp is the only thing I can blame it on right now.

[nancy]

No, my leaves are like that all the time. I think it is a deficiency - calcium or magnesium? I'm hesitant to feed it since it has blossoms, but at the same time, I want it to be healthy. And temperature hasn't been too much of a tomato issue in Cincinnati lately. Hmmm.. Good luck with yours!!

[HieronRemade]

The bags are to prevent cross pollination so I can save seeds

Are those special bags specifically for covering up blooms busygirl? My Romas are blooming so much earlier than everything else that I don't think I'll have to cover them, but I have other heirloom varieties that I'm going to want to try saving, and though I've heard of covering the blossoms, I don't know what you use to do it!

[BackyardBirdGardner]

Neat stuff, guys! I just went back through the first two pages to watch our growth. It's pretty neat to see. Keep it up!! Tomato Tuesday looks like it's here to stay.

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