I’ve been giving my tomato plants tender loving care since April.
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@ewen Haha - I've decided to think of it as 'exclusive'.
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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.
Your point about farmers is 100% on
But if I may say so, politely, you really should be able to get a LOT more tomatoes from a balconyI know this is true, cause I got a lot of nice tomatoes from my porch garden in Somerville MA, back when I was a poor student
maybe you just don't have enough sun, or you picked a variety of tomato unsuited for your porch ?
but if tomatoes don't work, try something else !! -
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 planted five Beefsteak variety plants in early May in a 'mini-greenhouse'. The bees seem to have disappeared, as pollenation and fruit set has been very poor. I do have a few fruits - still green, but I do live in 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 That reminds me of my potato "harvest" last year, from a potato bag.
First attempt at it, and I was absolutely *thrilled* seeing these little golden orbs emerging up and out from the dark soil, one after the other. Hardly any blemishes, almost all perfect!
After digging them all out, and gathering them together, they filled one (1) single large bowl.
Well, feck, said I.
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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 that's a better harvest than my two strawberries!
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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've noticed that on average I get much better results from just letting the vegetable plants (and bugs and birds) do their thing and occasionally watering them, only removing the highly invasive weeds, than from trying to micro-manage them.
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@venetiana Oh that's interesting - and thanks for the clear description, I know exactly what you mean. I must look at mine later, see if there are forks involved. Thank you for the tip.
@CiaraNi @venetiana Hello! My understanding is that yo take those suckers out on undetermined tomatoes (the ones that grow like crazy) but you may not want to do that on determine ones (the ones that grow a limited amount). It is worth talking a look. Also, I was thinking... Have you seen many flowers but no tomatoes? Enjoy your plants
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@ewen Artisanal. Oh yes, that sounds fancier and more exclusive - I shall use that.
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@ygor I happen to be in one of the few regions of Europe that hasn't been too hard hit by the extreme heat, so have been lucky there. Am sorry your zucchini and tomatoes succumbed. Good for you volunteering at the non-profit urban farm - that's a great initiative.
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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 Reminds me of this page from a page-a-day calendar from the satire news group The Onion, seen at a community garden:
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@CiaraNi
I planted five Beefsteak variety plants in early May in a 'mini-greenhouse'. The bees seem to have disappeared, as pollenation and fruit set has been very poor. I do have a few fruits - still green, but I do live in hope.@wellingtonrock My tomato trio appeared ages ago, but stayed green and the same size for such a comically long time that I assumed they had given up. So it was a surprise that they ripened at all. I hope yours ripen nicely soon. And that your bees reappear!
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@bit I have been known to sing while I water the plants - maybe I need to find better songs. Or be a better singer. I shall vary my repertoire and see what helps.
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@CiaraNi That reminds me of my potato "harvest" last year, from a potato bag.
First attempt at it, and I was absolutely *thrilled* seeing these little golden orbs emerging up and out from the dark soil, one after the other. Hardly any blemishes, almost all perfect!
After digging them all out, and gathering them together, they filled one (1) single large bowl.
Well, feck, said I.
@clickhere It's a humbling experience. Still though - a few nice tomatoes, a few nice spuds, very few, but still nice.
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@CiaraNi that's a better harvest than my two strawberries!
@quixoticgeek Two is better than none! Exclusive fruit. I'm borrowing 'artisanal' from @ewen - I've grown artisanal tomatoes, you've grown artisanal strawberries.
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@CiaraNi I've noticed that on average I get much better results from just letting the vegetable plants (and bugs and birds) do their thing and occasionally watering them, only removing the highly invasive weeds, than from trying to micro-manage them.
@joepie91 That's been my strategy with plants too. Both indoors and outdoors. I used to think I couldn't grow or maintain any plants. Then switched to just not thinking too much, not micromanaging, mostly just ignoring them. Then they began to thrive. Perhaps I should just ignore the tomatoes harder.
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@CiaraNi @venetiana Hello! My understanding is that yo take those suckers out on undetermined tomatoes (the ones that grow like crazy) but you may not want to do that on determine ones (the ones that grow a limited amount). It is worth talking a look. Also, I was thinking... Have you seen many flowers but no tomatoes? Enjoy your plants
@arpia49 @venetiana Ah! My plants have produced so few tomatoes that it sounds like this is not the solution in my case. There have been very few flowers. Thanks for the tips. And yes thank you, I will enjoy my plants - I enjoy taking care of them and seeing how they progress, so even three tomatoes is just a nice added reward.
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@CiaraNi Reminds me of this page from a page-a-day calendar from the satire news group The Onion, seen at a community garden:
@gfitzp Hahaha that is it exactly. Thanks for sharing this. I laughed literally out loud.
Edited to add: I laughed all over again when I got to: 'At press time, sources reported that the cherry tomato tasted fucking awful.“
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@CiaraNi This year my results are as follows:
Carrots: Looks like a good crop.
Parsnips: 90% failed. With the remaining 10% it's too early to say.
Aubergines: About 50% success rate.
Onions: Total fail. They all died.
Basil: An abundant crop! Pesto coming up soon!
Coriander: all went to seed. 100% fail.
I've certainly spent far more on manure, tools, etc than I'll ever get back in vegetables, but it's fun to try. And I'm learning what works and what doesn't.
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@gfitzp Hahaha that is it exactly. Thanks for sharing this. I laughed literally out loud.
Edited to add: I laughed all over again when I got to: 'At press time, sources reported that the cherry tomato tasted fucking awful.“
@CiaraNi I told my wife about it and she had to send me this to share as well.
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@CiaraNi I told my wife about it and she had to send me this to share as well.
@CiaraNi (Aside, she was very excited when I showed her your post and profile, she said “I WANT TO BE HER FRIEND, SHE WEARS LEOPARD PRINT AND GROWS TOMATOES” and said if you ever come to visit she’ll share her tomatoes with you
)
