I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April.
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I feel your pain and have experienced similar harvest disappointments myself. They will taste amazing though.
@GracelessHippo Thank you! They did actually taste quite good. I'm happy anything grew at all, really. An exclusive crop of three
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@CiaraNi "Perhaps I should just ignore the tomatoes harder." is a fantastic sentence out of context
@joepie91 Haha - it would require some reverse-engineering, if seen alone out of context first, I suppose
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My garlic failed the one time I tried growing it.
Oddly, one of my biggest successes (besides tomatoes, which really thrive in the heat here) was okra. I planted a few seeds on a whim and got a great crop. I might try that again.
I probably also should get my soil tested, or at least talk to the couple down the road who have a huge and apparently abundant garden, and find what the secret of their success is.
"talk to the couple down the road who have a huge and apparently abundant garden" - that's a great idea.
Lovely that the okra grew, especially when you just planted it on a whim. Nice result.
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I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April. Making sure they get enough sun, enough shade, enough water. Protecting them from the wind. Talking to them. Here are the fruits of my labour. Of their labour. The full five-month harvest. Well, that'll get me through the first 11 minutes of the climapocalypse, I suppose. Once again, my balcony harvest reminds me how important farmers and communal food sources are.
Hi Ciara, please do not give up on tomatoes.
Maybe look for Tigrella and some Russian black for next year, they are very resilient.
The best tomatoes look like polished black glass balls this year, they are growing in a pot, I picked up horse muck from the road and put that in the bottom of the pot along with a piece of fish.
Works well.
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I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April. Making sure they get enough sun, enough shade, enough water. Protecting them from the wind. Talking to them. Here are the fruits of my labour. Of their labour. The full five-month harvest. Well, that'll get me through the first 11 minutes of the climapocalypse, I suppose. Once again, my balcony harvest reminds me how important farmers and communal food sources are.
@CiaraNi I had a similar experience trying to grow tomatoes in my small rooftop greenhouse. I made the soil much deeper this year, but most of my large tomatoes got brown on the underside. The cherry tomatoes produced a small bowl, and the cucumbers flowered but nothing came of it (usually I get loads of them). The only thing I had in surplus was basil, which is a companion plant for my tomatoes.
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I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April. Making sure they get enough sun, enough shade, enough water. Protecting them from the wind. Talking to them. Here are the fruits of my labour. Of their labour. The full five-month harvest. Well, that'll get me through the first 11 minutes of the climapocalypse, I suppose. Once again, my balcony harvest reminds me how important farmers and communal food sources are.
@CiaraNi They are lovely. Similar to my harvest last year. This year I have nearly infinite tomatoes. No idea why. Same tomatoes. Same conditions. I guess my advice is to not give up.
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Hi Ciara, please do not give up on tomatoes.
Maybe look for Tigrella and some Russian black for next year, they are very resilient.
The best tomatoes look like polished black glass balls this year, they are growing in a pot, I picked up horse muck from the road and put that in the bottom of the pot along with a piece of fish.
Works well.
@Kerplunk I have no intention of giving up on tomatoes - it's fun trying. I'll skip the fish tip, though. Too many nosey noisy seagulls around here, we're trying to keep them off the balconies
Edited to add: I thought, but forgot to actually type: Thanks for the tips and the names of those varieties!
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I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April. Making sure they get enough sun, enough shade, enough water. Protecting them from the wind. Talking to them. Here are the fruits of my labour. Of their labour. The full five-month harvest. Well, that'll get me through the first 11 minutes of the climapocalypse, I suppose. Once again, my balcony harvest reminds me how important farmers and communal food sources are.
@CiaraNi In my experience (which is only 6 years of gardening), if it got too hot the tomatoes stopped flowering, then resumed once the heat was more normal. We also fertilize our plants with some organic fertilizer a few times over the season. Your tomatoes look good though!
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@CiaraNi I had a similar experience trying to grow tomatoes in my small rooftop greenhouse. I made the soil much deeper this year, but most of my large tomatoes got brown on the underside. The cherry tomatoes produced a small bowl, and the cucumbers flowered but nothing came of it (usually I get loads of them). The only thing I had in surplus was basil, which is a companion plant for my tomatoes.
@Frantasaur A rooftop greenhouse sounds great. A pity there wasn't a better crop this year for you. Interesting that the basil is thriving. On my balcony, the rosemary is ridiculously thriving. Even after being fully exposed all winter, including weeks under a metre of snow, because relentless gale winds defeated my attempts to protect them with winter fleece covering.
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@CiaraNi They are lovely. Similar to my harvest last year. This year I have nearly infinite tomatoes. No idea why. Same tomatoes. Same conditions. I guess my advice is to not give up.
@dangerousbeans I will absolutely not give up. It's fun trying. Interesting that your crop swung so widely from one year to the next. Unpredicable yokes, tomato plants!
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@CiaraNi In my experience (which is only 6 years of gardening), if it got too hot the tomatoes stopped flowering, then resumed once the heat was more normal. We also fertilize our plants with some organic fertilizer a few times over the season. Your tomatoes look good though!
@steph_szostek Interesting - that fits with the pattern I noticed. My three tomatoes emerged and then just remained the same size and remained green for what seemed like a disproportionate length of time. Weeks and weeks and weeks. Then suddenly ripened red, all three. And a few flowers appeared. That fits with the period of worst heat ending. Good to know. And thanks for the tip - I should probably fertilise them more often. I've been nervously cautious.
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I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April. Making sure they get enough sun, enough shade, enough water. Protecting them from the wind. Talking to them. Here are the fruits of my labour. Of their labour. The full five-month harvest. Well, that'll get me through the first 11 minutes of the climapocalypse, I suppose. Once again, my balcony harvest reminds me how important farmers and communal food sources are.
You'll need those 3 little tomatoes for next years' seeds. Sorry about that.
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You'll need those 3 little tomatoes for next years' seeds. Sorry about that.
@glutto Oh dear, then there'll be no crop next year because all three tomatoes have already come to a culinary end.
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@Frantasaur A rooftop greenhouse sounds great. A pity there wasn't a better crop this year for you. Interesting that the basil is thriving. On my balcony, the rosemary is ridiculously thriving. Even after being fully exposed all winter, including weeks under a metre of snow, because relentless gale winds defeated my attempts to protect them with winter fleece covering.
@CiaraNi rosemary is quite difficult to grow on a balcony, so kudos! I have a sunny spot downstairs (in soil, not a pot) where I have one that’s doing really well, even in winter, but only because it’s ridiculously sheltered from the wind. Beside it I have lemon verbane and sage, which are also doing crazy well. I think the tomatoes just need more consistent watering to stop the blossom rot. I have a solar irrigation system that I got for Christmas but didn’t get time to set up this year.
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Tin of tomatoes for scale
@CiaraNi
Hey, that is the more tomatoes than I've gotten from the plants so far...
Fertilizer and hope! -
I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April. Making sure they get enough sun, enough shade, enough water. Protecting them from the wind. Talking to them. Here are the fruits of my labour. Of their labour. The full five-month harvest. Well, that'll get me through the first 11 minutes of the climapocalypse, I suppose. Once again, my balcony harvest reminds me how important farmers and communal food sources are.
@CiaraNi I’ve got 5 plants in pots and fruit on three, despite the deer having a go at them. Still green but I’m hopeful they make it to ripe. Been meaning to post photos, I’ll do that later. No idea what variety they are, got the seedlings for free.
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@CiaraNi rosemary is quite difficult to grow on a balcony, so kudos! I have a sunny spot downstairs (in soil, not a pot) where I have one that’s doing really well, even in winter, but only because it’s ridiculously sheltered from the wind. Beside it I have lemon verbane and sage, which are also doing crazy well. I think the tomatoes just need more consistent watering to stop the blossom rot. I have a solar irrigation system that I got for Christmas but didn’t get time to set up this year.
@Frantasaur Thank you! Although I have no idea why the rosemary has been so resilient - pure happy-amateur luck. I tried sage once but it gave up quickly. Good tip about the tomato irrigation, thanks - I kept it watered and cautiously fertilised, but tried not to kill them with over-attention. The plants may like a *little* more active care.
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@CiaraNi
Hey, that is the more tomatoes than I've gotten from the plants so far...
Fertilizer and hope!@TrickTim We shall keep trying! I hope yours do a bit better in the future. Fertiliser and hope, as you say!
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@CiaraNi I’ve got 5 plants in pots and fruit on three, despite the deer having a go at them. Still green but I’m hopeful they make it to ripe. Been meaning to post photos, I’ll do that later. No idea what variety they are, got the seedlings for free.
@constantorbit If we are going to lose fruit and veg, losing them to deer is at least a cool way to do it. My trio stayed green for a weirdly long time, I assumed they'd given up and would never ripen, then suddenly they did. I hope yours redden nicely for you soon
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I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April. Making sure they get enough sun, enough shade, enough water. Protecting them from the wind. Talking to them. Here are the fruits of my labour. Of their labour. The full five-month harvest. Well, that'll get me through the first 11 minutes of the climapocalypse, I suppose. Once again, my balcony harvest reminds me how important farmers and communal food sources are.
@CiaraNi
Sorry that your efforts haven't been better rewarded.I planted 4 cherry tomatoes outside, 1 red, 2 orange and 1 yellow. As usual I soon got fed up nipping out side shoots and supporting the branches so pretty much let them do their own thing except for plenty of watering and a weekly liquid feed once they started to set trusses. Pretty much the same routine as last year but of course this year we've had a prolonged drought. Every time I go out to water them I come in with a big handful of toms. I can't eat them fast enough. They're still coming. It makes no sense really.
#gardening #growyourown
