This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy was my first dog and he thought the garden was his, even though I did all the work. Now Suzie and Charley follow in his footsteps. We're located near Boston (USDA zone 6A). I have a community plot, a backyard vegetable garden, fruit trees, berry bushes, chickens, and bees. I use sustainable organic methods and do my best to grow all of my family's vegetables myself.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
tomatoes
Time to celebrate the beauty of tomatoes! Right now they are in abundance.
I have a number of different kinds of heirloom and hybrid varieties of all different colors and sizes. My favorite are the Brandywine and Giant Belgian, which are very similar. The Beefsteak are delicious and prolific too.
My earliest tomato by far this year was Orange Blossom.
The consensus around here is that this year has been a very bad year for tomatoes. Much too much rain. Even the best gardeners at my community garden say they have only half the normal crop.
My tomato plants are about 75% defoliated from leaf spot now. Spindly, bare stems with tomatoes hanging on them.
tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum)
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7 comments:
Ugh, my tomato plants are almost completely leafless, too. Terrible year. I'm still getting a bunch of fruit but not anywhere near as many as I'd hoped.
Maybe next year will be better.
I'm in IL and the leaf spot has gotten my tomatoes as well. They were patio hybrid in containers, and I did get quite a few tasty toms from them before the leaf spot really took off.
I must say, your blog has been a wonderful inspiration, and I'm already working on putting in a raised bed garden for next year.
Your tomatoes are so colorful. I think I need to grow some new varieties next year. Fantastic photos!
All your tomatoes look wonderful...wow. Quite a harvest!
I have never had much luck with 'Brandywine'...maybe I should try again.
My tomatoes were nailed by early blight. Connecticut, like MA, was brutally humid, foggy, and apparently fungally! 9 of the 16 plants destroyed outright. The other 7 fruiting, but now nearly naked of leaves...
Too bad about the tomatoes. A sad year.
I think I will pull out my vines at my community garden this week. I'll strip off any green tomatoes and use the space for fall greens.
Surprisingly enough, the tomatoes in my home garden are doing quite well now. They are smaller than previous years, I expect from less sun, but very little blight. I suppose different micro climates can make a big difference. Maybe also there are less tomato blight spores in my private area.
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