How's everyones tomaters' doing this year???

[mark page]

I was galvating around talking with a few neighbors today, and all of them are complaining their tomatos aren't doing very good. Just getting "little green" ones on them and not turning. Jeez, I'm having a bumper crop this year from my plants. I didn't get them planted until very late in the year due to an extreme wet spring, but all my plants are appx 8 ft tall, even the cherry tomatos are close to 8 ft tall. I can only see one neighbors plants from my deck, and his look to be only 3 ft tall and I never see him plucking any, haven't talked to him yet, but every time I go check on my plants, they gaze at me like a zoo animal. I may have to offer them some but I don't want to appear like I'm bragging on mine. Us people in this area take our 'maters seriously.:D

[Mike Henderson]

I planted mine early and thought I wouldn't get anything, but once the weather warmed up, they produced quite well. They're about finished now.

Mike

[mike holden]

I am the same color as my tomatos when I read your post - GREEN!
Three plants, only one small tomato, about 2 inches in diameter that has turned red.
Maybe this week they will grow, maybe.
Mike

[Bonnie Campbell]

Started getting ripe tomatoes mid May. They've petered out some now, but still get enough for daily tomato sandwiches. Just been letting the cardinals peck at the cherry tomatoes, then they leave the big ones along :)

[Jim Becker]

The small, orange salad tomatoes are doing very well as are the Romas. But the larger tomatoes have not been too happy with a lot of "unusual" uneven growth and some splitting.

[Mike Malott]

Likewise here in Cincinnati...we have picked two red tennis ball size tomatos to date.

The plants are large, with lots of green fruit, but oh so slow to ripen!

Mike

[mark page]

The way it sounds, I must just be lucky. I've planted Mr Stripey's and Big Boys for the large tomatos. They're good sized and some getting to be as big as a medium-large grapefruit. The cherry tomatos we can't keep up with, too many to eat, and have one plant that bears yellow pear shaped cherry tomatos that is doing exceptionally well. I'm getting a medium sized mixing bowl full of cherry ones a day and end up giving most of them away.
Come to think of it, I haven't pampered my plants this year like I usually do. Miracle growed just twice and plenty of water. Usually I fertilize a lot more, but guess I'm getting lazy.

[Steve Clardy]

We only got in about a 1/3 of our garden, due to the constant mud.

Just now picking a few of them.

[jerry nazard]

Big Beef and Early Girls are doing quite well. Central Virginia is good for 'maters. However, this year's parsley ain't much. Glad I like 'mater sandwiches better than parsley....(:>

[Greg Just]

My Early Girls and Celebrity are doing really well. Better Boy is a little slow, but in the past week I have picked some nice tomatoes

[David G Baker]

Several friends are complaining about poor tomato crops except for one, he planted his in pots and kept them on his deck.
The apple crop in my area is very bad. I have 4 trees and two never had flowers on them this year and the other two have very small sizes with very few in quantity.

[Chris Kennedy]

We planted 6 cherry tomato plants from the nursery and our neighbor across the fence planted a whole slough of big boys. We cannot keep up with the cherry tomatoes -- we harvested 225 the other day and there are plenty of greens one yet to ripen. Our neighbor -- nothing. All the plants came from the same nursery, too.

Cheers,

Chris

[Joe Cunningham]

My Early Girls and Celebrity are doing really well. Better Boy is a little slow, but in the past week I have picked some nice tomatoes

Ditto on this. Better boy has been disappointing this season for me, but my early girls and (I think) celebrity are doing good. I'd have to look at the tag as this is my first year for tomaters.

My chiles are close to being dead and buried however. We had quite a wet May and really most of the summer, so I think they were wondering where the sun was and decided to give up.

Bell peppers are doing well, and early on the lettuce and endive was excellent. Might be time to yank the chile peppers and try for some late season lettuce. Had good luck with that last year.

[Randy Cohen]

i've had a very good tomato year so far but not as good as last year due to May being kind of cool around here.

[Roger Bell]

Terrible year. Rained to mid June.

[Von Bickley]

We planted Cherokee Purples, Brandywines and Better Boys. None of our tomato plants did well this year. Very bad year for us.....:(

[Joe Mioux]

I am in the greenhouse business and sell tomatoes to gardeners.

Several observations about this year.

Here in the Midwest, we had a very wet and more importantly cold spring. Our season is delayed three weeks because of this phenomenon this year.

The tomatoes will ripen.

We are seeing a lot of blossom end rot this year on the first batch of tomatoes, also goes to wet spring.

No tomatos but beautiful tall lush green plants can be attributed to too much Nitrogen.

For tomatoes, only use fertilizers with less than 10 pct N in the formulation and then when mixing water soluble fertilizers, stay on the weak side. In other words do 100 ppm rather than 200 ppm.

Do not use a sprinkler to water your garden. Take the hose, remove any attachment from the hose and water the ground near the stem, keep the leaves dry.

hth
joe

[Joe Pelonio]

After last year I gave up on all but Early Girls.

With the cold spring and summer being on and off, I have yet to pick any tomatoes. I have plenty of small green ones, but even with the heat this week it's remained in the low 50s at night and none show any color at all.

[Justin Leiwig]

I had a great year this year. The better boys are slow, but the romas, cherry and sweet millions were growing like gang busters until last week. I pulled most of them out. I'm having a calcium deficiency problem with the better boys as most are getting ber before ripening. If I had to guess I've probably picked close to 50 lbs of romas and at least that much in cherry and sweet millions.

[Benjamin Dahl]

pretty poor year for me as well. have had a few good ones but not the quantity I am used to getting.

[Dennis Peacock]

We stopped planting hybrid "mater" plants and started planting heirloom tomato plants and have really liked the improved flavor of the fruit as well as how disease resistant they are. The fruit isn't as large as the more common hybrids and they are a tad slower growing...but IMHO, the fruit is much better tasting. Ours hasn't done real well this year due to cooler weather and a wetter than normal summer.

The corn didn't do well at all, but the squash, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, snap beans, purple hull peas, cantelope did rather well this year and we have enjoyed the yields of the garden.

[Rob Russell]

We do "patio pot" tomatoes every year. This has been a terrible year in - small plants, not many 'matoes. My wife insists it's because we didn't mix any cow manure in with the soil. She won't beleive me that we could fertilize the pots ...

[Belinda Barfield]

Plants grew beautifully at the outset, now rather leggy and looking poorly. Lots of blooms, no 'maters. :( My plants are in pots on the deck and I don't think they are getting enough sun. Interestingly enough, I have seen one honey bee all summer. I'm sure there are others, but I typically see them everywhere and they love my deck because I always have blooming plants. For years we have had carpenter bees living in our roof eaves (condos, reported to managment company many times). This year I haven't seen any carpenter bees either. I miss my home grown Romas.

[Michael McCoy]

Belinda, I think your bees must have all migrated to SC. :) I inter-plant my veggies along with my flowers and shrubs. A couple 'Whirling Butterfly' Gaura,
aka, White Indian Feather in every bed has been a constant draw for the honey bees.

[Belinda Barfield]

Belinda, I think your bees must have all migrated to SC. :) I inter-plant my veggies along with my flowers and shrubs. A couple 'Whirling Butterfly' Gaura,
aka, White Indian Feather in every bed has been a constant draw for the honey bees.

Well how's 'bout sending some of them back! I'm glad to know that the bees are thriving somewhere, we have really been hit hard in this area with regard to bee loss. A friend in Vidalia, GA is a beekeeper and he is losing hive after hive. Love you city by the way. I visit there every chance I get.

[Rob Russell]

I'm glad to know that the bees are thriving somewhere, we have really been hit hard in this area with regard to bee loss. A friend in Vidalia, GA is a beekeeper and he is losing hive after hive.

Ditto up here ...

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Well don't be feeding the zoo animals.

Mine are pretty near done for the season.

[Mike Wilkins]

Strange happenings with tomatoes here in Eastern North Carolina. Planted Better Boys and Roma back in late May. So far only small green ones have made an appearance, and some of those have rot on the bottom side. My next door neighbor has the same thing.
Must be something in the air, or alien atmosphere experiments. Maybe all the tomatoes heard the negative news on the TV and refused to grow.
Better luck next year.

[Belinda Barfield]

Sorry to hear that some of you are eating store boughts like me, but I'm glad to know I'm not the only one whose green thumb has paled. I guess I'm going to have to get out the Qtips and do my own pollinating. That's really funny because one of my nicknames is "Bumblebee".

[Burt Alcantara]

We had two frosts before July so the plants went into the ground late. None of our crops grew - tomatoes, broccoli, squash, lettuce, herbs. Bad juju. Last year, we couldn't give away all of the stuff. We did get a good crop of raspberries.

Oh well, there's always next year...if there is a next year!

Burt

[Steve Clardy]

Sorry to hear that some of you are eating store boughts like me, but I'm glad to know I'm not the only one whose green thumb has paled. I guess I'm going to have to get out the Qtips and do my own pollinating. That's really funny because one of my nicknames is "Bumblebee".

Them store boughts are just plum nasty compared to homegrown.

I enjoy fresh tomatoes.

[Belinda Barfield]

Them store boughts are just plum nasty compared to homegrown.

I enjoy fresh tomatoes.

I enjoy fresh tomatoes too, Steve. With homegrowns you inhale the scent and your mouth waters. Then you take a bite and and they burst with flavor that dances over the tongue. Store boughts are just sort of a red, fleshy pulp with a faint tomato type flavor.

[Colin Giersberg]

We picked a couple before the plants died. Planted three more and, so far, they are still living, but nothing red yet.

[Randy Cohen]

I suggest you visit the local farmers market if your tomatoes failed and pick up something good to eat...stay away from the supermarket.

[Belinda Barfield]

I suggest you visit the local farmers market if your tomatoes failed and pick up something good to eat...stay away from the supermarket.

Randy,

I'm actually pretty lucky as I can tomatoes from my parents, but they don't grow Romas. Interestingly enough, we don't have much of a farmer's market here. The farmers who do bring in produce don't ever have Romas. If I recall correctly, you sell at your local farmer' market and it sounds like you have significantly more vendors than we do at ours. Is there a large variety of produce available?

[Randy Cohen]

Randy,

I'm actually pretty lucky as I can tomatoes from my parents, but they don't grow Romas. Interestingly enough, we don't have much of a farmer's market here. The farmers who do bring in produce don't ever have Romas. If I recall correctly, you sell at your local farmer' market and it sounds like you have significantly more vendors than we do at ours. Is there a large variety of produce available?

there is a very large variety available at the market i sell at. and on Saturdays there are about 25 vendors. some of them sell romas. i grow and sell san marzanos which are similar but better;).
i'm surprised that a place like Savannah doesn't have a big market.

[julie Graf]

i am starting to get a ton of tomatoes off of my one plant - i've already picked and eaten about 8, and there are 3 more almost ready and a lot of greenies.
i also have zucchini taking off.
but my eggplant is not looking so good...

[Belinda Barfield]

i'm surprised that a place like Savannah doesn't have a big market.

I think it is because the area by and large is pretty rural and everyone has a garden, a farm, or access to such. Even people with small plots of land usually have a garden. At the farmer's market there is one "permanent" vendor, and on a typical Saturday at the height of the seaon there are maybe seven or eight other vendors - mostly selling watermelons, peppers, okra, squash, and corn. Actually there are a lot more produce vendors at the local flea market, but I'm not willing to fight the weekend crowds.

[Joe Pelonio]

With all the experts here I hate to change the subject but I could use help.

After growing various vegetables all my life I finally decided this year to try broccoli for the first time. I have no idea how one knows to pick it. They are about 18" tall, and have single heads about golf ball size. I'm thinking that's all I will get due to the cold and rain the last week+, and should probably just dip them in ranch dressing and finish them off. Do they grow new heads later, or will these get bigger if I wait?

[mark page]

Joe,
Pick broccoli when good and tender and not let go too far to seed. Once you pick a head, it seems two will take it's place, and soon you'll have broccoli running out your ears.

[Joe Pelonio]

That's what I wanted to hear, thanks. Mind you are growing season will last only a few more weeks. That's the reason I tried them, they should do better in fall than tomatoes do here.

[Sean Troy]

We've been so lucky this year with three different types of Tomatos. We have to keep giving bags away to keep up with them. Our Habenaro peppers are the same way. Cantaloup was terrible this year but the corn was excellent.

[Michael McCoy]

Joe - brocolli will survive a freeze. Looks like heck in the morning but it's sweet in the evening.

[Randy Cohen]

With all the experts here I hate to change the subject but I could use help.

After growing various vegetables all my life I finally decided this year to try broccoli for the first time. I have no idea how one knows to pick it. They are about 18" tall, and have single heads about golf ball size. I'm thinking that's all I will get due to the cold and rain the last week+, and should probably just dip them in ranch dressing and finish them off. Do they grow new heads later, or will these get bigger if I wait?

pick your broccoli while the heads are still tight. when the heads start loosening up they will go to seed pretty quickly. your picture looks like a fairly loose head.

[Joe Pelonio]

pick your broccoli while the heads are still tight. when the heads start loosening up they will go to seed pretty quickly. your picture looks like a fairly loose head.
Yes, a little looser than some others, so tomorrow I pick and eat.

[Joe Mioux]

Yes, a little looser than some others, so tomorrow I pick and eat.

Joe, that head looks pretty small, but it does look mature.

Brocolli loves cool temps! Same goes for Cauliflower, Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts and Kohlrabi.

Normally a head should have been at least 8-10 inches in diameter.

Also, once you cut the main head you may get some side shoots growing on as a secondary crop. so don't pull the plant yet.

joe

[Gary Max]

And here in Southern Ky---enough to eat but yeild is way down so nothing for canning. The plants are drying up ----no rain.

[Jim Becker]

I gotta tell you, the three I cut up for dinner last night and slathered with XX-V olive oil, balsamic vinegar, kosher salt, fresh-ground black pepper and fresh basil from the garden were wonderful. They have finally moved beyond the "weird growth patterns" into normal looking tomatoes...and with outstanding taste.

[Joe Cunningham]

Yeah I made a fresh tomato sauce with some of mine and it turned out excellent. The cherry tomatoes are like little marbles of flavor, great for salad.

I had originally planted the tomatoes for my fresh salsa garden, but since the chiles are way behind (and unlikely to catch up) they are now slated for salads and pasta sauces. So much better than store bought, like night and day.